The end
is here! The end of Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror Season Two, that is, and we’re happy to report that the series goes out on a definite high note. From one of the grimmest stories in this season of the Snifter to one of the most lighthearted and tongue in cheek, issue 6 has a little bit of everything which has made the series shine.
The first story this month is The Purloined Letter. Hats off to Carol Lay, who is credited as both the author and the artist behind this short– most of these pieces see the work split between at least two people, so creating a fleshed-out feature piece alone is no small feat. This story is interesting in that it is one of if not the most ghoulish and gruesome story in this season of the Snifter, but it still has a few great moments of levity in the first scene and in a later scene with a very drunk chef. Overall, I don’t remember the source material for this one very well and that may be limiting my personal takeaway but I think this story is almost entirely its own thing so it doesn’t ultimately matter much, nor will it for the average reader.
Main event number two is a farcical take on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which uses the same title on the book’s cover and table of contents, but which is actually called Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was not written by a Scot for copyright purposes according to narration Poe. If this doesn’t sound your speed, I’m afraid it isn’t going to get much better for you– then again, if that doesn’t sound your speed this probably isn’t the series for you to begin with. This story is actually about a very mild-mannered “slightly less Jekyll” who goes about London causing minor etiquette-based social disturbances. It’s an incredibly sarcastic take on the stuffy English culture that a lot of classic literature is based on, and anyone who’s studied those classics will get a kick out of the referential humor. This unified jab at classic literature and its trappings is a great way to cap the main shorts of the series and is one of my favorites in the run.
If anything is lacking this month, it’s the flash fiction pieces sprinkled throughout. John Ficarra’s Superhero Horoscopes is still up to par for previous issues– it’s a silly, fun diversion. I just wish the other piece, Pickle’s Pantry, was more than a glorified ad for a new title from the publisher which actually isn’t much beyond a gingerbread recipe. The illustrations for this one are still great, so it gets a pass, but previous issues did do a better job here.
Last but certainly not least, Hunt Emerson’s Poe and the Black Cat concludes! This time around the minicomic is a tiny bit longer than usual and uses the extra space to provide closure for the Looney Tunes style rivalry between the titular characters. It’s almost cute, and it’s a perfect way to send off season two of Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror. For those of you who have enjoyed the series, have no fear, Poe will return later this fall in Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Blood!
