View source for Alan Moore's The Courtyard


{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}

{{Infobox comic book title <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image               = Alan Moore's The Courtyard.jpg
|caption             = ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard'' TPB (2004), art by [[Jacen Burrows]]
|schedule            = Monthly
|limited             = y
|Chthulu             = y
|publisher           = [[Avatar Press]]
|startmo             = January
|startyr             = 2003
|endmo               = February
|endyr               = 2003
|issues              = 2
|writers             = [[Alan Moore]] (original story)<br />[[Antony Johnston]] (adaptation)
|artists             = [[Jacen Burrows]]
|editors             = William A. Christensen<br />Alan Moore
|creators            = [[Alan Moore]]<br />[[Jacen Burrows]]
|TPB                 = Deluxe Hardcover Set
|ISBN                = 1-59291-017-3
|subcat              = Avatar Press
|sort                = Alan Moore's The Courtyard
}}

'''''Alan Moore's The Courtyard''''' is a two-issue comic book [[Limited series (comics)|mini-series]] published in 2003 by [[Avatar Press]]. The comic was adapted by [[Antony Johnston]] with artwork by [[Jacen Burrows]] from a 1994 prose story by [[Alan Moore]] (credited as "consulting editor").

==Plot==
Aldo Sax is an [[FBI]] agent using "anomaly theory", a method that correlates seemingly unrelated data into a cohesive whole, to investigate three seemingly unrelated ritual murders around the United States. His investigation leads him to a nightclub in [[Red Hook, Brooklyn|Red Hook]], [[Brooklyn]], where he hears of a [[psychoactive drug]] called [[Aklo]], peddled by a mysterious veiled man named [[Carcosa|Johnny Carcosa]]. Sax sets up a meet with Carcosa at the dealer's apartment building, where he is given a [[hallucinogenic]] white powder as a prelude to the Aklo. Carcosa speaks an unknown language to Sax, who experiences visions of spectral planes and hideous primordial creatures, while understanding the truth that Aklo is not a drug, but the language Carcosa spoke to him. The visions, given to him by Aklo, drive Sax to murder his neighbor using the same ''[[modus operandi]]'' as the killers he was investigating.

==Publication history==
The original 1994 prose story had first appeared in an anthology ''[[The Starry Wisdom]]: A Tribute to [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (Creation Books, 1995, {{ISBN|1-871592-32-1}}).

The comic book adaptation was planned to appear in ''[[Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths]]'', but it was published as a [[Limited series (comics)|limited series]] by [[Avatar Press|Avatar]] in January and February 2003.

===Collected editions===
The series was collected in a [[trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] in 2003, a second version (the Companion) was released in 2004, which contained annotations by [[H. P. Lovecraft]] scholar N. G. Christakos and reprinted Moore's original short story. A limited edition hardcover set of the two volumes was also released in 2004. In 2009 a full color version was released separately, as well as in a collection with Moore's sequel series ''[[Neonomicon]]''.

* ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard'' ([[Avatar Press]], softcover, 56 pages, 2004, {{ISBN|1-59291-015-7}})
* ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard Companion'' (Avatar Press, softcover, 72 pages, 2004, {{ISBN|1-59291-016-5}})
* ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard Deluxe Hardcover Set'' (Avatar Press, hardcover, 128 pages, 2004, {{ISBN|1-59291-017-3}})
* ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard (Color Edition)'' (Avatar Press, 56 pages, 11 March 2009, {{ISBN|1-59291-060-2}})

==Sequel==
Alan Moore has written a 4-part sequel to ''The Courtyard'' called ''[[Neonomicon]],'' the final issue of which was released by Avatar on 23 March 2011. Moore's 2015–17 comic ''[[Providence (Avatar Press)|Providence]]'' is a further continuation in the series.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{gcdb series|id=21697|title=Alan Moore's The Courtyard}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=2986|title=Alan Moore's The Courtyard}}

==External links==
* [http://www.avatarpress.com/thecourtyard/ ''The Courtyard'' page] at [[Avatar Press]]

{{Alan Moore|type=comic}}
{{Cthulhu Mythos}}

[[Category:Comics based on fiction]]
[[Category:Comics set in New York City]]
[[Category:Comics by Alan Moore]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Alan Moore's The Courtyard|access_date=2026-02-24}}