Reviews

Edgar Allan Poe's Spirits of the Dead by Richard Corben

gretaxo's review

1.0

“ 
     Thy soul shall find itself alone
     'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone—
     Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
     Into thine hour of secrecy:
 
                                 2
 
     Be silent in that solitude
         Which is not loneliness—for then
     The spirits of the dead who stood
         In life before thee are again
     In death around thee—and their will
     Shall then overshadow thee: be still.
 
                                3
 
     For the night—tho' clear—shall frown—
     And the stars shall look not down,
     From their high thrones in the Heaven,
     With light like Hope to mortals given—
     But their red orbs, without beam,
     To thy weariness shall seem
     As a burning and a fever
     Which would cling to thee for ever:
 
                               4
 
     Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish—
     Now are visions ne'er to vanish—
     From thy spirit shall they pass
     No more—like dew-drop from the grass:
 
                              5
 
     The breeze—the breath of God—is still—
     And the mist upon the hill
     Shadowy—shadowy—yet unbroken,
     Is a symbol and a token—
     How it hangs upon the trees,
     A mystery of mysteries!—”

terrnadoe's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

jmbz38's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

queerbillydeluxe's review

3.0

I love me some Poe, but like any collection, there wee some here I liked much more than others. House of Usher was awesome, as was the Red Death, but a couple I was a bit iffy on...

breacommelafromage's review

1.0

I really hated this book.

First of all, it was a poor representation of Poe's work. I am a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan, and I have read the majority of his work. Pieces that I have read many times (The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, ect.), were confusing and hard to comprehend. I don't think the author of this book has actually read a story by Poe; it felt more like they illustrated a summary they read on sparknotes or something. It was pitiful...

I was also kind of alarmed at the negative representation of women in this book, and the constant referral to the women as "bitches". Again... big Poe fan; I think I would have noticed all these "bitches" they keep referring to.

Lastly, even the images suck. I hate to be that person that bashes everything about a story, but I couldn't even get into the illustrations, and that's half the fun of a graphic novel!

Overall, I think I was being pretty generous by giving this book a 1 star. I think it is a horrendous representation of magnificent author.

ori2590's review

4.0

Poe is macabre on his own, but Mr. Corben's artwork brought the characters to life. I remember reading Red Death a few years back and the artwork was exactly the same as my interpretation of the tale was. Little weird, little scary and a lot of Poe.

kesterbird's review

1.0

That.... was terrible.

If you ever thought to yourself "you know what Poe needs? Lots of stupidly large boobs and bad puns!" well than! I have the book for you. But, honestly, I bet even in the genre of jiggleboob/badpun/poe, you could find something better than this.

librarydino's review

3.0

I love me some Poe, but like any collection, there wee some here I liked much more than others. House of Usher was awesome, as was the Red Death, but a couple I was a bit iffy on...