Very lightly disguised, both the locations and individuals will be instantly recognisable to those familiar with Lovecraft's life and works. Accordingly in each chapter (Act One collecting the first four) Black exploring a new location and interviewing the locals.

Set in 1919 our protagonist, Robert Black, suffers a personal tragedy prompting him to take a leave of absence from his career as a journalist in order to travel New England researching material to write the next 'Great American Novel', Black intends to write about life on the cultural fringes of American society, using the supernatural – and conventional society’s fear of it – as a metaphor for social outsiders. The plot, so it appears thus far, is reasonably simple. I am delighted to report that after reading this first of three volumes that Providence bears every hallmark of being one of his greats. It was therefore with some excitement (and a little nervousness, for Moore does occasionally produce a damp squib) that I approached Act One of Providence, Moore's new graphic novel (illustrated by Jacen Burrows) based upon the works of our revered Lovecraft. Any one of these volumes would have been sufficient to earn him a reputation as one of the great contemporary writers of fiction – that his corpus includes several books of this stature arguably elevates him to the peerage of the greatest authors of all time. Seminal works such as V for Vendetta, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Watchmen from his pen have all been made into successful big-budget movies (of admittedly varying quality) to the extent that the average man in the street is likely familiar with Moore's stories even if not his name. For readers of comic books, the English writer needs little introduction however Moore is also one of the few writers within the medium whose reputation can be said to have broken out to a wider audience. When considering the graphic novels of Alan Moore it is difficult to speak within small compasses.

Necronomicon moore