Poe 1965, Pt. 3

(Continued from Poe 1965, Pt. 2)

Poe's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA
     (A Movie Classic  /  Conclusion)

Dell Comics were, for many years, the single BIGGEST comics publisher in the country.  Their material was so aggressively family-oriented, that they never even got involved with the Comics Code (and had no problems with distribution, apparently).  Much of their output was in "licensed" characters and series, as well as movie adaptations.  Which brings us to this one.

We come now to the concluding section of the 4th of 5 Dell "Movie Classics" devoted to American International Pictures' POE series, which features an adaptation of the 8th of 8 films in that series directed by Roger Corman.  (Confused enough?)  This features an adaptation that had not been done before in comics...

     "THE TOMB OF LIGEIA".

The film, only loosely based on the original short story, in some ways could be easily compared to Corman's "PIT AND THE PENDULUM", in that, in many ways, the story is almost a sort of "best of Poe", borrowing elements from several different stories at once and combining them in new ways.  Also, in total contrast to the studio-bound gothic horror of "Masque", "Ligeia" is essentially a love story, combined with a mystery, with hints of the supernatural thrown in for good measure.

When I say "mystery", I'm not kidding.  It's not until the climax of the film that you really, finally find out exactly what's been going on the for whole story (something it shares with both "PIT" and "THE PREMATURE BURIAL").  And in keeping with it being a love story, the comics adaptation has art by 2 men whose best work may have been in the romance genre-- John Tartaglione, and Vince Colletta!

Poe's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA
cover by John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta   (Dell  /  April-June 1965)

"THE TOMB OF LIGEIA"  /  Version 1
Adaptation by ??  /  Art by John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta
Page 23  /  "And now... the EPIC conclusion!"

Page 24

Page 25

Page 26

Page 27

Page 28

Page 29

Page 30

Page 31

Page 32

And that brings a close to the Roger Corman POE adaptations.  This gets my vote for the BEST of the 5 Dell POE Movie Classics, and possibly the BEST work I have ever seen from either John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta.  (Any idea who wrote the adaptation?  It certainly follows the movie more than most.)

There would be 1 more AIP POE adapted to comics after this,
and with the same artist involved.

REPRINT:

CLASICOS DEL CINE  152
cover by John Tartaglione & Vince Colletta   (Dell  /  January 15, 1966)

Finally, as a bonus, here's an interpretation of
     Vincent Price as Verden Fell by artist Sean McCaffrey.

Copyright (C) 1964 by Alta Vista Productions.

Scan of Poe's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA
     from the Heritage Auction site.
Scan of Poe's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA interiors
     from the Destination Nightmare site.
Scan of CLASICOS DEL CINE #152
     from the Mercado Livre site.
Scan of Verden Fell painting thanks to Sean McCaffrey.

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

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

Read about Dell Comics at Don Markstein's Toonpedia.
Read about John Tartaglione at Lambiek Comiclopedia.
Read about Vince Colletta at Lambiek Comiclopedia.

Read about LIGEIA at the Spencer Baum site.
Read about LIGEIA at the Spark Notes site.
Read about LIGEIA at the Cliff Notes site.

Read the complete story at the Poe Stories.com site.
See the LIGEIA Gallery of Illustrations.

     Audio:
Hear the Vincent Price recording!

     Comics:
Read the John Tartaglione LIGEIA adaptation!
Read the Dino Battaglia LIGEIA adaptation!
Read the Jesus Duran LIGEIA adaptation!
     (Coming soon!)
Read the Rodolfo Zalla LIGEIA adaptation!
Read the Dan Day LIGEIA adaptation!
Read the Veronica Solomon LIGEIA adaptation!

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

(Continued in Poe 1965, Pt. 4)