This volume adapts five different stories: Le Fanu's "Carmilla," Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho," Poe's "The Oval Portrait," Austen's "Northanger Abbey," and "At the Gate" by Myla Jo Closer. Of those five, I was already familiar with the first four original works.

Though "Carmilla" is a relatively short work, it's been whittled down a bit in its adapted form. Sadly, the story never gets to build up quite the degree of atmosphere of the original. What remains still makes for an enjoyable yarn of vampirism, and I liked the way the art matched the sensuality of the story.

"Udolpho" has been pared down quite a bit, which is to be expected since the original is incredibly long. I actually didn't think it suffered that much, though I did find that the abridgement makes clear just how superfluous much of the action that takes place at Castle Udolpho is. The art is more realistic, with a nice use of shadows, and it manages to be a good match for the inherently melodramatic nature of Udolpho.

"The Oval Portrait" is relatively short to begin with, so it's preserved relatively whole, with the framing story still in place. The art renders the characters as somewhat doll-like, which adds to the underlying creepiness of the story.

"Northanger" is somewhat abridged, though I felt it did a good job of capturing the essence of the original. It makes a nice companion piece to "Udolpho" but it didn't strike me as one of Jane Austen's strongest works. The art is, like that of Udolpho, relative realistic, though brighter and cuter.

"At the Gate" had me scratching my head a bit, since it seemed like the odd man out. It's a cute and sweet story about doggie heaven, and though there's the obvious connection with death, it didn't strike me as particularly gothic. The art has a certain old-time Sunday morning comic strip innocence to it.

Overall, I found it an enjoyable collection, though I think it may have suffered from a certain lack of focus, as noted in my confusion at the inclusion of "At the Gate." (Even "Northanger Abbey" is at best tangentially gothic.) I didn't really enjoy this book as I much as the volume on Lovecraft (vol 4 of the same series) which, whatever its flaws, exhibited a greater sense of inventiveness in its use of story and art. ( )

This is a collection of six books/short stories from classic literature which have been adapted into graphic novel format. The art and strength of adaptations vary, and I can't decide if each story is more enjoyable if you know the original or not. Many would make smashing full-length adaptations rather than being crammed in a few pages, though (Mr. Tilney lost all of his delightful dialogue from Northanger Abbey, for example). But overall, it was fun to see these stories in a new format. ( )

Very mixed bag; most of these adaptations do not successfully manage to adapt their originals. Northanger Abbey is a particularly tedious sequence of illustrated text rather than a graphic novel. Udolpho is so/so. Oval Portrait and The Gate are a cut above average. ( )

My review for AustenBlog, 13 June 2007 ( )

Aw shucks, my first review was lost. Basically, I found this to be a mixed-bag and overall disappointing. The only story-illustration combinations that really grabbed me were Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla," which had a charming, Tim-Burton-esque set of illustrations, and the Poe story "The Oval Portrait," which was also quite nice. The other stories were pretty disappointing, particularly the adaptation of "Northanger Abbey." I thought the illustrator really could have had fun with this one - Catherine's gothic fantasies and nightmares and whatnot. ( )