Tales of Telguuth

by Steve Moore

TELGUUTH IS A PLANET OF STRANGE SIGHTS AND PERVERSE LIFE FORMS, NESTLED AMIDST the whirling suns of the galactic hub. Here, magic and mystery are manifold, where demons seek to enslave humanity and warriors risk their lives for fabulous riches. It's a setting ripe for the telling of stories, and the tales within this volume are just some of Telguuth's legends...

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Horror

232 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2015

About the author

Steve Moore was a British comics writer known for his influence on the industry and his close connection with Alan Moore (no relation). He was instrumental in guiding Alan Moore early in his career and collaborated with him under pseudonyms in various projects.
Moore contributed extensively to British comics, particularly in anthologies such as 2000 AD, where he helped shape the Future Shocks format and wrote for Dan Dare. His work extended to Doctor Who Weekly, where he co-created Abslom Daak, and Warrior, where he revived Axel Pressbutton. His involvement with Marvel UK included writing for Hulk and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Outside of comics, Moore had a deep interest in Chinese history, mythology, and the I Ching, which influenced much of his writing. He edited Fortean Times and contributed to works on the unexplained. His novel Somnium explored his fascination with the moon goddess Selene.
Later in his career, Moore scripted Hercules: The Thracian Wars, which was adapted into a film in 2014. He ultimately retired from mainstream comics to focus on non-fiction and research, maintaining his lifelong engagement with esoteric studies.

Reviews

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's basically The Twilight Zone with Sword & Sorcery aesthetic. With a couple exceptions, nearly each of the short stories ends with grisly death or other horrible demise to the main characters - which is just as well since almost everyone in the setting is a terrible person or at least didn't think things through. Some of the stories are pretty good and the twists inventive and the fates fitting, if not outright unpredictable. Others are straightforward and rather poorly told. But even the best ones did not leave a whole lot of a lasting impact.

Quality of art varies just as wildly, but most of the time it at least manages to get across some bizarre and fantastic landscapes, weird cities and many moons and hideous demons.

But it would have been nice to see all those demons and gods and maggots bent on world-conquest to end up fighting each other towards the end. That alone could have elevated this into something of the usual 2000AD standards.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of strange tales by Steve Moore. They were all either about wizards or demons or both. In the introduction Alan Moore had said how Steve had been influence by Clark Ashton Smith and that was definitely clear in the stories. As these were written for 2000AD they were short individual stories with no continuation either in plot or characters between them. The only consistency was the world which was messed up and full of greedy people and demons waiting to devour your soul or torture you for all eternity. I'm only giving this 4 stars as there were too few women characters, and the women who were there were mostly wenches. Though there was a wonderful story about a female demon hunter that was probably my favoruite. Definitely one I'd recommend highly to all Lovecraft and Smith fans. It reminded me again, that I really do need to read Steve Moore's novel!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of strange tales from the imaginary land of Telguuth. The stories are highly original, with Lovecraftian horror combined with Robert E. Howard-like mythological themes. It is an atmospheric late night read for Halloween.

[Stratospherus · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the diabolical mind of Steve Moore (not related to Alan Moore), father of 2000ad Future Shocks, came this beast, spiritually akin to Future Shocks, collection of short, dark fantasy tales, with twist at the end. But unlike Future Shocks that varies wildly in the setting or time, all stories are set in the wondrous, if not blazing world of Telguuth, where only impossible to human mind is very possible. Almost every story deals with greed, arrogance, lust, stupidity - which usually results in not that blissful demise of its protagonists. The collection does not really build up an overarching mythology here as it focused on telling individual stories. The quality of the stories varies, some are masterfully crafted, some are predictable (very few), while in some the twist doesn't run live up to its build-up. Also, there are healthy touches of truly fiendish humor that Steve Moore can only concoct. Art also varies throughout. Greg Staples, Dave Kendall and Paul Johnson are true stars here (sadly, Kendall only drew one story), Staples just blows away; on the other hand, I couldn't stomach Siku, although I love his use of color, very vivid. The reason I am giving this 3 stars is that I am not a big fan of Tolkien, Martin or any other popular fantasy scribbler. But if you like dark fantasy stuff and a spice of some really good storytelling, then this is just for you.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

i had meant to purchase this when it came out, as despite steve moore's long career there's precious few scraps out there readily available for someone who wasn't there to collect his work when it came out. my own indolence prevented me, as it has many things. but then i stepped into a charity shop on an offchance there was anything of interest, they had stacks of the 2000ad ultimate collection, presumably remaindered bc there were multiple copies of each volume they had. i had given up on finding anything of interest to myself when i saw this there, shadowed by a shelf obscuring its title at first. i seized it as if there was any competition for it and teased it out with one story every couple days. but tonight i devoured the rest. feverish and nasty, delightful art in a range of styles, the first few have slightly predictable twists but the fun of getting there got me over that hump

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of unconnected stories based in a magical, sci fi world by Alan Moore’s friend and fellow magician, Steve Moore. I liked them but would recommend not reading them all at once, instead just dipping in now and again because the stories all seem to have a twist at the end. I love twists but they became easy to spot in a continuous reading.

[Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's remarkable about these stories is their consistency; every portmanteau tends to have at least one weak link however for nearly 200 pages Steve Moore spins wonderful yarns complete with twists and turns all illustrated brilliantly by a plethora of talented artists. Tales of Telguuth is a fine entry into the 2000 AD canon and is a must read in my opinion.

[Sotiris Kosmas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminiscent of Conan, the high-fantasy world of Telguuth is filled with wonder, violence and magic. An amazing read that will take you back to the 90s and the saucy adventures of adolescent imagination.

[Ashkin Ayub · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, that was creepy, gory, and cray. i didn't expect it any other way! i will have teeth nightmares!

art: 4/5
story: 3/5

[Misa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnfed it at page 68. Not interesting.

[Ferenc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the faint-hearted.

5/5 - Graphic Novels
5/5 - Fantasy
5/5 - Stories

5/5 - Rating

[Achtung Englander · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of 25 stories that were first published in 2000AD. Some stories are funnier than others but all are excellent. The common thread for all the stories is that they have a twist at the end. The writing and stories all came from the clever mind of Steve Moore but the art style was done by various artists, my favourite being Clint Langley and David Kendall.

There are some genuinely funny panels and if you love to see fantasy taken the piss out of than look no further. The names of characters and places are completely bonkers and some are real tongue twisters.

This is a graphic novel that you can dip into at any time or read as a whole whenever you fancy a sadistic laugh. I loved it.

[Alex Sarll]

Steve Moore invented Future Shocks and mentored Alan Moore, so possibly 2000AD realised they owed him one and that was why they let him get away with these for so long. It's a great little comic which has achieved wonderful things, but the three years in which these originally came out must be the only time it carried a series whose main influence was the underrated, overwrought Clark Ashton Smith. Not, alas, that this always comes through as clearly as in the prose stories of Telguuth which Moore later distributed privately (a collection of those is promised vaguely soonish). The first story, which establishes the world, has fittingly extravagant and morbid art from Greg Staples, and a few others hit the right note, but too often the artists are either outright cartoonish or, in the case of Siku, weirdly static. And without either the right art or suitably lush prose to set the scene, demon-haunted settings which should recall Zothique instead suggest teenage D&D games, and twist endings which should be savage can sometimes come across merely pat.