Page 45 Review by Jonathan
Dont touch it, Tessie!
But its just a book. What was it you said to me yesterday about dreams?
Hildred read it. Boris read it. Both took their own lives.
But its just a book! Now whos being silly?
Ha!
Tessie, dont! Listen Im serious. Put that book down. Tessie! I dont wish you to open it.
Comics are fearfully powerful juju.
They can make money disappear from your pocket and into the Page 45 till just like that
*adjusts fez*. But
I dont believe they have power to drive you insane and into the clutches of evil supernatural beings. Well
not until youve signed up for a standing order with us and then its too late, we got you
MWAH HA HA HA HA!!!
Joking aside, the primary conceit of some of Robert W. Chambers interconnected short stories is precisely that. The idea that there is a play, the titular King In Yellow, which in book form can cause a reader to begin to lose their mental coherence and thus become at risk from indeed subjugated to mysterious sinister forces lurking at the edge of our reality, including a mysterious godlike being known also as the King In Yellow. To fall into his purview is to begin a journey that will surely lead one to a state of utter desolation. Though perhaps that is not entirely true for all
Its well known that H.P. Lovecraft read these stories, first published in 1895, in 1927, and they almost certainly influenced his writing to some degree, not least because he references some elements in passing in a couple of his subsequent stories, so he was at least impressed enough to tip his hat in acknowledgement. Others suggest the style of these stories influenced some of his storytelling techniques to a considerable degree. I dont know about that, but I do know the first few truly spooky stories from The King In Yellow collection which Ian has gently reworked here to form this adaption (the latter stories being more of the romantic fiction ilk that Chambers plied through the remainder of his writing career) are rightly regarded as true classics in the genre of supernatural fiction.
So, what of this adaptation? Well, I know I have made this very point regarding at least one of Ians brilliant Lovecraft adaptations (AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS / THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD / THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME / THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH, plus two more to come later this year!!!) but yet again hes done a superb job of deconstructing fairly nebulous material content-wise, in this case four short stories, and re-crafting it into a seamless, brilliantly engaging yarn. I had a little chat with him recently and he mentioned hed only had to invent one brief bridging scene from scratch. The original stories were never truly intended as sequential chapters in a longer narrative, through there are threads of recurring characters and places, but Ians taken exactly the right approach by weaving them into one sinister longer-form story. It never feels like a reconstructing of separate tales, merely different strands of individual woe unraveling in turn under the malign, pervasive influence of the King In Yellow.
Art-wise I will simply say the eyes have it. Or rather they dont! A distinct lack of pupils on the part of most of the characters, a devilishly deliberate conceit on Ians part, is incredibly disconcerting. In certain instances it has the particularly perturbing effect of seeming to allow the characters gaze to break the fourth wall out to us, the readers, without them even looking directly at us. Theres a cumulative effect to it which is increasingly unsettling, I must say.
Theres also a spectacular extended sequence, as Ive also come to expect from Ian, where one of the characters, perhaps foolishly believing themselves to have put their macabre travails behind them and taken refuge in the sanctity of a church, listening to a reassuring priestly sermon, is then promptly taken on a mind-bending journey through time and space, or perhaps merely their own disintegrating perception of reality and rapidly draining sanity, before coming face to face with the King In Yellow itself.
Sadly our perilous wander through this weird world all too soon comes to an end. You will be left wanting more though, as was I. Maybe this is not the last well see of the King In Yellow
though if we should see him, it will certainly be the last of us?!
So put this book carefully back on the shelf and watch out for strange people who pay too close attention to your business
or before you know where you are youll find yourself penniless and bereft of coherence, wandering Market Street with only a Page 45 bag full of comics in your hand
Cue the sinister Vincent Price laughter like at the end of the Thriller video again