Poe 1971, Pt. 1

(Continued from Poe 1970, Pt. 1)

WITZEND  8
"THE CITY IN THE SEA"
     (in COLOR)

WITZEND was the creation of science-fiction illustrator Wallace Wood.  It was intended as a publication that would showcase the work of himself and others without any restrictions of publishers or the Comics Code, and where creators could maintain ownership of their work.

At one point, Bill Pearson took over control of the magazine.  It was during this point that Frank Frazetta decided to do an "illustrated" version of Poe's...

     "THE CITY IN THE SEA".

Man, this is HUGE! (8-1/2" wide x 11" high)

"The City In The Sea" is an exercise in unmittigated nerve.   Frank Frazetta did 10 pages to introduce a story about a girl who survives a plane crash and becomes a jungle heroine... and when the story was never published, he "re-purposed" it here by simply adding the text of an Edgar Allan Poe poem onto the pages.  The art is stunning, and the poem is one of my favorites of Poe.  But do they go together-- AT ALL????   I leave that for others to decide.

I initially set this page up on January 17, 2015, only 3 months into the project.  At the time, I only had 5 pages scanned from the original art (!!!), and no text.  But as of 4-27-2017, I got my hands on the actual magazine, to do my own HI-RES scans from.

I don't think this has ever been COLORED.  IT IS NOW.  Funny enough, the 2 people who I've found have influenced me the most when it comes to coloring, are Stan Goldeberg, and Frank Frazetta.  With Frazetta, it was his paintings.  So I'm a bit amused at the thought of adding color to some of his line-art.  Whether any of his influence finds its way in... well, we'll see.

ENJOY!

WITZEND  8
cover by RALPH REESE   (Wonderful Publishing Company  /  Summer 1971)

The front cover reproduces a panel from an interior story.  Reflecting the era of the late 60s-early 70s when many music LP jackets did not have a band's or album's name on the front, the REAL front cover on this issue (which you never see online) is in the BACK!!! 

This is the earliest work I've ever seen from Craig Russell.

"THE CITY IN THE SEA"  /  Version 2
Illustrations by FRANK FRAZETTA  /  Pages 18-19

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25

Page 26

Page 27

I can only imagine what this might have been like if Frazetta had actually done art SPECIFICALLY illustrating the poem.

This has been reprinted twice in the ensuing years...

THUNDA AMOUR INDOMPTABLE
cover by FRANK FRAZETTA   (Xanadu  /  1983)

WITZEND  2
cover by various  (??  /  2014)

I'm including a bonus gallery of illustrations by various artists over the decades.

"THE CITY IN THE SEA" by W. Heath Robinson   (1900)

"THE CITY IN THE SEA" by Edmund Dulac   (1912)

"THE CITY IN THE SEA" by Hugo Steiner-Prag   (1922)

"THE CITY IN THE SEA" by Reynold Brown   (1965)

Copyright (C) Frank Frazetta.
New Color (C) Henry R. Kujawa.

Scan of WITZEND #8 from my collection.
Scan of THUNDA AMOUR INDOMPTABLE from Comics-France.com site.
Scan of WITZEND 2 from the Locustmoon site.

     Scans of "The City In The Sea" by...
W. Heath Robinson (1900) from the EBooks@Adelaide site,
Edmund Dulac (1912) from Poul Webb / Art & Artists blog,
Hugo Steiner-Prag (1922) from the Flickr site, and
     with thanks to Scott Lindberg, and
Reynold Brown (1965) from The Minatures Page. 

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Edgar Allen Poe at Wikipedia.

Read about Witzend at Wikipedia.
Read about Ralph Reese at Wikipedia.
Read about Frank Frazetta at Wikipedia.
Read about Reynold Brown at the IMDB.

Read about Basil Rathbone at Wikipedia.

Read about THE CITY IN THE SEA at Wikipedia.
Read the complete poem at the Classic Literature site.

Hear the Basil Rathbone recording!

Read the John Tartaglione CITY IN THE SEA adaptation!
Read the Frank Frazetta CITY IN THE SEA illustrated poem!
Read the Richard Corben CITY IN THE SEA adaptation!   (coming soon)

See my Edgar Allan Poe overview at this very blog!

(Continued in Poe 1971, Pt. 2)