TINTIN COVERS 2 – The Lovecraft Connection

Previously, I posted Tintin Covers 1 – The Realty, about the sale of original Hergé artwork in Paris.  Now I want to show you some fan-made covers that are strictly non-canon.  I have been a fan of H. P. Lovecraft since I was young, although not as long as having been a TinTin fan.  But my enjoyment of both goes way back, nonetheless.

Fans have produced their own covers for nonexistent books, supposing a Lovecraft – Hergé connection that never was.  Fan art is a mainstay of fandom and no less than in Tintin and Lovecraft fandom, so mashups were inevitable.

  

 

These covers don’t undermine either genre, but rather show support for existing works.  Enjoy these covers in the playful spirit they were created.  It’s a pity that the complete books never really existed, but it’s nice to think they might in a parallel universe. 

We no long have H. P. Lovecraft or Hergé producing stories, but their corpus of works have been influential for a good portion of the 20^th century and into the 21^st.  I hope that in presenting these fan-made covers that people will be influenced to read the original works of both H. P. Lovecraft and Georges Remi a.k.a. Hergé.

 

One of the most prolific of the fan Tintin/Lovecraft mashup artists is Muzski, who is actually Murray Groat.  You can see more of his works at DeviantArt.

 

 

This post is a follow up to the one I made previously about the same subject, Lovecraft Tintin Books – Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together, February 25, 2011, and I felt there was so much good material out there, that I had to expand on the idea.

 

TINTIN COVERS 1 – The Reality

TINTIN COVERS 2 – The Lovecraft Connection

TINTIN COVERS 3 – Weird Science  

TINTIN COVERS 4 – Politics, Parody, Pastiches, and Irony 

TINTIN COVERS 5 --  GREAT SNAKES!  MORE TINTIN COVERS  

I had to post this Peanuts/Lovecraft cover, although it is dangerously close to Cutethulu.  I always thought there was something eldritch about the Great Pumpkin. 

UPDATE 2014:  a few more Tintin Cthonian covers below for you to ponder:

Lovecraft TinTin Books -- Two Great Tastes, That Taste Great Together

In the early 1960s we were stationed in Europe and my father used to buy TinTin books for me. They were one of my best memories of being a child. My father read to me all the time – not just children’s books but books of all kinds. Over the years, I managed to acquire all the English edition TinTins, which was no mean feat in the pre-computer age. The great thing about kids is that you then get to read to them as well, passing along a love of reading and books. My collection of TinTin eventually went to my daughter along with my Edwin Gorey books.



The artist Murray Groat, aka Muzski, has made some apocryphal Herge TinTin book covers. His execution of Herge’s style is spot-on. Check out his website and see all of his quirky art. He has produced seven faux TinTin covers, each better than the next: TinTin in Innsmouth, TinTin From Beyond, TinTin and The Reanimator, The Dunwich Horror, TinTin in R’Lyeh, TinTin at the Mountains of Madness, and The Shadow Out of Time.

These books never existed, but in my imagination, I can just guess at the pratfalls of the Thompson Twins at the Mountains of Madness, Professor Calculus and The Reanimator, Captain Haddock’s reaction to the fishmen in Innsmouth (blistering barnacles). Snowy, of course, will save them all after getting into trouble. TinTin will muddle through with his automatic in his pocket. Somehow I see Castafiore singing to Azathoth there in the center of ultimate chaos.

Kids that are read to and see their parents read are more likely to want to read themselves. Read to your kids. Be seen reading … in public even!

Click for Murray Groat Herge-Cthulhu Link