Classics Illustrated is a comic book series featuring adaptations of literary
classics such as Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the
series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971,
producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies
reprinted its titles. This series is different from the Great Illustrated
Classics, which is an adaptation of the classics for young readers that includes
illustrations, but is not in the comic book form.
Publication history = Classic Comics=
Russian-born publisher Albert Lewis Kanter created Classic Comics for Elliot
Publishing Company in 1941 with its debut issues being The Three Musketeers,
followed by Ivanhoe and The Count of Monte Cristo. In addition to the
literary adaptations, books featured author profiles, educational fillers,
and an ad for the coming title. In later editions, a catalog of titles and a
subscription order form appeared on back covers. Recognizing the appeal of early
comic books, Albert Lewis Kanter believed he could use the new medium to
introduce young and reluctant readers to "great literature".
The first five titles were published irregularly under the banner "Classic
Comics Presents" while issues six and seven were published under the banner
"Classic Comics Library" with a ten-cent cover price. Arabian Nights, illustrated
by Lillian Chestney, is the first issue to use the "Classics Comics" banner.
With the fourth issue, The Last of the Mohicans, in 1942, Kanter moved the
operation to different offices and the corporate identity was changed to the
Gilberton Company, Inc.. Reprints of previous titles began in 1943. Wartime
paper shortages forced Kanter to reduce the 64-page format to 56 pages.
Classic Comics is marked by varying quality in art and is celebrated today
for its often garish but highly collectible line-drawn covers. Artists
include Lillian Chestney, Webb and Brewster, Matt Baker, and Henry Carl
Kiefer. Oliver Twist was the first title produced by the Eisner & Iger shop.
Some titles were packaged in gift boxes of threes or fours during the period
with specific themes such as adventure or mystery. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and
Uncle Tom's Cabin were both cited in Dr. Fredric Wertham's infamous 1954
condemnation of comic books Seduction of the Innocent. Original edition Classic
Comics in Near Mint condition command prices in the thousands of dollars.
Some Classic Comics issues = Classics Illustrated=
The series name-changed in March 1947 to Classics Illustrated with issue 35 The
Last Days of Pompeii. In 1948, rising paper costs reduced books to 48 pages.
In 1951, line-drawn covers were replaced with painted covers, and the price was
raised from 10 cents to 15 cents,. In addition to Classics Illustrated, Kanter
presided over its spin-offs Classics Illustrated Junior, Specials, and The
World Around Us. Between 1941 and 1962, sales totaled 200 million.
The publication of new titles ceased in 1962 for various reasons. The company
lost its 2nd-class mailing permit and cheap paperbacks, Cliff's Notes, and
television drew readers away from the series. Kanter's last new title was
issue 167 Faust though other titles had been planned. These titles appeared in
the company's foreign editions. In 1967, Kanter sold his company to Catholic
publication Twin Circle and its publisher Patrick Frawley, whose Frawley
Corporation brought out two more titles but mainly concentrated on foreign sales
and reprinting older titles. After four years, Twin Circle discontinued the line
because of poor distribution. Since the series' demise, various companies have
reprinted its titles. By the early 1970s, Classics Illustrated and Junior
had been discontinued, although the Classics Illustrated branding would be
used on a series of telemovies produced by Schick Sunn Classics: 1977's Last of
the Mohicans; 1978's Donner Pass: The Road to Survival, The Time Machine and
The Deerslayer; 1980's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 1981's Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn and Adventures of Nellie Bly and 1982's The Fall of the
House of Usher. Artists
Artists who contributed to Classics Illustrated included Jack Abel, Stephen
Addeo, Matt Baker, Dik Browne, Lou Cameron, Sid Check, L.B. Cole, Reed
Crandall, George Evans, Denis Gifford, Graham Ingels, Henry C. Kiefer, Alex
Blum, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Jack Kirby, Roy Krenkel, Gray Morrow, Joe
Orlando, Norman Nodel, Rudolph Palais, Norman Saunders, John Severin, Joe
Sinnott, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson and George Woodbridge.
Classics Illustrated Junior In 1953, Classics Illustrated Junior
debuted with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The line eventually numbered 77
fairy and folk tale, myth and legend titles, ending publication in 1971.
Issues included miscellanea such as an Aesop fable and a full-page illustration
to color with crayons. Artists included John Costanza and Kurt Schaffenberger.
International editions = British series=
Of the 162 British titles, 13 never appeared in America. Additionally, there
were some variations in cover art. UK issues never published in the United
States include Aeneid, The Argonauts, The Gorilla Hunters and Sail with the
Devil. The British Classics Illustrated adaptation of Dr. No was never published
under the U.S. Classics Illustrated line, but instead was sold to DC Comics
which published it as part of their superhero anthology series, Showcase.
The comic followed the plot of the film with images of the film's actors rather
than Ian Fleming's original novel. = Greek series=
In Greece the series is named Κλασσικά Εικονογραφημένα and is being published
continuously since 1951 by Εκδόσεις Πεχλιβανίδη. It is based on the American
series, with the difference that well-known Greek illustrators and
novelists work to adapt stories of particular Greek interest. In addition
to the titles that were translated from the US Classics Illustrated more than 70
Titles were published with themes from Greek mythology and Greek history.
Κλασσικά Εικονογραφημένα are read by thousands of young Greeks, and the first
issues are of interest to collectors. The publishing house of Κλασσικά
Εικονογραφημένα, Εκδόσεις Πεχλιβανίδη, was founded by three brothers of the
Πεχλιβανίδης family from the Greek-speaking parts of Asia Minor:
Μιχάλης, Michális, Michael; Κώστας, Kóstas; and Γιώργος, Giórgos, George),
collectively known as αδελφοί Πεχλιβανίδη. They had extensive
experience in publishing from the 1920s, mainly in advertising — but also in
children's books after 1936, when Κώστας Πεχλιβανίδης finished his studies in the
–then modern– printing techniques in Leipzig .
The Pechlivanídis brothers had inherited the printing press of Bavarian
lithographer Grundman — and his experience as well. Having worked for
years with offset printing, the Pechlivanídis brothers, already well
known in the publications field, founded after the war the Εκδόσεις Ατλαντίς
house in order to restart publishing children's books. They had read Classics
Illustrated while traveling in the US, and arranged to publish them in Greece
as well. The first issue of Κλασσικά
Εικονογραφημένα was made available on 1 March 1951. It was an adaptation of
Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, and attracted extensive critique in Greece,
both positive and negative. It was the first "American" kind of comic in Greece
and also the first four-color or tetrachromous offset. Its cost at the
time was 4,000 Drachmas, and the first edition went out of print quickly and
was reprinted twice in the following days..
Subsequent developments = 1990s=
In 1990, First Comics partnered with Berkley Publishing to acquire the rights
and Classics Illustrated returned with new adaptations and a line-up of artists
that included Kyle Baker, Dean Motter, Mike Ploog, P. Craig Russell, Bill
Sienkiewicz, Joe Staton, Rick Geary and Gahan Wilson. However, the line lasted
only a little over a year. In 1997–1998, Acclaim Books, the
successor to Valiant Comics, published a series of recolored reprints in a digest
size format with accompanying study notes by literary scholars. The Acclaim
line included Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with art by Frank
Giacoia, and The Three Musketeers, illustrated by George Evans. The series
favored Mark Twain with reprints of Pudd'nhead Wilson, The Prince and the
Pauper and Tom Sawyer. Other reprints in this series were Fyodor Dostoyevsky's
Crime and Punishment, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The
House of the Seven Gables. = 2000s=
In 2003, Toronto's Jack Lake Productions Inc. revived Classics Illustrated
Junior, also reprinting from the original editions. In 2005, Jack Lake
Productions published a Classics Illustrated 50th anniversary edition of
The War of the Worlds in both hard and softcover versions. In November 2007,
Jack Lake Productions Inc., published for the first time in North America #170
The Aeneid along with #1 The Three Musketeers, #4 The Last of the Mohicans
and #5 Moby Dick. In 2007, it was announced that Papercutz
acquired the license and would begin publishing graphic novels starting with
The Wind in the Willows. They will be combining reprints of some of the
original titles with new modern adaptations, largely produced in France,
the first of which will be The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, with art by
Severine Lefebvre. In September 2008, Classic Comic Store
Ltd., based in the U.K., began publishing both the original Gilberton
Classics Illustrated regular and Junior lines for distribution in the U.K.,
Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The issue
number sequence is different from the original runs, although the Junior
series was in the same sequence as the original, but with numbering starting at
1 instead of 501. The covers were digitally 'cleaned up' and enhanced,
based on the original US covers. In September 2009, Classic Comic Store Ltd
announced that although they would continue to publish the Classics
Illustrated titles, they were no longer publishing the Junior series after issue
12, but rather importing the issues from Canada. This meant that the numbers used
would be as per the Canadian issues. In October 2012, Classic Comic Store Ltd no
longer continued with a subscription service in the UK, because of the costs
involved. The company told subscribers that they were planning on producing 4
issues at a time, but not on a specified time scale. The first of these batches
was produced in October 2013. = 2010s=
In 2011, Marblehead, MA based Trajectory, Inc. issued the first
digital editions of Gilberton Classics Illustrated regular and Junior lines. In
2014, Trajectory, Inc. was granted the exclusive worldwide rights to produce,
distribute and license the brand. New publications for Classic Comic Store
editions July 2011: Nicholas Nickleby became the
first new title in the 48-page series since the 1969 publication of No. 169.
The artwork came from the November 1950 Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated
edition of Nicholas Nickleby and retained the original Gustav Schrotter
interior art. October 2012: The 39 Steps became the
second brand new title to the Classics Illustrated canon
September 2013: The Argonauts was published - one of 13 which were never
issued in the US collection, but only in the UK.
References in popular culture In the film Major League, Jake Taylor
reads the Classics Illustrated edition of Moby Dick in an effort to impress his
former girlfriend, Lynn in the hopes that he might win her back. Later on in
the movie, other teammates like Rick Vaughn, Willie Mays Hayes, and Roger
Dorn start reading other Classics Illustrated titles, such as The Song of
Hiawatha, The Deerslayer, and Crime and Punishment.
A copy of the Classics Illustrated version of David Copperfield figures in
the film Heaven Help Us. At one point, the character Caesar is baffled by why a
book report written by his friend Rooney contains continued references to W.C.
Fields instead of Wilkins Micawber. Rooney responds by displaying the cover
of the comic book, which depicts Fields as Mr. Micawber, based on his role in
the 1935 film. Classics Illustrated #108, Knights of
the Round Table is mentioned in the Warner Bros./CW show Supernatural,
season 8, episode 21: "The Great Escapist". Hero Sam Winchester, ill and
delirious, recalls to his brother Dean the memory of Dean reading the story to
him when they were both small children. Sam laments that as he thought of the
knights' purity, it made him realize that, even though he was a child, he was
impure — and that he always knew deep down he was impure.
In Arundhati Roy's book "The God of Small Things", "Rahel wasn't sure what
she suffered from, but occasionally she practised sad faces, and sighing in the
mirror.'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done,' she
would say to herself sadly. That was Rahel being Sydney Carton being Charles
Darnay, as he stood on the steps, waiting to be guillotined, in the
Classics Illustrated comic's version of A Tale of Two Cities."
Complete list of Classics Illustrated comic books
The authorship is based on the information held by Michigan State
University Libraries, Special Collections Division in their Reading
Room Index to the Comic Art Collection List of Classics Illustrated comic books
The authorship is based on the information held by Michigan State
University Libraries, Special Collections Division in their Reading
Room Index to the Comic Art Collection. The titles and publication dates are
obtained from a personal collection. See also
Other companies producing comic adaptations of literature:
Notes References
External links Complete list of Classics Illustrated
and Classics Illustrated Junior Classics Illustrated by Trajectory with
sample images, descriptions of each title and links on where to purchase
each title. Classics Illustrated by Papercutz
Classics Central Review of War Of The Worlds Classics
Illustrated Review of Great Expectations, Comics
Bulletin In Praise of Classic Comics - slideshow
by Life magazine Classic Comic Store Ltd - Modern UK
Reprints