POE review

(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Edgar Allan Poe, prolific author of morbid works such as "The Raven," "Cask of Amontillado," and "Murder at Rue Morgue," needs no introduction. However, the guy's been dead for over a century, and once again, someone has attempted to produce a new creative IP revolving around a fantastical story set in Poe's life. Will this be as good as The Raven, a very enjoyable film starring John Cusack that captured the essence of Poe's morbidity, of which I have previously expressed my appreciation of? Eh... I wanted to like this because it's published by BOOM! Studios and those guys are awesome, but, sadly, I have to admit that's a no. This book is from 2010, written by J. Barton Mitchell and illustrated by Dean Kotz.


The art is alright. The cover art is pretty inviting, don't get me wrong, but the actual art within is hardly good. It's not horrid, but it never made me go "Woah" or "That looks pretty good". It fits the tone serviceably, but it never goes beyond seviceable. One thing I noticed was that, while the cover art Edgar looks almost identical to the true and troubled poet, the one in the actual meat of the series looks more like a taller Peter Dinklage. Just nitpicking, of course, but it's pretty odd. Faces don't look very good all around, though the environments and backgrounds fare much better. The action is poorly done.


The art can be forgiven if the plot, characters, and dialogue do well. Well, does it? I'm afraid to say so, but that's a no. The plot is poorly done and paced, and all around just feels so humdrum and boring. There's no flair to it, and it lacks any twists or atmosphere to truly encapsulate what made Poe's works so cerebral and intriguing to read. Poe is poorly characterized, more a boring, grieving, broody detective than this cocky, cynical, troubled man bared down by the weight of every terrible event in his life who found solace in taverns and was addicted to opium due to being prescribed laudanum. So he's basically an even more boring Batman here. The dialogue is bland, lacking any flavor to make it interesting or enjoyable.


Poe is absolute dreck, with little substance and little style to make it anything worth reading. It's a poorly slapped together mess of a comic that really adds nothing to the mystique of one of the most well known and interesting of household known poets. It's boring, and as dull as can be. Poe gets a 3/10.

Horrid

Summary:
Middle of the road art dragged down by poor story, characters, dialogue, and pacing, plus a lack of mystery or intrigue. It's underwhelming at best and just kinda there.

(originally posted: 12/3/2015)

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