And with that, Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood is empty… for now…? AHOY rounds out this wave of Poe with a fantastic collection stories that tick every box. This month’s collection sees the classic ‘Masque of the Red Death’ redone by the great Peyer and Robinson as ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s Mask of the Red Death.’ Robert Jeschonek and Greg Scott’s ‘Bon Bon’ deals with Poe’s famous rival Rufus W. Griswold in a way readers will never expect. Finishing the issue are three prose stories by Lisa R. Jonté, Matthew Sharpe and Robert Jeschonek (again). When AHOY says expect more, they mean it.
The Good
When it comes to anthology books, that opening story really sets the tone. Peyer and Robinson’s ‘Mask of the Red Death’ is something special. Given the source material and, still rather alarmingly, the outside world and current situation, there’s more than a handful of ways one could expect an adaptation of Masque to go. Peyer and Robinson ignore all of those expectations and do their own thing in such an entertaining way that the issue opens with one of those stories that makes an anthology worth a buy alone.
What’s great is that, while Peyer and Robinson probably already won the race, Jeschonek and Scott take the baton anyway and run a victory lap. ‘Bon Bon’ is one of those fantastic stories that really hits a niche you don’t see much of in comics. Perhaps a rather apt character assassination, the story tells of Rufus Griswold’s life after the death of Poe. This is the kind of story that Poe’s Snifter was made for.
“More comics should have poems” isn’t something that typically finds itself printed in a review, yet Jonté’s ‘Sedate Expectations’ makes a perfect argument. Rolling off the tongue with well written metre, the poem delivers the laughs and horror of a Snifter story but with rhyming couplets.
Both Sharpe and Jeschonek’s short stories also deliver and are fitting conclusions to both the issue and this wave of Snifter. Particular praise has to go to Jeschonek for having both a prose story and a comic written in the same issue.
The ‘Bad’
As is tradition with Snifter reviews, there’s nothing to complain about. If anything, being the last issue is melancholic enough to warrant a respectful nod.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood #6 closes out a great run of horror/comedy comics. Poe is the gift that keeps on giving at AHOY. Each story is worth picking up on their own, but together, the issue is an absolute bargain. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
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