"Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe" is a manga adaptation of five of Edgar Allan Poe's stories (and poem): "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Raven", "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" (you have to wonder why those and not others maybe better suited for a manga adaptation). And the result, even if far of a tragedy, is a middling effort that leaves the reader with a strange aftertaste, because you will feel the ingredients for a great work were here, but the mixing and the cooking were a disgrace.
Let's start with the stories: they are short and to the point, with darkness, a Gothic and beautiful atmosphere and dark instincts. No criticisms here. But the adaptation does little to enhance Poe's words; quite the opposite, with so many bubbles of description and narration and no interaction between them and the drawings, it detaches the reader from the work they have in front of their eyes. Stories that should bring a shudder and make the heart beat fast, end up being boring, cold, and repetitive.
It doesn't help that the drawing style, even if beautiful, seems too cute for these kind of stories. All the characters are too clean, too handsome, too infantile, for the stories, and make the stark contrast between text and art more accentuated.
Not a horrible manga. But it could have been so much more (for starters, alive).
The best: the atmosphere; it will make you want to go and read the original Edgar Allan Poe
The worst: too many bubbles of description and narration and not enough (almost not at all) of dialogue (and I know art is art (for example, you can have a comic without dialogue), but I expect my drawings and my text to interact); too cold; too cute; some other stories (better for the medium, could have been chosen)
Further reading: go read Edgar Allan Poe
5/10
(Original English)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy*
No comments:
Post a Comment