Edgar Allan Poe: A Graphic Biography

 You might wonder why we chose Edgar Allan Poe to be a cartoon character.  He wasn’t cartoonish or particularly funny. His life was bleak, but he fought to become successful as a writer, editor, and critic.  From toddlerhood until he died at age forty, death demanded a strong role.  After his wife, Virginia, died, he fought back by writing some of most important poems and stories. Still, his search for love and acceptance was never-ending and never resolved.

Through his duels with death and disappointment in love, his life turned into a constant drama.

So, we just chose the most dramatic turning points in Poe’s life, never needing to invent melodrama to make his life more entertaining (as often happens in biographies). Of course, we did add some silly dialog, so that the cartoon series didn’t become too maudlin.  Besides, we just couldn’t resist.

 In a book-length, written biography we wouldn’t have been able to show characters from his poems and stories talking directly to the reader. But you can in a cartoon series or graphic novel. So, in this graphic biography, the black cat and the raven express important insights into Mr. Poe’s life, comments that Poe actually wrote in his journals.

I’m sure Stephen King, Tim Burton, Vincent Price, and Sherlock Holmes would have had something to say about Poe if we had introduced them earlier in the series.

Edgar Allan Poe lived a life of true horror, but without this experience he wouldn’t have been inspired to write “The Raven,” Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Black Cat, ”The Purloined Letter,” and so much more.

 Note:

Poe commissioned a portrait in watercolor of his wife, Virginia, several hours after she died on Feb. 7, 1847. This deathbed portrait was the only picture of her created in any medium.