Freak369's Full Review: Edgar Allan Poe and Antonella Caputo - Graphic Cla...
Some people regard graphic novels as nothing more than glorified comic books. In a way that’s what they are but when you get a graphic novel the plots are more enriched, things are explained more and you get it in a bound version instead of something with a staple in the middle. Sometimes comic book companies will take a series or a group of comics and combine them into a book type format; this is something that collectors either love or hate. For me graphic novels are nice but most of the time I lose interest in them after the first twenty or so pages. When I came across the Graphic Classics I was really interested in what they had to offer, how closely the followed the original stories and how they were illustrated. I started off with Poe since he is one of my favorite authors and I was drying to see what they cooked up for “The Fall of The House of Usher” and “The Black Cat”. I wasn’t disappointed with any of the stories or illustrations in this book but this shouldn’t be used as a substitute for reading the entire and complete work. I can just see some kid thinking he can pick this up and use the text and images for a book report or research - there just isn’t enough information to get the entire story across. Don’t get me wrong, you get a great overview but you don’t get the complete story.
Kids can learn a lot from graphic novels, look at the book The Birth of The Earth, this is presented in a “comic” type format and is extremely entertaining but it is teaching kids something while they are laughing their butts off. I won’t go so far as to say that every kid is going to get into Edgar Allen Poe but there are a lot of different authors featured in the “Graphic Classic” series - even if they don’t care for this one, there are more than a few to choose from. At ten bucks a pop this is something that you might want to check out at the library before you start buying them sight unseen. If you or your child likes the format you can pick these up used from online bookstores for a fraction of the new price and most of the time they are in immaculate condition.
Graphic Classics - Edgar Allen Poe
The stories that are contained in this graphic novel range from a few pages to about thirteen or fourteen. After the introduction by Joe R. Lansdale about how he discovered Poe you are given your first taste of the selected author, Edgar Allen Poe, with “The Tell Tale Heart” adapted and illustrated by Rick Geary [Marvel, DC and Dark Horse comic artist]. The story clings nicely to the original one written by Poe but Geary did change some small things. The illustrations are big and bold with lots of dark tones to increase the overall creepiness of the pages. This is an easy to follow series of images, some are a little too complex and hard to follow as they spread out across the pages. What I really liked about this one is that it gave you a lot of facial expressions and emotion to work with; not that Poe’s original version wasn’t descriptive - but seeing how the man was driven so insane but that evil blue film covered eye was brilliant.
“The Masque of The Read Death”, adapted and illustrated by Stanley W. Shaw [Nintendo, DC Comics, Wizards of The Coast] is presented in heavy block format so everything runs either vertical or horizontal - this makes it a lot easy to get through since everything is going in the same direction. When I started reading this I thought it would be a rather tight grouping of illustrations but it switches to a lighter and more artistic style when the masked stranger is revealed The story runs very close to the original but some things are omitted since you are dealing with something that runs only fourteen pages. “Hop Frog” takes a different approach and relies heavily upon some of the original text with whimsical, elongated and somewhat enchanting illustrations by Lisa K. Weber. This is a really nice break from the standard “comic” format that is present in most of the book. I am not sure of this is the complete story or not since it has been ages since I read this one.
The complete list of stories from Poe include: “The Tell Tale Heart”, “The Masque of Red Death”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “Hop Frog”, “The Bells”, “Spirits of The Dead”, “The Haunted Palace”, The Fall of The House of Usher”, “The Raven”, “Eldorado”, “The Black Cat”, “The Inheritance of Rufus Griswold” and “Never Bet The Devil Your Head”. The last section of the book contains a nice list of the artists and illustrators that contributed works to this book. If you come across one or two that you really like you can find other things that they have worked on, personal information and in some cases an email address where they can be reached. I am not sure what the differences are between the first and second edition since I have yet to come across a copy of the first. The back of the book says that it contains 80 new pages so that could mean an addition of 80 pages or that some of the existing ones were refined or revamped.
“Spirits of The Dead” [illustrated by Andy Ewen] is one that I really fell in love with; the story itself is magnificent and engaging - but it’s not really a story, it’s in verse format so it reads like a long poem. The drawings are abstract and scattered but fit the text perfectly. This is one of the shorter entries in the book but you can’t just things based on length or size ... that brings me to one of the most breathtaking parts of the book - “The Haunted Palace”. Now, if you have read this then you will know what the story is about, good and evil intertwined [at least that is my take on it] - the story itself is magnificent but it’s the drawings by John Coulthart that truly strike the reader. While there are only three pages of text and illustrations, you get unbelievable artwork that really helps drive home the words of Poe. Just like “Hop Frog”, “The Black Cat” is presented in a mostly text format with illustrations by Richard Sala. I was a little disappointed that there were only two drawings along with this story but I guess it’s better than only getting one. The two that are included are very dark in tone, only the basics of humans and feline - but once you see them you will understand why I was so ticked that there were only two included - they are graphically creepy yet so fitting to the story
On A Side Note ...
I had some trouble finding this in the database using the ‘graphic classics” search string but when I entered in the ISBN [0-9712464-9-1] it gave me this one. It was a lot easier than having to go through the pages that did come up with the search. Now, the cover art that is in the database is of the first version of the book; I have the second version which carries the same ISBN number. On the back it says, “Revised and expanded second edition - 80 new pages”. If you are going to look for this make sure you get the second edition, you are going to get more for your money. This might be hard to do unless a store or seller lists specific information about the book.
The Bottom Line
I’d suggest this to anyone that likes to read graphic novels as well as those who are into the classics. As I said, it’s really important to keep in mind that you aren’t getting the whole story when you read this. If you are thinking about reading this instead of the full length version for homework - unless you have a morn for a teacher - he or she is going to see through it and know you read an excerpt or condensed version. This would be good for the younger teen crowd to get them into some of Poe’s works to see if they have any interest in them. Since there is such a variety of artwork in the book, something is bound to capture their imagination as they read and sometimes that is all that is needed for them to seek out actual books to read. If you are thinking about getting this you might want to check your local library first, this way you can look it over and see if your child might have an interest in it. Look for it in the graphic novel or teen section.
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