Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Fall of the House of Usher

Well, my inability to add numbers correctly has suddenly come to light (again), and it turns out that YESTERDAY was THOIA’s 1000th post. Guess I need a vacation or something. But no biggie really, maybe I’ll get it right on the 2000th post... and instead of dwelling on it, how about another Poe tale?

From the melancholy August 1947 issue of Classics Illustrated #40















TOMORROW: Our final day of Edgar Allan Poe classics!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy 1001th post!. We'll celebrate and really bring down the house!...oooh i see...

Unknown said...

Poe was quite fixated on the accidental live burial, however, who could blame him? One of the first Poe stories I read was the unquiet burial. I was six years old at the time. The thought scared the hell out of me--still does. Blood and gore doesn't do it, nor do monsters. But being buried alive? That'll do it!

AndyDecker said...

Frankly I think this adaption rather unimaginative. Yes, it is kind of moody, but both climaxes are wasted here. That Classics Illustrated don´t focus on the accidental burial I understand, no gore in 44, okay, 47 *g, but where is the crumbling house? At least this they could have done right.

sfdoomed said...

Nice atmospheric artwork on this one, though a simplified version of the story of course (can't expect too much from a 1947 CI comic).

Huge congratulations to Karswell for keeping this amazing blog going past 1000! For the small group of us horror comic junkies, this blog is a daily fix we couldn't live without! Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY CONGRATULATIONS ON 1000 POSTS!! ITS UNREAL THAT YOU'VE POSTED THIS MUCH STUFF AND MANY OF US ARE FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT!

I DIDNT THINK THIS USHER VERSION WAS TOO BAD, IT LACKED SOME DETAILS BUT FLOWED QUICK AND THE ART WAS NICE AND SPOOKY. LOVE THE BOTTOM PANELS ON PAGE 10 OF MADELINE........NOW I WANT TO WATCH THE CORMAN MOVIE VERSION.

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

Kitty LeClaw said...

Congratulations, Karswell! All the time, effort, love, and devotion you put into The Horrors of it All is evident in each of your posts. I think it's highly appropriate that you should be celebrating this milestone as dark denizens all over the world are celebrating Poe's 200th birthday!

The artwork in today's story really stirred me. Now, I'm longing for a sunset...

Chuck Wells said...

Karswell, let me add another hearty "congratulations" to you for your superlative efforts in sharing classic comics with all of us in the four-color world.

(I've been especially thrilled with the recent stuff that you've sent my way. The Catacombs is much brighter for your contributions.)

Thanks, and here's to many more THOIA posts!

Anonymous said...

'The Fall of the House of Usher' is by far my favorite tale by Poe. Madness, tragedy and sheer terror were always present themes in his works, but in no other story do they come together so effectively and terrifyingly as in this one.

Here's to your next 1000 posts, Karswell!

blackwalnut2001 said...

The Poe celebration is just flawless, Kars. I still marvel at how you manage to unearth all these treasures.

Fascinating how Poe's stories have been rewritten in so many ways, and how, over a hundred years after his death, they were still being diluted for public consumption. The Fall of the House of Usher is still so chilling that a friend of mine -- a forty year old -- tried to read it for the first time and it creeped him out so much he could not finish it.

Now that's literary genius. Happy birthday, Ed.

Congratulations on the 1000 posts. Since discovering your site I have been making my way through the archives. No wonder it's taking so long!

I was curious to know if anyone has ever come up with even a ballpark estimate of just how many stories were published between, say, 1950 and November 54 that might be defined as "pre-code horror."

For such a short heyday, there appear to have been far more than I would have guessed.

Tenebrous Kate said...

Happy 1001st post, Karswell--it's a nice symmetrical number that's entirely worth celebrating. Thanks for doing your part to make every day Halloween :)

I've been sending my Poe-scholar pals your way to enjoy this week's posts as well!

Anonymous said...

usher is my favorite poe story too and this is a nice comic book version but not as good as the cask or morella posts

Mr. Karswell said...

Thanks again everyone, you guys are the best commentors any blogger could ever hope for, and I totally mean it! I hope you all stick around for the next 1000 posts, or at least until I'm stark raving Madeline... whichever comes first.

One more day of Poe, and a tag game, you're ALL invited to play! See ya in the morn...