The Courtyard; Neonomicon; Providence

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.

Watchmen

Watchmen
by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
read: circa 2003
Time 100 Novels, Eisner Award

What, a comic book?  On a list of 100 greatest novels?

Truth be told, it was the inclusion of Watchmen that probably intrigued me the most about Time's list of 100 greatest novels (written in English 1923 - 2005).  I had read the graphic novel (graphic novel is what adults call comic books when they don't want to be stained by the "you read comic books?" stigma) a couple years before the list came out and I was completely blown away.

The reaction of different fans when the movie came out a couple years ago is a testament to the depth of this work.  Everyone I talked to or read was convinced the movie would suck (I haven't seen it) because there was no way to put everything in there.  There's a comic-within-a-comic (Tales of the Black Freighter, with the idea that in a world where superheroes are real, pirate comics would rule) that was great but expendable; others saw this as the emotional core of the story and something that could not be removed without crippling Watchmen.  One of friends reacted with "But the whole story was about sex; how could they possibly do that in a movie?," which was an angle I hadn't considered at all but made perfect sense when I thought about it.  From Night Owl getting turned on by wearing costumes to Rorschach being emotionally stunted by his mother's promiscuity to Sally Jupiter's insecurity over her mother's relationship with The Comedian, all the characters are touched by the darkest elements of sexuality.

My point is: there's a ton here.  I haven't read it in a few years, and if I did I'm sure I could keep finding new things, new angles, new themes to explore.  Its inclusion in the Time Magazine list was controversial, but in my opinion warranted.