Poe 1975, Pt. 9

(Continued from Poe 1975, Pt. 8)

SCREAM  11
"MR. POE AND THE RAVEN"

Skywald Publications was the work of Sol Brodsky & Israel Waldman.  While they had a small run of color comics designed to imitate Marvel, their biggest output and claim to fame were their B&W "Horror-Mood" magazines, done very much in the mode of James Warren's CREEPY and EERIE.

Al Hewetson, a writer & editor, soon joined the company and eventually became full editor when Brodsky returned to Marvel.  Hewetson determined to give Skywald's horror line a more "literate" feel than Warren's had, resulting in, among other things, no less than 19 Edgar Allan Poe adaptations between 1972-75.

As I said on an earlier page, Al Hewetson became aware of how Marvel's distributor was deliberaterly SCREWING OVER Skywald at the newsstands.  By the time this issue came out, things had already become terminal.  Thus, we come to the 19th and final of these...

     "THE RAVEN".

     This was the 15th version of this, following...
Harper's THE RAVEN (1880),
E.P. Dutton's THE RAVEN (1883),
Harper & Brothers' THE RAVEN (1884),
Harwell-Evans' THE RAVEN (1906),
Reilly & Britton's THE RAVEN (1910),
Dodd, Mead & Company's THE RAVEN (1930),
EC's MAD #9 (Feb-Mar'54),
EC's MAD #46 (Apr'59),  
EC's MAD #55 (Jun'60),
Dell's THE RAVEN Movie Classic (Sep'63),

Taika's A CRIPTA #2 (1968),  
EC's MAD #125 (Mar'69), and  
Warren's CREEPY #67 (Dec'74)
     ...the last only 3 months earlier. 

Skywald closed up a few months after this.  Another wonderful "little" company with so much potential, squashed out by "the big boys".  I think it's safe to lay this virtual MURDER directly at feet of Marvel's Publisher.  I'd mention his name, but... you know how it is.

Lastly, I'll mention that these later Skywald covers sure were getting "crowded" with too much text and bad design.  I guess a sense of last-minute desperation had set in.  Too bad.

SCREAM  11

cover by VINCENT BADALONA BALLESTAR
(Skywald Publications  /  March 1975)

"MR. POE AND THE RAVEN"  /  Version 15
Adaptation by Al Hewetson  /  Art by PETER CAPPIELLO  /  Page 31

Page 32

Page 33

It's worth mentioning here that Marvel Comics was also DELIBERATELY responsible for the demise of Malibu Press / Eternity Comics in the early 90s.  The "little" publisher was doing so well, Marvel decided to BUY them out... and immediately SHUT DOWN the entire company.  A truly disgusting way to eliminate competition.

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH And Other Stories
cover by BROOKS HAGEN   (Eternity Comics  /  December 1988)

Copyright (C) Skywald Publications.

Scans of SCREAM #11 from the GCD site.
Scans of THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH And Other Stories
     from my collection.

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Edgar Allen Poe at The Poe Museum site.

See more Ballestar art at the Frieze Magazine site.

Read about The Raven at The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore site.
Read about the inspiration for The Raven at The Vintage News site.
Read about The Raven at the Mental Floss site.

Read the complete poem at the Poetry Foundation site.
See THE RAVEN Gallery of Illustrations!

     Audio:
Hear the Basil Rathbone recording!
See the Vincent Price performance!
Hear the Christopher Lee recording!
Watch The Simpsons cartoon!

     Comics:
See the James William Carling RAVEN illustrations!
See the William Ladd Taylor RAVEN illustrations!
See the Gustave Dore RAVEN illustrations!
See the Galen J. Perrett RAVEN illustrations!
See the John Rea Neill RAVEN illustrations!   (coming soon!)

See the Ferdinand H. Horvath RAVEN illustrations!
Read the Harvey Kurtzman / Will Elder RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Wally Wood RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Mort Drucker RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Frank Springer RAVEN adaptation!

Read the Nico Rosso RAVEN adaptation!
Read the 2 George Woodbridge RAVEN adaptations!
Read the Richard Corben RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Peter Cappiello RAVEN adaptation!

Read the Paul Coker, Jr. RAVEN adaptation!   (coming soon!)
Read the Steve Ditko RAVEN story!
Read the Jeff Bonivert RAVEN adaptation!
     (Coming soon:)
Read the Ricardo Leite RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Jerry Gersten RAVEN adaptation!

Read the Gahan Wilson RAVEN adaptation!
Read the 1st Luciano Irrthum RAVEN adaptation!
Read the 2nd Luciano Irrthum RAVEN adaptation
     at the Canibuk blog!
Read the Thomas Eide RAVEN adaptation!
Read the 2nd Richard Corben RAVEN adaptation!

Read the Eureka Productions RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Stuart Tipples RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Mangosta RAVEN adaptation!
Read the 3rd Luciano Irrthum RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Yein Yip RAVEN adaptation!

Read the David G. Fores RAVEN adaptation!
Read the 3rd Richard Corben RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Edu Molina RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Duncan Long RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Terrier Studios RAVEN adaptation!

Read the Pete Katz RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Rebecca Tough RAVEN adaptation!
Read the Gareth Hinds RAVEN adaptation!

See my Edgar Allan Poe overview at this very blog!

(Continued in Poe 1975, Pt.10)