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Author: zakyoung

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The Poe Museum Blog

Poe Bicentennial Birthday Bash Schedule of Events for January 19, 2009

12 Midnight: Champagne Toast at the Poe Shrine
Kick off the day’s festivities in the shadows of the Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden in a shrine built 87 years ago in Poe’s honor from the bricks salvaged from the office in which Poe began his career in journalism.

2 AM: Victorian Séance
Make contact with Poe through an authentic Victorian séance. Maybe Mr. Poe will make an appearance.

11 AM: Segway Tour of Richmond Poe Sites
See the sights of Poe’s Richmond without walking up all the hills. Ride a segway. Lessons will be provided before the tour.

1 PM: Birthday Cake
Every birthday needs a cake. We have served Poe portrait cakes and raven cakes at previous Poe birthdays, so come find out which kind of cake Poe will get this year.

1 PM: Book Signing of Edgar Allan Poe in Richmond
This new photo book will be released on January 19, so be among the first to get a copy. The authors, Keshia A. Case and Christopher Semtner, will be on hand to sign copies and answer questions.

2 PM: Segway Tour of Richmond Poe Sites
If you want to take the segway tour of Poe’s Richmond but are not a morning person, take the afternoon tour.

3 PM: Book Signing of Edgar Allan Poe
An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Poe’s cousin Dr. Harry Lee Poe.
Dr. Poe is a descendant of Poe’s uncle and, through his family, has gained a special insight into the life of his famous relative. Here is your chance to meet Dr. Poe and learn things about Edgar Poe that only a relative would know.

7 PM: Candlelight Walking Tour Poe’s Church Hill followed by Warm-up Cocktail Hour
Take a trip back in time and see Poe’s stories and poems brought to life in a whole new way–in the darkened streets and cemeteries that inspired them. The tour begins at Poe’s mother’s grave with a performance by Haunts of Richmond. Then you will follow in the footsteps of Poe through the shadowy streets of 19th century Church Hill, and you will visit the sites that inspired his greatest poems while you hear dramatic recitations of those works. The tour ends at the Poe Museum’s Enchanted Garden with another performance. There is an extra charge of $15 for this experience, but all participants will be treated to refreshments at the conclusion.

All Day: Temporary Exhibit: Poe: Face to Face: Early Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe
See Poe as you’ve never seen him before–through the eyes of his contemporaries. This exhibit will bring together some of the earliest portraits of the author photographed, painted, or owned by the people who knew Poe best. Find out which of Poe’s portraits were owned by his last fiancée, Elmira Shelton. Learn which portrait Poe’s sister considered the best and which one Poe himself hated the most.

Categories
The Poe Museum Blog

Poe in Comics

This isn’t technically related to the bicentennial, but the exhibit of Poe in the comics is still running at the Poe Museum. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see it, you still have until the end of October visit. Even those of you who are not particularly interested in comic books or graphic novels will still be able to appreciate the artistry of some of these drawings and paintings. Among my favorites were the illustrations by Richard Corben for “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Beautifully rendered, these dramatic images really make an impression on the viewer. The murderer’s face in “The Tell-Tale Heart” truly evokes his nervousness and paranoia. Corben’s drawings for “The Raven” are lyrical and enigmatic. They are hanging in a suitably creepy black room on the second floor of the exhibit building along with some dark drawings by other artists.

The first floor of the exhibit contains an overview of Poe in the comics. This section shows how not only Poe’s stories but also Poe, himself, have appeared in comics from the 1940s until today. The area devoted to Poe as a comic character gives the viewer a new perspective on the idea of Poe as a pop culture icon. Here you will encounter Poe joining forces with Batman and helping “the world’s smallest super hero” the Atom fight crime. An original drawing by Rick Geary for his book The Mystery of Mary Rogers details the real Poe’s attempt to solve an actual murder mystery, proving that Poe didn’t need Batman’s help to battle the forces of evil. (Come to the Poe Museum’s Summer 2009 exhibit “Ratiocination” to learn more about how Poe tried to solve some real-life mysteries.)

One case in this room is devoted to Poe parodies. Among these are a Simpsons version of “The Cask of Amontillado” and a story entitled “The Tell-Tale Fart.”

A favorite with many of visitors is Gris Grimly’s watercolor cover art for Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Madness. Grimly uses subtle washes of watercolor with delicate pen-and-ink details to create a twisted world that reminds one of a cross between a Tim Burton film and an Egon Schiele drawing.

In addition to the exhibit, the Poe Museum has published a catalog, The Incredible Mr. Poe, which includes a history of Poe in the comics by Dr. M. Thomas Inge, the collector who loaned many of the pieces in the show, as well as chronology of most of Poe’s comic appearances from the 1940s until 2007.