A SUCCESSION OF SUNDAYS (1841)

A young man, raised by his uncle after his parents pass, conceives a passion for his uncle's daughter (yes, another first cousin). The uncle, a born jokester, tells the fellow that he can get married when three consecutive Sundays transpire. The ending is clever if not actually funny, in which the young man solves his problem with the help of the International Date Line.

ELEONORA-- A FABLE (1841)

This story uses a similar approach to ISLAND OF THE FAY-- published in the same year-- in which the glories of bounteous nature give way to doleful death, ELEONORA is far more successful, in part because Poe includes one of his favorite themes: that of a beloved wife-- the narrator's cousin, once again-- who passes away early. Her passing coincides so nearly with the decline of the natural forest where she and the narrator lived that nature seems in sympathy with her spirit. Hence this one rates as "uncanny."

An odd development is that prior to the cousin's death, the narrator swears never to look at another woman. Time passes, and he re-marries, but nothing happens except that he dreams that the spirit of Eleonora forgives him his transgression. An interesting combination of motifs from both MORELLA and LIGEIA.

NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD (1841)

Compared to Poe's early stories about demonic deals, "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" is the best of its kind thus far. A foolish young man develops the habit of making ridiculous bets in which he wagers his head to the devil if he loses. Predictably, a strange fellow shows up and tricks the better into performing a stunt that leaves the fellow missing one cranium.

It's never been an overly popular tale, but gained some moxie when it was adapted as one of the stories in 1968's SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.

THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA (1841)

This is, like THE COLLOQUY OF EIROS AND CHARMIAN, a static dialogue between two spirits who discuss the destruction of the world for a while. However, Monos, the male, seems far more interested in describing his experiences of dying, which are not a little reminiscent of the weird alive-but-not-alive symptoms seen in LOSS OF BREATH.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #118

Primary GRETA BLACKBURN, best known for the horror-film PARTY LINE, has a half-dozen credits in TV shows like AUTOMAN, LOIS AND CLARK, and V.

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Primary HONOR BLACKMAN acted in GOLDFINGER and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS,  as well as playing "Cathy Gale" on THE AVENGERS.

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Peripheral JOAN BLACKMAN acted in VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET with--

Primary EARL HOLLIMAN of FORBIDDEN PLANET.

MONSTER MASHUPS #24

THE MUNSTERS made it to TV in 1964. The same year also debuted THE ADDAMS FAMILY, though of late I've been reconsidering whether or not they count as "monsters."

One year later, Hal Seeger Productions brought forth a cartoon, MILTON THE MONSTER, which contained four features. Only the titular feature was a monster mashup. Two mad scientists create a good-natured Frankenstein's Monster, name of Milton. For some reason never clear to me, the scientists live in a house with Milton, a skeleton-guy named Heebie and a furry one-eyed Abominable Snowman named Jeebie. I saw the cartoon in my youth but found it generally unfnnny.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #117

Primary BILL BIXBY is inevitably best known for THE INCREDIBLE HULK teleseries and its telefilm spin offs, though he also scored a credit as the crimefighting MAGICIAN.

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Primary CLAUDIA BLACK acted in the movie PITCH BLACK, regular serials FARSCAPE and STARGATE SG-1, and individual episodes of HERCULES, XENA, and BEASTMASTER.

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Primary ISOBEL BLACK acted in KISS OF THE VAMPIRE and episodes of THE AVENGERS and THE INVISIBLE MAN.

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Primary JACK BLACK acted in the 2005 KING KONG  and voiced the titular character of the KUNG FU PANDA series.

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Primary KAREN BLACK (not shown) acted in TWISTED JUSTICE and three movies with "ROLLER BLADE SEVEN" in the title.