Cthulhu in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of media that feature H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu in popular culture.

Contents 1 Literary references 2 Music references 3 Role-playing games 4 Video games 5 Other games 6 Toys 7 Television 8 Film 9 Comics 10 Other media 11 Parodies 12 See also

[edit] Literary references

• Ramsey Campbell's short story "The Tugging" (1976) pays homage to "The Call of Cthulhu", hinting that the appearance of a strange astronomical body in the solar system heralds the return of the Great Old One himself.

• In Brian Lumley's short story "The Fairground Horror" (1976), Cthulhu's priests bear the "Mark of Cthulhu", which looks something like a white sea anemone—in one priest, this "mark" substituted in place of a hand, while in another it grew from the top of the priest's head, seemingly rooted deep in the brain.

• A Cthulhu-like entity features in the Doctor Who novel White Darkness by David A. McIntee. A later Doctor Who novel, All-Consuming Fire by Andy Lane, states that the entity in question was Cthulhu, although McIntee stated in internet postings that this was not his original intention ([1]).

• Cthulhu is the master of William Starling in the book Knees Up Mother Earth (2004) by British author Robert Rankin. Raised by the Eye of Utu, he sought to unearth the serpent featured in Genesis of the Bible.

• An American tourist named Ben encounters two acolytes of Cthulhu in the English town of Innsmouth in Neil Gaiman's short story "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar", from his book Smoke and Mirrors. The two men tell Ben about their duty to the "impermanently deceased" Cthulhu and show him the ruins of sunken R'lyeh in the bay. Ben awakes after a drunken sleep to find the town vanished and no record of it anywhere. Another Gaiman story, entitled "I Cthulhu", sees Cthulhu (humorously) narrating his life to Whately.

• Jack Kerouac witnesses the rising of R'lyeh from the sea and goes on the road with Neal Cassady and William S. Burroughs to save the world from Cthulhu, in Nick Mamatas's novel Move Under Ground (2004).

• Minions of Cthulhu attempt to bring the Great Old One back in modern day Glasgow in The Midnight Eye Files: The Amulet (2005) by British author William Meikle, but they are foiled by a local PI fueled by booze, cigarettes and the love of an unattainable woman. [2]

• Cthulhu (as well as other Lovecraftian monsters, notably shoggoths) play a prominent role in Charles Stross's short story "A Colder War" (inspired by At the Mountains of Madness)

• In Michael Marshall Smith's short story "To See the Sea", the cult of Cthulhu is present in the strange seaside village visited by the protagonist. Although there is no direct reference to Cthulhu, a leaflet for the town festival mentions the word R'lyeh, which he first assumes to be a misprint.

• In Roger Zelazny's novel "A Night in the Lonesome October", a portal that will allow Cthulhu and the other Great Old Ones to roam free on Earth is fought over by two rival groups of magicians.

• In Dean Koontz's novel "The Taking" Cthulhu are referenced in Chapter 35. "Craftsman style, no Cthulhu".

• A story mashing up H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos with Goatse (by art group monochrom).

[edit] Music references

There are many musical references to Cthulhu, especially in the genres of Heavy Metal, Gothic Rock and Folk music:

• Bal-Sagoth: "Shackled to the Trilithon of Kutulu" from The Chthonic Chronicles

• British progressive rock band Caravan has a song "C'thlu Thlu" on their 1973 album For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night.

• Clutch mentions Cthulhu's "red-headed step-child" in "Circus Maximus" off their Robot Hive/Exodus album.

• Cradle of Filth has a song called "Cthulhu Dawn" on the album Midian. The album Nymphetamine 2004 has several references to Cthulhu including chants of "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" in both "Mother of Abomination" and "Satyriasis". R'lyeh is mentioned in the lyrics of the song "English Fire" on the same album. Songwriter Dani Filth treats Cthulhu as a female entity.

• The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, a Canadian rock band, makes frequent (and usually tongue-in-cheek) references to Cthulhu and other members of the Lovecraft mythos, going so far as to have albums with names like Cthulhuriffomania! and Cthulhu Strikes Back. They also produced Let Sleeping Gods Lie, an album made with Wizards of the Coast to promote the new edition of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

• Mark E Smith of The Fall based his track "The Horror in Clay" on his spoken-word album "The Post Nearly Man" on Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu". Another track by The Fall from 1989, entitled "Squid Law", seems to make a more oblique reference to the character.

• Fields of the Nephilim featured references to Cthulhu, particularly in songs on the album The Nephilim.

• Lead singer of GWAR, Oderus Urungus, frequently sprays fake blood on the audience from a prosthetic penis he calls the Cuttlefish of Cthulhu.

• A quote from "The Call of Cthulhu" ("That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die") appears on a tombstone on the cover of Iron Maiden's Live After Death album.

• Mercyful Fate have a song called "Kutulu (The Mad Arab Part Two)" featured on their album Into The Unknown.

• Epic heavy metal band Manilla Road dedicated the album Atlantis Rising to the concept of Cthulhu fighting the Norse Gods and Poseidon over the newly risen city of Atlantis.

• Metallica wrote two songs referencing Cthulhu: The instrumental "The Call of Ktulu", recorded on the 1984 album Ride the Lightning, and "The Thing That Should Not Be", appearing on the 1986 album Master of Puppets. Both of these tracks also appear on the band's album with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, S&M. The band's late bassist Cliff Burton was an avid Lovecraft fan.^{[citation needed]}

• Beatallica, a spoof band combining Metallica tracks with songs from The Beatles likewise references Cthulhu in their song "The Thing That Should Not Let It Be", from their A Garage Dayz Nite EP. The song is a combination of "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica and "Let It Be" by The Beatles.

• Many of Morbid Angel's songs reference Cthulhu and the Cthulhu Mythos. Such include on the album Abominations of Desolation the songs on there are Azagthoth (referring to Azathoth), Angel of Disease (which mentions Cthulhu, Ancient Ones, Shub-Niggurath, and the Elder Gods), and The Gate/Lord of All Fevers. On the Formulas Fatal to the Flesh album, almost all the songs on there have references to the Cthulhu Mythos Also the lead guitarist is named Trey Azagthoth.

• The American death metal band Nile refers to Cthulhu or related deities in various songs, with some of their work related to Lovecraftian fiction, including the album title Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (from "The Outsider") and the song "Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten". Most of the band members, particularly Karl Sanders, admit to being great fans of Lovecraft's work.

• English iconoclastic punk band Rudimentary Peni produced an entire album, Cacophony, based on H. P. Lovecraft's writings; the album is dedicated to Cthulhu and Lovecraft.

• Samael, a Black Metal band from Switzerland, had an instrumental track named "Rite of Cthulhu" on their album Worship Him.

• The symphonic metal band Therion released a song named "Ctulhu" on their second studio album Beyond Sanctorum (1992). There is also a demo version of "Ctulhu" on the 2000 re-release of this album.

• The Tiger Lillies performed the Song Call of Cthulhu on their tour (and avalible on DVD) for the Lovecraft inspired tour of Mountains of Madness

• The black metal band Venom's song "The Evil One" off their album Cast in Stone has a reference to Cthulhu.

• The Vision Bleak wrote a song called "Kutulu" on their album Carpathia - A Dramatic Poem (2005).

[edit] Role-playing games

• Call of Cthulhu is the title of a popular role-playing game based on the Cthulhu Mythos. Not to be confused with the video game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

• The Cthulhu Mythos was introduced to the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons in the first edition of the TSR book Deities & Demigods (ISBN 0-935696-22-9), published in 1980. Third and later printings of the book did not contain Mythos characters, due to copyright issues. In 2002, an edition of Call of Cthulhu (ISBN 0-7869-2639-2) was released under the d20 System, an open source rule system compatible with Dungeons & Dragons.

• Illithids or "Mind Flayers" in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons are described as squid-headed man-sized humanoid monsters similar to Cthulhu (or Spawn of Cthulhu), but without the wings. Their main power is a psychic blast which stuns a victim so the beast may extract and devour the victim's brain. They are copied almost identically in the computer game Dominions II as part of the R'lyeh faction.

• The Palladium Books role-playing game Rifts has a Cthulhu-inspired alien intelligence known as the Lord of the Deep that lives in the Pacific Ocean and grants powers to his cultists throughout the world.

• Cthulhu Lives! is a live-action Lovecraft-inspired game.

• Macho Women with Guns is a comedy role-playing game that parodies many subjects, including the Cthulhu Mythos. Its list of "critters" includes a Cthulhu-inspired monster named Bthulhu.

• Cumberland Games & Diversions has released three editions of the Pokéthulhu role-playing game, which parodies both Pokémon and the Cthulhu mythos.

[edit] Video games

• The online RPG game AdventureQuest features creatures called Cthulion, a combination of Cthulhu and a lion.
• In the SNES RPG Breath of Fire 2 the pope-esq leader of a religion (Habaruku) transforms into a Cthulhu like creature to fight the protagonists of the game.
• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a computer game by Headfirst Productions and Bethesda Softworks, the makers of the highly praised Morrowind. The game is based on the pen-and-paper role-playing game.
• In the English version of Doukutsu Monogatari, the inhabitants of the floating island where the game takes place are called Cthulhu.
• The entire Megami Tensei series and its offshoots, most notably Persona 2, draw heavily on Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian creatures for their enemy designs. Cthulhu himself appears as a demon in Shin Megami Tensei II.
• Prisoner of Ice and Shadow of the Comet are graphic adventure games in the Call of Cthulhu game series that center around the Cthulhu Mythos.
• In the PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a monster named Cthulhu wanders through the Marble Gallery. Even though named such, the monster in Olrox's Quarters named Malachi bears more of a resemblance to the fictional beast; this is believed to be an error made while translating the game. The Malachi character returns in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, both of which are for the Nintendo DS.
• In the PC game Thief, Cthulhu is depicted in a giant statue. This image appears in the level "The Lost City", which is set in a long forgotten ruin buried deep underground.
• X-COM: Terror from the Deep has a main adversary with a very similar appearance and origin to Cthulhu. Also, there is a race of aliens named Deep Ones.
• The PlayStation 2 game Shadow Hearts is inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos, using such notables as Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep for monster designs.
• In the PlayStation 2 game Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, there are creatures with heads similar to Cthulhu, named H.P. Squidcraft.
• In the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, the Qiraji and Silithid are ruled over by an "Old God" named C'thun. During a certain event in the game, the character may also be afflicted by the "Whisperings of C'thun", apparently based on "The Call of Cthulhu". C'thun also has followers outside Ahn'Qiraj, including Mistress Natalia Mar'alith, a Night Elf High Priestess of C'thun who is the target of a quest called "Into the Maw of Madness." C'thun and the rest of the Old Gods are also responsible for the corruption and madness of the black dragon Neltharion, also known as Deathwing. Like Cthulhu, C'thun is incredibly powerful, one of the strongest enemy creature within the game. C'thun bears no humanoid characteristics, being a pale-flesh mound of teeth, eyes and tentacles, he could be said to resemble Cthulhu's head. However, what is presumed to be the corpse of another Old God that is in the south of the Darkshore region does seem to have more of a humanoid similarity.
• In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, there is a race of creatures under Northrend called "The Faceless Ones" and show Cthulhu-esque facial features. "The Faceless Ones" are ruled over by a large tentacled Cthulhu-esque creature similar to C'Thun.
• In the action game Max Payne, the psychotic mafia goon Jack Lupino mentions Cthulhu in his deluded worship of various demons and other maleficent figures. Lupino pronounces the name "Ch-too-loo", perhaps the result of the voice actor misreading the word.
• In the 1996 PC fighting game Pray For Death, developed by LightShock Software, Cthulhu is one of the selectable characters.
• Cthulhu Nation is a web-based game dealing with the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness has frequent, numerous allusions to the Cthulhu mythos.
• One of Bungie's first titles was Pathways Into Darkness which featured a god named Cthulu.
• Call Of Cthulhu 3rd person action/adventure game.
• The Gamecube video game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, is heavily based around Lovecraft's works.
• The XBox 360 RPG The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion exhibits a quest in which the player travels to a remote town called Hackdirt in search of an abducted delivery girl. The player finds several disgruntled townsfolk, and a book in a suspicious chapel titled "Bible of the Deep Ones". If the player goes into the caverns below Hackdirt, they will hear the Deep Ones snuffling and grunting (Although they do not see them. Crazed villagers take the place of enemies in these caverns.)

[edit] Other games

• HorrorClix made by WizKids Games has a premiere figure of Cthulhu. The game also has a smaller figure called "The Avatar of Cthulhu" that looks like a smaller version of The Great Cthulhu.
• The card game Hecatomb, produced by Wizards of the Coast, draws heavily on the works of H.P. Lovecraft in general and the Cthulhu Mythos specifically. In the game's base set, Great Cthulhu is given the title "Highest of the Great Old Ones". A number of the minions in the games, most noticeably cultists and outsiders, are also strongly linked to Cthulhu.

• Mythos: The Collectible Card Game was released by Chaosium Publications beginning in 1996, based on the Cthulhu Mythos.

• Call of Cthulhu Collectible Card Game is in release currently as two complete three-set blocks of 535 cards by Fantasy Flight Games under license from Chaosium. It is not compatible with Mythos.

• The board game Arkham Horror is set in the town of Arkham, Lovecraft's fictitious version of Salem. Where the players must try and prevent the coming of a randomly selected 'Great Old One' from the Cthulhu Mythos.

• There also is a card game named Creatures & Cultists, which uses many elements from the Chtulhu mythos.

• Munchkin by Steve Jackson Games includes a monster card featuring The Great Cthulhu in the Star Munchkin deck. There will also be an edition of the game called Munchkin Cthulhu, due out in the summer of 2007.

[edit] Toys

• Cthulhu plushies (stuffed animals) are available from a number of vendors. These include standard Cthulhus of varying sizes, and also include variant outfits, such as Elvis, goth, graduate, Santa, secret agent, super-hero, vampire, and valentino. There are also plush of other figures from the Cthulhu mythos. Soft Cthulhu slippers, backpacks, and baseball caps are also available.

• SOTA Toys will be releasing action figures based on Cthulhu and other creatures from the Cthulhu Mythos. The first wave of figures, due in October 2006, will include Cthulhu, Dagon and a ghoul.

• Dreamland Toyworks are planning a My Little Cthulhu toy to launch in early 2007 along with sets of victims and minions.

[edit] Television

• The BBC made-for-TV movie Rough Magik (2000) was influenced by "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Shadow out of Time", and lists H.P. Lovecraft in its writing credits.

• Cthulhu and his cult (along with other mythos references) appear in an episode of the Real Ghostbusters animated series, "The Collect Call of Cathulu" (sic).

• In the television series Babylon 5, the pak'ma'ra, a race of carrion eaters, look a great deal like Cthulhu.

• 

In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy animated series, episode number 58, "Prank Call of Cthulhu", features "The Phone of Cthulhu", which Grim says is the most dangerous phone in the universe. When Billy and Irwin use it to make prank calls, they end up getting roped into a scheme by Cthulhu to use prank calls by running his own extra-dimensional prank call company to turn the people of the world into tentacled eldritch monsters straight out of the Mythos. Cthulhu technically doesn't speak in the episode, but does make a couple of sounds that bear some similarity to human speech.

• In an episode of the Justice League animated series titled "The Terror Beyond", Superman, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl join forces with Doctor Fate, Aquaman and Solomon Grundy to stop an invasion by strange, alien creatures. Their leader turns out to be a Cthulhu-like being named Ichthultu, and it is revealed that Hawkgirl's people (the Thanagarians) used to worship him centuries ago.

• In The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, two episodes of the recent (2006) series of Doctor Who, creatures resembling Cthulhu called the Ood act as the Legion of the Beast for an ancient, Balrog-like alien who had been imprisoned, waiting to be released to regain power over the universe.

• In the Japanese Super Sentai series, Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, one of the villains is a Alienizer named Dagoneila from planet Cthulia. Though he had a child-like mentality, he was really a few millenia old with an obsession for collecting people. In Power Rangers: SPD, Bugglesworth is Dagoneila's American counterpart.

• In the Japanese Super Sentai series, Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the main villain of the series is a demon known as N Ma. N Ma's appearance was based on Cthulhu and his second form, his Absolute God form, is supposed to be a mix of Cthulhu and Satan giving him a Balrog-like appearance. In Power Rangers: Mystic Force, the Master is N Ma's American counterpart.

• In the Digimon series, the character Dragomon is based on Cthulhu.

• Cthulhu is among the entities called upon by Katsumi Liqueur in the anime Silent Möbius.

• The villain Vilgax from the American animated series Ben 10 bears a striking resemblance to Cthulhu.

• A Cthulhu plush doll appears on Henchman #21's shelf during the Venture Bros. episode "Hate Floats"

• In the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" 2003 series, a terrible creature resembling Cthulhu appeared in the episode "The Darkness Within". It initially captured the Turtles and trapped them in a nightmarish prison inside their own minds. Later, when Leonardo was ready to strike the monster itself down, it gained partial control of his mind with bribes of infinite power and world domination, but he was able to shake off its influence and strike it down with an ancient spear made from part of the very meteor which the creature from the stars arrived on. In direct relation to the beast's demise, the old man who had directed the turtles to the monster, one C.F. Volpehart (an anagram of H.P. Lovecraft's own name), informed their friend Angel that they had successfully defeated the monster and that he was now free of its influence. As he collapses, his body turns to ash. At the end of the episode, however, we see that a businessman outside the Volpehart building decided to answer the public pay phone that suddenly began to ring. Through the speaker, we hear a familiar, monstrous voice. . .

• Doctor Zoidberg, a main character in Futurama has a mockingly similar appearance and backstory to Cthulhu.

• The evil aliens called the Glorft in Megas XLR also have similar appearance to Cthulhu.

[edit] Film

• The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society has produced an independent black-and-white silent film titled "The Call of Cthulhu", based closely on Lovecraft's original story. More about the film through IMDB or the HPLHS website.

• Arkham NW Productions, a Seattle based production company is producing a feature horror film titled Cthulhu loosely based on the short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".

• The anime series Fight! Iczer One is very loosely based on Lovecraft's concepts, with the alien race trying to invade Earth "Cthuwulf".

• The movie Cast a Deadly Spell is a 1991 film based in a 1940s Cthulhuvian universe. The main actor plays a detective named H. Phillip Lovecraft, who is hired to find an ancient book (the Necronomicon). It has a rather impressive Cthulhu that gets summoned at the end of it.

• In the movie Hellboy, the villainous Rasputin's goal is to release the Ogdru Jahad, a septet of Lovecraftian entities imprisoned in deep space. These creatures are broadly similar to Cthulhu in appearance and temperament, intended as an homage by the source material's author, Mike Mignola.

• The movie Dagon (2001) is based on the short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". More information on the movie through IMDB.

• The movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Davy Jones's appearance is similar to that of Cthulhu.

• A short story called Den by Richard Corben in the 1981 film Heavy Metal featured a God named Ulluhtc (Cthulu spoken/spelled backwards?) in the land of "Neverwhere" that young virgins were sacrificed to.

[edit] Comics

• Cthulhu is a recurring character in the webcomics Oh My Gods!, Penny Arcade, Ghastly's Ghastly Comic, User Friendly, Irregular Webcomic!, Nothing Nice to Say, Mac Hall, Ugly Hill, The Robman Show, Bunny, and Exploitation Now.

• Cthulhu appears as a recurring character in writer and artist Matt Howarth's Those Annoying Post Bros and Savage Henry comic books (using the spelling "C'Thulu") as a member of a fictional electronic music band The Bulldaggers. Cthulhu also appears occasionally in Oh My Gods!.

• Cthulhu was the focus point of one of the story arches of the comic M.

• The comic book series Hellboy contains several references to the Cthulhu Mythos, including a sleeping group of Great Old Ones which await assistance in waking up and destroying.

• In the X-Men comics, Magneto raised a sunken city from the ocean floor to use as a base. This city was implied to be R'lyeh by references to 'strange architecture' and the presences of statues bearing Cthulhu's likeness.

• H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu: The Whisperer in Darkness was a three-part comic mini-series published by Millennium Publications that followed a group of investigators, the Miskatonic Project, as they confronted the Mi-go, the cunning Fungi from Yuggoth.

• Arkham Asylum, the mental hospital and penitentiary of the DC universe, was named in honor of Lovecraft's fictional city Arkham.

• The comic The Super Scary Monster Show featuring Little Gloomy (which appears in the Disney Adventures publication, as well as a stand-alone comic) features a character named "Carl Cthulhu", whose family includes other Mythos characters such as Yog Sogoth and C'ullagah, as well as his sister Carla and his barely-audible Grandmother.

• Cthulhu is a character in the webcomic Userfriendly. He is an account executive at a Canadian ISP. He specializes in portals.

• The webcomic Bunny features the Cthulhu many times. In the comic "lovecraft"[3], the Bunny has melded with it into a "Bunthulhu". A mini-Cthulhu is featured in "seafood special"[4], and the Cthulhu is refered to in " Jesus = Old. Cthulhu = Older."[5], which features a choice between Jesus and the Cthulhu.

[edit] Other media

• Campus Crusade for Cthulhu organizations can be found at a number of American universities, including Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New York University. The name is a play off of the evangelical organization Campus Crusade for Christ, chapters of which can be found at many colleges and universities.

• Uncyclopedia features a special page of quotes attributed to Cthulhu, who also has his own daily column at UnNews entitled "Ask Cthulhu".

• The unidentified underwater sound "Bloop" is speculated to have been made by a giant creature; larger than even a blue whale. When the origin of the sound was placed relatively close to the coordinates given for R'lyeh, Lovecraft fans likened "Bloop" to Cthulhu.

• During the 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential election seasons, many vendors sold Cthulhu campaign T-shirts at science-fiction conventions and on Lovecraft fan websites. The shirts usually read: "Why choose the lesser evil? Chthulhu for President XXXX [year]". It is anticipated that they will once again be made available during the 2008 presidential election season. Some science fiction conventions have also held campaign rallies for Cthulhu (see http://www.pen-paper.net/photogallery/GenCon2004/GenCon2004Cthulhu/).

• Calls For Cthulhu is a video series on YouTube where a plush Cthulhu answers callers questions, and metes out occasional justice.

[edit] Parodies

Cthulhu has become an icon symbolizing evil in parodies.

• In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, the ichor god Bel-Shamharoth is a parody of Cthulhu, complete with cult following and veneration of the number Eight. Equal Rites mentions another demon, C'hulagen, who has a name similar to Cthulhu.
• In Pratchett's Discworld novel "Jingo", an island rises from the sea, prompting a territorial dispute and nearly a war between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, before the island again sinks into the sea. In the end the squid, whose natural territory is in the waters around the island, return to their again sunken city and their temple...
• Cthulhu has been a fictional presidential candidate in several U.S. presidential elections. The campaign poked fun at the mediocrity of the forerunners in the elections, exemplified by the catchphrase: "Cthulhu for President – Don't Settle for the Lesser Evil!", which was featured on a variety of merchandise.
• There was an online parody of a Jack Chick tract, "Who Will Be Eaten First?", which featured a message about Cthulhu instead of Christ. It was removed after Chick's lawyers sent a letter to the author.
• The CDs of The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society feature a Lovecraftian Broadway musical entitled A Shoggoth on the Roof and a collection of mythos holiday tunes called A Very Scary Solstice.
• Popular author Neil Gaiman's website features his "long lost" short story, "I, Cthulhu, or What’s a Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing in a Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47 ° 9’ S, Longitude 126 ° 43’ W)?" in which Cthulhu dictates the events of his life to an author referred to as "Whately" (presumably Wilbur Whateley from "The Dunwich Horror"), who is presumably fed to a shoggoth after the conclusion.
• Gaiman's collection of short stories, Smoke and Mirrors, also features a story entitled "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" about an American who accidentally stumbles across a sleepy British coast town whose inhabitants worship C'thulu. In the introduction to the book, Neil attributes his inspiration for the story to a conversation with editor John Jarrold about H.P. Lovecraft's prose style.

• The movie In the Mouth of Madness contained many references to the Cthulhu Mythos, including a brief glimpse of several Old Ones, one of which bears noticeable resemblance to Cthulhu himself.

• The comic book series Little Gloomy features a costar character by the name of "Carl Cthulhu".
• "The Great Old Pumpkin", a short story by John Aegard, parodies both The Great Pumpkin from the Peanuts comic strip and Cthulhu (and Lovecraftian fiction in general).
• Filker Tom Smith wrote and performed a parody of the song "Hakuna Matata" (from the Disney film The Lion King) entitled "Cthulhu Fthagn". The song is primarily sung by two supposed worshipers of Cthulhu, with a verse in the middle sung by Cthulhu him(it?)self, lamenting how he is perceived as evil. In one recorded version, the song was sung with The Great Luke Ski. Smith also has songs entitled "Cthulhu Lite FM", which is the ramblings of a madman who is Cthulhu's press agent, and "The Task of Randolph Carter" (also called "The Thing in the Crib") which is a rendition of a common activity for new parents done in Lovecraftian style. He has two other works entitled "Worship Cthulhu" (to the tune of The Beer Barrel Polka and "House at Cthulhu Corner" (to "House at Pooh Corner").
• Hampshire College has an annual traditional event known as Cthulhu Night, where "cultists" gather and attempt to rouse the sleeping king from his slumber by completely covering the entire campus in chalk drawings of Cthulhu, Cthulhu epithets, and ilk on the night of May 1. (The idea being that Cthulhu will grant them a quick death when he rises, rather than toying with their fragile minds.)
• In the unaired Invader Zim episode, "The Trial", the infinite energy-absorbing thing is described as being a "Cthulhu-like horror".
• Rice University students wear Campus Crusade for Cthulhu T-Shirts to lampoon Campus Crusade for Christ.
• Pokéthulu is a parody melding Pokémon and Call of Cthulhu, with the catchphrase, "Gotta catch YOU all!", with a tentacled Pikachu, a Dodecahedron in place of a Poké Ball, and a parody of the Necronomicon and the Pokédex: the Pokénomicon.
• There is a non-functioning online search engine called Cthuugle that parodies Google.
• The Unspeakable Vault (of Doom) is a non-periodic webcomic, drawn by French artist Francois Launet. It deals in a funny way with many entities from the Lovecraft's works, like Cthulhu himself (referred as Cthulhoo), Nyarlathotep (referred as Nyarly), Shub-Niggurath (referred as Shubby) and so on.

[edit] See also

• Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture