Poe 1963, Pt. 6

(Continued from Poe 1963, Pt. 5)

TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS  72
"AVENTURAS DE GORDON PYM"
     (w/ English Translation  /  Conclusion)

Editorial Novaro is a publisher based in Mexico City.  Beginning in the 1950s, their output has included reprints of American comics.  For "fiscal reasons" they had subdivisions, EMSA (Ediciones Modernas), SEA (Sociedad Editora America), and for many years were the single largest comics publisher in Latin America.

TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS ("Treasury Of Classic Tales") was Novaro's home-grown version of Gilberton's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED.

TDCC only did 2 Poe adaptations.  The second was Poe's nautical adventure-disaster tale...

"THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET"

     This was the 3rd comics version of this story, following...
Librairie Arthème Fayard's LE AVENTURES DE GORDON PYM (1948),
Société Parisienne's MONDIAL AVENTURES #29 (1959), and
Hispano Americana's AVENTURAS CELEBRES #53-60 (1959)
     ...the last one 4 years earlier.

I noticed something odd on Page 21 while doing the English translation.  The text in the 2nd panel said that the "Jane Guy" sailed to the "Austral Islands".  
I hadn't heard of them before, so I decided to look them up to make sure the translation was correct.  It was-- but then, when I looked through Poe's novel, 
I realized... they were in the WRONG ocean!  So I changed it to what Poe had written.

Cecilio A. Jacobo Glez commented on this... (January 2, 2918)

"Well, I wouldn't know for sure Professor.  My best guess is that the editors modified the name of sites or locations to make the comic more appealing and interesting to the Mexican audience.  I have seen this type of translations before: in a story published by Charlton Comics, in STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES in 1958, the hero and his girlfriend are going to travel to the Niagara Falls, and in the translation published by Editora Sol in 1968, the editors changed "Niagara Falls" for "Acapulco".

My editors for the Mexican magazine I work for, called this type of translation "Tropicalization", meaning that the use of regional locations would be more interesting to the local audience.

That would be my guess."

As of 10-21-2018, I have not been able to determine who the writer or artist were on this book.  Any help in that area would be appreciated!

ENJOY!

TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS  72
cover by ??   
     (Editorial Sea  /  Novaro  /  Mexico  /  August 1963)

"AVENTURAS DE GORDON PYM"
     ("THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET")  / 
          Version 4
Adaptation & Art by ??  /  
Page 21  /  "And now... the EPIC conclusion!"

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25

Page 26

Page 27

Page 28

Page 29

Page 30

Page 31

Page 32

Well, definitely some differences between this and the previous adaptation done in France.  In that one, the natives ambushed the crew during the first trip to their village.  Here, as in the novel, the crew makes it to the village, spends some time there becoming friendly with the natives, and even showing them how to build huts and storage buildings and engage in trade, before being abruptly ambushed & murdered a full month after their arrival.  On the other hand, the French comic showed Arthur, Dick and Augustus (who did not die as he did in the novel) hiding on top of the hill for some time, before making a perilous climb down, and finally taking one of the natives as a prisoner during their escape.  Here, their escape is much quicker and easier.

The most significant change in the French comic was the addition of an epilogue showing the trio having been rescued and make their way back home to The States.  This Mexican comic follows the novel's insane, abrupt ending with no explanation for events.  And because of the added prologue showing the much-later expedition finding Arthur's diary narrative, the implication in this version is that neither he or Dick EVER made it back to civilization!

The most disturbing aspect of all this is the way the natives acted so friendly, yet inexplicably murdered the crew and destroyed the ship.  I can't help but think if I'd done this, I would have provided some deeper explanation than simply "they were savages".

The way the climax goes from the bulk of the crew being killed to the few survivors running off to an unspecified fate continues to remind me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' later story, "THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT".  That story got a sequel to wrap things up.  Poe's got no less than 3 unrelated sequels-- but each was written by a completely different writer.

Copyright (C) 1963 Editorial Novaro.
English Translation Copyright (C) 2018 HENRY R. KUJAWA.

Scans of TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS #72
     from MY collection!
     with special thanks to Jose Antonio Bautista Perez ("Snake Alves") 
          in Spain. 
 
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 Editorial Novaro at Wikipedia.
Read about TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS
     at the Wikipedia site.
See the entire run of TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS covers 
     at the Tebeosfera database site.

Read about THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET
     at the Grade Saver site.
Read the complete novel at the at the Lit 2 Go site.
See the ARTHUR GORDON PYM Gallery of Illustrations. 

     Audio:
Hear the LIT 2 GO audio book!
Hear THE WEIRD CIRCLE episode!

     Comics:
Read the Bernard Lamotte ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!
Read the Yves & Willy Groux ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!
Read the Franc Fuentes Man ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!
     (coming soon)
Read the Editorial Sea/Navaro ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!
     (Coming soon:)
Read the Cesar Lopez Vera ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!
Read the Jorge Bernuy S. ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!
Read the Enrique Alcatena ARTHUR GORDON PYM adaptation!

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

(Continued in Poe 1963, Pt. 7)