Graphic Classics Volume 21: Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery (Graphic Classics, 21)

Illustrations along with short excerpts passage from Poe's original works a along with very creative drawings can help students into appreciating the classics! Now if only school budgets would cover the cost of purchasing one for each student.

A lot of comic styles.Great illustrations.It shows numerous Poe's universes: tales, poems/love, gothic, satirical, mystery, ractiocination, etc.Really good book!

This book is a delightful version of classic tales. The artwork is gorgeous and engaging especially for reluctant readers. The story lines are true to the originals but totally accessible for all level of reading abilities.

Tom Pomplun's Graphic Classics series started with Edgar Allan Poe as Volume One. That volume has gone through four editions nowalways with some little tweaks here and there in the included stories. But now, with volume twenty-one Graphic Classics gives us a new Poe volume making Poe the only author to be represented twice in the Graphic Classics series as well as delivering the first full-color edition of Poe-adaptations.Not that these are all entirely new adaptations. There are still quite a few returnees from previous editions of "Graphic Classics: Edgar Allen Poe." But the returning adaptations are in color, which does change them quite a bit. Like every edition of Graphic Classics, this "Tales of Mystery" had some hits as well as some misses. As always, I enjoy how Pomplun mixes the obscure tales with the crowd-pleasing favorites. There are more than enough illustrated versions of "The Raven" out there, but not quite so many of "The Man in the Crowd" or "Berenice."This volume includes:The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Adapted by Antonella Caputo and illustrated by Reno Maniquis. This is a new adaptation of Poe's famous first detective story. This was a keen adaptation. I enjoyed Maniquis's art in the previous Graphic Classics: Westerns. He has a way of drawing that is realistic, yet with an old-timey feel that makes for great interpretations of old stories like this. I liked the subtle nods that were given towards Dupin and the narrator, showing exactly which more-famous characters they served as the template for. Dupin might as well have been smoking a calabash pipe.To Violet Vane - Also new, and illustrated by Molly Kielly. Almost an anti-love poem, this is the "It's not you, it's me. Let's just be friends"-speech that everyone dreads put into flowing rhyme. Kielly does a funny and pretty adaptation of this, casting Poe as the main character being left behind at a café.The Facts of the Case or M. Valdemar - Another new story, adapted by Tom Pomplun and illustrated by Michael Manning. I have always loved this creepy tale of a man mesmerized at the very moment of death. Pomplun and Manning did a good, straight-forward adaptations of this. The real test of Manning's skills for this story is at the end, and how well he can draw a liquefying corpse. Very well, apparently.A Dream Within a Dream - Also new, illustrated by N. Blanden. A quirky poem illustrated in a quirky style, very cartoony and somewhat absurdist.Berenice - A new story, adapted by Pomplun and illustrated by Nelson Evergreen. This adaptation gets the Best in Show award for this volume, and the reason why I love the Graphic Classics series. I wasn't very familiar with this short story, and yet Pomplun and Evergreen made it one of my favorites. Dark and suspenseful, with Gothic elements and actual horror. And I love how Evergreen reminds us that sometimes there is nothing scarier than a simple smile.Eldorado - Returning from previous editions, this two-page adaptation by Roger Langridge is well worth repeating, and looks even better in color.Hop Frog - Almost returning, adapted by Rob Lott and illustrated by Lisa K. Weber. Previous versions of the jester's revenge tale Hop Frog had Weber adding illustrations to Poe's text, but this has been completely re-adapted into a full comic. I wouldn't have thought that Weber's work would look so good in color, but it really shines.The Oval Portrait - A new story, adapted by Pomplun and illustrated by Craig Wilson. A short, creepy story of an obsessive artist trying to capture true life on his canvas. That never turns out well. Wilson's art was good, but a little too boring on this one.The Man of the Crowd - Another new story, adapted by Rich Rainey and illustrated by Brad Teare. Anything but boring, this is a little psychological portrait with a stylized adaptation. I would say this was one of Poe's lesser stories, but it is given good service here.Spirits of the Dead - Returning from the second edition, illustrated by Andy Ewen. A dreamlike adaptation of this poem musing on death. I can't say the color adds too much here over the previous black-and-white version, but it doesn't distract.King Pest - Also returning, this adaptation by Caputo and illustrator Anton Emdin is grotesque and well-suited to Poe's tale of the plaque. I love this adaptation, but I don't know if the use of color has really enhanced it. Still, a worthy returnee from previous volumes.The Tell-Tale Heart - New, adapted and illustrated by Ronn Sutton. This one was disappointing to me. Previous volumes had a glorious adaptation by Rick Geary, who really shines in this kind of tale. I don't know why a new adaptation was commissioned for this story only, but I am not a fan of the results. For no reason I can discern the lead character was modernized to a green-mohawked, neo-nazi punk rock girl. It is good art otherwise, but I don't really see the point.The Masque of the Red Death - Returning, adapted and illustrated by Scott Shaw. I liked Shaw's interpretation of this classic Poe tale, and the vibrant, almost psychedelic colors add quite a bit.The Conqueror Worm - New, illustrated by Leong Wan Kok. A very cool interpretation of Poe's famous mortality poem. Instead of the usual metaphors, Wan Kok did a literal interpretation, which is something I have never seen before. An actual puppet play being attacked by a giant worm. The art here is just gorgeous. Fully painted, and with a unique style. This was my second-favorite in the book.

Reason for Reading: I read every new volume that comes out.A graphic anthology of short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe. This is the second volume in the series to feature Poe as Volume 1 did as well. The crowning glory of this volume is the adaptation of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Antonella Caputo and Reno Maniquis. Very much in keeping with the original story, they have brought the classic story to a new medium and shown this first detective story in all its gruesome delight. I also enjoyed "The Facts in the Case of of M. Valdemar" which is a creepy story to begin with and Michael Manning's illustrations really bring a new essence to the story that words alone cannot convey. I'm happy to see Hop-Frog back in its original form by Lisa K. Weber only with added colour, this time. Not one of my favourite Poe stories but a wicked little tale of revenge nicely done in the graphic format. "The Masque of Red Death" is back also in colour and I'm not sure whether I appreciate this one as much in colour as I did in black and white. There are a few lesser known tales represented here and they are not ones that really do much for me though I enjoyed the artwork completely, throughout the book this time. "Berenice" was particularly a favourite of a story I hadn't remember so well. There is only one story I did not like and that was a new rendering of "The Tell-Tale Heart", which had been turned into a modern story with the antagonist portrayed as a female punk rock neo-nazi type. Didn't work for me at all.There are quite a few poems in this volume, short poems. It felt like more than usual but I'm not holding another book to actually compare, perhaps it's because I'm not exactly a poem person and had been hoping that "The Bells" would be represented. Overall, a good read. Poe is good material to work with graphically, but I'll honestly have to say I preferred the b/w volume to this new colour volume.