About Jack Kirby & Lovecraft: there's strong circumstantial evidence that Kirby read Lovecraft's work when they were first published in the 1930s in Weird Tales. We know Kirby was a big pulp reader. In Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (1941) by Simon & Kirby, a character is reading a Lovecraft book. Kirby in 1940s used words that only show up in Lovecraft (Cylopedian or somesuch). And thematically a strong interest in other dimensions and the monsters that live there.
In Italy these books got a really good coverage and they are still pretty easy to find! Strange how distribution can work around the world... As always thanks for the great content guys!!!
You get a real Tim Truman vibe off Burrows' work. The “Harlem dome” is mentioned in The Courtyard #1 P5,p2. In Neonomicon, domes are depicted at 3 sites: Quantico, VA, Brooklyn, NY, and Salem, MA. The domes are never actually explained, but may be inspired by the writings of David Goodman Croley who is cited in the Appendix of Alan Moore’s From Hell as a 19th century journalist who made many startlingly correct predictions about the future, as well as some that hadn’t (yet) come true, such as anti-pollution domes. They help create a somewhat claustrophobic setting and form a grid similar to comics panel borders; like panel borders, the dome-grids enclose the space in which the characters operate.
The Courtyard came out about 7 years before Neonomicon, so they weren’t planned together. The former was a sequential adaptation of a Moore prose story from the 90s, and was adapted (with some Moore consultation) by Johnston. Moore was happy enough with the results to come back to the world.
Glad you guys discovered this. Was wondering why it hadn't come up before. Interesting that it wasn't more obviously distributed near you. It's pretty out there in Ireland and the UK. Must be the strong Alan Moore love here! Easily picked up all as they were collected. PROVIDENCE is dense but well worth the dive. Deffo a chapter at a time, there is a LOT packed into each one and little concessions made for deep references throughout. I really like Jacen Burrows art, think you were a little hard on him, calling it flat or overly 'perfect'. His style reminds me a lot of Steve Dillon, realistic, detailed, unsentimental, yet really going for it out there when the story demands.
These books and Providence are great. I genuinely had a nightmare after reading Neonomicon where a voice kept whispering "Cthulhu Fhtagn" in my ear throughout the night. What a restless night that was.
I always wondered why this book didn’t get more attention? I mean, Alan Moore doing Lovecraft?!? The Avatar books as a whole would be really interesting to see you guys delve into…
thanks for doing these! from what i remember there was a ton of backlash over providence and neonomicon. the rape scenes etc were a big point of contention and some comic stores refused to carry it. there was a lot of talk about how alan moore had 'lost it' after lost girls and then these series. it stirred a little controversy. also when younger readers dis moore they often cite this series and lost girls. i can see why in some way. they are very gruesome and dont shy away from the horrible. i'm glad they were published though, i couldn't see this coming out currently. these hp lovecraft inspired moore stories go waaaaay back though. possibly before the early 90's there was a compilation of stories called the starry wisdom: a tribute to hp lovecraft. it was a collection of short stories and comics inspired by the cthulu mythos. moore had a comic in that and i think he wrote a short story as well. its worth tracking down.
Seriously stoked you guys are covering my favorite comics from later Alan Moore. First found these in a BooksAMillion of all places. But they also ended up in my local shop. No idea why, but I'm huge fan of anything Moore and Lovecraft.
Glad you guys finally discovered these brilliant comics! My very small (but very thorough in terms of ordering) local shop in Chico CA got plenty of copies of Providence and Cinema Purgatorio on the racks each month with all the typical variant cover options (which are what those images in the back were) and I picked them up each day they’d come out. I started reading Providence and loved it, but quickly realized if I read it one issue a month I’d surely forget what was what and who was who by the next month, so after 3 or 4 issues I stopped and waited until all 12 issues had come out to go back and read it. When I did, I attempted something I’ve never done before or since: as I read it I compiled a huge list of every characters name and look, every place or concept mentioned, with a brief summery on each, to use as my own reference guide so I could refer back to it any time I got confused. There’s so much depth and the backmatter adds so much that you really gotta stay in the zone to follow all the threads, and although it’s a slow burn it’s really well done. As to your curiosity about Jacen Burrows backgrounds, I’ve got a little insight. I have all the Courtyard and Neonomicon floppies too, and there’s one called the Neonomicon Hornbook, which is the first 10 pages or so of Neonomicon issue 1, that includes Alan Moore’s full scripts for those pages. In his typical fashion, they are like a page per panel, and he spells out every last background detail to a T, including what the characters are thinking during each moment and so much insane detail that I actually got bored and didn’t read it all. But it was very apparent to me that Burrows followed Moore’s scripts to the letter. Not sure how he makes his line work but I dig it, and he frequently collaborates with Garth Ennis and Moore which are my two favorite writers, so that may color my opinion a bit. Looking forward to more Avatar coverage … but would RU-vid even allow you to show something like Crossed (the single most grotesque series ever produced)?? Here’s to hoping! Also I highly recommend tracking down the original issues of Cinema Purgatorio, as it’s a fantastic anthology series with lots of great writers and artists and some bonkers stories!!! I think they’ve only collected Moore’s and Ennis’s stories in trades so the singles is the way to go for sure.
Super intense comic. I was buying the issues off the racks when it was coming out and it was the first time in a long time a comic actually brought me back to the LCS every Wednesday looking for the next issue. The story does carry over into the Providence series, kind of. Providence is more of a slow burn but equally powerful. This meditation on Lovecraft by Moore is right up there with Moore's best work.
Also, Joe McCulloch wrote some great coverage and analysis of this series as it was coming out for The Comics Journal. I can't find a link to the articles, but they had great insights.
100% agree. I feel PROVIDENCE has been very overlooked even by the majority of Moore fans. I get how most folks would look at NEONOMICON and not want to go any further but PROVIDENCE is light years ahead of it in scope and ambition. I think it’s right up there with his strongest work like FROM HELL…
Providence is GREAT!! rush that one into your face immediately! there was a hardcover collection that's been out of print and spendy as heck for years. so glad this is out now!
I just started reading Lovecraft’s works about two months back and absolutely devoured The Courtyard and Neonomicon in early August. I wasn’t aware of Providence until I watched your video yesterday. Thanks, guys.
Its the fireworks and she killing her in a ritualistic way. Its very disturbing. You definitely buy Neonomicon after Courtyard because it set up a bit of a universe full of bad things. Personally I love Burrows art. Clean lines not overtly overdetailed like Darrow. More restrained but just as enjoyable.
This is a property unsettling release. The sequence in the first part, as the detective's voice gradually changes while he's doing something unspeakable, is one of the scariest and most effective pages in horror comics.
ThIs is the one Alan Moore work I wish I'd never read. After finishing it (I read all three), I... I really can't explain how I felt. "Profoundly awful" touches the surface but not even anywhere close. One positive that came out of it, though, was a better understanding of the fascination with Lovecraft. I've tried to read his stuff but just find it repetitive and, frankly, pretty boring. But the Lovecraft cast of characters updated through the lens of Alan Moore? Jesus. F*cking. Christ. Yeah. Truly unsettling.
@16:15, regarding the goat-tee’d fella left of the spine whose name Ed couldn’t recall in the moment: Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab. Author of the Necronomicon.
Neonomicon was the first book in probably a decade that got me going to the comic shop on release day for new issues, but even still issue 2's final pages are a bit too rough for me, and from a pacing standpoint if you know The Shadow Over Innsmouth there's no major surprises afterward in the final two issues (aside from the dome thing teasing at something). The long long delay on issue 4 didn't help either. I consequently passed on Providence, but your quick page through at the end made me regret that. I loved the original black and white version of The Courtyard though, and it was cool to see this color version get included too.
I wish I could read Providence for the first time again, you're in for a treat. Check out the album 'Stella Sapiente' by The Lillingtons which is inspired by these books.
Buddy Saunders and Steve Geppi are directly responsible for Alan Moore leaving DC and Mainstream Comics and it nags me that more fans aren't aware of the history of this!!!!!!!!
Interesting and wortwhile episode as always. I do have a few questions and notes though: On what do you base the idea that Lovecraft was sexist? He definitely wrote a lot of stupid racist stuff in his private correspondence from time to time. Particularly in letters to Robert E. Howard who was of the same basic mind set when it came to these issues and responded in kind. But sexism and derogatory comments about women is not something I associate with him. I have not encountered any in many years of study. As for the colored gentleman with the goatee on that exquisite Aklo spread by Burrows - rather than Abdul Alhazred I would say it is one of the Masks of Nyarlathotep. Identified as The Black Man he appears in, you guessed it, "Nyarlathotep", "The Dreams in the Witch-House" and is also mentioned by HPL in "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and "The Fungi From Yuggoth".
I know Jacen Burrows, I don't think he was using any digital tools at all when he drew these. Also, couldn't agree less with your opinions about his art. It's detailed and interesting.
I bought these comics off the shelf at my local comic shop back home when they originally came out...I always wished the art was more experimental and less realistic.
well--I can't wait until you guys do Providence! Although...it's really a book that NEEDS notations and there is a great website that collects all of the insane amount of references in the book. It's a rare case where that extreme level of detail isn't just enriching, it's *kind of* necessary to grasp some of the plot points (which is fun but not necessarily a strong suit of the book)
My buddy lent me all of these and the Providence comics and he gave me a specific order to read them in. Even as far as instructions to stop reading one comic midway and then picking up another one before getting back to the first. I think maybe it was so everything was in chronological order?
Being "not all ages" is right. These comics were, and are, available from Avatar who continually solicits their backstock every month in Diamond Previews. But shops are afraid of having some of their comics on the shelf because of content.
I have a copy of this but haven’t read it yet. I did pick up Providence single issues as they came out and read them (semi) monthly. Burrows’ art definitely progresses when he goes to Marvel drawing Moon Knight and Punisher
Would be great to see you guys review the Image Lovecraft series with art by the great Tony Salmons. Or any Salmons stuff ( like Legends Of The Dark Knight #85)!
Moore really does frequently include SA in his stories. Enough to the point that Morrison even called him out for it. Moore's response was something to the effect that there is violence and murder all the time in comics, so is that any better than SA? Interesting conversation about ethics there I think. I don't have strong feelings on it either way, but the part where the lead character tells the massive creature with a dong big enough to likely do some internal damage that has been repeatedly R@&%-ing her over the course of a week that she has "had worse" was pretty cringe.
If you guys do review Providence, I think it would be great if you took one issue at a time. Not sure how familiar you guys are with Lovecraft's work and the lore, but I'd urge you not too dig too deep into it while you're going through your first pass. I assume you're both not too well versed into Lovecraft's work and Providence is very reference heavy. Would love to see reactions from people who aren't too familiar with Lovecraftian lore as they go through Providence for the first time.