Neonomicon

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Neonomicon is a four part comic miniseries by Alan Moore from 2010. It continues the narrative of his 1994 short story The Courtyard, which had been converted into a comic back in 2003.

The comic tells the story of FBI agents Brears and Lamper who are sent to continue the investigation of the occult murders that had been happening in The Courtyard. They uncover everything that previously happened extremely quickly. Then things take a turn for the worse...

It's worth noting that the reason for this comic's genesis was largely due to some pecuniary issues Moore was having at the time. In an interview with Wired Magazine: Moore said "I had a tax bill coming up, and I needed some money quickly. So I happened to be talking to William [A. Christensen] from Avatar Press, and he suggested that he could provide some if I was up for doing a four-part series, so I did. So although I took it to pay off the tax bill, I’m always going to make sure I try and make it the best possible story I can."

It's quite an atmospheric story, but be warned: there is a lot of very graphically depicted sexual assault and rape.

Tropes used in Neonomicon include:

• Alien Geometries: The plateau of Leng definitely qualifies. YMMV on R'lyeh it's actually Agent Brears's womb.
• The Antichrist: in this case, it turns out to be Cthulhu!
• Apocalypse Maiden: Agent Merrill Brears by the end.
• Arcadian Interlude: Brears has one, mid-rape. Only it's in R'lyeh. With Nyarlathotep.
• Asexuality: what the detectives (and by extension, Moore) seem to think Lovecraft was. They discuss the idea that all of Lovecraft's horrors may simply have come from his own personal revulsion at the very idea of sex.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: YMMV, but arguably Agent Brears. Multiple rapes, the death of her partner, and being impregnated with Cthulhu seem to have turned her around to the idea of destroying the world by the end of the story.
• Black Dude Dies First: played completely straight. Possibly justified due to Moore's stated intentions to tackle the racism of Lovecraft's works; YMMV on that one, though.
• Domed Hometown
• Eldritch Abomination: It's based on Lovecraft. Agent Brears turns out to be Cthulhu's mother!
• Exotic Equipment: Averted. We get to see quite a bit of Deep One penis, and it's pretty much a regular penis. Played somewhat sraight in that Deep Ones seem to be able to go at it for hours without any kind of male refractory period at all.
  • Some of the sex toys depicted are pretty out there, however.
• Extreme Omnisexual: The Dagon Cultists are this trope to a tee.
• Fan Disservice: The Comic! Issue 1 starts out as a fairly typical Police Procedural; by issue 2 things are getting weirder... until the last few pages. It's all downhill from there. So very, very far downhill...
• Fish People: again, it's Lovecraft. and we get to see exactly how those Deep One hybrids get made.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Johnny Carcosa.
• Gorn: a few pages of it; largely downplayed in favour of altogether more disturbing imagery.
• H.P. Lovecraft: par for the course.
• Money, Dear Boy: Moore's stated reason for writing the four part miniseries.
• Occult Detective: the two protagonists. Not that they're fully aware of this at the start.
• Place Beyond Time: both R'lyeh and the Plateau of Leng count.
• Rape as Drama: a deeply disquieting look at the "blasphemous rites" Lovecraft talks about in his works.
• Really Gets Around: Agent Merrill Brears is a recovering sex addict. This is not played for laughs.
• Shout-Out: Discussed Trope; the miniseries stops dancing around the issue of the ludicrous number of Lovecraft references in The Courtyard, and outright addresses them. The FBI agents discuss whether the writings may be influencing a series of occult killings, or whether it might be the other way around...
• Starfish Aliens: again, par for the course.
• Stockholm Syndrome: elements of this come into play in the scene where Brears talks to her Deep One rapist.