Monday, November 2, 2015

Poe 1952, Pt. 1

(Continued from Poe 1951, Pt. 8)
 

ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS  4
"THE FACE OF DEATH"

Marvel Comics (at times in its early history sometimes referred to as Timely or Atlas) was always a 2nd-level publisher-- somewhere in the middle as far as quality was concerned-- whose specialty was flooding the market with imitations of whatever was then currently popular.

ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS was one of countless anthology titles that focused on "horror".  Marvel's 2nd foray into POE territory (that I've found so far) follows in EC's footsteps by doing an updating of a classic...

     "THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH".

At the moment, it appears this is the very 1st comics adaptation of this story-- though only by ONE month!

This is the work of BILL EVERETT.  Without question, he was one of the best writers and artists to ever work for Marvel in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and early 70s. He excelled in every genre he touched, including science-fiction, horror, fantasy, romance, crime, and, yes, even super-heroes.  He created many characters in his time, including Marvel's version of "Daredevil".  But he will probably forever be most associated with Prince Namor-- The SUB-MARINERNamor first surfaced in 1939, and at one point was appearing regularly in 5 books at the same time!  Though his book ended in 1955, he returned in 1962, and has been a mainstay of the "Marvel Universe" ever since.

Although many artists' skills often go into a decline over decades, Everett was a rare case where his art continued to improve over the course of his entire career, with his finest work arguably being in the last years before his early death in 1973.  Which makes it all the more of a tragedy that, thanks to Marvel's "editor", he was not allowed to write dialogue for his own stories for most of his work in the late 60s (or get paid for any of his writing during that time).

Among his many skills, he is thought of as having drawn some of the most beautiful women ever seen in comics.

Which brings us to this story.  A mere 4 pages, barely a peek at what he was doing at the time.  ENJOY!

ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS  4
cover by CARL BURGOS  (??)   (Marvel  /  Spring [March] 1952)
"THE FACE OF DEATH"
      (adapted from "THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH")  /  Version 1
Adaptation & Art by BILL EVERETT  /  Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
The phrase "the face of death" does not appear anywhere in Poe's original "Red Death" story.  However, it DOES turn up in the 1964 Roger Corman movie.  The more I see, the more I'm convinced that many people in Hollywood were avid comic-book readers... but NONE of them ever want to admit it!
Here's the reprints...

SPELLBOUND  11
cover by WERNER ROTH   (L. Miller & Sons  /  England  /  1961)
SPELLBOUND  26
cover by Jack Kirby & George Klein   (L Miller & Sons  /  England  /  1962)
THE BILL EVERETT ARCHIVES  2
cover by BILL EVERETT   (Fantagraphics  /  September 2013)
Bill Everett

Copyright (C) Marvel Comics.

Scan of ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #4 cover
      from the Heritage Auctions site.
Scans of ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #4 interiors
     from the Pellucidar Offerings 4 blog
          with special thanks to "Stendec9".
Scan of SPELLBOUND #11 (1961) from the GCD site.
Scan of SPELLBOUND #26 (1962) from the GCD site.
Scan of THE BILL EVERETT ARCHIVES #2 (2013) from the GCD site.
Photo of Bill Everett from the Hollywood Reporter site.

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 the Interview with Wendy Everett at the Twomorrows site.
See more Bill Everett art at the Comic Art Fans site.
Join the Wild Bill Everett Fan Page FB group!
Read about the creation of Marvel's "Daredevil" at this blog !

Read about THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH at the Spark Notes site.
Read about THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH at the Crime Reads site.
Read about THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH at the Slate site.

Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the RED DEATH Gallery of Illustrations.

      Audio:
Hear the Basil Rathbone recording!
Hear the CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!

      Comics:
Read the Bill Everett RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Bob Forgione RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Manoel Ferreira RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Steve Ditko RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Frank Springer RED DEATH adaptation!

Read the Tom Sutton RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Nico Rosso RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Don Heck RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Robert Inwood RED DEATH illustrated story!
Read the Dino Battaglia RED DEATH adaptation!   (coming soon!)

Read the Miguel Calatayud RED DEATH adaptation!   (coming soon!)
Read the Ricardo Villamonte RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Richard Corben RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Wayne Howard RED DEATH adaptation!   (coming soon!)
Read the Esteban Maroto RED DEATH adaptation!   (coming soon!)

Read the Francisco Agras RED DEATH adaptation!   (coming soon!)
Read the Flavio Colin RED DEATH adaptation!
      (Coming soon:)
Read the John Lawn RED DEATH illustrated story!
Read the Auraleon RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Enrique Alcatena RED DEATH illustrated story!

Read the Phillipe Cazaumayou RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Alfonso Martinez RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the A.L. Pareja RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Alberto Breccia RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Daryl Hutchinson RED DEATH adaptation!

Read the Steve Leialoha RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Eric Stanway RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Ted Naifeh RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Horacio Lalia RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Gris Grimly RED DEATH illustrated story!

Read the Stanley Shaw RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Erik Rangel RED DEATH adaption!
Read the Wendy Pini RED DEATH adaptation at the Masque Musical site!
Read the Julio Azamor RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Jean-Louis Thouard RED DEATH adaptation!

Read the Alineromero9 RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Sabaku-No-Sarri RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Eric Stanway RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the David G.Flores RED DEATH illustrated story!
Read the Richard Corben's 2nd RED DEATH adaptation!

Read the Turner Mark-Jacobs RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Edu Molina RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Terrance Lindall RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Pete Katz RED DEATH adaptation!
Read the Gareth Hinds RED DEATH adaptation!

Read the Uka Nagao RED DEATH adaptation!

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

(Continued in Poe 1952, Pt. 2)

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