The Courtyard
Neonomicon
Providence
by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows
read: 2018
The Courtyard, Neonomicon, and Providence are three series that stand on their own but also tell a connected story (with the first 10 issues of Providence a prequel to the events of Courtyard / Neonomicon and the final two the story's conclusion). Moore has written some of the most brilliant comics (or writing in any medium, really) I've read, and he weaves together H.P. Lovecraft's work with other dark occult fiction. It was fun to read through and spot allusions to various stories and works.
There are some problematic elements. Lovecraft's stories often had racist undertones and Moore integrates that aspect in some of his characters. There is a fair amount of sex in Neonomicon and Providence, which is partly a reaction to the conspicuous lack of sex in Lovecraft's work, but the amount of rape and the treatment of rape are troubling. It's a work of horror, so there are going to be a lot of disturbing elements, but both the representation of sexual assault and the characters' reactions to it bothered me. That didn't stop me from enjoying the rest of the story, but I would have reservations recommending these works on those grounds.
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