There is something magical about reading the classics in manga format. Stacy King does it again by capturing a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's stories and turning them into a beautiful narrative that fits brilliantly with the gorgeous art.

The way these volumes are done leaves a lasting impact on the reader, especially if it's a classic written in a form of old English that is difficult to interpret. I think these are magnificent for middle grade or high school students and a must have for any bookish manga lover!

Thank you to NetGalley and Udon Entertainment for giving me a copy of this book for a fair and honest review!

The only story of Edgar Allan Poe that I've read was, The Cask of Amontillado, which was a required must-read by our high school teacher over a decade ago. It was both bizarre and gruesome, and reading it again in this graphic novel brought up how I was really horrified back then.

Aside from the aforementioned story, there are other four tales in this book: The Tell-Tale Heart; The Raven; The Masque of the Red Death; and The Fall of the House of Usher. This manga adaptation of some of the well--known stories of Poe is, I must say, a good way to make any readers to enjoy them more. I highly recommend this graphic novel and other manga classics published by Udon Entertainment to students — so they can vividly imagine and better understand these classic tales.

I'm a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe so I really enjoyed this book, I like how it included some of the stories I am not as familiar with such as the Fall of the House of Usher. The illustrations bring to life the stories and simply add to the atmosphere. In general I like the manga classics as they encourage younger readers to read classics by providing them in a format that is easier to understand.

I think creating Manga editions of classic stories is a clever idea. It can help pull younger readers in. My only complaint is that the whole book isn't in color. Don't get me wrong, I love the artwork. I just miss the color.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this Manga, which I voluntarily reviewed.

I received a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. While I am familiar with Poe's work, this was a new spin on it for me. I don't usually re-read storied I've already read however I read most of Poe's work when I was in late elementary school. I did enjoy the illustrations that went along with this new twist. Being in the classic Manga-type style, they can be a little confusing. Keep in mind one must read back to front, right to left. There was a guide at the beginning that showed the reader the correct way to read the stories. That will be helpful for individuals that aren't familiar with this type of graphic novel setup.

I really enjoyed the book. The first thing I noticed though is that when I started reading the ebook edition it started from the back of the book. I had to skip to the last page,315, to get to the beginning of the book. That could just be an error on adobe part but I wanted to mention it. I am a big fan of Edger Allan Poe so I feel honored to have had the chance to read this. I have read all his works and this one has the best classics. My favorite was The Tell Tale Heart, it was excellent! The characters were drawn perfectly to how I imagined them. I loved how you could see his maddening expression as the story went on. And I did enjoy that there was rare instances that differed from the original tale. I also enjoyed the curious facts that appear a few times in this manga adaption. I learned some things I did not know before. Like the beetles in The Tell Tale Heart purpose. The artwork for the raven was especially good. The image of Lenore was incredible. The pages of The Fall of the House of Usher also amazed me. The artist was amazing at recreating the house from the description of Poe tale. Every crack and dead tree was described well. As well as the furnishings and the rooms inside the house. This is a great modern manga version of Edger Allan Poe works. I hope there is more to come!

I was given an early copy of this book for an honest review.

If you haven't read an Edgar Allen Poe story and you are over the age of 14, I'm sorry. I am a little bit of a Poe fanatic. It comes when you have an enthusiastic English teacher in high school. I don't remember acting out these stories (like we did with Shakespeare) but we definitely had a dramatic reading or two and watched The Simpson's The Raven episode. The stories are so dark and despite Poe being an American author, seem like they come from another place. So naturally, when I saw a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories were available and that they were part of the Manga Classics series, I was sold. Unfortunately, not all of Poe's works are in the collection, but the ones that are included lend themselves especially well to being illustrated.

Stories included:

The Raven
The Tell Tale Heart
Mask of the Red Death
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Cask of Amontillado 

It's hard to critique stories that are such classics. I love most of Poe's stories and the illustrations for each story in this collection are very well done. They make the stories creepier and scarier. And, being the smart person that I am, I read them before bed each night. Thank God I didn't have any weird nightmares about being bricked into a wall (small victories).

If you have liked Poe stories in the past, you will love this! If you haven't really enjoyed his stories in the past, you may not like this, although I would still recommend giving it a try. The pictures can give you a very different reading experience and perspective on what is going on.

If you haven't read any Edgar Allen Poe stories, the Manga Classics edition is a good place to start. Some of the words/language that Poe uses we no longer use today, so the illustrations might make the stories easier to understand (I know they did for me!).

Needless to say, I enjoyed this collection of stories immensely. In terms of stars, I'm giving this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. The illustrations add to the already great stories and the comic-book style delivery of the dialogue and events does not take away anything from the way the reader understands the characters or what's going on. I would highly recommend checking it out!

The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allen Poe and Stacy King came out October 27, 2017

Thank you, NetGalley and Udon Entertainment for this free copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is awesome! As a high school English teacher I always throw in some Poe, it is a student favorite! This reworking to a manga version is awesome, I definitely have students that would enjoy these. I love the artwork with the stories as Poe is sometimes difficult to understand and the visual is a great help!

OMG I loved this version of Poe's stories. The images are gorgeous, haunting and perfectly capture the essence or what Poe wanted to achieve. After reading, I want to reread the stories (in their original form) again.

As a graphic novel version of Edgar Allen Poe's stories this collection is a delight. Spooky, fun, and well drawn this is a great addition to anyone's library of either graphic novels or Poe stories.

3.5-4 stars.

This is an illustrated collection of some of Poe's works. I enjoyed all but the last one (The Fall of the House of Usher - I couldn't really tell you what I read half the time). The artwork is beautiful and I definitely enjoyed the creepy and strange stories/poems in this collection. I haven't read any of Poe before, and I probably won't look up more of it, but I enjoyed this^^ I was right, though, in that the manga definitely made the works a lot more fun to read.

The artwork was great (I looove manga), the first 4 were interesting/fun/creepy and enjoyable, and apart from the last story just not being for me I have zero complains.

Thank you for this book! This is such an easy way for me to get more difficult texts into the hands of my lower readers ESPECIALLY because it utilizes the same language as the original stories. Fantastic read that brought Poe's stories to life!! SO IMPRESSED!!! I've already bought a copy from Amazon and it's been eagerly passed from student to student (since we just finished a novel study on Poe).

I love this. I felt the rising tension in The Tell Tale Heart in a way that has escaped me before. All of the stories were beautifully illustrated.

This Manga Classics volume collects together five of the most popular and well-known of Edgar Allan Poe's stories. Included are: The Tell-tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Fall of the House of Usher. It's been quite some time since I indulged in Poe's works, so this was a real treat. I'd forgotten just how creepy they could be.

Each story was illustrated by a different artist, and all of the artwork was brilliantly done. My favourite in terms of artwork was Cask, though my favourite story was Masque. Scattered at the ends of some stories were tidbits of information regarding the story, or extra artwork. At the end of the book is a brief section about Poe himself.

A must-read for any Edgar Allan Poe fan!

***Did mere to Udon Entertainment/Netgalley for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really loved this and will be buying the physical copy for my collection of the classics turned into mangas!

A fantastically different way to enjoy some of the most popular works of Edgar Allan Poe. The illustrations are wonderful and quite eerie. Highly recommended.

Beautiful done manga of some of Edgar Allen Poe's best short stories. The artist managed to convey the horror and creepiness of the stories well and I really enjoyed it. Can recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Poe's works!

A very good manga take on a classic horror

When I was young, a half century or so ago, there was a line of educational comics called Classics Illustrated. These presented classic public domain works of literature in a comic book format. The art tended to be static and pedestrian, difficult or disturbing plot material got left out, and very little of the stirring language that made these works classics remained. But they read fast, and had helpful pictures for kids not ready to tackle Cliff’s Notes.

There have been several revivals and imitators since then, and currently Udon Entertainment has brought out a line of such works under the group name Manga Classics. The word “manga” is used rather loosely here as the material is neither produced nor created in Japan. The artists do use “mangaesque” art styles, and some of them are at least of Japanese heritage. It will be published in the chunky paperback format familiar to manga fans, and printed to read right to left for aesthetic purposes. The hope is that the sort of kid who enjoys other manga will pick up these volumes.

The current volume retells four of Edgar Allan Poe’s weird stories, and the poem “The Raven.” The strong narrative voice and short length of the works means that nearly the entire prose of the story can be used as word balloons or caption boxes for the illustrated panels.

The collection begins with “The Tell-Tale Heart” in which a murderer explains that he is not insane, just gifted or cursed with sensory sensitivity. The format is used to switch between scenes of the narrator telling his story to a doctor or lawyer (it isn’t clear which) and the narrator’s actions that led up to his imprisonment.

“The Cask of Amontillado” is a tale of the perfect revenge (for what, the narrator never quite makes clear) as a fool is led to his doom by his love of and expertise in wine. The art goes heavy on the screentone.

“The Raven” has a man thinking of his lost love and being tormented by the title bird with its cry of “Nevermore.” The art style makes the man look too young for the tone of the poem, but it’s otherwise a good adaptation.

“The Masque of the Red Death” is about a party held in the last refuge from a plague; the rich and powerful safe and well-fed while the poor die in droves. This one works very well, but suffers a bit from not being in color, since the color schemes play so much into the atmosphere.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” finishes the volume with a long tale of the last dregs of a noble family and their symbolic dwelling place. There are some rather large implausibilities here, but the faces of Usher as he succumbs to madness are well done.

Poe’s masterful writing is the best thing about this volume, but the art is pretty good too. Most recommended for younger teens who enjoy both spooky tales and manga-style illustrations. It seems less likely to appeal to older readers already familiar with the material.

Disclaimer: I was provided a free download of this upcoming book through Netgalley for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. There may be changes in the final edition.