Providence #3

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Commenter Dave Judgment notes: “It is clear that Lillian wears nail varnish in her room in panel 4, but in the public panel 2 she keeps her nails clean (as a gentleman would).” Señor Alvarez? Este caballero es del periódico. Como siempre le digo, todos deberían saber de usted. Mr. Alvarez?” I’m reading your annotations as I read thought Providence for the first time, so thanks for putting these together, they’re really adding to my enjoyment of the book. Also, and this is very obvious too, but not noted anywhere, the tree on the cover, and its shadow, are very suggestive of tentacles, and what could be more Lovecraftian?

The subject of this essay is the first six issues of Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows’ Providence, but let me begin with an apology. In Comics Journal #278 (October 2006), I wrote a negative review of Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s Lost Girls, arguing that Moore’s rigidly schematic plot made the book a chore to read, despite the beauty of Gebbie’s art. I still think Lost Girls is minor Moore, but I went too far in the final paragraph of my review. In response to Moore’s claims that he was retiring from comics (most fully expressed in an interview in Comic Book Artist #25 [April 2003]), I wrote that he was “leaving comics none too soon and many years too late” (138). I was disappointed with much of the America’s Best Comics line (though for me Promethea was major Moore), but I regret those words. They show ingratitude to a writer who entertained me for decades while inspiring other creators to produce better comics.

All of Lovecraft is Here, Even Lovecraft Himself

Davidsen, Keith (1 April 2012). "Alan Moore Accepts First-Ever GN Bram Stoker Award for Neonomicon". Avatar Press . Retrieved 29 April 2012. Providence". Comic Book Roundup. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016 . Retrieved February 22, 2016. The cold, Alverez’ illness, and the ammonia-fueled cooling system are further references to Lovecraft’s “Cool Air.”

Our lives, the world, it’s all just lies, it’s all a story that we’re making up until a more compelling story comes along.”– This ties in to a frequent Moore theme that “stories are real”. Within the context of Providence, it may also be foreshadowing of the exchange between dreams and reality.On the left-hand side, you can just make out a framed silhouette, formerly a popular form of art. Lovecraft had his silhouette cut by E. J. Perry. Alan Moore consigue en el último tercio de “ Providence” imbuir al lector de un terror profundo e incluso abrumador. Los números #11 y #12 de esta maxiserie llegan a unas cotas mareantes de horror cósmico y desesperación existencial. Es una caída al vacío en la que no hay red de salvamento y asistimos a un final fatalista como cerdos al matadero. En un momento de la obra, un personaje dice “ Si estoy leyendo bien, los sueños y nuestro mundo son los dos extremos de una realidad bipolar que puede pasar de un estado al otro de repente”. Algo de lo que somos testigos en un tramo final que queda para los anales del noveno arte en general y del terror entre viñetas en particular. The light on, on the fourth floor, is Dr. Muñoz room from “Cool Air”: (excerpt from Dagonbytes via Alan Moore World)

Note: some of this is obvious, but you never know who’s reading and what their exposure is. If there’s anything we missed or got wrong, let us know in comments. On the left-hand side, a device for pumping gas into the chamber; on the left a selection of records.

Alan Moore's Showcase of True Horror

Es de sobra conocida la anécdota de que fueron las deuda con hacienda las que llevaron a Alan Moore a aceptar la escritura de esta miniserie. Un trabajo que si bien es manifiestamente inferior en todos los sentidos a “ Providence”, establece las semillas de este particular – y enfermizo– universo. El propio Moore hablando sobre la génesis del proyecto dijo “ aunque lo tomé para pagar la factura de impuestos, siempre me aseguraré de intentar que sea la mejor historia posible”. Algo que es palpable desde la primera escena de este “ Neonomicon”. Una apertura que nos presenta a los agentes Gordon Lamper y Merril Brears visitando a Aldo Sax– protagonista de “El Patio”– quien se encuentra encerrado en una institución para enfermos mentales. The automat is a now mostly defunct style of fast-food eatery. Meal items were located in slots in the wall, dishes and all, and were paid for using a coin slot. A map of Providence, Rhode Island, where H. P. Lovecraft was born and lived most of his life. Prominent at the top is Swan Point Cemetery, where Lovecraft is buried. Commenter Sithoid found the source: Cram’s Atlas Of The World (1901)

Later in the story, Moore replays this scene, revealing through narrative context that the earlier images are from the point-of-view of an invisible, misshapen offspring of the Wheatley family: PROVIDENCE #4: The reverse shot of John-Divine's point of view. After you finish this journey, you might realize (like I did) that the experience was so epic that you want to ride the roller coaster again. If this happens to you, I recommend going through the graphic novels a second time with an in-depth guide which you can find here: De l’Isle Adam” is Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, a French symbolist writer whose collection Contes cruels (1883) gave name to an entire genre of horror fiction. Fischer, Craig (February 3, 2016). "Providence: Lovecraft, Sexual Violence, and the Body of the Other". The Comics Journal.Thill, Scott (9 August 2010). "Alan Moore Gets Psychogeographical With Unearthing". Wired . Retrieved 24 March 2011. Providence is one of Alan Moore's most ambitious final projects, a " Watchmen of Horror", as it were. By that, he meant a full-on deconstruction and metacommentary on the entirety of Lovecraft's body or work and the subtexts of racism, gynophobia and paranoia. It's like a kind of Unified Theory of Lovecraft Stories. And the incomparable Jacen Burrows' precise line art charts all the creepy horror and crawling chaos with unflinching exactness In July 2019, Bleeding Cool mentioned that Moore “had written some other stories prior to this [Moore’s retirement from comics] that will be published in the near future.” Bleeding Cool is published by Avatar Press. It takes hubris, or at least a cheeky sense of humor, to compare yourself to Shakespeare, but Moore makes his point: his Tempest will be his last comic, just as The Tempest was Shakespeare’s last play, though I personally wouldn’t object if Moore flipped in and out of retirement like Hayao Miyazaki. But let’s quote that bare-bones plot summary again: “An author is inspired by an already-extant set of characters and relationships to write his own version of the material, adding his own formal innovations and narrative twists. The result is unexpected success and influence.” Doesn’t this describe Moore’s career as much as Lovecraft’s? Moore is perhaps best known for his new spins on established characters and franchises; examples include Swamp Thing, the Charlton Action Heroes, and what Michael Kupperman might call “the League of Appropriated Characters,” the public domain icons (The Invisible Man, Mr. Hyde, the Lost Girls, Cthulhu) that dominate Moore’s recent work. From Michael Kupperman's TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #2 (2006).