Fantasy Classics

Gothic Classics

Horror Classics

Web: http://www.graphicclassics.com/

Eureka Productions offer a range of high quality “graphic classics” in a range of series. The ones which are most pertinent to our interest are the Gothic, Fantasy and Horror Series. Each volume is around the 140-150 page mark with colour covers and high production values; the graphic printing is also high calibre and shows up the top quality of the artwork, reproducing every minute detail.

Each volume includes a range of what could be considered classic tales. The presentation seems to include a poem or short story to introduce each volume and then four or five classic tales. Each tale has been adapted by a different author and is illustrated by a different graphic artist. This means that each tale has a slightly different tone and a different look. I find this especially enjoyable as it means we get to experience a range of different artistic flavours in the look and feel of each tale as well as different literary interpretations of these classic stories.

Eureka Productions is well established and Gothic Classics is up to volume fourteen, Fantasy Classics fifteen and Horror Classics ten. Each volume also includes a very comprehensive guide to the original authors, current writers and artists which are featured.

Gothic Classics Volume fourteen, for example, includes some superbly adapted Gothic tales. The story of Carmilla is superbly adapted by Rod Lott with haunting art by Lisa Web. The way in which she presents characters with uniquely “creaturized” faces is especially impressive. The Mysteries of Udolpho is a more gothic than horror tale and is presented in a more traditionally “comic book style” which helps present a complex story in a graphic style. Also included are the “twist in the tale” Gothic story of the Oval Portrait, Northanger Abbey and At the Gate. Gothic Classics cover the whole gambit of “Gothic” literature from vampires and ghosts to forbidden love, danger and intrigue.

Fantasy Classics Volume fifteen is a real page turner. It offers startling adaptation of Frankenstein again by Rod Lott but illustrated in a rather moody and “grotesque” style by Skot Olsen. Also included are The Dream Bridge by Clark Ashton Smith, the Dream Quest by Lovecraft, as well as the Glass Dog and Rappaccini’s Daughter. Each in their own unique artistic form offering a wide range of presentations, Rappaccini’s Daughter, for example, illustrated and adapted and Lance Tooks has quite a unique graphic look which stands out for the other stories in this volume.

I have not seen the latest Horror Classics but if these and earlier volumes are anything to go by it will be equally impressive. There are also individual Graphics Classics volumes covering such authors as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and so on.

I find all of the titles produced by Eureka of exceptional interest, they not only are great ways to introduce younger readers to classic tales (they will hopefully be excited enough they will then read the originals), but each one offers their own artistic and literary adaptations of classics and hence are “original” in their own right and worth having a place within any horror, dark fantasy and fiction library.

Each of these volumes offer new adaptations of classic tales in both a written and visual form which help express some of the ideas and motifs within these tales in a new and fascinating way and I look forward to each new volume in these series.