In his wildest imaginings, the continually broke author probably never thought he'd inspire themed bars, beers, festivals, action figures, office décor, cosplayers, tattoos, and coffee mugs ("Poe me a cup," etc.), not to mention about a million memes. His official Facebook page counts over 3.5 million fans?"outstripping the biggest living authors, including James Patterson, Danielle Steel, and Colleen Hoover. Poe's own life was darker and scarier than his fiction, but his story almost looks like a hopeful one, when viewed from a safe distance in history, anyway. Goths need heroes, too, but Poe isn't just big with the Hot Topic crowd. Even the French regard the dour author as a kind of artistic saint.