Edgar Allen Poe’s Snifter of Blood Vol 2 is 183 pages of sheer comic insanity. In those pages there are 28 stories told sometimes in comic and sometimes as short stories. The collection has more than a few favorites of Poe readers, including: The Raven, The Pit and The Pendulum, The Purloined Letter, and Graven.
Of the short stories, my favorites were Four Poems by Walt Sheppard. His poem, Sedative was just lovely. Evocative. #4, Awaken by Katherine Babcock in her Poems was also really good. And then I was glad to see an entry from Mariah McCourt. Her story, The Rot was spooky in all the best ways. Just perfect for this time of year.
When it comes to the comics themselves, there was so much going on that you have to read it more than once. It’s not just taking the spit out of Poe, it’s creating amazing new stories, told by each writer’s unique style. There is something fun and unexpected in every single story and it’s a fun game to try and find the weirdness, or, just the fun bits. I was pretty surprised to see what looked like a funko pop head right at the beginning of The Conquer Worm, and then the jar of eyeballs in The Raven was pretty fun too. Plus, the Raven was an actual raven which was equal parts cute and creepy. And let’s not forget one of my favorites, the pub called The Crisp’d Rice in The Leprechaun King.
The different styles of art and writing all flow pretty well, not one of them really pull you out of the feel that the issue gives you. It’s fun to see how different writer’s take the stories we all recognize and turn them into something new. I was particularly fond of Gold Bug II which was set in space and The Pit and the Pendulum that was set around a military man and the years of his life. And finally, I gotta make sure to mention Poe and The Black Cat by Hunt Emerson. There were a few of them near the end and they made me chuckle more than anything else. Full on irreverent humor that might seem at odds with Poe, but fit perfectly.
Ahoy Comics keeps dropping the most amazing comics, and I can’t see where they take this next!
