Blood Red Cask of Amontillado

After reading “Blood Red Wine” (page 103) and seeing the note that it was adapted from an Edgar Allan Poe story, I read “The Cask of Amontillado” to compare the two. The general story was the same, but there was a significant difference that stood out. In the comic, Pietro Ballo had to convince Ramón to descend further into the cellar, since he was hesitant and initially uninterested. Ramón appeared to want nothing to do with Pietro until he had his first sip of the wine. On the other hand, Montresor, the narrator in Poe’s story, found a way to manipulate Fortunato into coming to the cellar by choice. Montresor would say that it wasn’t healthy for Fortunato to be down in the cellar, but Fortunato would assure him that his cough would be fine. Montresor knew this would happen, and in a twisted way, he had planned for Fortunato’s death to be of the man’s own accord. Personally, I find Poe’s rendition the creepier one. Montresor had planned for his enemy’s death carefully in order to make him think that he really wanted to go down and see the cask, rather than having to drag him down there. He seems to be a more complex and thoughtful villain. Another notable difference between the comic and the short story are the endings. In the comic, both characters die. This is a recurring event in these Crime SuspenStories comics. In Poe’s story, however, Montresor admits that 50 years pass and still no one has found Fortunato’s body. I appreciated that this comic was a rewrite of Poe’s story. Poe’s influence was very clear, but the writer also found a way to make it his own. Also, I liked the art, especially the characters’ facial expressions (last panel on page 104 is a good one).