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Post by profh0011 on May 14, 2019 22:22:48 GMT -5
EC's "Fiction Illustrated" line may have been the inspiration for the later Warren horror comics line-- except with word balloons instead of solid walls of narration. I keep hearng that Warren started out hiring many of the EC veterans.
That "CHAMBER OF CHILLS" cover by Kane & Palmer... in my original write-up, I made fun of how the editor (Len Wein, I think) BLEW the ending of the story right on the cover. Heh. "I'm not wearing a mask." I said, it takes a certain level of incompetence to manage something like that.
I keep finding more and more stuff in movies that came not from Poe, but from Poe comics. At some point, I may do an entire feature just listing every instance I can find. I'm trying to post that stuff here where I can.
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Post by profh0011 on May 14, 2019 22:32:15 GMT -5
I have so far found 37 different comics versions of " The Black Cat". 37 !!! Mind-boggling. Now, I bet you can guess which is my favorite version. But... this here... is my 2nd-favorite! And, this story was what got me started on my fascination with Editora Continental. Whose name had changed to Outubro by this point. This was the company's 5th Poe adaptation. CLASSICOS DE TERROR 14cover by JAYME CORTEZ MARTINS (Editora Outubro / Brazil / 1961) I actually processed this entire story TWICE. The first time, from a PDF file. them, a couple years later, Toni Rodrigues e-mailed the HIGH-RES scans, and the difference in quality was so much, I did it again. "O GATO PRETO" ( "THE BLACK CAT") / Version 4 Adaptation & Art by LUIZ SAIDENBERG After murdering his cat, the narrator adopts a new one... but soon regrets it! One murder leads to another... The last bit here, was the first time I decided to follow in Roger Corman's footsteps-- and use the ACTUAL text from Poe's short story in the narration. I've been doing more and more of that in my translations ever since. I suppose I'm not the only one who's noticed certain recurring themes in some of Poe's stories. "The Black Cat" is a perfect example. On the one hand, you have someone who loses someone he loves, only to replace them with a very similar object of affection... only to find at the end of the story it is somehow, inexplicably, the SAME (see "Ligeia"). Then you have someone who commits a murder, and winds up walling them up in the basement ("The Cask Of Amontillado"). There's also someone who commits a murder, only to have the police discover it while they're trying to dissolve their fears ("The Tell-Tale Heart"). And finally, you have someone who has committed a murder, but then succumbs to a self-destructive urge to shout his victory to the world ("The Imp Of The Perverse"). Sometimes you need a scorecard to keep things like this straight... especially if you're dealing with other people's adaptations of said stories (see Roger Corman's "TALES OF TERROR"). REPRINTS: ALMANAQUE DE HISTORIAS MACABRAS [2]cover by NICO ROSSO (Editora Outubro / Brazil / 1966 ?) CLASSICOS DE TERROR 6cover by JAYME CORTEZ MARTINS (Editora Taika / Brazil / July 1973) SPEKTRO 14cover by JULIO SHIMAMOTO (Editora Vecchi / Brazil / 1980) MEMO 3cover by LUIZ SAIDENBERG (Toni Rodrigues / September 2013) Shortly after I set up the original page for this story, I got in touch with Toni Rodrigues. His enthusiasm and help since then has just blown me away. In addition to everything else, he also informed me that Luiz Saidenberg was STILL AROUND, and suggested I could contact him on Facebook. I did!! Here's what he had to say... "Thanks very much, Henry. Yes, I appreciate very much your version of that old comic...I never could imagine to see this, in colours. Here, a more recent page about samurais.Best regards.
Yes, 54 years ago! This seems also fantastic for me. Now, I´ve more of seventy years old, but yet very active and full of energy, making draws, painting, sculpture e writing articles .
I liked very much your use of color in " Black Cat", giving a new dimension to the story. I´m waiting for a international project to do comics , what would be very interesting to me. Let´s see what happens! Bye."Getting in touch with him, and his response, has been one of the highest points of this entire project! I've found so many artists whose work I've come to love, but most of them have already passed away, some many years before I discovered their work. As a bonus, here's that sample page Luiz Saidenberg sent me... Luiz Saidenberg
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Post by MDG on May 15, 2019 8:39:06 GMT -5
EC's "Fiction Illustrated" line may have been the inspiration for the later Warren horror comics line-- except with word balloons instead of solid walls of narration. I keep hearng that Warren started out hiring many of the EC veterans. The first issue of Creepy was all EC artists, with the exception of Gray Morrow, plus Joe Orlando is credited with "story concepts" or something like that.
The EC Picto-Fiction line looked great--maybe some of the best work by people like Crandall and Evans--but failed on the stands. Maybe it's because they still had the big EC symbol on them. I imagine Gaines and Feldstein did this to alert their former readers, but it may have alienated newsstand owners who just went through the code battle. MAD, as a magazine, I don't think ever prominently had EC on the cover.
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Post by profh0011 on May 16, 2019 21:23:15 GMT -5
The EC Picto-Fiction line looked great--maybe some of the best work by people like Crandall and Evans--but failed on the stands. Maybe it's because they still had the big EC symbol on them. I imagine Gaines and Feldstein did this to alert their former readers, but it may have alienated newsstand owners who just went through the code battle. MAD, as a magazine, I don't think ever prominently had EC on the cover.
Could be. I've read that view recently. I'm a member of the "EC Fan-Addict" Facebook group, and I never even heard of their "Picto-Fiction" mags until joining that group.
Funny thing-- I've been in that group for some time, but more than once, I've admitted that I MUCH prefer Warren horror to EC horror.
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Post by profh0011 on May 16, 2019 21:29:19 GMT -5
And now we go to... MEXICO !!! Editorial Novaro is a publisher based in Mexico City. Begining in the 1950s, their output has included reprints of American comics. For "fiscal reasons" they had subdivisions, EMSA (Ediciones Modernas), SEA (Sociedad Editora America), and for many years were the single largest comics publisher in Latin America. In the 1970s, the demand for American comics was so high in Latin American countries and Spain, that local talent was recruited to create new adventures never seen in America! Since 1985, they decided to drop out of comics to focus on other publishing areas, including free textbooks to Mexico's education system, which are printed in the millions, because they are distributed on several continents. With regard to Edgar Allan Poe, Novaro published 2 adaptations of his stories in their TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASSICOS series (in 1961 and 1963), reprints of Dell's movie adaptations in CLASSICOS DEL CINE (in 1963, 1964, and 1966), distributed Editorial Temporae's EL MONJE LOCO (in 1968, 1969 and 1970), and, a biography comic in one issue of their long-running VIDAS ILUSTRES (in 1968). TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS ("Treasury Of Classic Tales") was Novaro's home-grown version of Gilberton's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED. Most of the first 159 issues featured "classics" stories. Sprinkled in among them were stories of SHERLOCK HOLMES and FANTOMAS, as well as a number of reprint issues. From issues 160 to 182, the series alternated between HOLMES and ARSENE LUPIN. Issues 183 to 195 featured a series called "Mysteries of The Orient" (except for 194, which was a new "Classic" story). Finally, issues 196 to 211 features stories involving vampires, no doubt a reflection of the early-70s horror boom. So many publishers would keep the numbering of a run while changing the title, in this case the odd thing was they would change the format but maintain the overall title. TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS 51cover by ?? (Editorial Sea / Novaro / Mexico / November 1961) "EL ESCARABAJO DE ORO" ( "THE GOLD BUG") / Version 5 Adaptation & Art by ?? Legrand gets angry at Jupiter... Success! Legrand spots the skull. "THE GOLD BUG" was one of the very few stories in this series that was reprinted. When they did, the print quality of the linework deteriorated, a common problem even in the USA. On the other hand, they replaced the original cover with a new variation of it. TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS 156cover by ?? (Editorial Novaro / Mexico / August 1969)
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Post by profh0011 on May 17, 2019 22:27:00 GMT -5
Moving on to... ENGLAND! Thorpe & Porter was an English publisher who licensed Gilberton's immensely-successful CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED. Their editions were virtually identical in appearance, except for the different price listed on the covers, and the fact that they published the stories in a completely-different sequence than they had been in America. However, they also on occasion published issues that were NEW for their run of the series, which had never been published in America! Which brings us to this rather obscure comic... CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED 84cover by MICK ANGLO (Thorpe & Porter / UK / July 1962) The artist is Mick Anglo, who's most well-known as the creator of " Marvelman", the single most popular and successful superhero ever published in England. Created as a replacement for " Captain Marvel" when Fawcett decided to get out of the comics biz, the series ran for 346 issues! "THE GOLD BUG" / Version 6 Adaptation by Alfred Sundel / Art by MICK ANGLO This one's nice, but, the art strikes me as a bit "stiff". final page REPRINTS ILLUSTRIERTE KLASSIKER 123: "DER GOLDENE KAFER"cover by MICK ANGLO (BSV-Williams / Germany / 1962) ILLUSTRATED CLASSICS 145: "DE GOUDKEVER"cover by MICK ANGLO (Classics / Williams / Netherlands / 1962) ILLUSTREREDE KLASSIKERE 150: "GULDBILLEN"cover by MICK ANGLO (Illustrerede Klassikere / Denmark / 1962) ILLUSTRERTE KLASSIKERE 137: "GULL BILLEN"cover by MICK ANGLO (Illustrerte Klassikere / Norway / 1962) ILLUSTRERADE KLASSIKER 150: "DEN GYLLENE SKALBAGGEN"cover by MICK ANGLO (Illustrerade Klassiker / Sweden / 1962) ILLUSTRIERTE KLASSIKER 11: "DER GOLDENE KAFER"cover by MICK ANGLO (NHV / Germany / 1991) Κλασσικά Εικονογραφημένα 244 [De ilustracion clasica]cover by MICK ANGLO (Ατλαντίς / Πεχλιβανίδης / Atlantis / Pechlivanidis / Greece / 1962) Κλασσικά Εικονογραφημένα 1191 [De ilustracion clasica]cover by MICK ANGLO (Ατλαντίς / Πεχλιβανίδης / Atlantis / Pechlivanidis / Greece / 19??) ILLUSTRERTE KLASSIKERE 35: "GULL BILLEN"cover by MICK ANGLO (Egmont Serieforlaget / Norway / March 2012)
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Post by profh0011 on May 18, 2019 16:54:22 GMT -5
One of my FAVORITES from BRAZIL !!! CLASSICOS DE TERROR 24cover by JAYME CORTEZ MARTINS (Editora Outubro / Brazil / 1962) "OS DENTES DE BERENICE" ( "THE TEETH OF BERENICE") / Version 1 Adaptation & Artwork by FLAVIO BARBOSA MAVIGNIER COLIN final page I've really gotten to love Flavio Colin's simple, graphic, "cartoony" style. Which makes his earlier, more "realistic" style here all the more of a surprise. He may be the ONLY cartoonist in Brazil I've run across whose work was clearly inspired by Frank Robbins! Many film adaptations tend to play "mix-and-match", taking elements from more than one story. The Poe films have done this frequently, especially those from Roger Corman. For example, it wasn't until I read Flavio Colin's version of " Berenice" that I suddenly realized that the scene in Corman's " HOUSE OF USHER" where Roderick sees Madelaine move while lying in the coffin-- but doesn't say anything-- a scene not in that story, actually came from the earlier story " Berenice". Meanwhile, I had seen Corman's " THE TOMB OF LIGEIA" more than a dozen times before I suddenly realized one of the key scenes-- where Verden realizes that HE cut the date of his wife's death from her gravestone without knowing it-- ALSO came from " Berenice"! Again, it was reading Colin's version that opened my eyes to this. However, on finally picking up on this, I noticed something EXTRAORDINARY. There were SEVERAL things in Colin's " Berenice" that were NOT from the original short story, unique to his adaptation-- that ALL turned up VERBATIM in Corman's " LIGEIA"!! The 1st panel in Colin's story shows a manor house with a square tower, right next to a cemetery. A shot of Egaeus and Berenice on horseback becomes a near-identical shot of Rowena & Christopher in a foxhunt! Egaeus and Berenice visiting his mother's grave becomes Rowena & Christopher in front of Ligeia's grave! Egaeus spends a lot of time on top of his tower... and it turns out, the abbey's tower is where Verden has been unknowingly spending his nights. Finally, a classic shot of someone carrying a woman... but it is notable that this does not appear in Poe's short story, and this is the ONLY Corman Poe film such a shot does appear in!
Flavio Colin at home.
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Post by profh0011 on May 19, 2019 15:31:05 GMT -5
After the Comics Code all but outlawwed horror comics in the US, just about the only publisher that could get away with doing horror was Dell (and later, Gold Key). Dell somehow skipped the first 3 Roger Corman POE films... but got into it with his 4th... Poe's TALES OF TERRORphoto cover (Dell / February 1963) I initially found the 3 stories in this book posted on 3 separate blogs. But the scans were so bad, I eventually (late last year!) BOUGHT my own copy so I could do my own HIGH-RES scans and post versions that looked BETTER than the actual comic-book. "MORELLA" / Version 1 Adaptation by ?? / Art by GEORGE EVANS In a replay of Corman's " HOUSE OF USHER", " MORELLA" ends with the house catching on fire. That ending wasn't in either of the original stories. I added a bit from the movie. REPRINT CLASICOS DEL CINE 97photo cover (Editorial Sea / Novaro / Mexico / August 1963)
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Post by profh0011 on May 20, 2019 16:09:24 GMT -5
When I processed " TALES OF TERROR" for the 2nd time, I decided to change the order of the 3 stories, to put them back the way the movie had them. " THE BLACK CAT" actually combined that story with " THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO". Ironically, the logic underlying both stories was destroyed by combining them together. Also, as I discovered when I read the comics adaptation of this, the best part of the whole thing-- the darkly humorous exchange of dialogue that occured during said bricking-up-- is missing from the comic. Ah well. What can you do? The art for this story was by Fran Matera, who worked on many long-running newspaper strips, including "Kerry Drake", "Dickie Dare", "Little Annie Roonie", "Rex Morgan MD", "Judge Parker", "Apartment 3-G", "Mr. Holiday", "Nero Wolfe", and "Steve Roper And Mike Nomad". This was his only POE adaptation. "THE BLACK CAT" / Version 5 (including "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO" / Version 5) Adaptation by ?? / Art by FRAN MATERA How did this marriage ever last 17 years? This guy finally has all he wants. WHY should he be bothered how he got it?
final page
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Post by profh0011 on May 22, 2019 15:29:16 GMT -5
The best of the 3 stories in the film was saved for last. It made no sense to me that it should be at the front of the book. So for my project, I put it in the back where I felt it belonged. "THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR" / Version 2 Adaptation by ?? / Art by GEORGE EVANS In the 5th panel on this page, 2 of the word balloons were pointing to the wrong characters. Not without some effort, I FIXED that. Valdemar DIES. The line " What place is this?" was later spoken by Basil Rathbone in the film " THE COMEDY OF TERRORS". Valdemar protects his wife, from beyond death. As he had done with Corman's " THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER", screenwriter Richard Matheson made some substantial changes which added extra levels to the story. For one thing, he added a loving wife to the elderly Valdemar, in order to add a romantic entanglement-- as the man's loyal friend & doctor is in love with her. But in addition, the hypnotist, Mr. Carmichael, becomes a genuine villain, as he has his own ambitions toward Valdemar's wife, which have nothing to do with love. Once again, the artist was one of the best in the business-- George Evans.
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Post by MDG on May 23, 2019 8:40:33 GMT -5
They never would've gotten away with that final panel if Dell subscribed to the Code.
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Post by profh0011 on May 23, 2019 18:41:07 GMT -5
The 2nd adaptation from MEXICO! Like the TALES OF TERROR book, I finished cleaning this one up only a few months ago. TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS 72cover by ?? (Editorial Sea / Novaro / Mexico / August 1963) It's maddening when I have no idea who worked on a book... "AVENTURAS DE GORDON PYM" ( "THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET") / Version 2 Adaptation & Art by ?? This page reminds me a bit of early Gil Kane. I'm guessing whoever the artist was, he may have been a fan of Kane's work. The mutiny was portrayed in this version with a lot less bloodshed... Desperate for food... The rescue... Sailing south... The natives SEEM friendly... This version has them helping the natives much more like in the novel... ...before their sudden betrayal and massacre! Escape even further south... to an ABRUPT, and totally-unexplained ending, as in the novel. Well, definitely some differences between this and the previous adaptation done in France. In that one, the natives ambushed the crew during the first trip to their village. Here, as in the novel, the crew makes it to the village, spends some time there becoming friendly with the natives, and even showing them how to build huts and storage buildings and engage in trade, before being abruptly ambushed & murdered a full month after their arrival. On the other hand, the French comic showed Arthur, Dick and Augustus (who did not die as he did in the novel) hiding on top of the hill for some time, before making a perilous climb down, and finally taking one of the natives as a prisoner during their escape. Here, their escape is much quicker and easier. The most significant change in the French comic was the addition of an epilogue showing the trio having been rescued and make their way back home to The States. This Mexican comic follows the novel's insane, abrupt ending with no explanation for events. And because of the added prologue showing the much-later expedition finding Arthur's diary narrative, the implication in this version is that neither he or Dick EVER made it back to civilization! The most disturbing aspect of all this is the way the natives acted so friendly, yet inexplicably murdered the crew and destroyed the ship. I can't help but think if I'd done this, I would have provided some deeper explanation than simply "they were savages". The way the climax goes from the bulk of the crew being killed to the few survivors running off to an unspecified fate continues to remind me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' later story, " THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT". That story got a sequel to wrap things up. Poe's got no less than 3 unrelated sequels-- but each was written by a completely different writer.
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Post by profh0011 on May 25, 2019 16:40:23 GMT -5
Following TALES OF TERROR, Dell's next foray into Poe was their movie adaptation of Roger Corman's THE RAVEN. Poe's THE RAVENphoto cover (Dell / September 1963) "THE RAVEN" / Version 10 Adaptation by Don Segall / Art by FRANK SPRINGER Dr. Bedlo tells Dr. Craven how to restore his rightful form... Arrival at Dr. Scarabus' castle... The 2 magicians battle it out... final page REPRINT: CLASICOS DEL CINE 111Photo cover (Editorial Novaro / Mexico / 1963) Strangely enough, most of the humor in the film was missing from the comic.
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Post by profh0011 on May 26, 2019 13:25:49 GMT -5
The 3rd Dell POE movie adaptation is a step up from the previous one. Frank Springer's art seems to have improved, and the book appears to follow the film much closer this time. Poe's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATHphoto cover (Dell / August-October 1964) "THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH" / Version 5 (including "HOP FROG" / Version 2) Adaptation by ?? / Art by FRANK SPRINGER Hop Toad deviously ingratiates himself to Alfredo... Prospero's twisted ideas of punishment... Hop Toad tricks Alfredo... Prospero confronts the stranger in RED... Prospero faces HIS END! final page Thus ends this tale. Some of the "edits" (for the sake of the Comics Code, no doubt) are a bit maddening. For example, we don't see Ludovico getting run through with a sword-- instead, only a short dagger is shown, some distance from his body, and with no blood on it. Later, Juliana is seen in a "Pit And The Pendulum" situation, rather than being attacked by Prospero's hunting falcon. REPRINT CLASICOS DEL CINE 146Photo cover (Editorial Novaro / Mexico / 1964) Finally, here's an "Masque Of The Red Death" action figure, by a company called "Distinctive Dummies". No kidding!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 27, 2019 9:32:47 GMT -5
Great, great stuff, profh0011! However, I'm always taken a little aback by the way publishers graphically emphasize the horror aspect in Poe's stories. They never struck me as particularly gory!
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