Thanks to Matt Kilpatrick who pointed out this past Sunday’s Episode of the “Prince Valiant” comic. Check out the entire strip HERE and pay close attention to the last panel!

So, Universal won’t let Guillermo del Toro make At the Mountains of Madness, but you can’t keep a Lovecraftian down: del Toro game (with THQ and Volition Inc.) inSANE has moved forward has a “Lovecraftian” quality to it. Little is none aboutthe game except that it is supposed to be scary but (according to Geeks of Doom del Toro shared more in a recent chat with MTV: it’s to be a huge, sandbox-style game, and is is still a couple of years away from launch.

Quoting del Toro: “We’ve been designing the creatures, which are obscenely fun and unique….It’s Lovecraftian, it’s really weird, but it’s Lovecraftian in a very sick way…”

Here’s a promo trailer for the game:

An excellent BBC Radio 3 broadcast: Weird Tales: The Strange Life of H.P, Lovecraft from 3 Dec 06: Geoff Ward examines the strange life and terrifying world of the man hailed as America’s greatest horror writer since Poe. During his life Lovecraft’s work was confined to lurid pulp magazines and he died in penury in 1937. Today, however, his writings are considered modern classics and published in prestigious editions. Among the writers considering his legacy are Neil Gaiman, S T Joshi, Kelly Link, Peter Straub and China Mieville.

Thanks to William Murray of Ghost Radio for the tip!

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Costume Council recently hosted a panel interview with Cirque du Soleil costume designer Philippe Guillotel along with a preview of his costumes for Cirque’s upcoming show, “Iris: A Journey Through the World of Cinema” at the museum’s Bing Theatre. According to the LA Times, the new show features music by Danny Elfman and celebrates the origins of filmmaking, so the costumes employ lots of early 20th century style hallmarks, including spats, waistcoats, and lace-up boots for men and women (sounds somewhat steampunk cinema to us). Previews begin at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on July 21.

The 1985 film Reanimator, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s story Herbert West-Reanimator, has spawned an musical. A WeHo News review says of the musical:

All the conventions/cliches of horror films are present and subverted here.

The mad scientist, the lovely ingenue in jeopardy, the dedicated hero, the sinister laboratory hidden deep in the basement of the science building, the selfish, jealous, ambitious villain willing to stomp all over others and steal the formula and the girl — they’re all convened here, to their detriment and the audience’s delight.

Many thanks to the special effects wizards who could actually put together a scene in which the bad guy’s head is lopped off, so his body picks it up and holds it as it continues to sing.

The show manages to invoke simultaneously humor, horror, and helplessness in the audience. It might be called Grand Guignol, subspecies Giggles, Guffaws and Gagging….

At present the show’s booked until June 26; there have been times it’s been sold out for two weeks ahead. It ought to be booked open-ended, even perhaps becoming a Hollywood fixture, lasting decades with descendants of the original cast eventually joining. Or, a fine senior high school play.

Be sure to see this before everyone involved is taken away to an asylum. Tickets will be even harder to obtain if that happens, and anyway, the asylum’s directors may not let you leave.

The Steve Allen Theatre, 4773 Hollywood Blvd. (between N. Berendo and N. New Hampshire, one block west of Vermont Ave.), with free parking.

Reservations suggested: (323) 666-4268, or www.steveallentheatre.com

First serialized the amateur publication Home Brew, February through July 1922, Lovecraft’s story was republished in March, July, September, November 1942 and September and November 1943 issues of Weird Tales.

[Photo: Chris L. McKenna, Rachel Avery in Re-Animator: The Musical at Steve Allen Theater. Credit: Thomas Hargis.]