‘Littlest Lovecraft’ Adapts Classic Horror Scribe’s Works For Children
Littlest Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu has been announced as an active Kickstarter campaign through the end of March and most of April, and already the effort from author Tro Rex and artist Eyo Bella has neared its $8,500 goal.
As of Saturday, March 23, the project had $7,708 in funding.
Sold as an authentic retelling of the 1928 H.P. Lovecraft short story “The Call of Cthulhu,” the one major difference this will have with the famed horror scribe’s work is this — it’s for children.
The goal of the project is to take the mind-bending horror of Lovecraft and ease young readers into it without a sensory meltdown.
That may not seem possible if you’ve ever read Lovecraft’s tales or sat through Re-Animator, but 172 backers are proof otherwise.
To entice donors, Rex and Bella have made creative use of incentives.
Funding options go from $5 (for a Littlest Lovecraft postcard) to $500 for the postcard, a photo print from the book, three copies, a T-shirt, a thank-you within the pages of the book itself, a set of 5 postcards, and a personalized “Cthulhu and You” illustration (digital and print versions).
Most donors — 102 — have chosen the $25 option for a copy of the finished book.
The effort is not the first time a creator has attempted to make Lovecraft more palatable for children.
In December 2008, creators Jose Oliver and Bartolo Torres launched a web comic strip called Young Lovecraft that was eventually picked up by Kettledrummer Books in 2009.
The third volume is due in June 2013, but the major difference between Littlest Lovecraft and this series is that Young Lovecraft simply envisions the life of H.P. Lovecraft as a child.
Rex and Bella are looking at straight adaptations of the actual work, which could prove challenging if this first volume comes to fruition.
(What’s next, Littlest Poe?)
It is definitely an interesting time for children’s literature. The Harry Potter series was just re-released with a new look and long-time young adult horror series Goosebumpsis coming to the big screen.
Do you think Littlest Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu has franchise potential?
[Image from Kickstarter]
