The Pull List – Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror #5
Two tales inspired by Poe are served straight up in this latest chapter of Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror. The first story, The Fall of the White House of President Usher, has reporter Eddie Allen visiting the US President Roderick Usher at the White House. Under Roderick’s leadership, the presidency is deteriorating, and so has the White House. Allen is invited to report on the President, but something more disturbing within the white walls. The second story is the second chapter of Le Duc de L’Omelette where the heroic Le Duc de L’Omelette is fighting to save Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Mephistopheles was about to take Goethe’s soul but was stopped by the intervening L’Omelette. Now Goethe’s only hoping of escaping his nightmare is with an omelet face savior.
The Fall of the White House of President Usher is based on the Poe’s short story from 1839 called The Fall of the House of Usher. The original story followed a man visiting the Usher household, finding twins Roderick and Madeline suffering from an illness. As the man tries to comfort the Ushers, strange sights and sounds begin to bellow from the house. Peter Milligan delivers the story as a political satire, reflecting the oddities of American politics. The story is definitely a grim reminder of how ignorance can distort the truth. Richard Case and Jon Proctor cloak the plot with a layer of mystery with some great visuals. Usher’s decaying house has stained walls, leaking ceilings, and Eddie Allen slowly descends into madness.
The second chapter of Le Duc de L’Omelette has L’Omelette and Mephistopheles exchanging wits and blows, as the battle for Goethe eternal soul continues. Satan is calm and collected, unfazed by L’Omelette’s intrusion. L’Omelette, dressed as a musketeer with an omelet for a head, tries to defeat Mephistopheles with some uncommon methods. Artist Lee Carter has stunning visuals that hilarious depicts an omelet hero and an evil poodle, giving the story a great dreamlike tone.
Also included in this: The wicked cat uses one of his nine lives to trick Poe in Poe and the Black Cat by Hunt Emerson. The history of Cleveland is talked about in Coffe Pot of the Old Ones by Kek-W and Rick Geary. A car goes on its last ride in Cubed by Joachim Heijndermans and Elliott Mattice. A man lists the events of his family life in A Brief History of the Rest of My Life by Mac Cushing and Ryan Kelly. Robert Jeschonek images a world where love gets corrected in The Day After They Rounded Up Everyone Who Could Love Unconditionally, with art by Alan Robinson.