Yowza wrote:

Oh good..."The Courtyard" is a masterpiece and "Neonomicon" is shaping up as a very good sequel. Moore, like Reenie, doesn't shy away from the fact in Lovecraft's Mythos tales the big issue at hand isn't sex - which is what the writers of Lovecraft seem to think - but race. The protagonist in "The Courtyard" like in "Red Hook" is a racist which makes for an interesting POV since most people tend to want their stories' protagonists to be over-all good people.

As far as what you said you think would happen to Lovecraft if he ever actually encountered the gods of his Mythos....well your not too far off from Reenie's line of thinking. That's all I'll say about that. 
I'll bet (in Reenie's story) he kills himself is what happens... 
Ha... I guess, I'll find out when I pick up a copy of Necronauts.

Anyway, for now, I just recieved the "Courtyard Companion" in the mail.  Besides the original prose story by Alan Moore, it has a hand-written introduction by Antony Johnston (guy who wrote a script based comic adaptation off of Moore's Courtyard story), reflection essay by Antony Johnston, Courtyard Comic Book Script by Antony Johnston, and lots of good Annotations.  Unfortunately, it doesn't have the actual comic-book; for some reason I thought it would but that's fine...  I'll just order the new 2009 Color version of the Courtyard to go with this.  I won't be spoiled or anything cause I planned to read Moore's prose story first anyway...

Neonomicon's shaping up to be quite good too.  It's a pretty straight forward story compared to most of Moore's stuff but of course there's some people that like to see a metatextual aspect behind this story.  Here's one guy breaking down the panel layout of issue #1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gCH7e0r70U
 
Also, here's a preview for issue 2 I found:
http://www.bleedingcool.c...of-penises-to-go-around/

Alan Moore supposedly wrote this while in a bad mood and he says in an interview this may have colored the work.  Supposedly, this story attempts to name the "Nameless Rites" that Lovecraft talked about.  Looks like both sexual and racist elements are present in abundance.

Update:  I just placed an order for the color based adaptation of the Courtyard (to go with my Companion Edition) along with an order for the John Coulthart "Haunter of The Dark and Other Grotesque Visions".  Hopefully, when I have the money I'll be able to order some more of this stuff if I'm not too Cthulu'd out.
Yeah I would read the prose version of "The Courtyard" first anyway. Did you start "Neonomicon" before reading "The Courtyard"? If so that's interesting but I'm sure your not the first or last to do so. Once you read "The Courtyard" certain things in "Neonomicon" will start to make a lot more sense.

I've seen that YouTube video with the guy breaking down the panels in issue one. I actually think it's quite good and brings out some things I hadn't originally noticed. Moore is a smart writer and knows how to use the various elements of a comic book to their full effect. That said, I honestly only like some of his work. My favorite thing he's done is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I just wish it didn't take so long for new issues to come out.