Sunday, November 1, 2015

Poe 1951, Pt. 1

(Continued from Poe 1950, Pt. 2)

CRIME SUSPENSTORIES  3
 "BLOOD RED WINE"

EC (Entertaining Comics) remains one of the most famous-- or infamous, depending on your point of view-- comics publishers of the 1950s.  During a period where a virtual witch-hunt erupted over violence in "children's" literature, they were at the center of it.  The Comics Code Authority-- a self-governing industry organization put together by several of the bigger publishers, while allegedly aimed at "cleaning up" the image of comics in general, in many ways was instead designed specifically to put EC-- their biggest competitor-- out of business!  This kind of behavior and attitude never fails to get me incensed in the extreme.

Aside from THE HAUNT OF FEAR, THE VAULT OF HORROR and TALES FROM THE CRYPT, their 3 "horror" books, the latter 2 of which had feature films based on them in the early-1970s, was CRIME SUSPENSTORIES, their own foray into the "violent crime" category.  It was actually the cover of one issue of CSS that caught the most hell when it was used as evidence of how "depraved" the company's output was.

EC tended to tackle Poe in a very free-wheeling, "loose" fashion. adapted.

3rd up...

     "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO".

The source material is plainly obvious, but many changes have been made.  This kind of thing can alternatively be a matter of frustration for "purists", or a joy to those who are able to enjoy a finished work on its own terms. I'm including a link to another blog which takes a look at the changes.

Only 4 months later, Gilberton would present a FAR-more authentic version of this story.

The artist was Graham Ingels, who on one hand was one of the most popular of the EC horror artists, but on the other hand, was SO disturbed by the anti-comics witch-hunt that after he left the company, he NEVER wanted to discuss or think about his career as a horror artist.

This was his 1st of 3 POE stories.

CRIME SUSPENSTORIES  3
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG   (EC  /  February-March 1951)
"BLOOD RED WINE"
     (adapted from "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO")  /  Version 1
Adaptation by Albert B. Feldstein  /  Art by GRAHAM INGELS  /  Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
I find it interesting that, as "depraved" as so many were convinced EC Comics were, that writer Al Feldstein felt compelled to not let the murderer get away with his crime, as he did in the original Poe story.  14 years later, Archie Goodwin did the same thing.  The reach of the Motion Picture Production Code, and the Comics Code, was far, and insidious.

In the 1980s, many of the ECs were reprinted by Russ Cochran...

CRIME SUSPENSTORIES  1
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG   (Russ Cochran  /  1983)
CRIME SUSPENSTORIES  3
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG   (Russ Cochran  /  May 1993)
EC ARCHIVES:  CRIME SUSPENSTORIES  1
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG   (Gemstone  /  [December] 2007)
CRIME SUSPENSTORIES  1
cover by ??   (Akileos  /  France  /  May 2012)
Graham Ingels.
Copyright (C) the various publishers.

Scan of CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #3 from the Heritage Auctions site
Scan of CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #3 interiors supplied by "Pappy"
     with special thanks!
Scan of CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #1 (1983) from the GCD site.
Scan of CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #3 (1993)
     from Dr. K's 100 Super Spectacular Pages blog.
Scan of EC ARCHIVES:  CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #1 (2007)
     from the GCD site.
Scan of CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #1 (2012) from the Akileos France site.

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
Special thanks to "Pappy"!!!

For more:
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at The Poe Museum site.
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at the Biography site.


Visit the EC Fan-Addict Club Facebook group.
R
ead about Johnny Craig at Lambiek Comiclopedia.
Read about Graham Ingels at Lambiek Comiclopedia.
See more of Graham Ingels' work at the Comic Art Fans site.
Read Dr. K's article
     "EC Comics and the Improvement Theory of Literary Criticism"
     at Dr. K's 100 Super Spectacular Pages blog!

Read about THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO at Spark Notes.
Read about THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO at Cliff Notes.
Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the AMONTILLADO Gallery of Illustrations.

     Audio:
Hear the WEIRD CIRCLE radio episode!
Watch the Bela Lugosi-Romney Brent SUSPENSE TV episode!
Hear the Basil Rathbone recording!
Hear the CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!

     Comics:
Read the Graham Ingels AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Rudy Palais AMONTILLADO adaptation!
     Read the Iger Shop AMONTILLADO sequel!
Read the Gedeone Malagola AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Fran Matera AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Reed Crandall AMONTILLADO adaptation!

Read the Osvaldo Talo AMONTILLADO adaptation!     6
Read the Juan J. Aguilar AMONTILLADO illustrated story!   (coming soon!)
     Read the Frank Brunner AMONTILLADO sequel!
     Read the Cirilo Munoz AMONTILLADO sequel!   (coming soon!)
Read the Maro Nava AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Martin Salvador AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Guido Del Carpio Rivera AMONTILLADO illustrated story!
     (coming soon!)

Read the Don McGregor / Mike Golden AMONTILLADO adaptation!     11
Read the Arturo Cassilas AMONTILLADO adaptation!   (coming soon!)
Read the Noly Zamora AMONTILLADO adaptation!
     (Coming soon:)
Read the Pablo Marcos AMONTILLADO illustrated story!
Read the Ann Toulmin-Rothe AMONTILLADO illustrated story!

Read the Editorial Proyeccion AMONTILLADO adaptation!     16
Read the Editora Bloch AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Walter James Brogan AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Bill D. Fountain AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Horacio Lalia AMONTILLADO adaptation!

Read the Dan Brereton AMONTILLADO adaptation!     21
Read the Pedro Lopez AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Xavier Besse AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Bartolo Torres Prats AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Bret M. Herholz AMONTILLADO adaptation!

Read the Julia Gfrorer AMONTILLADO adaptation!     26
Read the Creees Hyunsung Lee AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Richard Corben AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Edu Molino AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Rod Espinosa AMONTILLADO adaptation!

Read the Jason Strutz AMONTILLADO adaptation!     31
     Read the Jason Strutz AMONTILLADO sequel!
Read the Gareth Hinds AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Chagen AMONTILLADO adaptation!

     Misc.:
Read the Graham Ingels AMONTILLADO adaptation!
Read the Graham Ingels VALDEMAR adaptation!
Read the Graham Ingels TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!

See the CHRONOLOGICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
See the ALPHABETICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!

(Continued in Poe 1951, Pt. 2)

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