Providence is Alan Moore'squintessential horror series! In it, he weaves and reinvents the works of H. Lovecraft through historical events. Skip to content. Brears and Lamper, two young and cocky FBI agents, investigate a fresh series of ritual murders somehow tied to the final undercover assignment of Aldo Sax —the once golden boy of the Bureau, now a convicted killer and inmate of a maximum security prison.
So, what to read first? But… …is it the only way? And they will be your guides leading you through a strange case about gruesome ritual murders made by different people, not related between each other, but they seemed to be inspired by the works of H.
Once again, the egg or the chicken? A warning! Jan 10, Sean Gibson rated it liked it. Really more like 2. Lovecraft, you may dig this. Otherwise, you probably want to read pretty much anything else Moore has written instead.
Including his grocery list. Dec 10, Sam Quixote rated it it was ok. This time around Burrows returns with Moore scripting the comic. Aldo Sax, the main character of The Courtyard, is in an insane asylum speaking Lovecraftian gibberish after he was arrested for murdering his neighbour.
Two FBI agents, Gordon Lamper and Merril Brears, are assigned to a case of copycat killings in the style Sax committed who, in turn, was mimicking someone else.
Everything goes back to the creepy nightclub and Johnny Carcosa - but what does it all mean? The Courtyard was presented in vertical panels, mostly two to a page, while Neonomicon is almost entirely presented in horizontal panels, mostly four to a page. The Courtyard was one character - Aldo Sax - while Neonomicon is two characters - Brears and Lamper - so we get double the panels, two in the first, four in the second?
Apr 15, Dave Schaafsma rated it liked it Shelves: gn-superhero-scifi-fantasy. Warning to my friends reading this review: I did "like" this as I thought it was well executed, but Lovecraft horror story with plenty here to offend and frighten and disturb everyone I read this because I am making it through the Alan Moore corpus, slowly, dabbling in it, at least, and wanted to see what he does with Rea Warning to my friends reading this review: I did "like" this as I thought it was well executed, but I read this because I am making it through the Alan Moore corpus, slowly, dabbling in it, at least, and wanted to see what he does with Real Scary and Graphic Horror, and for what it sets out to do, to shock and offend and scare, it works, that's what horror is supposed to do, okay Poe frightens without the contemporary potty mouth and by leaving more of the gruesomeness to the imagination, he's not about Chainsaw Massacre bloodshed, and this tale, and Lovecraft tales in general I am thinking of Joe Hill's work, too, in Locke and Key, with Gabriel Rodriguez's visually scary artwork So this is not scarier than Poe, but it is grittier, more graphic, more explicit, more contemporary urban More shocking on a number of levels I also read this to see what Moore and Jacen Burrows do with a Chthulu tale In "The Call of Cthulhu", Lovecraft describes Cthulhu as "A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.
View all 20 comments. Jul 26, Nicholas Kaufmann rated it it was ok. What starts out as an interesting supernatural procedural in a world where Lovecraft's mythos is real is all but undone by Moore's nearly adolescent preoccupation with sex. It wouldn't be an issue if the sex were portrayed as healthy and positive -- I could get behind that -- but here the sex is entirely non-consensual.
A female character is raped during an orgy of cultists and then raped again, repeatedly, by an inhuman monster with an insatiable sexual appetite. But it's okay, Moore assures us What starts out as an interesting supernatural procedural in a world where Lovecraft's mythos is real is all but undone by Moore's nearly adolescent preoccupation with sex.
But it's okay, Moore assures us, because in the end it cures her of her sex addiction. Um, what? Monster rape takes up pretty much the latter half of this graphic novel, replacing everything else that was interesting about the story, to the point where entire plot lines and characters are all but forgotten.
It's too bad. There was something good here, until Moore decided he was more interested in rape scenes and monster sex than in following through with the story's far more compelling setup. View all 4 comments. Mar 08, James DeSantis rated it did not like it. What's start off decent enough, murder mystery, mixed with cult behavior, just becomes one big long rape scene. If it's not bad enough a bunch of people will rape you over and over again, a fish like creature comes from the water and begins to do it too.
Over and over again for a week this detective gets raped pretty brutally until the point she barely can take it anymore and offers the fish creature a handjob to satisfy his needs for a minute.
Then he drinks her pee. Then he frees her. Oct 15, Ashley Daviau rated it it was amazing. This was my first graphic novel and it was an excellent one to start with! The illustrations were absolutely stunning and the story itself was incredibly weird and at times disturbing, but in a good way! I felt like I was a part of the story, puzzling it out along with the characters. I really couldn't have enjoyed this graphic novel more, it was strange and captivating and has started what I'm sure will become an obsession with graphic novels!
Jul 06, Jenny Reading Envy rated it liked it Shelves: read , graphic-novels-or-comics , secret-agents-and-detectives. I'll be honest, the only reason I picked this up to read is on principle.
My local public library director pulled this from the shelves after a parental complaint, not even following the policies the library has for contested items. It was properly shelved with other graphic novels and not in the childrens' section, but a parent didn't like that her daughter had gotten her hands on something with this content.
The graphic novel remains censored at that library a year later, but the academic libr I'll be honest, the only reason I picked this up to read is on principle.
While "graphic novel" does not always mean the content is violent or sexual and refers to the content being graphical , in this case, the content includes drugs, sex, violence, violent sex, violent drugs, mythical beings causing some of these elements, it's all in there. The art doesn't shy away from the subject matter except for when one character is blissfully without her contact lenses and some of the frames are blurry ; this is not for the faint of heart and view spoiler [this is not a case of good winning over evil, where you may feel the violence is justified.
I'm not sure I will read it, ever again, because I'm not sure I'll be able to without thinking of this graphic novel. If you enjoy those tales of unspeakable horror, you might enjoy this graphic novel, but in this story the unspeakable is revealed. Personally, I'd rather leave the story with someone disappearing into a swampy grave. Still, censorship is bad, and information should be free. I made my own decision, and so should everyone else. And parents should be aware of what their children are reading, whether it is at the library or on the internet.
May 04, Jonathan rated it liked it. At four issues, "Neonomicon" is quite brief, and given its quality, that might be a good thing. Issue 1 is tremendously awful--it's literally so bad that I almost didn't bother with the rest. The lackluster characters might be intentional--a comment, perhaps on Lovecraft's own tendencies to make his human protagonists lackluster--but that doesn't make them any less dull to follow.
Lovecraft made up for his dull protagonists by giving them a gripping, intelligent voice and by pitting them against incredible, unstoppable monsters like Cthulhu.
Too bad Cthulhu never shows up here. Rather than having unbeatable tentacly gods who see us as ants or even mind-bending visual monstrosities like shoggoths-- "WHAT?
Just one. And Issue 4 shows the Dreamlands. And there's a creepy dude with a veil over his mouth, who is hinted to be the human guise of one of the Elder Gods. Shit, even that Aquaman vs. Cthulhu one-shot in "The Brave and the Bold" had more scale than this!
So put all your visions of an epic Moore Ctulhu story out of your mind. That said, let's try and look at "Neonomicon" on its own merits--let's try taking it for what's there. Because it's Alan Moore. Wish I was making this up. It's embarrassingly cliche to pit the young outcasts as evil cultists, and is part of why I found Issue 1 so unlikable. As a result, the cops must read Lovecraft to understand the cultists' motives. I'm not precisely sure why, but the execution of this concept just didn't gel.
The initial setup doesn't quite work since the characters don't, but once they start their infiltration Really, really nasty. Very quickly. Unattractive middle aged people get naked and there's basically a lot of sex, and some of this sex isn't entirely consensual The issue ends with a big cliffhanger, and Issue 3 picks up where it left off. These two strong, disturbing middle issues are why I gave this disappointing series 3 stars.
However, they also won't be for everyone, and those who can't handle their content will probably find this book complete trash. So your opinion of this book will boil down to this: do you want to see a Deep One getting a handjob? I didn't either. View all 3 comments. Oct 05, Barnaby Thieme rated it did not like it Shelves: hated , comic-book. Although I am not a big Alan Moore fan, I was beguiled into giving Neonomicon a try by its fabulous premise - a modern-day, Lovecraftian tale of mystery and madness.
Moore apparently believes that the best way to build upon Lovecraft's legacy is to add long episodes of truly horrific sadism and sexual violence. In general, I'm deeply put-off by Moore's fascination with such material, and his tendency to dwell at length on wicked characters doing really monstrous things. I do not object to such p Although I am not a big Alan Moore fan, I was beguiled into giving Neonomicon a try by its fabulous premise - a modern-day, Lovecraftian tale of mystery and madness.
I do not object to such portrayals in fiction if it's done to some purpose, but Moore gives the impression that he simply enjoys it; or rather, that he is obsessed with it, and can't stop himself from returning to the scene of the crime, to stare repeatedly at some great wound in the human heart.
Readers looking for the epic postmodern architectonics of Watchmen will find a work of much more modest scope - it contains enough plot for a short story of about eight pages in length. There are some strong ideas in it, but on the whole I found the experience of reading it stomach-turning and entirely without joy.
I was also not impressed by the undistinguished, cartoonish artwork, which did little to convey the shocking intensity of Lovecraft's creations. View 2 comments. Feb 29, Miles Reid-lobatto rated it it was ok. This book is a hard one to review.
I think Alan Moore is a brilliant writer and his work in the comic industry is well deserved of praise V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Saga of the Swamp Thing and critical acclaim. But the two interconnected stories here, The Courtyard and Neonomicon show Alan at his good and his bad and also shows off a rather disturbing trend in his work. The Courtyard is the best story of the two, throwing the Lovecraftian Mythos into the seedy world of back street drug dealings, This book is a hard one to review.
The Courtyard is the best story of the two, throwing the Lovecraftian Mythos into the seedy world of back street drug dealings, Lovecraft meets 'The Wire' as it were. It's not a Alan penned comic, it's an adaptation of one of his short stories. It really doesn't show off the fantastic flair of his comic-book work.
It's a neat little tale and is a neat approach to the Cthulhlu Mythos, taking it away from the usual trappings that more pedestrian Mythos tales can spin in the Universe.
Neonomicon is a much more grotesque and graphic tale. It has much in the way of disturbing imagery and would have amassed a whole lot more controversy if it had been a film or had come from the hands of a different writer. Indeed, I think that Alan Moore's well deserved praise as a writer also goes hand in hand that we become a lot more willing to let a lot of things in his work go simply because he is THE Alan Moore. Here, following up from The Courtyard, two FBI Agents one of them a former Sex Addict, something that is brought up again and again but yet I find little to no reason for it to be there, it feels like a simple one-line description of a character, no depth, no 3rd dimension, that's all she ever is find themselves investigating a Lovecraft-Inspired Sex Cult Moore himself in interviews has mentioned that is intent with the story was to write a Lovecraftian story that did not hide behind the attitudes of the s censorship standards and morality.
In one way, this is a perfectly valid concern and approach, the rascist and sexual attitudes of Lovecraft tend to be glossed over by modern readers and simply shrugged off as 'oh, that's how it was at the time', as a lot of people do with Robert E. Howard and Conan. But what results is a story that becomes all about rape with the subtext of 'Gosh, Lovecraft himself was afraid of sex', not even a subtext, a good deal of Lovecraft as a person is discussed in terms of his distaste of sex as an act.
A liteary critique of both the artist and his work which comes off more like school-yard bullying than anything else. Of course, this is not the first time that Alan Moore has used rape as a story-telling device. But given that Alan Moore is now free from editorial concerns or very simply, the comics code, he can throw it there on the page for us to see, but now it honestly feels pornographic, shocking but no longer horrific.
The monster acts here as the return of the repressed as it were, and Lovecraft is often suggested as the repressed subject by critics who insist on the evidence of sexual neurosis amply provided in his biography1. Yet the writer himself will not constitute the primary object of this essay in relation to the topic of monstrosity, because this dimension has been examined in a detailed way by S. T Joshi notably. This study of the comic book adaptation will enable us to examine the iconic representation of monstrosity through two main issues, namely: the way monstrosity is represented and the related issue of the discourse on the monster that underlies representation.
This is manifest with his albums that reinterpret comics from the s, especially the Marvel comics created by Stan Lee in competition with DC comics and staging the same super heroes that nowadays are often adapted for the big screen. Watchmen for instance adapts—in the sense given to the word by Linda Hutcheon—the popular imagery of super heroes displaced in a uchronic, fictional diegesis where the United States has won the Vietnam War thanks to the powers of Dr. Manhattan, and where the federal administration still headed by Richard Nixon in , has reduced these heroes to subservience.
The individualist avengers who were traditionally in a position of domination are now faced in this scenario to new problems related to their personal feelings and their place in society. It is clearly a story where the popular myth is redefined according to a new focus on the psychological complexity of characterization. Houellebecq pp. Neonomicon was published on a serial basis and is divided in two distinct parts of unequal length.
Sax now communicates exclusively through the unintelligible language of the Great Old Ones. This investigation leads the two characters to infiltrate a swingers club whose members are worshippers of deities issued from the Lovecraft myth.
Green notices pp. This is the place for a sexual redefinition of the Lovecraftian myth, which acts as a major turning point of the adaptation. Eventually, the narrative suggests that Brears, who finally escapes her torturers thanks to the unexpected help from the Deep One, is pregnant with a monstrous creature whose advent will signify the downfall of the whole of mankind on earth. This mere survey of the plot is enough to suggest the critical distance with which Moore is considering the source texts.
Characters in Neonomicon do not only adapt the Lovecraft mythos, they articulate a critical discourse on it, especially if we bear in mind the topics of race and sexual repression. This distance with the source text allows Moore to develop his own personal artistic vision more specifically. Two examples could be taken here. First, let us remark that the diegetic world in which Neonomicon takes place is redefined in a way that is very similar to what happens in Watchmen.
This also foregrounds the critical distance with which the Lovecraftian source text is approached, since it is anchored here in a specific diegetic frame which jars with the actual political reality. Secondly, we should notice that the narrative thread that leads to the suggestion that Brears is pregnant and that her monstrous child is about to terminate the presence of mankind on earth and to re-establish the domination of the Great Old Ones, is presented as a parody of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary.
What this is, is your annunciation Mary? Yet this parodically Biblical adaptation of Lovecraft, associating the character of Brears to the Virgin Mary, does point to the critical distance that Moore keeps with the source text. This distance, from which much of the innovation in the album proceeds, also appears in the field of representation. This appropriation of the stereotype appears in two main categories—the sexualization of the monster and the narrative figuration.
We shall start with the latter point since it will help us to understand the topic of sexuality in a clearer way in the album. What underlies the narrative by Moore and Burrows is an essential notion to be found in Lovecraft, namely the idea that monstrosity inhabits humanity and that its emergence does not constitute a rupture with the ordinary state of reality but merely a sudden consciousness of a general situation that we are generally ignorant of.
This appears clearly again in the epigraph to the album. This essential intuition is very influential over the representation of the monster, especially in the first part of the album. Two elements stand out in this narrative choice. First, the image of Sax remains unaltered at the beginning and at the ending of the narrative—he plays out a circular, repetitive figure apparently only since the ending of this part of the story reveals his true nature as part of the monstrosity.
The motivation for this device is to show that the monster preexists our perception of it. It was present in the first strip but was not perceived as such.
0コメント