While not ordinarily the sort of thing that I feel the need to post about, I do feel as though the merchandise I acquired earlier today was worth commenting upon.










 
Cthulhu is just such an amazing figure. The genius of HP Lovecraft was that he was able to create this elder god of the universe without much in the way of reference of existing mythologies (I suppose that the presence of the somewhat bat-like wings being an exception) in order to do so. So many people are trapped in their familliarity to judaeo-christian mythology that they need to go there in order to craft some malign demonic entity. Lovecraft didn't need to go there. He didn't need some childish dread of bronze-age middle-eastern boogiemen. No, Lovecraft was terrified of fish and all things aquatic, and THAT was all he needed in order to design an incomprehensible primordial evil.

Or else, perhaps, he was inspired by something that he experienced somewhere out there in the deepest, most remote reaches of the ocean, where, indeed, the sea does conceal wonders and horros which neither modern science nor the evidence of our eyes can seem to discern the truth of, but which our nightmarish speculations provide ample explanation for. Certainly, if Cthulhu is real, this fact provides some support for my long-standing speculation as to the origins and motivating force behind modern Japanese culture.

At any event, the Cthulhu mythology presents us with a refreshingly simple, straightforwards and earnest apocalypse myth, which has been amply and hillariously been illustrated here. And while it lacks the "everybody wins" element which I would LIKE to see incorporated into an end-of-the-world myth (such as the onewhich I have presented here, and which I'm outraged has not yet been embraced by all the peoples of the world), at least it makes hard and fast promises which are easily tested when the time comes. This, as with so much to do with the Cthulhu mythos, pleases me greatly.

Edit: 

Cruising around the Wikipedia entry I linked-to above, I've greatly enjoyed the article on the topic of Cultural references to the Cthulhu Mythos . I just love to see all the people who have similarly felt so fascinated by the Cthulhu mythos that they've felt the need to incorporate it into their own works in some way. This sort of returns to my first point, as to the genius of Lovecraft's creation; he's created something so innovative, but which seems so authentically ancient and universal that such a large number of genuinely creative people have embraced it as an element of their own personal mythology. That, my friends, is a rare feat indeed.