Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher #1 Review


Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher #1 sees comic legend Richard Corben adapting one of the classic mystery author’s most famous prose works. It’s the first half of a two part series. Here’s the official description from Dark Horse:

A sickness resides in the house of Usher. Its history is cursed, its tenants plagued by abominable love, and it’s hallways lined with coffins and the rotted dead.

Things are about to get worse.

N.B. that this book contains nudity.

As one of Poe’s most famous stories, possibly read by every student to pass through an American high school, Usher is challenging to adapt in that it is so completely familiar. Something has to be added or changed so that we, the reader, can see the story in a new light.

Corben, who handles both the writing and the art, is more than up to the challenge. He uses the classic horror trope of the grotesque narrator to inject some humor into what is, traditionally, a very dour tale. He also ups the ante by lending a new dimension to the interactions between Roderick Usher and his sister, Madeline, adding elements from another, lesser known Poe story, The Oval Portrait.” Roderick disturbingly uses his sister as his live -and often nude- model for his paintings. The potentially incestuous and undoubtedly abusive nature of their relationship is further reinforced by their location, alone in a ruined house in the middle of nowhere.

Corben is, first and foremost, an artist, and he is most effective on that front. The airbrush effects he achieves on many of the characters and backgrounds are magnificent. Unfortunately, in some places, usually more distant shots, these effects vanish and we’re left with a more generic look that contrasts badly.

All of the characters are grotesque, but the Usher siblings easily take the cake. Their long faces, large lips, and huge noses near the point of caricature, and yet the realistic coloring holds them back. Instead, we’re left with a pair of incredibly unsettling figures.

A unique choice for most readers pull lists, The Fall of the House of Usher #1 presents a unique and profoundly disturbing take on a classic staple.

4/5


Zac knows “The Raven” by heart. Or, at least, he used to. Follow him on twitter

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