What makes Cthulhu popular?

[thebinmann]

Don't under estimate the role of TV and the fact that most of his work has been public domian for a while now (2008)

[Cat]

and the fact that most of his work has been public domian for a while now (2008)

And that's the center square on everybody's bingo card!
 
Plus, yeah, the stars are in the right alignment...

[thebinmann]

If you havent seen it Lovecraft Crountry is worth a look, not really Lovercraft but good

[Zombie Master]

Hi all,

Despite being an avid horror reader in my teens I discovered Cthulhu through the first edition of call of Cthulhu and Stephen King .

I believe the support he has received from Stephen King was very important to his modern resurgence. In his book Dance Macabre (1981) he wrote “I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale”

I think that Stephen King championing Lovecraft encouraged other in the media to experiment with his vision, this is of course neglecting all the writers that had already in part shared Lovecraft’s bleak vison of the universe. From my perspective post Dance Macabre I am thinking of Brian Yuzna (From Beyond, Reanimator), Grant Morrison and artist Steve Yeowell Zenith from 2000AD comic (1987), Chris Claremont in the XMen (isue 150 springs to mind) and of course Manga. Call of Cthulhu RPG (1981)

Lovecraft himself come up with some great quotes and world view that resonate with a modern society. For instance:-

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”

And

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents... some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new Dark Age.”

Anyway just my thoughts

A