Providence Compendium by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows Hardcover

by Alan Moore, Jacen Burrows

Finally, the complete Alan Moore masterpiece in one 480 page tome - the PROVIDENCE COMPENDIUM! Providence is Alan Moore's quintessential horror series! In it, he weaves and reinvents the works of H.P. Lovecraft through historical events. It is both a sequel and prequel to Neonomicon.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Collections, Lovecraftian, Comic Book

480 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Alan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.

As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.

Reviews

[তানজীম রহমান · Rating 5 out of 5]

হাওয়ার্ড লাভক্র্যাফটের আইডিয়াগুলো যেমন জোরদার ছিলো, লেখা ছিলো তেমনই দুর্বল (এখানে ভদ্রতার খাতিরে একটা 'আমার মতে’ যোগ করলাম)। পৃষ্ঠার পর পৃষ্ঠাজুড়ে খটমটে বিবরণ, অতিরিক্ত নাটুকে বিশেষণের বন্যা, আর মোটামুটি সব অতিপ্রাকৃত শক্তিকে ‘অবর্ণনীয় আতংক’ বলে চালিয়ে দেওয়া ছিলো তার অভ্যাস। তার বর্ণবাদ, নারীবিদ্বেষ এবং সন্দেহপ্রবণতা তো বাদই দিলাম।

তবে লাভক্র্যাফটের লেখায় একটা ভীষণ শক্তিশালী ইনসাইট ছিলো। মানুষ যে এই বিশাল, সম্ভবত অন্তহীন মহাবিশ্বে কতোটা নগন্য, কতো আনইম্পর্ট্যান্ট, তা তিনি বুঝতে পেরেছিলেন। তার যুগের মানুষ ঈশ্বরের সাথে বিচ্ছেদে তখনও পুরোপুরি অভ্যস্ত হয়নি। আমাদের মহাজগৎ আদতে কতোটা বিশাল, তার প্রমাণ বৈজ্ঞানিকেরা মাত্র সাধারণ মানুষকে দেখাচ্ছিলেন তখনও। মানুষ তাই লাভক্র্যাফটের জীবনকালে এই বিচ্ছিন্নতা বা এলিয়েনেশন, এবং অতিকায় মহাবিশ্বে একা হওয়ার ভয়টা ভালো করে বুঝতে পারেনি।

আমাদের প্রজন্মের মানুষ ব্ল্যাক হোলকে সত্যিকারের ছবি হিসেবে দেখতে পেয়েছে, অংকের সংখ্যা বা কম্পিউটার জেনারেটেড রেপ্লিকা হিসেবে নয়। গুগল করলে আমরা জানতে পারি স্যাজিটারিয়াস এ স্টার সহজেই ৪১ লাখ সূর্যকে গিলে খেতে পারবে। আমাদের প্রজন্ম জানে এই ছায়াপথ কতো সাধারণ, কতো আনইম্পর্ট্যান্ট একটা গ্যালাক্সি। মানুষের সাথে মহাবিশ্বের বিচ্ছেদ এই প্রজন্ম যতো ভালো জানে, অন্য কোনোটা এভাবে জানেনি। আমরা জানি যে জগতে আমরা জন্মেছি, সেটা কতোটা দুর্বোধ্য আর অপরিচিত আর অকল্পনীয় রকমের বড়ো হতে পারে।

তাই আমাদের প্রজন্মে এসে লাভক্র্যাফট এতো জনপ্রিয়। তিনি যে ধরনের ভয়ের কথা বলেছিলেন, বড়ো শহরে বসবাসকারী প্রায় সব মানুষের মধ্যে সেটা এখন আছে। এবং তার লেখা জনপ্রিয় হওয়াতে আরেকটা খুব ভালো ব্যাপার হয়েছে। লাভক্র্যাফটের ইনসাইট আর আইডিয়াগুলো নিয়ে এমন সব লেখক/লেখিকা কাজ করেছেন, যারা সাহিত্যিক হিসেবে তার থেকে অনেক দক্ষ।

প্রভিডেন্স হচ্ছে তেমন একটা বই। কমিক বুক লেখার মহারথী অ্যালান মুর এই গল্পের লেখক। প্রভিডেন্স হচ্ছে অ্যালান মুরের লেখা একটা ট্রিলজির তৃতীয় গল্প। তিনটা গল্পই লাভক্র্যাফটের সৃষ্টি করা জগৎ এবং চরিত্রদের নিয়ে লেখা। প্রথম গল্পের নাম দ্য কোর্টইয়ার্ড আর দ্বিতীয়টার নাম নিওনমিকন। প্রভিডেন্স গল্পের সাথে এগুলোর কিছুটা সম্পর্ক আছে, তবে না পড়লেও খুব ক্ষতি হবে না।

প্রভিডেন্স হচ্ছে এই জগতে মুরের মাস্টারওয়ার্ক। তার লেখায় লাভক্র্যাফটের ধারণাগুলো এসেছে ক্ষুরধার, বাস্তবিক হয়ে। তিনি লাভক্র্যাফটের চরিত্রগুলোকে সাজিয়ে একটা সম্পূর্ণ ইতিহাস তৈরি করেছেন। নতুন করে আবিষ্কার করেছেন নিয়ারলাথহোটেপ, কথুলু আর আজাথথের মতো সত্তাদের। লাভক্র্যাফট যে বিষয়গুলো বুঝতে পারতেন না—যেমন সমকামিতা, সাদা চামড়া বাদে অন্য চামড়ার মানুষেরাও যে মানুষ, নারী মানেই যে দেবী বা রহস্যময়ী বা ছলনাময়ী নয়—এই বিষয়গুলো অত্যন্ত ম্যাচিওরভাবে মুর লেখায় এনেছেন। লাভক্র‍্যাফটের বিখ্যাত বহু গল্প, যেমন কুল এয়ার, রেড হুক, কালার আউট অফ স্পেস- এগুলোর ছায়া পড়েছে মুরের গ্রাফিক নভেলের পৃষ্ঠাজুড়ে। এবং লাভক্র‍্যাফটের লেখা নিয়ে মুর একটা ইন্টারেস্টিং মন্তব্য করেছেন। বলেছেন লাভক্র‍্যাফট এতো অপরিচিত বিশেষণ আর পুরানো ইংরেজি ব্যবহার করতেন কারণ তিনি গল্পের ভাষাকেও গল্পের দানবদের মতো অপরিচিত আর দুর্বোধ্য করে তুলতে চেয়েছিলেন।

তবে একটা ব্যাপার হচ্ছে যে লাভক্র্যাফটের গল্পগুলোর সাথে পরিচিত না হলে প্রভিডেন্স পড়ে অনেক কিছুই বোঝা যাবে না। মুর রেফারেন্স ব্যবহার করতে ভালোবাসেন। এবং যতো অস্পষ্ট রেফারেন্স হয়, তার ততো ভালো লাগে। লাভক্র্যাফটের বেশ কিছু গল্প পড়লেও সবগুলো আমি পড়িনি। তাই প্রভিডেন্সের গল্প বুঝতে আমাকে একটা ব্লগ খুব সাহায্য করেছে। ব্লগটার নাম হচ্ছে ‘ফ্যাক্টস ইন দ্য কেস অফ অ্যালান মুর’স প্রভিডেন্স।’

যারা এমন হরর গল্প পছন্দ  করেন যেগুলো ভাবতে বাধ্য করে, বা বড়োদের জন্য ভালো গ্রাফিক নভেল খুঁজছেন, তাদের জন্য বইটা অবশ্যপাঠ্য।

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Providence Compendium’ is a huge graphic comic collection written by Alan Moore, art by Jaden Burrows. It seems like a normal domestic tale for the first few chapters. The main protagonist, a gay man called Robert Black who is a journalist, goes on a fact-finding trip through New England towns in June of 1919 looking for bizarre myths and cults Americans believe in, and ends up feeling like he is losing his mind by December, 1919. This is because after reading a restricted book in a university library, and following recommendations by a professor for people he should find and talk to about the source of the book, he finds himself unexpectedly in nightmarish situations. Black’s adventures mirror people and events readers will discover in later books written by H. P. Lovecraft, but these adventures of Black’s involve graphic pornographic sex occasionally. Included in Black’s memoir are cult rapes, threatening inhuman monsters, demon possessions and child abuse.

Black writes a diary of what happens to him, giving context to his opinions and thoughts regarding his experiences (shown by the artwork preceding the dense script entries). Later in the Compendium, Black meets Lovecraft and decides to give his travel diary to Lovecraft. After reading it, Lovecraft decides to write fictional stories based on Black’s diary for which Lovecraft has now become famous! Both men assume the happenings in the diary are dreams, or fictional ideas from Black’s imagination. But Black is not certain everything that happened to him in his travels IS imaginary. Black often was scared out of his mind by the actions of some of the people he meets. However, he talks himself out of believing the horrific things he saw were real. He is an admirer of Lovecraft, which is why he gives him his diary. But in further conversations, he is horrified to discover Lovecraft is antisemitic and a gay basher. Lovecraft in real life was indeed antisemitic, a racist, homophobic and not very friendly to the idea of women’s rights.

Gee whiz! I confess I have not read more than two stories written by Lovecraft, and that was over 50 years ago. From what Lovecraft fans say on line, particularly what the amazing Lovecraft expert and producer of this YouTube video says,

https://youtu.be/Ec0Oq7fWBrE?si=M2VrX...

I really don’t know any literary allusions of Lovecraft references except for the fish people in The Shadow over Innsmouth and to tentacled monsters with octopus-like heads in one vaguely remembered short story. The graphic comic ‘Providence’ is chock full of references to Lovecraft’s stories apparently, with passing mention of the work of other weird fiction writers such as Ambrose Bierce, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Chambers.

For me, ‘weird fiction’ is a new genre! I have not read hardly any ‘weird fiction’ books, none really since I can’t count on one hand in my memory of having read no more than two Lovecraft stories, and none written by any of the (in)famous writers I have mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

It was also mentioned in some of my researches after I finished ‘Providence’ that Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote some weird fiction, namely The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. I read ‘Dr. Jekyl’ but I did not know it was considered a book written as a weird fiction genre. Edgar Allen Poe is considered the father of weird fiction, and he apparently was Lovecraft’s inspiration. I have read maybe six or so of Poe’s stories. H. G Wells is also considered a weird fiction genre writer, but one who involves more science and less dark fantasy. I have read more Well’s stories than any of the foregoing authors. At the moment, I have started educating myself by reading more of Lovecraft’s stories.

I have copied the book blurb:

”Finally, the complete Alan Moore masterpiece in one 480 page tome - the PROVIDENCE COMPENDIUM! Providence is Alan Moore's quintessential horror series! In it, he weaves and reinvents the works of H.P. Lovecraft through historical events. It is both a sequel and prequel to Neonomicon.”

Gentler reader, I confess I haven’t any idea if ‘Providence’ is good or not if using as a measure to it’s literary quality the references and “clever homages” to Lovecraft’s stories. I can say the artwork is very good, the coloring was a little bland to my taste, and the storylines were often shocking. Each chapter was about a visit by Black to some suspected cultist or researcher of cultists. On every visit to a new person he would sense something was off, but things always proceeded normally for awhile. Then he would experience or see something totally bizarre and horrific which sometimes caused him to go unconscious. He would talk himself out of believing what happened was what happened afterwords. Gentler reader, the happenings are extremely hardcore dark and often violent.

I picked up this graphic comic because it is on the banned book list created by many Republican politicians and conservative Christian Evangelicals. In the South and Midwest of America, librarians and teachers can go to prison if this comic is found on the shelves of libraries or recommended to students. Frankly, I cannot imagine any librarian or teacher recommending this comic to anybody under 18 years old! It is getting mixed reviews from fans of Lovecraft. They either love it or feel meh about it. Personally, I was not happy with some of the violent sexual scenarios that the character Black becomes involved in, which are so vividly drawn. Of course, Black has some gay escapades which is to be expected and these scenes did not upset me. But given the hundreds of parties Jeffrey Epstein gave over many years recently where he had underage girls available to service his adult male guests, many of them famous celebrities and politicians, we can’t say we are not aware of THIS kind of shit occurring. And of course, trafficking of young girls is as old as humanity, particularly in many religious communities disguised as religious duty.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon seeing these books I was like "Lovecraft? Moore?!? Could this be any more up my alley?

But upon reading I confess a sort of disappointment. There is a rather passive aggressive and allusive comment on the Blurb of collection #3:
"the master scribe has controlled every iota of the story, art, and presentation"
Which makes it sound pretty bad and awful to be honest. Especially as we get into the material.

The plot of Providence is fairly stock Cosmic Horror at first, Mr Black a former journalist investigates strange Lovecraftian writings and events to inform his book, at first he seems to be exploring strange occult beliefs, but as the story progresses both Black's sanity and the world's reality come into question.

Again that sort of story should be good - and there are some very strong moments and pages of art in this book, but the first issue I encountered was simply that the story was just too repetitive. There were only so many strange locations, and odd locals for the MC to interview before it became boring, the dialogue samey and the hints of supernatural getting tiresome.

Don't get me wrong this does fit with the genre, but I felt it wasn't executed as well as it could have been. There was not a lot of variation in comic panelling, and so much of the dialogue felt like the same conversation had with a new weird local occult expert.

Obviously the tale escalates, and in some respects I do praise the epic scale and commitment to the genre , but I'm going to be honest here and say I got a bit sick of the constant sexualization. Sex was never particularly featured in HP Lovecraft, and it makes sense to 'update' such a story but it just felt like there was a lot of DICK in this book which started to present as try-hard edgy rather than intriguing cosmic horror.

There are other nitpicks I have - the graphic novel chapters are interspersed with the MCs diary which IMO mostly damages the pacing and was largely redundant (other than a clever letter where you see hints of the MCs descent into madness)

Mild Spoilers

Finally the conclusion relied heavily on the events of Neomonicon and almost literally just exited the MC stage madness which overall created a sense of frustration - it was like reading the end to a different book pasted on the end of the current one.

[Justin Shen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ought to put me off Lovecraft forever

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

CW: [graphic:] antisemitism, homophobia, racism, racist slurs, suicide, suicidal ideology, blood, gore, violence, injury detail, body horror, pregnancy, incest, rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, adult/minor relationship, pedophilia, animal death, mental illness, psychosis, PTSD/panic attacks, [moderate:] forced institutionalization, [minor (discussed or implied):] animal cruelty, death of a parent, war

Fairly dense, which is on-par with the material of origin. Chock full of references to stories and characters - I know a reread will feel very rewarding after I do some homework.

[Sara Vogt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling, grotesque, insightful and epic.

[Brian Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinarily creepy, it’s a slow burn with big payoffs.

[Andrew Sydlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

Combining characters, events, and themes from Lovecraft and associated writers, Providence follows journalist Robert Black as he makes his way through New England, New York, and Providence, intending to write a book about occult order Stella Sapiente. He stumbles from one otherworldly encounter to another, not realizing what’s happening until his sanity slips away.

It took me a while to get into this but it turned out to be worth the character development and build up of atmosphere. The art does a great job of capturing the uncanny and Black’s increasingly distressed reactions to it. The cosmic horror is rendered beautifully in vivid yet grotesque colors.

The sexual element took me off guard, and I’m not sure it added much for me, other than it’s an interesting twist on Lovecraft’s sexless plots.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out promising and then just kind of wandered off. I figured that a marriage between Alan Moore and H.P. Lovecraft would be perfect. For awhile it was good. Moore essentially just put a bunch of Lovecraft stories together with the runner of a journalist running down a story. But then it went off the rails, forgot what it was about, and made no sense. But isn't that the most Lovecraft move of them all?

[Sampsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvoin saa sarjiskirjan lukemiseen kulumaan kahdeksan tuntia. Alkoi suorastaan täydellisenä postmodernina kirjallisena teoksena, jossa kuvakerronta kertoi usein eri tarinaa kuin päähenkilön vuolaat päiväkirjamerkinnät. Vielä paremmalta vaikutti metakerronta eri tarinaideoista ja HP Lovecraftista. Seksiäkin oli! Mutta valitettavasti pakka ei pysynyt koossa aivan loppuun asti ja lupaukset toden ja unen rajan sekoittumisesta eivät tulleet lunastetuksi.

Tältä tuntuu kun menettää viisi sanity-pistettä!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow... a post-modern masterpiece by Alan Moore.

Providence weaves the stories of HP Lovecraft into a tapestry of references, illusions, callbacks, and multiple levels of meaning. The characters are both self-aware yet willfully ignorant of the horror that stalks them from the very beginning.

Moore and Burrows used both the graphic novel and a 'found journal' to allow a contrast between what was 'seen' and what was 'understood'. This works so well since so much of the story was about the occult... which literally means hidden knowledge.

As a well-read HP Lovecraft fan, I was surprised the number and depth of the references to his work. Almost every frame had some small reference that unless you were familiar with Lovecraft work would go unnoticed. Hidden knowledge. I'm sure I missed a lot... there was so much.

If you're a Lovecraft or Moore fan, you should read this. (Read Neonomicon first.) If not, you should know that Lovecraft's stories are considered some of the darkest in the horror genre. Eldrich gods, forbidden knowledge, body horror, and cults are common in his work and mythos. Moore and Burrows were able to recreate his mythos and add horror in a way that Lovecraft's originals did not.

This work genuinely disturbed me.

[Phill Lister · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliantly disturbing horror masterpiece. For a graphic novel there are lengthy passages of "handwritten" text but these journal entries are essential reading to experience this story.

It's set in an increasingly paranoid and persecutory 1920s America where young newspaper journalist Mr Black decides to spread his wings to write a novel. Along the way he encounters an ancient occult society, strange humans who might not be all they seem, and H P Lovecraft.

Moore and Burrows have crafted a tale about magick, about writing, about perception, about multiple realities and narratives shaping the world. There's a slowly simmering sense of dread and an underlying paranoid sexual tension. The climax is as bizarre and reality-shattering as any Lovecraftian horror.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly dark book. Part homage, part roast of H.P. Lovecraft. Not an actual story, but a metanarrative meditation on a collection of ....things (1910s american occultism scene, racism, nihilism, Moore's personal beliefs of storytelling being a type of magic, etc.). Loved it.

[Simone S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Credo che Providence, libro per lo più a fumetti scritto da Alan Moore (illustrato da Jacen Burrows) ed uscito tra il 2015 e il 2017, sia una delle opere letterarie più complesse e più riuscite della letteratura contemporanea. Lo so, mi sto sbilanciando, ma seguitemi in questo mio ragionamento.

Providence è allo stesso tempo prequel e sequel del Neonomicon, fumetto abbastanza breve dello stesso Moore che omaggiava H.P. Lovecraft e i suoi miti di Cthulhu. Ma se quell’opera non era che una semplice storia che si andava ad aggiungere a tutte quelle ambientate nei cosiddetti miti di Cthulhu, Providence è invece uno studio approfondito non solo dell’opera di Lovecraft e degli autori che scrissero racconti ambientati nello stesso universo narrativo da lui creato, ma anche di coloro che ne furono i precursori (Edgar Allan Poe e Lord Dunsany su tutti), e soprattutto della vita vera e propria dell’autore di Providence, Rhode Island.

Sappiamo che la conoscenza di Alan Moore non ha praticamente limiti (vogliamo dirlo che From Hell è la ricostruzione più plausibile ed accurata dei delitti di Jack the Ripper, lo Squartatore?), ma sicuramente è la letteratura di fine Ottocento ed inizio Novecento che non ha segreti per lui. In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen si è divertito ad unire personaggi di fonti letterarie differenti in un mondo di sua invenzione.

In Providence invece ha ricostruito alla perfezione gli Stati Uniti della prima metà del Novecento e attraverso uno splendido personaggio affascinato dall’occulto ce li ha fatti conoscere alla luce die racconti di Lovecraft, tra libri leggendari che fanno perdere la ragione, esseri frutto di unioni inconcepibili e cultisti che preparano il mondo per la sua distruzione (o per ristabilire il giusto ordine delle cose, a seconda del punto di vista).

La struttura di Providence è la seguente. Ci sono vari capitoli in cui la storia procede in formato fumetto, e dopo ogni capitolo leggiamo il diario del protagonista che a volte racconta un antefatto a quanto mostrato nel capitolo, a volte ne approfondisce il contenuto, e a volte narra cosa sia successo dopo. Infine, la storia si chiude con un capitolo finale incredibile in cui i silenzi la fanno da padrone e tutto quanto costruito nei capitoli precedenti (e nel Neonomicon) viene ripreso con vignette che ci trasportano avanti e indietro nel tempo e nello spazio in un viaggio incredibilmente soddisfacente.

Infatti il lettore attento non ha bisogno di spiegazioni, capisce come ogni vignetta porti a conclusione uno dei numerosi fili narrativi di Providence, e nel contempo costruisca ancora ulteriore materiale sui racconti di Lovecraft (spesso ispirati, accennati e pure analizzati dai testi del protagonista di Providence e, quindi, da Alan Moore stesso).

In pratica Moore gioca con Lovecraft facendolo ispirare al diario di un aspirante scrittore che lo ammira, nel quadro di un culto di Cthulhu che vuole che scritti del genere vedano la luce perché la parola ha il potere di cambiare la realtà.

E qui quadriamo il cerchio perché questo è l’appiglio che mi permette di citare John Carpenter e il suo capolavoro del 1994 intitolato In the Mouth of Madness (Il seme della follia). Quel film infatti prende a piene mani dai miti di Cthulhu e ne sviluppa alla grande il tema della forza della parola, capace di alterare la realtà che viviamo. L’unica differenza tra Carpenter e Moore è che il primo in un film poteva al massimo affrontare (e in che modo!) una delle tante tematiche legate a Lovecraft, mentre lo scrittore inglese di Northampton in un libro così denso (nel senso buono) come Providence ha potuto sbizzarrirsi e scrivere letteralmente dell’intera vita di Lovecraft, opere comprese.

Mi chiedo se sia possibile individuare difetti in Providence. Suppongo che qualcuno che non abbia letto assolutamente niente di H.P. Lovecraft non possa davvero goderne a pieno, questo sì. D’altronde è chiaro come il libro si aggiunga ai miti di Cthulhu ma ne sia anche un sincero omaggio, come una specie di lettera d’amore di un fan al suo artista preferito, che però allo stesso tempo riassume ed eleva l’intera opera dell’artista stesso. Scusate se è poco.

Infine, lo stile di Burrows potrebbe non piacere a tutti, è molto statico, però i disegni sono tutti curatissimi, con un’attenzione maniacale ai dettagli. Non posso che consigliarne la lettura a chiunque.

PS: e naturalmente c’è un sacco di sesso, ma Moore l’ha detto che secondo lui tutto ciò che ha scritto Lovecraft è praticamente una metafora del sesso!

[Mat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman graphique fascinant et ambitieux qui explore les horreurs indicibles de l'univers de Lovecraft et la façon dont elles ont influencé l'histoire de la littérature et de la culture populaire. Écrit par Alan Moore et illustré par Jacen Burrows, ce livre est une œuvre magistrale qui se distingue par son attention méticuleuse aux détails historiques, sa narration complexe et sa structure novatrice.

Le livre suit l'histoire de Robert Black, un journaliste homosexuel en quête de vérité, qui se lance dans une enquête périlleuse sur les mystères entourant les créatures monstrueuses et les cultes étranges qui hantent la ville fictive d'Arkham, Massachusetts, dans les années 1920. Moore parvient à tisser des éléments de fiction et de réalité pour créer une histoire captivante et multidimensionnelle qui explore des thèmes universels tels que la peur, la mort et la folie.

La narration est exceptionnelle, avec une structure novatrice qui incorpore des éléments de la littérature lovecraftienne et de la culture populaire pour créer une histoire dense et immersive. Moore explore la manière dont Lovecraft a influencé la littérature d'horreur et de science-fiction moderne, tout en créant une histoire captivante et cohérente qui peut être appréciée même par les non-initiés.

Les illustrations de Jacen Burrows sont tout aussi impressionnantes, créant une ambiance sombre et terrifiante qui renforce l'atmosphère de tension et de terreur. Les dessins sont riches en détails et en symbolisme, et la palette de couleurs utilisée est parfaitement adaptée à l'ambiance générale du livre.

"Providence" est un livre graphique extraordinaire qui offre une exploration fascinante de l'univers de Lovecraft et de son influence sur la culture populaire. La narration est captivante, les illustrations sont magnifiques, et les thèmes explorés sont profonds et universels. Si vous êtes intéressé par la littérature d'horreur, la culture populaire, ou les romans graphiques ambitieux et novateurs, "Providence" est un livre à ne pas manquer.

[Brendan Leipelt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pre-emptive comment to the review: Jacen Burrows is at the height of his prowess here and has shown immaculate growth as an artist over the years. As always with Moore books, the bulk of the review is about Moore's decisions.

Almost every issue is the same: the main character takes a long walk with some new person he just met, you are given a long conversational history lesson on names too numerous to recall that you don't need to know anyway, the current issue's walking buddy takes the main guy downstairs to a greenish room with water, main guy wants to leave. Then you have the "Berserk" problem of the last few installments suddenly turning into a nightmare of demonic gore, a jarring tonal shift that you knew was coming but still feels out of place.

There's pages and pages and pages of largely inconsequential journal entries that could have been severely edited down to a more palatable size and lost no value. Sex scenes absolutely out of nowhere that have no bearing or reason. Many wordless panels and pages that were undoubtedly scripted in painful detail by Moore to the artist, yet were so vague or subtle that even after finishing the book, I couldn't tell what the hell they were for. This is not to disparage the book as a whole but to explain how Moore's proclivity for his well-known preferences overpowered and watered down the meat of the book itself.

Under all this, there IS something valuable and unique and worthwhile, I just can't articulate or delineate it properly here without writing my own essay. The high-concept tale, that authors like Lovecraft found real cosmic horrors and hid them under the guise of fiction, is definitely worth a book of this size - its just that Moore's self-indulgence took more pages than the ideas themselves were granted. Like all Moore stories, the true quality of this book will take a few readings to discern. He hasn't lost a step over the years, his perennial hunger for the craft is evident, but the ideas might have been too big for his masturbatory structure and thus lost it's panache in the telling.

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Alan Moore stories. This one is best enjoyed having read the works of H.P. Lovecraft and having a deep understanding of those stories helps quite a bit. I read this for the first time before having read the works of H.P. Lovecraft and got a lot of it but upon a second read, after having read Lovecrafts work, I was greeted with a much more interesting and layered story. The first time you read Providence it can be quite intimidating, a lot of the book are diary entries from the main character, Robert Black, and much like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, these prose sections are required to understand the story, and much like League, these prose sections are as engaging as the comic parts. I found at times too if I didn't get something when I read it in the comic portion, in the prose bit the Robert Black's explanation would help me better understand what happened. This is also a great period piece, starting in 1919, it's as much a tour de France of Lovecraft's work as much as it is of American History and the attitudes across America at the time. There's so many layers to this story that I'm sure when I read it a third time I'll discover something I hadn't before. I also highly recommend the annotated breakdown of this series online. Jacen Burrows artwork is on another level, his renditions of these creatures is incredible and truly unique and he manages to set the stage with some amazing renditions of 1900s America. The real cherry on top is not just his ability to draw disturbing imagery that makes your skin crawl but his exterior and interior locations. Each one feels unique and much like Neonomicon, each one feels lived in. Providence is one of Alan Moore's best works. I'm very glad Moore and Burrows blessed us with this story when they did.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The definition of a slow burn, gradually unspooling in 1920s America as a closeted journalist digs deeper into a hidden America of esoteric cults and Cthulhu lore. Moore riffs on every Lovecraft story, pulling up ancient Arabic texts, fish people, New England nobility, dream-walking. Names abound, and the monsters gradually appear more and more real, and we even get full frontal!

What distinguishes this from a lot of Lovecraft lore is Moore's focus on sex, something blatantly excised from Lovecraft, though for that very reason looming huge and shadowed in the background. Black, our protagonist, and his hidden sexuality mirror the hidden America, this world beneath the surface.

The book slows as we have Black meet Lovecraft, and then in its last two volumes accelerates beyond anything, feeling so quick after we have patiently peeled back layers over previous issues. It feels like a sudden explosion. It probably helps to have read the small prequels The Courtyard and Neonomicon to get our bearings, but Moore pulls off a satisfyingly epic conclusion.

I could definitely have done without the corny Joshi cameo, but Moore has a right to be a little self-indulgent after such fun and depth, really deep diving into his love of mysticism and the occult. It's a wonderfully encompassing landscape of the influence of Lovecraft. Though the art can feel a bit static and stilted, Burrows does a solid job with monstrosities as everything comes apart.

[Olof · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one will probably require more than one re-read to appreciate fully. Would lie if I said I understood every thread in this very complex piece, although I guess that is to be expected, seeing as I haven't had the patience to indulge myself in Lovecraft's own writing on the level that this work demands. If anything, however, this volume certainly provides the inspiration to get more deeply involved. In that sense, this comic can perhaps be seen as an interesting companion piece to his literary corpus. With a few exceptions, I was never really intimidated by Lovecraft's own stories, since they always seemed narrated from a comfortable distance away from the horrors depicted. Moore's Lovecraftian works (including the Neonomicon, which I enjoyed immensely) are not afraid to come up close and personal, regardless if the horrors detailed are of the subtler or more graphic sort (which this volume generously delivers on in both aspects). Several very intriguing ideas are offered here, along with an intricate weave of cosmic and occult horror which transcends time and space. Will probably return to it, hopefully equipped with more knowledge from a reinvigorated interest in Lovecraft's ominous, unsettling world.

[Justin Ngam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt increasingly uneasy as I read through the entire book in the span of 24 hours, but I couldn’t stop??

I went into reading this with only minor prior context. I liked Alan Moore from his work on V for Vendetta and Watchmen, and there’s plenty of his style in the writing of this book, which I very much enjoyed. H.P Lovecraft I know from a board game Eldritch Horror, inspired by his books.

Tl:dr Moore weaves a loooong story, very unsuspecting to the more casual comic book reader like myself, but ultimately I enjoyed it!

A standout from the book is Moore’s storytelling, particularly in weaving all the seemingly inconsequential characters and tidbits you learn early on, into a final handful of chapters that made me go ooooh okay fairs. Another standout is the art! It’s gruesome and grotesque and does not shy away from this, but rather keeps pushing the grossness as you progress on.

Sadly though, I feel for the more casual comic book reader, who I think will find this book long-winded, discombobulated in story beats, and with how the book ends, likely unsatisfying??

Thank you North Finchley library for my weekend fun!

[Downward · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is, as another reviewer wrote "a slow burn with big payoffs" - issue by issue Robert black interviews another person, and that person gives more insight into the subconscious world of dreams and how they intersect with reality in what often appears to be a monstrous way, eventually leading us to the introduction of hp Lovecraft himself and driving toward a conclusion that there is a liminal space between the worlds of the subconscious / invented story and experiences reality, often ever more encroached upon when consciousness awakes. if I had a complaint about this book its that the incredibly long seeming prose sections at the end of each issue that take the epistolary form of Robert blacks journals often (but don't entirely) rehash a bunch of stuff that we've already read and make it seem like reading the same book twice, once in comics and once in prose (surely with the Pomo intention of doubling reality with slight perspectival differences! ok sure! but it still makes the reading itself at times kind of tedious).

[Tyson Mueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of H. P. Lovecraft's stories I really enjoyed Alan Moore's Providence. It does a great job of weaving together various HPL stories, sometimes as major plot points, and other times as background detail. On top of that it creates it's own cosmic horror story, different from any of Lovecraft's stories, but able to fit right in.

I have two reasons for not giving this a full 5-star rating:
1. The artwork is, at best, serviceable. It shows stuff happening, but not in any distinctive or memorable way. It's an unusual case for a comic, where instead of the picture being worth a thousand words, the words painted a more interesting picture than the pictures themselves.

2. The ending feels rushed. A little of that is because some of the plot details are covered in Neonomicon, but its quite a contrast when almost a century of time is covered in montage, after hundreds of patients spent on a couple of years.

[Brian M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read Neonomicon and The Courtyard previously, I was really looking forward to Providence, but having read it I just feel resentful for having done so.

Although the diary sections offered an interesting perspective, they were frequently too long, especially for the more trivial parts of the story, and like others have said, ended up being a slog and ruining the pacing of the story.

However, the most disappointing part of the book was that it relied heavily on being overly familiar with, what appears to be, every aspect of every Lovecraftian novel written.

I had really enjoyed both Neonomicon and The Courtyard previously due to the horror elements but also because they worked as standalone works. This unfortunately doesn't.

If you are an avid Lovecraftian fan, this would probably be a highly recommended read, but if like me you are just looking for a good horror story, there are probably other books to look to first.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the TPB compendium *

Perhaps one of the densest and most thought-provoking books I've read in quite some time. Frightening and absolutely breathtaking all at once. An experience unlike anything I've had on the pages of a comic book. It's Alan Moore, so this all goes without saying, but this was a first experiencing Jacen Burrows's art and he really knocked it out of the park, especially considering how nuanced and details I imagine Alan's scripts are. I already plan to pick up Neonomicon. I didn't quite know what was going on the entire time, but I think that's to be expected.

I really enjoyed about Chapter 12 really encapsulated the whole thing and brought it together beautifully. The Al Jolson tie-in was nice, too. There's so much packed in here. I can't imagine anyone getting everything on the first read. Highly recommended.

[Álvaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a long (LONG) year of not publishing and barely reading, I decided to update my read books and upload them in one go, all of them were read in 2024 with the exception of this Compendium which is a re-read.

In April I decided to dive back into the Lovecraftian horror, I bought myself “At The Mountains of Madness” and read it along with my favorite comic series “Providence” by Alan Moore.

I was devastated, I don’t know if I grew emotionally since the first time I read it a few years ago, but for some reason this second time I felt incredibly related to Robert, and the end of the third part of Providence & Neonomicon just had me in tears… and I almost NEVER cry reading.

If you are into lovecraftian horror, tragic love stories, adventures and misteries that made you come back to previous chapters to confuse you and keep you on the hook, this collection will take you on a ride.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gross, interesting, odd, well researched, weirdly paced, rapey comic by the greatest writer of yucky, compelling, sexually violent, densely written comics.

The art is good but the characters designs and poses are so staid that even rough action appears more like statuary. The coloring, backgrounds, and little details help a lot.

The journal pages are...there are a lot of hand written journal pages.

A question I would have for the men who made this comic: Did we really need to see that part? And if we did, did you really have to draw it that way? (These questions apply to many instances.)

As off putting as this work could be, I would recommend it to anyone who likes Alan Moore and recommend to maybe half of Lovecraft's fans.

[Zardoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re a Lovecraft fan this will actually make sense to you, but unfortunately you have to wait for the last 40 pages for the payoff. If you haven’t read any Lovecraft this will not make any sense at all and the ending may be confusing.
Warnings for the reader. Be prepared for rape, incest, suicide, mental breakdowns and some violent deaths. Also, Our protagonist is a gay Jew in 1920’s America. Sure he’s in the closet, but a big part of this work is about keeping secrets. Every character seems to have one and knows that society will punish them if it ever got out.
The pace starts off decently, but quickly drops to a slow crawl until the finale.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A VERY graphic and terrifying graphic novel that plays with and connects various stories of the Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos into a single but very unsettling story that has to do with the nature of fiction, dreams, etc. Prominently features locations I have visited and know well like my school and city and nearby towns, including specific streets. A real head trip - thought it would be a relaxing read but it will live in my brain for a while. The progression of the story in 12-parts is something else.

[Noam · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book made me feel exceptionally dumb. it's fun, creepy stuff, and, as with everything alan moore, bursting with exciting ideas. reading about all the references etc. i didn't get has really impressed me. i think to get the most out of this story, though, you need to be obsessed with lovecraft. having only read a couple of his short stories/engaged with random mythos elements, i missed more than i got.