Since he burst onto the comics scene in the late 70's, Moore hasn't created mediocre works.
Deemed the greatest comic book writer of the XX Century, he has authored Miracleman, Killing Joke, Watchmen, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V for Vendetta, among others. These last four all being motion Pictures.
Providence, serving both as prequel and sequel to Neonomicon (Avatar, 2010) is a 12-issue maxi series that concludes the trilogy of sorts begun in The courtyard (Avatar 2003) 2-issue mini-series.
H.P. Lovecraft being the main inspiration, each issue focuses in some of his most recognized stories, integrating all of them in a grand scenario of sorts, mixing Lovecraft's mythical visions with his peculiar view of sexual, social and racial intolerance, which by the way, permeated the first part of the past century and Moore's abundant and long-winded prose, giving Jacen Burrows ( artist) the chance to create a very simple and beautiful, but sometimes brutal art that in the best of cases, leaves you asking for more! The final pages of each issue, as is customary with Moore, have endless and beautifully written prose, complementing the art pages, and in some cases, clarifying possible unclear parts of the plot.
Being sick, yesterday was a great opportunity to read all 12 issues in one session.
When reading a regular-sized Superman or Spider-Man issue, I may spend 5/7 minutes. When Neil Gaiman's Sandman was being published, I would take up to 40 minutes to read ONE ISSUE. Providence, being so complex, detailed and written to the point of saturation, took me 14 hours to read it. I'm not complaining, mind you! Some modern comics taste like cotton candy, and last as long, in pleasure and in memory.
This is an oeuvre for mature minds, very mature, in some cases...
Being a mix of real life events, like Lovecraft's visit to Lord Dunsany's speech at an University in 1920, and imaginary ones- all his stories are intertwined into Moore's script, one could lose track of reality and fantasy, but maybe that's one of the things that make Providence so great for reading.
Moore treats Lovecraft better here, than Warren Ellis did in the Planetary/Authority one shot (Wildstorm/DC, 2000) also integrated by Ellis into the story.
The protagonist, Robert Black, begins a journey to research for his first book about American Folklore, travelling thru most of the fictional places and towns of Lovecraft lore. One can feel his descent into madness with each progressing issue. 10 issues are about his journey, and the last two, are about consequences and fate.
You don't need to have read prose by Lovecraft or the others mentioned, but it certainly helps.
Those 2 last issues are great, because in one vignette, one can see the last seconds in this mortal plane of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan The Barbarian; in other, we can read about August W. Derleth and Donald Wandrei's thoughts just after H.P. Lovecraft died, and so on. Derleth by the way, founded Arkham House in 1939, to publish and maintain in the public eye all of Lovecraft's works.
Providence, like a good book, needs to be read in one session. And later, reread more slowly to get all nuances and details one might have passed by before.
If you want the single issues, you might invest some money, in the range of 70/100 dlls. plus shipping. Collected in 3 hardcovers, you should pay 75.00 dlls plus shipping. There are no softcovers to this day. But it's money well spent, don't worry.
Cheers!
Great overview. Made me want to check them out. To bad they are so expensive. I would recommend The Invisibles.
Well, yes... Unfortunately, comic books are not cheap nowadays. These issues have a cover price of 4.00, and being a 12-issue maxi series... Some of them command an 8 dollar tag in the secondary market.
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STOPThanks. I appreciate it!
Providence was a welcome return to his complicated self. To his masterful complicated self.
Well, there are so few titles now that are complex and give oneself literal hours of reading... The majority of the stuff being pubished is so simple and uncomplicated, you can breeze thru them in 5 minutes, tops! He's still the master, you know?
He is and he’s miles ahead of everybody else.
I’ve recently particularly enjoyed Hicks’ Black Monday Murders when it comes to the department of complexity. But Hicks is by no means anywhere close yet. Ellis’ Injection coming close but not that close to Hicks’ BMM.
Remender is another current favorite who adds a degree of complexity to world building.
I'll try BMM and yes, Ellis is another favorite... His Planetary is amazing!