>This is the issue when all you know changes. The finest horror work ever written comes to a conclusion you cannot imagine. All the threads are weaving into a tapestry of history re-imagined. Or was our history the fiction? Time to wake up, he who slumbers. This is Providence… or is this Yuggoth? Alan Moore's masterpiece draws to a close, and nothing will be the same.
The covers for this issue are all reverse from the previous covers in content. Rather than showing scenes from the Mythos, they show our real world - as per the solicit.
And the obligatory Weird Pulp cover: This time taking on "The Call of Cthulhu"
The covers have been one of many highlights for this series.
Can't believe it's ending this March.
Julian Allen
I'm wasn't following this Allan Moore stuff that much. Is this the continuation of the story of the girl which got preggers by a Deep One and is now giving birth to Cthullu jr. ?
Eli Parker
Actually no, only somewhat.
The first 10 issues are a prequel that is very much a reconstruction of Lovecraftian horror like Supreme was for Silver Age Superman.
Then the last 2 issues (11 was last week) seem to be an epilogue for everything from the Courtyard until now.
Gavin Wright
Lovecraftian shit is just shelled out for its notoriety these days, not its actual substance. It has little relevance to the modern age.
Christopher Ortiz
I agree.
Providence is the only thing to actually use the mythology, the genre conventions, and the atmosphere with any sort of care and respect though.
Jason Cooper
I see. And Providence will conclude with 12? When is the release?
Adam Howard
March 31st
Brody Flores
I see I'll read the whole thing then.
Alexander Wright
That's for the best. It's tightly done, and reading the whole trilogy (Courtyrard, Neonomicon, and Providence) in one go is a nice way of charting Burrows's growth as an artist.
Wyatt Howard
>The finest horror work ever So Stan Lee is writng Moore's promo copy these days.
Eli Nelson
Going to be posting the character variants. Starting with the Pantheon:
Cthulhu (Fetal Form?)
Yeah, it is laying it on pretty thick, but Avatar's solicits are usually like that.
Robert Wright
Lilith (The Horror At Red Hook)
Brody Gonzalez
Sorry, forgot image for that
Matthew Ramirez
Dagon (The Shadow Over Innsmouth)
Ethan Cox
Yog-Sothoth (The Dunwich Horror)
Samuel Hernandez
Shub-Niggurath's Dark Young
Nicholas Harris
Tsathoggua
John Thomas
Azathoth
Owen Morris
Hypnos
Christian Johnson
Yig, The Father of Serpents
Luis Walker
Nyarlathotep
Brayden Fisher
The High-Priest Not To Be Described
Samuel Flores
Does anyone have predictions on how he's going to end it?
Logan James
My shitposting gets the better of me sometimes.
My selection bias against Moore is pretty strong. I wish I could get excited about his stuff again, but I somehow, always find something else I'd rather read.
Nolan Williams
Happily.
Adam Torres
Nothing can stop the Old Ones. They can only be stalled. They will be. But Carl Perlman will be haunted.
Understandable. With this...I finally found something Lovecraftian worth reading.
Ethan Wright
Mrs. Herrera/Mrs. Ortega "Cool Air"
Samuel Howard
Cornelia Gerritsen "The Horror At Red Hook"
Aaron Jenkins
Mrs. Obed Marsh/Mrs. Jack Boggs
Cameron Lee
Lavinia Whateley/Leticia Wheatley
Jayden Moore
Keziah Mason/Hekeziah Massey
Colton King
Asenath Waite/Elspeth Wade
Sebastian Morris
Ghoul
Jacob Watson
Mrs. Gardner/Mrs. Forrester
Nolan Cox
Susan Phillips Lovecraft
Brody Jones
Carcosa's Mother
Other than Merril, I actually like that Moore is pretending that his OCs are really part of the mythos.
Christian Reyes
Sonia Lovecraft Greene
Parker Martinez
Story time pls
Anthony Lopez
I'm actually not sure I'd recommend Courtyard and Neonomicon, especially if you're leery of Moore. I feel his storytelling is much weaker there, and suddenly for whatever reason he takes off with Providence which is just incredible. The prior works provide context, but reading them may prove a chore.
Ryan Wilson
>Carcosa
I always found a tad intriguing how Lovecraft and his buddies took names and terms from other authors and applied in the Cthulhu Mythos, and then see the same terms in the stories which they originally appeared.
I read the King in Yellow stories by Chambers a couple of years ago and it was kind of an interesting experience see the names of Hastur, Carcosa and Lake of Hali in a different lore. I need to check the stories of Ambrose Pierce as well since Chambers got those terms from those stories.
Parker Wood
Post all of it and we'll find out together
Brody Gutierrez
It's because Moore actually did research with Providence. He's flat out admitted it. And also that he didn't really think much of Lovecraft until doing so, only after realizing how the atmosphere and tone he goes for works and why it does.
Check the archive. I storytimed the entire thing and it was up for 2 days.
Same here. It's three months to get going at it.
Ethan James
Whats Lilith's deal again?
Isnt Dagon and his Deep Ones not really much of a threat? The Deep Ones can be taken out by machine gun fire and I remember playing a game where a battleship managed to do some damage to Dagon before going down.
In fact, what did they do with the Deep One that was gunned down by the FBI?
John Martin
She's tied to the Kabbalistic cult, which is tied to Yog-Sothoth, as he is the Tree of Life. She's a guardian between the dream and reality realms, I believe.
They're not that much of a threat, no. And it's never disclosed. I would imagine they just died out and whatever rest may exist probably still do on Misery Island.
Thomas Adams
Have you all ordered the #11 Century cover set?
Ian Collins
I'm yet to thoroughly read into Lovecrafts works but it seems that the reason why a lot of his monsters that aren't Cthulu or Elder Gods are successful is because humans don't know about them. The moment they'd get discovered, they'd get the shit kicked out of them.
Carter Williams
Some of his creatures seem to be pretty alright guys in a twisted kind of way. I mean some ghouls agreed to be painted by Pickman after all, I wonder how that conversation went down?
Ryder Rodriguez
One of the theories is that Providence-Pickman is part ghoul, which may be true in the short story as well since he later is implied to have gone missing and devolved too.
Waiting for the Act II hardcover.
Zachary Jenkins
Dr. Munoz/Dr. Emilio Alvarez
Matthew Russell
I only have them on paper you greedy sod.
James Scott
Robert Suydam
Dylan Murphy
That makes sense, respecting the original material and doing the work goes a long way.
Possibly the least inventive, but funniest, rename.
Ryder Davis
Richard Upton Pickman/Ronald Underwood Pitman
Asher Reyes
Randolph Carter/Randall Carver
I think that Burrows might have made him look like his interpretation of Lovecraft.
Jack Davis
Ephraim Waite/Edgar Wade/Etienne Roulet
Grayson Rogers
Joseph Curwen/Japeth Colwen
Nolan Flores
Robert Harrison Blake/Robert Black
Colton Miller
Whats up with those guys?
Caleb Martin
They're either from some of his occult experiments or possibly the food stock that Capt. Shadrach used to stay immortal.
John Gomez
Last cover I feel like posting is the Act I HC cover.
It's so fantastically composed. I just know the Act II cover will be a let down.
Elijah Howard
The "final printing" already has a less interesting variant
Jack Jackson
The second printing was just lame. A shot of Wilbur in his shed.
Honestly, if they want to follow the same theme, then the Act II HC should be Robert in front of Miskatonic University, with the Arkham crown behind him.
Then Act III would be similarly done with the Church of Starry Wisdom.
Evan Reed
Can someone please storytime it?
Cooper Collins
See
Michael Carter
I believe that this image perfectly describes my experience after reading all of the available issues of Providence.
So is the octopus guy and his merry band just some kind of aliens ''FROM SPACE'', real divine creatures or just something conceived by imagination by some character in said cthulhu/lovercraft themed comics?
Isaac Davis
Replace "from space" with "dream reality underneath our own"...and it's actually a mix of all three.
Johnny Carcosa/Nyarlathotep said to Robert that the entities are formless, but do exist. Lovecraft and his colleagues are giving them shape and identity within our world which does help them cross through...with the rapid dissemination and followers that it allows for.
They are divine in a way given that they are, basically, creatures of dream. Being able to do much more, such as what Nyarlathotep describes was done to Hali.
Colton Brooks
Did you read Dunsany's A Dreamer's Tales? Also related(his was Carcassone), and he's one of the best writers I've seen.
Luke Howard
Is there still going to be an omnibus with everything?
Matthew Howard
They're really gonna put out 3 hardcovers for 12 issues, aren't they? How can Avatar press be simultaneously so jewish, and so strapped for cash?
Aiden Nguyen
I doubt Gillen, Moore, Ellis etc. come cheap.
Also, given the releases for the first HC...I bet it'll be more like 9 hardcovers for 12 issues.
That's what they said when they announced the first HC. I hope they haven't changed that plan.
Colton Sanchez
Not yet, but the tone of the stories sound interesting. Will check.
Asher Cook
Kieron Gillen had to kickstart the second part of Uber. Seems like Moore is breaking their bank.
Blake Collins
You know, given how Lovecraft takes the position usually taken by a fictional character in the Portrait Variant - here's my guess for an aspect of the end of the series.
Perlman succeeds. He's able to bind the Old Ones.
But all of this has placed renewed interest in Lovecraft and now led to a resurgence in interest in Robert Black's journal. Leading to Avatar Press to get Alan Moore to write a comic book miniseries based on the journal.
ie. the premonition of Perlman looking defeated with a book with purple handwriting isn't Black's journal...but is Providence itself.
It fits neatly within the metafiction that Moore liked in that interview.
They could make it back with the collections. This is probably their most mainstream appealing comic.
Hunter Richardson
But they probably don't have enough money to even print the collections in the first place. They need the money beforehand.
Jonathan Campbell
I would honestly contribute a lot if they made a kickstarter just for the collections.
I was hesitant with the others because I didn't really have any stake in Uber: Invasion or Cinema Purgatorio (which is really tanking)
Jayden Collins
Dave thanks as always for posting, just finished catching up yesterday. What a great historical trip through weird New England. Local stuff like that creeps me out, and while it's true of most places, there are still old places with old families that really give off the desultory yet unsettling vibes that Moore/Burrows were shooting for. I agree Neonomicon was pretty trashy but in context I think it really works when you see it and see them and speak the words. The words, and the truth. The world. This world, our world: is false, is wrong, just a dream, their dream. The old world, their world, the right world beneath-us all: will rise up. rise up and wipe it clean. all of it. Also fishmen orgies fthagn reJoice though my fellow vermin Because we have ALWAYS been with them and alwWays will be. Time is a flat disk. We have already opened the gate and we are opening the gate and we will open the gate y-chtenff! c-bthnk Mnahn'! W'Gahn chim-amaranth! Phlegeth! 'Fhalma Ftaghu ee hai!
Noah Smith
I think thith depithion wath thuperb
Tyler Hall
So do I. Johnny Carcosa proved immensely fun.
While not overtly sinister, his unassuming and amiable nature really captures why people would be somewhat fascinated by him and his wares.
Isaiah Lewis
Game was Call of Cthulhu: Shadow Over Innsmouth
Always imagined Dagon being really small, but I did read it straight after Nightgaunts.
Great covers. Thanks OP.
Ryder Perry
Game comment meant for...
Connor Sanders
I'm glad Moore came around on Lovecraft
Yes, his themes have been massively overexposed and watered down and not all of his work is mediocre let alone good
But he still deserves some respect. I know it's cool to dump on HP now and im not defending his prejudices, but god damn it. Some of his stuff is so good if you just imagine you picked some dusty old leather-bound book off the shelf of some Maine or Cape Cod library.
Also from the storytimes yesterday, I learned that Robert Howard shot himself when his mother was dying. Did not know that fun tidbit.
Juan Bailey
>tfw missed out on the first printing and now it goes for $60+
Luis Long
I honestly did not know that Barlow and Howard committed suicide in general. It does add this weird poignancy to the montage the the degradation theme it seemed to be going for.
And yeah, it's great that he did come around. I remember when this was announced and my first thought was "How's he going to fuck this up this time?"
Sebastian Powell
I've seen it go for as much as 90.
Nolan Young
For such a supposedly brilliant detective, you'd think some alarm bells would be going off for Sax that Johnny was so nonplussed and willing to deal so easily. I mean Sax even monologues to himself about how obviously a cop/fed he must seem when he enters the club.
Brayden Hernandez
Fate etc.
I never believed Sax as a "great" detective. He just found a link between the killers. It...was kinda stunningly obvious.
Yeah, I figure if it hadn't been 2 issues it might have been explored more that it was fishy. Since Sax says the most Narc-y shit to Johnny as well.
Dylan Price
Holy shit. Lovecraft comics have a knack for going out of print and then selling for insane amounts of money.
Luis Morris
I mean, like we saw depicted in #11, while "known" Lovecraft did get his start by his own friends basically self-publishing his work so it wouldn't be lost to time.
I pre-ordered my first printing the second the solicit came out. Plan on doing the same cause 20 or so bucks is cheap in comparison now.
Grayson Perry
Ghouls seemed pretty alright in the dreamscape too. They are just scavengers after all, no reason that they can't be affable creatures.
Adam Lewis
>I remember when this was announced and my first thought was "How's he going to fuck this up this time?"
Yeah honestly before this, based off Moore's original short story which was basically shitting on Lovecraft and the out of context panels from Neonomicon that always get posted (should be obvious which), I wasn't planning on checking this out at all. But then I saw you going the effort to storytime the whole thing chronologically, and I figured then that it was probably worth a look.
With Providence, I feel like Moore is the first writer to do anything substantial with the mythos since...I dunno. Derleth maybe? The way he plays around with it is great and it really shows the respect he's gained for the material. The diary entries themselves were gripping. Especially when you the reader begin putting the pieces together before poor Mr. Blake. It's not a rehash but it's not a deconstruction, and as a Masshole, horror writers have always been pretty kind to our region
Burrows has really come a long way too, as others have pointed out. Lots of genuinely creepy moments. I thought his Wilbur/Willard was properly abominable, and King George may honestly haunt my dreams tonight if I take my melatonin.