MacPherson, Boatwright and Mauer’s The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo
reviewed by Anthony R. Cardno

When I first joined Drunkduck to read my friend Scott’s now (hopefully temporarily) defunct webcomic, one of the first comics I saw advertised was “Edar Allan Poo.” I think I may have checked out one page (randomly, of course, because when browsing random webcomics, it would be too sensible to start at the beginning) and for some reason never went back. Not because it was bad or wasn’t my thing, but because I sort of got caught up in a bunch of other comics, kept forgetting to take a second look at Poo, and eventually it slipped my mind. So I’m actually grateful that our beloved Moderator put Poo on the reviewing list for September, because he reminded me to go back and finally take that second look. A second look that was well worth it.

First of all, what’s not to love about a story that starts out in an outhouse, with a loud splash? And not just any outhouse. It’s an old wooden campground-style outhouse in the shadow of a grand Gothic mansion – sort of reminded me of the way Steve Bissette and John Totleben drew The House of Mystery and The House of Secrets in those classic issues of DC’s “Swamp Thing”written by Alan Moore.

Aside from the running joke about the main character’s name (WE know he’s been flushed from the real Edgar’s subconscious, even if he doesn’t), there is some other toilet imagery that recurs. For instance, in an encounter with the sea serpent Jormungandr the creature is dispatches with what certainly seems like a flush; and SpindleTown at least looks like something built in a London sewer.

The story quickly moves beyond that, though. In the tradition of writers like Moore and Neil Gaiman, the creators are not at all concerned about mixing eras or mythologies. The Norse Jormungandr is a minion of the Greco-Roman god Poseidon. SpindleTown is largely Dickensian, but the Temple of The Maghi sounds Middle-Eastern. Thetis and her Water Nymph Warriors at one point make an entrance reminiscent of an old MGM Esther Williams musical. This just makes the adventure all the more surreal; the reader has to at some point opt to accept this odd mixture or to stop reading. I obviously opted to accept it. The journey of Edgar Allan Poo to discover who he is, and what happened to his “Daddy,” takes some unexpected turns. The author has obviously got it all (or at least, most of it) planned out into several volumes, the first of which has just ended as we write these reviews.

The art absolutely matches the intentions of the story. It’s a scratchy, nightmarish style that maintains equal weight whether drawing the human Poe and Poo, the ghostly Virginia, the anthropomorphic Irving the Rat and his fellows, or the entirely unreal Nightmare King and his minions. Full credit to artist Boatwright for “getting” the author’s intended mood and bringing it across visually. One of my favorite pages, artwise, has to be the one with the ravens, creatures that have to show up in every story dealing with Mr. Poe.

“The Surreal Adventures” absolutely gets 5 stars from me. Definitely my kind of story. Rating:

The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo
http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Surreal_Adventures_of_Edgar_Allan_Poo
by Dwight L Macpherson
art by Thomas Boatright

lettered by Thomas Mauer

Review by Anthony R. Cardno

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo is the title and put simply I loved this strip. Normally I hate all the trappings of fantasy adventure strips with anthropomorphic sword-fighting mice, demon kings doing nothing particularly demonic, sentient insects providing comic relief and the like all thrown into a luke-warm soup of a story – something to do with the battle between good and evil. Yawn. Soporific nonsense for lazy minds. This one however made good very early on with the central joke of the title made flesh (laid waste?) on the first story page. That had me laughing and on-side through most of the rest of the strip. There were only two slight disappointments from there on.

One was the distinct lack of actual surrealism which is promised in the title, yet never actually appears. The majority of the strip is pretty basic straightforward fantasy and adventure. I suppose it all depends on your expectations regarding the meaning of surrealism. I was expecting more abstraction, but I suppose in the end I’d rather change the title than the strip having enjoyed it so much. The other disappointment was not continuing the central joke of the title. It seemed fairly explicit at the beginning, but wasn’t really mentioned again except in a more obviously metaphorical way. I can’t help wonder if the author thought that idea a mistake – too obvious a pun and regretted it. I hope not since it seems implicit in the title and it’s that joke that took me through to the latest updates keen to have my lust for toilet humour sated.

I haven’t read an awful lot of Poe (despite having read an awful lot of poo) but I suppose there are many more signs and symbols that I was supposed to recognise but didn’t. I always liked his Science fiction better anyway. It didn’t hurt the story for me, but obviously having read some Poe might add a certain colour to the events. I leave it to someone else to tell me how much I was missing. Well, I got the Raven anyway!

The character of the little Poo and his alter-ego above were beautifully rendered in word and line by a skilful author and accomplished artist. Having such a solid, yet helpless, even slightly pathetic, character at the centre allowed me to accept the other nonsense creatures like the rat and crab. Also flipping back to Poe snr and his story grounded it all in a kind of sense that I wasn’t expecting. I didn’t find it difficult to warm to their predicament in the slightest and the tension for me lies in their future reunion – the mind boggles as to how that might be achieved – some kind of terrifying reverse movement if the joke of the first page is to be mirrored in the last!

Like I say, I don’t really follow fantasy adventure strips much, but this rises above most by having an original idea, by having a real person at the centre of the story, and basing the story around a real part of his life. The story is well paced, though not exactly suited to the webcomic format, I imagine trying to get a hold of the print copies since that is obviously the format to which it best suited.

Fantastic artwork throughout that I wouldn’t even begin to criticise. Very well written too. That’s all. I shall follow it to it’s natural conclusion.

Rating:

The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo
http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Surreal_Adventures_of_Edgar_Allan_Poo/
by Dwight L. MacPherson and Thomas Boatright
review by Mike Perridge
(10 votes, average: 4.7 out of 5)

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You’re probably asking yourself: “Isn’t it Edgar Allan Poe?” I suppose it is. However, the rat (whose name is Irving) calls Edgar “Master Poo” and is confused when Edgar asks him to not to. So far, no explanation has been given. The only clue I saw has to do with the earliest part of the story.

“The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo” is introduced with Edgar Allan Poe losing sleep. He dreams of his dead wife and she keeps telling him that it is his fault. The beginning of this tale actually happens in the loo. I shudder to think why but there you have it. That seems pretty surreal to me.

I generally don’t like making comparisons between the comics being reviewed and published stories. In this case, though, it is central to my opinion of Edgar Allan Poo ( abbreviated EAP henceforth.)

The basic story setup of EAP reminds me of Alice In Wonderland (a champion of surrealist entertainment.) Edgar is young and new to this strange place called Terra Somnium. There are talking critters, strange landscapes and important persons to be wary of.

EAP also reminds me of the interesting parts of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman stories. Something I enjoyed in Sandman was the inclusion of ancient legends being alive. Adding to EAP are entities from Greek and Norse myths - most of which do not feature what I would call pleasant personalities. These characters, by their natures, are schemers and power players. When they start conflicting with each other, there are wheels within wheels. This produces a suspenseful depth to EAP not found in many other comics.

And that’s just the big players that Edgar is caught up with. Very quickly into EAP, we find out that there is someone of more immediate concern to worry about - that is the King of Nightmares. He wants to kill Edgar Allan Poo. Fortunately, Edgar has some help. Sort of.

Certain other characters, like Irving the rat, seem to want to help but most can only do so to a limited extent. At best, any help that Edgar gets is brief and any answers he gets lead only to more questions. The story continues on in such a way as to leave loose ends and grey areas aplenty. Why does the Crow King treat Irving the rat as an equal? What will it mean for the King to have helped Edgar? Why does Poseidon even know about Edgar?

Things continue to get ever murkier. In addition to Edgar (Poo) and his dire situation, we also have another Edgar (Poe) and his wife Virginia embroiled in their own problems. These things are obviously related but we don’t yet know how. Poseidon dropped a clue, I think, but it’s just not enough information(no spoilers here, sorry.)

It’s not all just talking, either. Some of the action scenes remind me of what I like about the Redwall series. Having different kinds of critters in combat with wildly different abilities and scales provides for many more kinds of possible outcomes to any conflict. There is also at least one panel which, for me, encapsulates the attitude of a battle hardened Hobbit from the Lord of the Rings books.

The backgrounds provide a wispy, dreamy sort of feel which is very fitting for the material. The foreground ink lines are delicate and well placed. The colors are muted but still provide emotional tones well suited to the work. This lets you pay attention to the subtleties of the story. Watch out, though. Tthe art can suddenly pop out at you when it’s time to punctuate the story. Want an example? Here’s a great scene where I can ‘hear’ the bats screaming.

I don’t think they are actually supposed to be bats, by the way. They are something far more sinister. When they talk, they reek of their evil, singleminded nature. In general, the dialog always shows the character of the speaker. I mention that because it is easy to go too far when having animal-creatures talking. Ssthnakezzsss alll sssoound sthe sssame, ssoooo to sthpeakth. EAP’s characters have touches but the dialog doesn’t try to steal the show.

Due to the title of this comic, I was expecting mostly suspenseful dread and twisted things; you know - the kind of thing you get when you read Poe’s works in grade school. And even though I am not a fan of darker subject matter, I found many things I liked. In general, EAP is well done and reminded me of many other good stories.Rating:

At eighty seven updates in, we are just in time to begin reading Chapter two on Saturday…

“As Poe fades away, leaving his wife in the clutches of the Nightmare King, many troubling questions remain. Where will Poe go? What will become of Virginia? Will Poo survive? Who rescued Irving and Terence–and why?”

The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo
Updates on Saturdays.
http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Surreal_Adventures_of_Edgar_Allan_Poo/index.php
by Dwight L Macpherson
art by Thomas Boatright
lettered by Thomas Mauer
Review by Delos Woodruff
(5 votes, average: 4.2 out of 5)

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