This page is Providence collected/misc covers – for Neonomicon go here.
Avatar Press uses variant covers to promote its series and sales, particularly short-run limited series like Moore’s. Besides their artistic merit, several of these covers have more to say about the contents of the book than readers might think. Most variant covers are on their own theme pages: Convention/Weird Pulp (includes Ghoul variants), Dreamscape, Pantheon, Portrait, Women of H.P. Lovecraft. See also the Providence #11 limited edition Century variant covers by Raulo Caceres.
Below are the covers for the collected editions and miscellaneous additional Providence variants that fall outside those categories.
Providence Act 1 Kickstarter Hardcover (February 2016)
Providence, Act 1 hardcover Kickstarter exclusive (collects issues 1-4) – This cover depicts Willard Wheatley, Providence‘s analogue for Wilbur Whateley in “The Dunwich Horror” – see Providence #4 P18,p1.
Providence, Act 1 (image) variant hardcover limited edition repeats the above Wheatley cover.
Providence Act 1 Limited Hardcover (February 2016)
Providence, Act 1 Limited Hardcover
- The building in the background is the New York Herald Building, where protagonist Robert Black worked, see Providence #1 P22,p1.
- The dial at the left is a clock. The dial at right depicts the current wind direction.
- Commenter Legion of Andy notes:
This being the New York Herald Building, Robert Black is standing in front of the name of the paper, blocking from view everything but the first one and a half letters and part of the last. This is enough to remind us that the name The New York Herald is there though, and serves to label Black himself as “The New York Herald”. As seen in the stories within the book, Black is a “herald” of something that is to come – though he doesn’t know this. It is the various Lovecraftian figures whom he meets who have the hidden knowledge. The fact that most of the text of the building’s name is hidden from our view on the cover surely symbolizes the hidden nature of Black’s role. Oddly, when we see the outside of the Herald building for the first time inside the book, the space where the name would be has been left blank.
- The cover depicts characters from various issues (left to right):
- Salem/Innsmouth fish-person (from Providence #3)
- Salem/Innsmouth fish-person
- Salem/Innsmouth fish-person
- Robert Black carrying his Commonplace Book
- squid-headed monster (from?)
- Tentacle-faced motorman from “The Thing in the Moonlight” (depicted on Providence #8 Dreamscape variant cover)
- star-faced monster (from?)
- Ghoul, aka saprovore (Providence #7)
Providence Act 1 Hardcover (March 2017)
Providence Act 1 Hardcover variant (indicia calls this “second printing”) – see details at Bleeding Cool article. The cover depicts a scene that could be Black entering Innsmouth/Salem.
Providence Act 2 Hardcover (May 2017)
Providence Act 2 Hardcover – Robert Black is in front of the titular Witch House, shown in Providence #5 P8,p1. Above is Hezekiah Massey, to the right is Mr. Jenkins, both of whom are introduced in that issue.
Providence Act 3 Hardcover (August 2017)
Providence Act 3 Hardcover – Robert Black, clutching Commonplace Book is shown in front of the “exit garden” suicide chamber.
Dreadful Beauty: The Art of Providence (October 2017)
Dreadful Beauty: The Art of Providence – This 176-page Providence art book came out in November 2017. Above is the trade paperback (see below for the hardcover.) It features an extensive collection of Burrows’ black-and-white line art: all of the Providence covers series, character designs, and selected art from The Courtyard, Yuggoth Cultures’ Recognition, Neonomicon, and Providence. Read about Dreadful Beauty at this Facts Providence post.
On the cover, reflected in the puddles, is the Red Hook church from the cover of Providence #2 (also featured in The Courtyard and seen in Neonomicon.)
Providence Complete Slipcase Hardcover (2017)
Providence Complete Slipcase – Initially available via Kickstarter, the 5-book collection is now available on its own – as of July 2021, sold out.
The slipcase cover depicts, left to right: Johnny Carcosa’s mother, Willard Wheatley, Elspeth Waid, Tobit Boggs, Robert Black, H.P. Lovecraft, Johnny Carcosa, Garland Wheatley, Henry Annesley, King George, Increase Orne, and Shadrach Annesley. Black is copying Hali’s Booke into his Commonplace Book, as he did in Providence #6.
Individual covers inside are as follows:
- Neonomicon (indicia states that this is the fifth printing) – the cover art is the same as for the Auxiliary variant for Neonomicon 4.
- Providence Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3 – covers are the same as the basic hardcover covers shown above. (Indicia for Act 1 states second printing)
- Dreadful Beauty – the hardcover (also sold separately) features a different cover than the paperback one shown above.
- The complete slipcase also contains a half-page “Providence Aklo Table” insert.
The Beauty hardcover art depicts Providence protagonist Robert Black wearing an unusual red tie – likely just to go with the warm color palette. Behind him is “The Haunter of the Dark” St. John’s Church in Providence, RI. This church appears in Providence #9-10, including on the cover of issue 10. Around and through him are the “From Beyond” creatures featured in Providence #9, starting on page 2.
Providence #12 additional variant covers (2017)
These additional Providence #12 variant covers were made available as Kickstarter rewards – most of them :
- Gold Leather – The cover portrays Shadrach Annesley, Increase Orne, and Tobit Boggs – see Providence #3 P7,p4
- Ghoul Feast VIP – The cover portrays ghouls from Providence #7 (see four additonal ghoul covers)
- Pickman’s Necrotica – The cover image appeared in The Courtyard P21,p1. It depicts artwork based on that described in Lovecraft’s story “Pickman’s Model.”
- Visions – This, and the following two, are Burrows artwork that originally appeared in The Courtyard and/or The Courtyard Companion. This cover depicts Aldo Sax’s aklo-fueled dream from Courtyard.
- Courtyard – This depicts The Courtyard protagonist Aldo Sax. Somewhat obscured behind his head is a headless, handless corpse whose chest is carved into a star-flower, similar to the murders described in Courtyard.
- Wraparound Century – This again depicts Sax.
- Royal Blue Leather – see Gold Leather above.
- Platinum Leather – (not shown, but readers can guess what it looks like) Platinum is limited to 33 copies, and sold in a CGC 9.8 plastic slab.
Additional limited leather variant covers: (for sale via Avatar Press website)
Providence Compendium Hardcover (due 2021)
The Providence Compendium hardcover (due out July 2021) utilizes the image from the Providence #9 Weird Pulp variant cover.
Providence Compendium Paperback (due 2021)
The Providence Compendium paperback (due out July 2021) utilizes the cover image from Providence #1.
Gosh Comics is selling a signed Providence Compendium paperback bookplate edition, limited to just 300 copies. The bookplate artwork shows Providence protagonist Robert Black clutching his Commonplace Book. He stands in front of the inverted star symbol featured on Neonomicon collected editions and a couple of Neonomicon Book of the Dead variant covers.
Facts in the Case of Alan Moore's Providence 
Is this the first time Black has appeared on a Providence cover?
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Yes
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Third from the left has much more ophidian eyes than Deep Ones do (the Deep One in Neonomicon had solid-color eyes), so I think that’s actually a serpent-person.
The star-faced thing talking to the ghoul could either be one of the star-headed men as described in the Issue 6 Commonplace Book entry, or possibly a reference to Burrow’s drawing of Yog-Sothoth for the Issue 4 Pantheon cover.
Squid-head is most likely a standard take on Cthulhu’s appearance.
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The star faced creature seems to be similar to the sex dolls from Neomonicon.
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I was thinking that – it could also be a reflection of the Elder Things from “At The Mountains of Madness”, just as a general mythos reference.
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I like how oblivious Robert is here. And through the rest of the story.
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To me he looks not so much oblivious as too busy thinking about something else to notice what’s happening. Here, and through the rest of the story.
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This being the New York Herald Building, Robert Black is standing in front of the name of the paper, blocking from view everything but the first one and a half letters and part of the last.
This is enough to remind us that the name The New York Herald is there though, and serves to label Black himself as “The New York Herald”.
As seen in the stories within the book, Black is a “herald” of something that is to come – though he doesn’t know this. It is the various Lovecraftian figures whom he meets who have the hidden knowledge.
The fact that most of the text of the building’s name is hidden from our view on the cover surely symbolises the hidden nature of Black’s role.
Oddly, when we see the outside of the Herald building for the first time inside the book, the space where the name would be has been left blank.
This is hidden knowledge indeed, at least from the reader.
(I write as one who came late to the series, having bought no comics to date, only the hardback book edition. Someone who had already read the comics, seeing this cover for the first time, would know more about Black’s slowly emerging role.
On the other hand, I have read the text of his web site re: issues 1 and 2, and seen a photo of the real Herald Buliding, which a general reader may well not have.)
No need to discuss in detail how this fits so well with the general theme of the story.
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As for the statue of Minerva, which tops the building and still exists in Herald Square, NYC, so Wikipedia tells us…
…goddess of magic among other things…
And her owls, symbolising her wisdom…
Birds of the night…
With arcanely glowing eyes…
New Yorkers…. Photos of the statue please!!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herald_Square
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And at first I thought there were two clocks showing different times (time zones?).
Which I like D very much, and started constituting some symbolism around.
But on more careful consideration, I think the dial on the right might be a barometer…
Can anyone confirm this?
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Googling “New York Herald Building +dials” reveals several sources claiming that the right-hand dial showed the direction of the wind.
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Liked very much
And started constructing some symbolism around…
Oops.
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Aha!
Thanks, Alexx.
And Black is starting to find out which way the wind really is blowing.
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Thank you for your cogent comments!
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http://www.comcav.net/collections/providence-ultra-rarities?utm_source=Comic+Cavalcade+Bulletin&utm_campaign=2f77648aa5-providence-century-nov-21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_11661dcd8f-2f77648aa5-363694893&mc_cid=2f77648aa5&mc_eid=17facc30e2
Comic Cavalcade just offered a F-ton of alternative covers for #11 referencing HPL stories. Also some autographed options.
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Only $40 each! We’ll do some annotations on these, but I think I will stick to buying the cheaper editions.
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I finally got my slipcase from Avatar Press this past week. Good god. I private messaged them and asked them where it was. Not too long after a terse reply, they sent mine out. I’m just glad to have it, and got to finally read Alan Moore’s introduction to Dreadful Beauty AND seen Jacen Burrows’ marvelous art work.
As for the books, it’s interesting to see how they decided to arrange them and their prose backmatter into their consolidated Acts. They even included the epigraphs on the back of some editions of the comics issues. All in all, it will be good to have time to sit back, and reread these again.
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