Horror Aficionados discussion

I just finished catching up on issues 1-5 of Alan Moore's recent Lovecraftian comic book series, Providence, and am absolutely loving it so far. Has anyone else here read it, and if so, what did you think?

Yes, I'm really enjoying it too. I like that he uses references to Lovecraft's work but re-works them a bit. The slow pace is also a good thing for me, it feels realistic and creepy - we as the reader know what's going on while Robert either has no clue or refuses to accept it and keeps getting deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Yes! I am enjoying it for all those reasons as well. I love the atmosphere, and the theme of "everyone has something to hide."
Also, I'm curious, what are your thoughts on the recurring motif of poisonous gas? Gas chambers, gas leaks, the stuff in the well, etc. Robert seems to encounter some form of poison gas everywhere he goes, in real life and in his dreams. It makes me wonder whether gas is being used as a kind of stand-in for the idea of the pervasive creeping cosmic anxiety that Lovecraft so often used in his stories.

To be honest I hadn't really considered it before.

I think you could be right. Or it could be a kind of social stand in for the kind of creeping wasting sickness that featured in certain stories of Lovecraft's, like The Colour out of Space. Maybe the more influenced by the old ones society as a whole becomes, the more toxic it becomes.

I enjoyed the first four issues all right, but don't think I'm going to continue with it. To me it seems like a constant, pointless string of homages to Lovecraft's work, reimagined without the racism and homophobia of the originals to sort of stick a middle finger up at that part of Lovecraft's writing. Which is fine, and I have nothing against. I'm not much of a Lovecraft fan to begin with, so I don't care what people think of him or how they treat his legacy. I loved Moore's other stuff with Avatar, most of all Neonomicon. This one is just falling flat for me, and I'm not really feeling the pull of the story... there's also the fact each issue costs $5, and is taking several months to produce, which is abnormally long for a comic and makes it hard to maintain interest when each installment is only 20 pages of story. Maybe I'll revisit it once the whole thing is out.

I'm looking forward to reading this, too. But, as Adam said, I'll play the long game and wait until I can get through it in one hit!

Kind of an old topic. this was collected last year and I recently read this omnibus edition. I liked it, some chapters more than others. Sometimes wanted to skip the text-only diary entries because they repeated a lot of the action. But I am glad I didn't, as it slowed down the reading and added some of time inner monologue, that was not in the comic itself. Enjoyed it as a complete collection.

Ooo want to read!

This is a series I always forget about then am reminded of out of nowhere lol

Evangelos wrote: "Kind of an old topic. this was collected last year and I recently read this omnibus edition. I liked it, some chapters more than others. Sometimes wanted to skip the text-only diary entries because..."

Thanks for posting, Evangelos. This sounds awesome.