Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Robert is unflinchingly polite in his day to day life but makes disparaging remarks about nearly every female character in the story in his journal. The twelfth and final issue of Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows's Providence came out in April 2017, over six months ago. Even though I think about the series frequently, I can’t come up with a single, comprehensive thesis that does justice to Providence. One point about Providence that I can tentatively argue, however, is this: the climax of the book is Moore’s meta-meditation on the shape and nature of his comics career, written as he prepares to leave the medium.

The intersection is 5th Avenue and 14th Street. The view is facing south. The building depicted is still there, visible on Google street view. Sequel Hook: Since each issue is fairly stand-alone, although connected by the arc of Robert's work, they tend to include hints of what Lovecraftian characters Robert will meet next.

De l’Isle Adam” is Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, a French symbolist writer whose collection Contes cruels (1883) gave name to an entire genre of horror fiction. Creepy Child: Lovecraft readers will recognise that Elspeth as standing in for Asenath Waite from "The Thing on the Doorstep", and so is apparently possessed by Etienne Roulet, one of the founders of Stella Sapiente. Cast Full of Gay: About half the male characters who appear in the story act as potential love interests for Robert. On the left, you can see a Temperance Movement sign –“Drink The Demon That Is Haunting America”– part of the campaign for national prohibition. Mrs Massey/Macey is referred to as a "wise woman", an old term for a witch, and mentions residing in "another space nearby", which is actually a different dimension.

Khalid Ibn Yazid” is Moore’s invention, not to be confused with Khalid ibn Yazid al-Shaybani who would have lived a century later. As becomes clearer in later issues, Khalid Ibn Yazid is Providence’s analogue for Lovecraft’s “mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred author of the dreaded Necronomicon.In Issue 5, Robert believes his perception of the time loop is a dream, and dismisses his missing time of three weeks in the next issue as a symptom of mental illness. Dr. Alvarez offers a wholly un-supernatural explanation for the deaths associated with Sous Le Mond. Howard Charles gains an old fashioned top hat and pipe as well as stubble when Japheth Colwen possesses him.

fancy metaphor for what I really want to talk about”– Moore here is, perhaps, describing his own creative process. He wants to write about religious and sexual prejudice, but can more easily accomplish that under the guise of a Lovecraft homage. Religious Horror: More so than the original stories, as the storyline is centred around one of the Lovecraftian cult's mythology and attempts to fulfill their warped messianic myth. Burrows and Moore employ “rotating shots,” with the perspective shifting as each panel is from a different part of the room, framing the characters movements and body language relevant to each other. Time Skip: Between each issue. The commonplace book bridges the gap and tells us what Robert is up to (mostly travelling/arranging/moving from one place to another). The style of the Commonplace Book entries reads almost like a fictionalization of (or perhaps the notes that could precede and inspire) Moore’s script for the issue.Alan Moore heavily researched the series; in a six-month period he acquired "nearly every book of [Lovecraft] criticism that’s been written". [2] Weird-fiction giant Lord Dunsany and of course, H. P. Lovecraft himself finally makes an appearance in Issue 8. Issue 12 has a fictional version of Lovecraft's real-life biographer S. T. Joshi attending the birth of Chtulhu. Haunted House Historian: Dr Wantage is one of the few people outside of Stella Sapiente who seems to understand what Hali's Book really is. He relates how it was one of the few books to survive a mysterious fire, worries that something might break out of the book, and alludes to how it might harm Robert.