Way back before the COVID-19 Pandemic, I attended the 2019 Baltimore Comic Con to meet writer Cullen Bunn. I had been a fan of his work since I read his take on Agent Venom in
Way back before the COVID-19 Pandemic, I attended the 2019 Baltimore Comic Con to meet writer Cullen Bunn. I had been a fan of his work since I read his take on Agent Venom in 2013. At the con, we discussed Arkham Horror, a multi-media board game franchise based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, which we were both fans of. He told me that he’d been in talks to write a comic adaption of Arkham Horror at one point, but things hadn’t come together behind the scenes. Fast forward to 2024, and I was elated to see his name on a newly announced Arkham Horror comic series.
For those who aren’t familiar with Arkham Horror, the series grew out of the board game of the same name designed by Richard Launius, which was based on Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. The Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game was inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared literary horror universe created by H.P. Lovecraft and added to by many others, including myself. The first Arkham Horror board game gave rise to a 2nd and 3rd edition from Fantasy Flight, who took characters, locations, and monsters to use in other games such as Mansions of Madness (my favorite boardgame, which has a new scenario out on Friday!), Eldritch Horror, Elder Sign, Unfathomable, and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Since then, Aconyte Books has released fiction set in the world of Arkham Horror, and Edge Studio has released Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game. If you’re interested in Aconyte’s Books, you can find a review I did of The Last Ritual by S.A. Sidor at JeremiahDylanCook.com. If you want to learn more about Arkham Horror in general, I suggest you visit Arkham Horror.com.
Now that we’re on the same page with Arkham Horror, we can dive into the story of the comic.
Spoilers Below
Arkham Horror: The Terror at the End of Time is a thrilling story of two people investigating a disappearance, only for them to be pulled into a world of supernatural horror. Jenny Barnes hires Private Investigator Joe Diamond to help her locate her lost sister, Izzie. The pair discover she was taken by a time-obsessed cult to use as part of a ritual to bring back the cult leader’s dead husband and son. While in pursuit of the cult, Jenny and Joe are sent hurtling through time before returning to save Izzie. Unfortunately, Jenny pays a high price for her heroism as she ends up lost beyond infinity. All of this is rendered commendably by artist Andrea Mutti.
I think this story is accessible to newcomers, but fans of Arkham Horror and the Cthulhu Mythos will get extra value from the literary easter eggs in this comic’s pages. In addition to Joe and Jenny, who come from Arkham Horror, Agnes Baker, another character from the games, also appears for a cameo in Velma’s Diner, a location well-known to Arkham Horror fans. The evil cult in The Terror at the End of Time seems influenced by The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, an H.P. Lovecraft novel which also deals with time and magic, and the cult leader’s surname, Olmstead, is the same as that of the narrator in Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” In addition, Joe and Jenny briefly visit the city of the Elder Things from Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness,” and they are pursued by the hounds from “The Hounds of Tindalos” by Frank Belknap Long.
Lastly, in addition to Bunn’s excellent story, Dark Horse Comics included a ton of bonus material in these four issues. Each comic has free content you can use to play Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game. There are hero stats, maps for miniature play, villain stats, and a short investigator gamebook. In addition, there is information relevant to Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and an interview with the lead game designer, Duke Harrist. I’m sure most fans of Arkham Horror are already aware of this comic series, but The Terror at the End of Time is a perfect entry point for newcomers to the series. I can see these issues serving as gateway drug for the Arkham Horror Universe. If you can’t find the four issues, don’t go mad, you will be able to pick up the collected trade paperback in August of 2025.
Until Next Time,
Stay Pulpy!