I believe this is an ongoing series and certainly not all of what's out has been collected yet. At this point, I'm seeing twenty-eight issues of the comic book in print, while this first volume collects one to six. Volume two is out, collecting seven to thirteen, and volume three has funded on Kickstarter to collect fourteen to twenty-two. It looks like it's due out in two parts soon. Other than that, I see a one shot, 'Lady Lovecraft'; at least one crossover, with 'Lovecraft, P.I.'; and, more surprisingly, a neat looking annual, 'Miskatonic High Yearbook 2022'. Messrs. Shea and Mendoza have kept busy.

It makes a lot of sense for this volume to comprise six issues, plus a short bonus, because, after an introductory chapter to set us up with the basic concept of the series, each primary character has a moment in the spotlight for a story of their own, all of which also progress the broader story. I'll follow up with the second volume next month, but I'm interested to see how that progresses, now we've worked through each primary character.

Of course, we're at Miskatonic High, where we're mostly focused on the Community Services Club, a weekly after-hours group dedicated to helping whoever in the community is in need. The initial outing, to the house of Mrs. Abrahamson, known as a cat lady, is just to carry donation boxes out of her cellar. Doesn't sound too taxing, right? Well, the place is full of hallucinogenic mushrooms and, when the mist rises, our team finds themselves in an ancient Egyptian city, deserted except for one mad Arab trying to open a portal to Kalib Nargul. There are plenty of tentacles but they manage to make it home, with the Blade of Khronus and a few pages of the 'Necronomicon'. Not bad for a first outing, huh?

The broad sweep of the story is still ongoing when this volume finishes, so I'm not entirely sure of where it's going, but it seems that Abdul Alhazred—yes, that mad Arab—summoned at least one of them because she's more than she thinks she is. Everyone else may or may not just be along for the ride. And I should introduce you to them, so you know where we stand. Mr. Walid runs the club, which may not matter; certainly, he isn't the focus of anything particular thus far. Then there are six students, which quickly becomes five without anyone noticing. He only exists on the periphery until he returns as a pervert ghost.

It's likely that they're all of equal importance, but initially it feels like the show belongs to Simon and Alex. They've known each other a long while and seem like a joint driving force. Alex is a real go-getter and Simon is the brain, recognising those mushrooms for a start, but he also believes he should run everything. That combination leads to him standing for student body president, which gains him the nickname of President Dick. However, that combination also leads to him winning, a surprise to many, because he's not an idiot and he gets things done. Alex's secret comes out late in the book, so I'm not going to spoil it, but I will say that she lives up to potential.

There are two other girls in the group, Sarah and Ren. Ren's the popular girl who creates content for social media and is big in Japan, being Filipina. I don't know if I'd call her an influencer, but she often feels like one who also happens to have substance. For a start, she can see ghosts, so Anton, the pervert ghost, tends to interact with her. He gets the bonus story. Sarah's the unpopular girl, who lives on an orchard with her grandma, but she has a lot more substance than just the one who gets picked on, as we'll soon find in the second issue. Again, I won't spoil, even though the names for these issues tend to be spoilers on their own.

That leaves Matt, who's Alex's cousin and a strong ice hockey player. Ren and Sarah both like him, though, as you might expect, he's much more into the former than the latter, which leaves Barry, one of his teammates, to hone in on Sarah. As jocks tend to be in groups like this, Matt is the least interesting character and his issue is easily the worst, to my way of thinking, but there's potential there. I'm not sure what Barry's secret is but I'm a hundred per cent sure that he has one and it'll emerge soon, just not soon enough to be covered in this first volume.

The setup is excellent. Issue one, 'The City of Silence', serves as a capable introduction. Mendoza does a strong job with what I believe is the abandoned city of Memphis in 700 AD and the unusual combination of high school drama and Lovecraftian terror is well-balanced. There's also a conceit that everything can be explained away through those hallucinogenic mushrooms, should we want a rational explanation instead of accepting the many supernatural shenanigans that constitute a much more fun alternative. And, of course, the group could still be on that mass trip twenty-eight-and-counting issues in.

Issue two calms down a little until we realise where it's going (or we read the issue name and thus know where it's going immediately). Issue three, which focuses on Ren, trawls in a huge amount of Filipino folklore, with a slew of Tagalog terms that are only explained in context. A mangkukulam is a sorcerer; an aswang is a dangerous ghost; and a kaperosa is a white lady, a female suicide who has unfinished business. Apparently, Ren can see ghosts, or lost souls, to use her mother's term, because her grandfather was an albularyo or witch doctor. While most of the references here are to the expected Lovecraftian sources, I enjoyed this exercise in folkloric diversity. It enrichens the book and its story.

Issue four is Matt's, easily the weakest because it throws everything at the wall to see if it sticks, which it increasingly doesn't. Initially, it's quite the tease, the group driving into a tunnel, where they fall through time in water, being picked up by a Celtic boat manned by druids, now the slaves of lizard overlords. Time is weird here, rather like Guy N. Smith's 'The Wood', which also featured druids and a World War II parachutist caught up in a time manipulating soup. I enjoyed it until the point it became too much and it kept on expanding.

Ironically, if issue four is the weakest, issue five is easily the strongest. I'd rank most of the stories as varying degrees of good but this one is truly excellent and it doesn't hurt at all that it strongly features librarians, who in this universe are also something else. Beyond a wonderful opportunity for Alex, who's the core of this story, it's also a wonderful opportunity for Simon, even if he gets a couple of weeks of detention for the language he uses during his coup of a speech. It even has a non-human character who's both a lot of fun and likely a crucial part of the dynamic ongoing.

That leaves Simon's story in issue six, which felt a little awkward and convenient after the majesty of the previous issue, but it plays capably enough. That runs through the quintet, with extras, and leaves us with a pretty good grounding in what 'Miskatonic High' is all about, Anton's short bonus story, which I expect is original to this collection, adding to that too. So there's a heck of a lot here and it's rounded nicely after six issues. The broader story isn't done but we have a strong grasp of what it is at this point and we know, at least roughly, what to expect going forward.

I could easily call Shea's writing inconsistent, especially given the quality shift from issues four to five, but it's generally solid and the approach does almost turn this into an anthology or themed collection of short stories. Whoever writes one of those, whether it's many hands or just one, the results always end up varied. There's always a favourite story and there's always a least favourite. Here, mine were clear cut, not just because of the respective quality of their stories but because of how they were told. Of course, your mileage may vary.

While the whole book is a mashup between two genres, issue five, 'Missing Pieces', is particularly interesting because it's told as a dream quest. That gives it lyrical flow but Shea grounds it within a session of the imaginary 'Darkness and Damnation' role-playing game. Sixth edition, of course. I found that structure fascinating and delightful, equally as inventive in a good way as the previous issue was inventive in a bad way, full of glorious moments so loosely connected that the string may have vanished halfway through.

I'm looking forward to volume two, 'The River of Blood', next month and then I may well tackle the crossover issue, because that's the only other one I have. I'll probably wait on volume three until both parts are released in collected editions. Oh, and before I go, kudos to Shea on not merely one but two unexpected 'Doc Savage' references in and amongst all the Lovecraft! ~~ Hal C F Astell

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