WEIRD v8 4
"THE DEAD LIVE"
Eerie Publications was one of the companies set up by el cheapo schlockmeister Myron Fass (infamously of M.F. Enterprises, who put out the android "Captain Marvel" who yelled "SPLIT!" --and then did). While clearly meant to imitate and compete with the glorious James Warren B&W horror comics magazines (CREEPY, EERIE, etc.), the byword for these was "tacky". On every level. Instead of trying to raise the bar on quality of art and writing, these seem more aimed at the lowest possible dominator, kids who could take a perverse pleasure in being able to read shocking, brutally violent stuff that made the worst excesses of the early-1950s seem tame by comparison.
The story in question is the relatively obscure...
"THE DEAD LIVE".
This, in fact, is a redo of a story called "BURIED ALIVE" from Prize's BLACK MAGIC #28 (Jan-Feb'54), with the art REDRAWN. You read that right. Allow me to quote from the THIS IS HORROR blog...
"Eerie Publications began by printing black and white versions of the pre-code horror comics from the 50s that were out of print and therefore in the public domain. They would slap a new cover on the comic and touch up the old artwork to make it more gory. This worked quite well for a time, as they were sold as magazines and not comics, so weren’t subject to the same censorship that had killed horror comics fifteen years before. After a while though, Fass began to run out of old horror comics to pilfer and the fifties fashions and styles looked a little dated by the dawn of the groovy 70s. Undaunted, Fass simply hired a bunch of cheap and hungry (but exceptionally talented) artists from South America to redraw the same stories with seventies hair cuts and a gallon or two more gore. Sometimes the same story would be redrawn up to three times by different artists to varying effect."
Having explained that, I shall further tell you that this story is actually an adaptation of Poe's "THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER", with elements of "THE PREMATURE BURIAL" thrown in for good measure!
Since the art is all-new, I'm going to count this as a "new" adaptation for each of the stories it involves.
I don't think I actually have even a single one of these in my entire collection. In fact, frankly, I'm surprised that a POE story even turned up in any of them. But, it did!!
WEIRD v8 4
cover by BILL ALEXANDER (Eerie Publications / August 1974)
"THE DEAD LIVE"
(adapted from "THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER") / Version 17
(including elements of "THE PREMATURE BURIAL") / Version 7
Adaptation by Jack Oleck / New Art by CIRILO MUNOZ / Page 20
Page 21
TERROR TALES v.8 3
cover by FERNANDO FERNANDEZ (Eerie Publications / October 1977)
cover by ?? (Gredown / Australia / November 1977)
cover by BILL ALEXANDER (Eerie Publications / November 1981)
Scans of WEIRD v8 #4 interiors supplied by Cully Callaway
with special thanks!
All other scans from the GCD site.
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
For more:
Read about Edgar Allen Poe at The Poe Museum site.
Read about Eerie Publications at the Boing Boing site.
See a TON of Eerie Publications covers at Google Search!
Read about Bill Alexander at the This Is Horror blog!
"THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER":
Read about THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER at Spark Notes.
Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the HOUSE OF USHER Gallery of Illustrations.
Audio:
Hear the Basil Rathbone HOUSE OF USHER recording!
Hear the Gladys Thornton WEIRD CIRCLE episode!
Hear the Paul Frees ESCAPE episode!
Hear the Kevin McCarthy CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!
Comics:
Read the Gus Schrotter HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Harley M. Griffiths HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Jerry Grandenetti HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Harry Harrison HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Steve Ditko HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the George Evans HOUSE OF USHER illustrated story!
Read the Osvaldo Talo HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Alexis-Thomas Hinsberger HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Tom Sutton HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Dino Battaglia HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Juan Reyes HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Gino Dauro HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Miguel Gomez Esteban HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Carlos Moro HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Klaus Nordby HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Maro Navo HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Cirilo Munoz HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Martin Salvador HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Guido Del Carpio Rivera HOUSE OF USHER illustrated story!
Read the Nestor Redondo HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
(Coming soon:)
Read the Pablo Marcos HOUSE OF USHER illustrated story!
Read the Novelas Inmortales HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Arturo Arnau HOUSE OF USHER illustrated story!
Read the E.C. Nickel HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Richard Corben HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the P.Craig Russell / Jay Geldof HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
"THE PREMATURE BURIAL":
Read about THE PREMATURE BURIAL at Wikipedia.
Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the PREMATURE BURIAL Gallery of Illustrations.
Audio:
Hear the CBS Radio Mystery Theater PREMATURE BURIAL episode!
Comics:
Read the Steve Ditko PREMATURE BURIAL adaptation!
Read the George Evans PREMATURE BURIAL illustrated story!
Read the Gedeone Malagola PREMATURE BURIAL adaptation!
Read the Juan J. Aguilar PREMATURE BURIAL ilustrated story!
Read the Juan Porredon Morillo PREMATURE BURIAL adaptation!
Read the Juez Xirinius PREMATURE BURIAL adaptation!
Read the Cirilo Munoz PREMATURE BURIAL adaptation!
Read the Vicente Alcazar PREMATURE BURIAL adaptation!
See my Edgar Allan Poe overview at this very blog!
(Continued in Poe 1974, Pt.14)
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