CLASSICS Illustrated

SECOND EDITION
CLASSICS Illustrated
A Cultural History
SECOND EDITION

WILLIAM B. JONES, JR .

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
 William B. Jones, Jr., is also the editor of Robert Louis Stevenson
Reconsidered: New Critical Perspectives (McFarland, 2003)

Frontispiece: Alex A. Blum, The Man Who Laughs (May 1950,

first Canadian edition 30 November 1950).

Classics Illustrated ( TM) is the trademark of Frawley Corporation and

its exclusive licensee First Classics, Inc. All rights reserved. By permission
of Jack Lake Productions Inc. (www.jacklakeproductions.com).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Jones, William B., Jr., 1950–
Classics illustrated : a cultural history / William B. Jones, Jr.— 2d ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7864-3840-2
illustrated case binding : 50# and 70# alkaline papers

1. Classics illustrated (New York, N.Y.)

2. Kanter, Albert Lewis, 1897–1973. I. Title
PN6725.J67 2011 741.5' 973–dc22 2011014281

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

© 2011 William B. Jones, Jr. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.

On the front cover: Classics Illustrated covers (clockwise, from left) Robin
Hood (November 1955); War of the Worlds ( January 1955); Treasure
Island (October 1949); Ivanhoe ( January 1957); Cleopatra (March 1961);
Mysteries (August 1947); Journey to the Center of the Earth (May 1957)
On the back cover: Caesar's Conquests ( January1956)

Manufactured in the United States of America

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
 For Yslan, my wife and truest friend,
with fondest memories of tracking The Last of the Mohicans,
unearthing The Master of Ballantrae,
and riding Off on a Comet

and again for Will and Stephen, the best of sons and companions,
who now know How Fire Came to the Indians,
the secret of The Man Who Laughs,
and what an all-too-brief thing is A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This page intentionally left blank
 Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: “Good Stories” 1

I. Albert Kanter’s Dream 9

II. Of Musketeers and Mohicans: The Jacquet Shop 17
III. Louis Zansky: The Painter’s Touch 26
IV. Eccentricity Abounding: The War Years 35
V. Arnold Lorne Hicks: Transitional Figure 42

Between pages 48 and 49 are eight pages containing 22 color plates

VI. Enter Iger: The Fiction House Artists 49

VII. Henry Carl Kiefer and the Classics House Style 63
VIII. Alex A. Blum: “A Prince of a Man” 76
IX. A “Newer, Truer Name”: The Late Forties 90
X. Blood, Sweat, and Rudy Palais 104
XI. Painted Covers and an Extra Nickel: The Early Fifties 111
XII. Maurice del Bourgo: A “Man’s World Artist” 131
XIII. Canonical Matters and Classical Curiosities 135
XIV. Lou Cameron: “If John Wayne Had Drawn Comic Books” 144
XV. Norman Nodel: “A Certain Integrity” 153
XVI. From the Crypt to the Classics: The EC Era 165
XVII. George Evans, Reed Crandall, and the Tradition of EC Realism 182
XVIII. Roberta the Conqueror 197

Between pages 200 and 201 are eight pages containing 26 color plates

XIX. High Tide and Greenbacks: The Late Fifties 201

XX. Gerald McCann: The Colors of the Sky 213
XXI. Gray Morrow: “Real People and Real Events” 217
XXII. “Roberta’s Reforms”: The Early Sixties 222
XXIII. William E. Kanter: About a Son 240

vii
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS

XXIV. Five Little Series and How They Grew: Picture Progress; Classics Illustrated Junior;
Classics Illustrated Special Issues; The World Around Us; The Best from Boys’ Life Comics 244
XXV. “Frawley’s Folly”: The Twin Circle Era (1967–1971) 270
XXVI. Classics Abroad: The Worldwide Yellow Banner 274
XXVII. The Wilderness Years: The Seventies and Eighties 280
XXVIII. Great Expectations: First Publishing’s Graphic Novels 283
XXIX. “Your Doorway to the Classics”: Acclaim’s Study Guides 291
XXX. Restoration: Jack Lake Productions and Papercutz 294
XXXI. Classics Collected: Notes on the Evolution of a Pastime and a Passion 299
XXXII. lCassical Coda 306

Notes 309
Appendices
A. Classic Comics and Classics Illustrated 317
B. Classics Illustrated Giant Editions 334
C. Fast Fiction/Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated 334
D. Classics Illustrated Educational Series 335
E. Picture Parade/Picture Progress 335
F. Classics Illustrated Junior 336
G. Classics Illustrated Special Issues 342
H. The Best from Boys’ Life Comics 343
I. The World Around Us 344
J. British Classics Illustrated, First and Second Series 349
K. Classics Illustrated, Second Series (Berkley/First) 353
L. Classics Illustrated, Third Series, Study Guides (Acclaim) 353
M. Classics Illustrated, Fourth Series ( Jack Lake) 355
N. Classics Illustrated Junior, Second Series ( Jack Lake) 357
O. Classics Illustrated Special Issues, Second Series ( Jack Lake) 359
P. British Classics Illustrated, Third Series 359
Q. Papercutz Classics Illustrated DeLuxe Editions 360
R. Papercutz Classics Illustrated Editions 360
S. Correspondence Between Roberta Strauss and the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, re: The Dark Frigate 360
T. Letter from Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht to E. Nelson Bridwell 361
Bibliography 363
Index 367
 Acknowledgments
W hen I completed the first edition of Classics Illustrated:
A Cultural History, I thought the song was over. In my
mind, I was chronicling a noble idea — the introduction of
but it hadn’t addressed either the artists who worked for the
series or the adaptations of the works that formed the title list.
As it happened, Charlotte liked the CI option and told
children to literary masterpieces through the comics medium— me to begin securing copyright permissions. In my innocence,
that had outlasted its time. But within a year of the publication I thought the process would take a couple of weeks at most.
of the book, I found that Classics Illustrated had been given Three years later, a permissions agreement was signed. In the
new life through the efforts of a quixotic dreamer, Jaak Jarve, meantime, I had been contacting artists or family members
a Toronto-based publisher with Kanteresque energy. With through various search directories in those early Internet days.
Canadian, American, and British imprints currently active, The first artist I heard from was Rudy Palais. He called me on
the 70-year-old line is on its way to becoming a worldwide the evening of 1 November 1993, when I was in charge of my
presence again. In the meantime, more information about the two-year-old and six-weeks-old sons. I took the call while try-
history of the original series has become available, and an ex- ing to feed both boys their very different meals. “Is this Bill
panded second edition seemed in order. Jones?” I heard a raspy voice on the other end of the line ask.
This book had its inception in a very different world. In “Yes, it is,” I replied. “This is Rudy Palais. How did you find
fact, it began as another book altogether. In the fall of 1992, me?” I was so startled that I nearly dropped baby Stephen.
my friend Stephen Buel, who, as editor of Spectrum, gave me When I recovered myself, I said, “On a computer.” After a
my first opportunity to write for pay in the learn-by-doing slight pause, Mr. Palais half-laughed, half-barked his com-
school, had been covering the 1992 presidential race in Little ment: “Well, that’s scary as hell!”
Rock for UPI. After the election of Bill Clinton, when for a And, truly, I suppose it was. By the time I had completed
few weeks anything seemed possible for anyone from Little the original edition of this work, I had only one e-mail listed
Rock, Steve suggested to me that we collaborate on a book on as a source. That number has grown, to say the least. Social
the president-elect’s repeated patterns of rising, falling, and networking played its part this time around, as well. I’ve dis-
rising again. The idea was that we would focus on Clinton’s covered principal sources for this edition through Facebook,
1978 election as the nation’s youngest governor, his 1980 gu- Google, and various websites that, like so many other tools we
bernatorial defeat, and his 1982 mea culpa resurrection as a now take for granted, didn’t exist in the mid–1990s. An inter-
sort of predictor of his then-unwritten presidential career. national community of people interested in Classics Illustrated
Thanks to novelist and historian Grif Stockley, we were as something more than collectibles has grown since the pub-
soon in touch with Charlotte Gordon, a New York literary lication of the original edition of this book. Many share my
agent. She indicated, by letter and phone conversation in late fascination with the story of first- and second-generation
December 1992, that she wasn’t interested in a collaborative Americans who helped to shape the literary experience of two
study of Bill Clinton’s early political career. “Who knows if generations. Others have responded to the implicit narrative
anyone will be interested in him after he’s inaugurated?” she of underlying political currents in the Gilberton editorial and
said, in what I suspected even then would qualify as Famous business offices and the tension between the traditionalism em-
Last Words. Charlotte then asked me to come up with a list bodied by the publication itself and the progressive views of
of three or four possible book subjects. I dutifully listed four various editors and scriptwriters.
items, which I promptly mailed by snail in those pre- When this book appeared ten years ago, I never dreamed
electronic-mail days. In fact, I was serious about only one of how many doors would be opened as a result. From an invi-
them: my childhood love, Classics Illustrated. Dan Malan’s su- tation to speak at the Library of Congress to an offer to provide
perb Complete Guide had appeared a couple of years earlier, introductions for the revived Classics Illustrated series, the ex-

ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

perience has been deeply rewarding. Sometimes I still find it porter of my work on this book and has offered perspectives
hard to believe that I have had the good fortune not only to on adapting classic literature.
write about the series that made me fall in love with reading A group of serious collectors of original Classics Illustrated
but also to write for that series. It’s been a beautiful closing of art have been attempting during the past five years or so to
a circle. So many people have shown me so many kindnesses preserve as much of the Gilberton heritage as possible and to
over the past decade in connection with this project that I fear prevent the dwindling number of still-intact complete sets
I will never be able to thank them adequately. Their generous from being broken apart, sold, and scattered. These popular-
contributions to this expanded volume, their warm encour- culture heroes include Lars Teglbjaerg of Denmark (and resident
agement of my research and writing, and their moving tokens of Sweden), Øystein Sørensen of Norway, and Lawrence and
of friendship during the past ten years have left me forever in Eric Chalif of New York. All of these gentlemen have extended
awe of the selfless capacities of the human heart. their friendship and allowed me the use of images of original
In this extension of my original acknowledgments, I want paintings in their collections for this edition.
to reemphasize my debt of gratitude to all those mentioned The Rev. George Thomas Fisher, author of The Classics
before. Among that group, I wish to thank in particular Classics Index, sent me a copy of his pioneering reference work; it
historian John Haufe, whose shared research on the Junior proved most helpful during my hours spent on expanding the
series and tireless copying of materials from his own extensive appendices. Shakespearian scholar Mike Jensen has broadened
CI archive has materially enhanced the value of the enlarged my view of what comic-book adaptations of the Bard can and
Appendix; Michael Sawyer, whose documentary materials re- should achieve; our enjoyable disagreements have led to growth
lating to Gilberton’s incorporation, position during the anti- on my part and mutual respect. Pop-culture writer and editor
comics crusade, and legal battles with the Post Office have il- Paul Buhle has contributed not only the benefit of perspectives
luminated complex and obscure issues; and Raymond True, gained from his association with such figures as Annette T.
whose insights into Classics Rubinstein and Harvey Pekar, but also his comprehensive un-
Illustrated printing history derstanding of the political context of the times. More than
and publication practices that, however, he has become a trusted friend.
have clarified and corrected Warmest thanks are also due to the following: Tim La-
areas formerly governed by siuta, publicity and marketing director of Jack Lake Produc-
speculation. tions; John Y. Cole and Brian Taves of the Library of Congress;
New friends have made Jane Thompson, Conservator, Arkansas History Commission;
this new book possible. For Joe Darr of Southern Reprographics; Jean-Michel Margot of
their willingness to share the North American Jules Verne Society; Melissa Conway,
their memories of Gilberton Sarah Allison, and Julia D. Ree of the University of California,
days, I will always be in- Riverside; Richard Dury of the University of Bergamo, Italy;
debted to William Kanter’s Sara Rizzo; Bill Worthen and Patricia Grant of the Historic
son, John “Buzz” Kanter; Arkansas Museum; Ron Wolfe; Jim Scoggins; William Falvey;
former editor and researcher Emily Woodside; Wayne Munson; Dan Bailey; Bart Lidofsky;
Helene Lecar; former pub- Stephen Charla; Jean Cazort; Jacob Dockcroft; Carolyn Mc-
licist Eleanor Lidofsky; for- Nutt; Mary Gay Shipley; Maryalice Hurst; Tommy Sanders;
mer business manager O.B. Casey Sanders; Ben Frye; Helen Austin; Paul Gravett; Gary
“Bernie” Stiskin; and artist Giddins; Randy Duncan; Calvin Slobodian; Bill Novick;
Mort Künstler. Those who Sabah Siddiqui; Gregory Stone; Robert L. Beerbohm; Susan
have contributed with ac- Pierce; Jim Amash; Mike Cuthbert; Allan J. Stypeck; and the
counts of their roles in the ladies of the Crossett Book Club.
continuing Classics Illustrated My wife Yslan Hicks has taken time from her professional
saga include Jaak Jarve of commitments to support my work on this project and has
Jack Lake Productions and traveled with me to Classics-related speaking engagements
Jim Salicrup and Michael from Saranac Lake, New York, to Riverside, California, and
Petránek of Papercutz. Com- points between. She also brought her artist’s eye to bear on
Lou Cameron, original art for ics legend Roy Thomas, for- any number of panels and paintings. Will and Stephen, my
The Count of Monte Cristo
merly of Marvel and pres- sons, have grown up with the book on the computer and orig-
(single panel), published No-
vember 1956 (collection of the ently publisher of Alter Ego, inal art on the walls. We still enjoy the occasional firefly hunt
author). has been an enthusiastic sup- and the tales we continue to tell. Finally, between the publi-
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

cation of the first edition of this work and the second, both the original Who’s Who of American Comic Books and interna-
of my parents died. It was they most of all who nurtured tionally renowned comics and animated art authority, was my
my childhood love of reading, and I am forever conscious Virgil, guiding me through the inferno and purgatorio of comics
of the debt that can only be paid forward. lore — the maze of artists and styles — with unfailing courtesy
and patience. He sharpened my critical sight and more than
once saved me from what the Earl of Rochester termed “error’s
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS : FIRST EDITION Fenny-Boggs and Thorny Brakes.”
So, too, did Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., of Bud Plant Illus-
Classics Illustrated may be the most misunderstood comic trated Books, Palo Alto, California. In a marathon session, he
books in the history of sequential art. Assorted cultural arbiters ploughed through the manuscript and called to my attention
dismissed the adaptations as vulgar corruptions of the literary various matters of nuance and fact that only his trained eye
masterpieces upon which they were based. Certain comics could catch. I am grateful to be the beneficiary of his expertise.
champions, judging them by the standards of what they knew, Naturally, however, I am solely responsible for any errors of
which is to say superhero comics, condemned them, in essence, fact, failures of judgment, or lapses in taste.
because they were not superhero comics. Collectors often ig- The author of the Complete Guide to Classics Illustrated
nored the series because of its complexity—with 169 U.S. titles and a specialist in the history of illustrated books, Dan Malan
(not to mention the Juniors, Special Issues, and World Around of St. Louis supplied countless insights and numerous contacts.
Us), entailing multiple reprints, variant covers, and new interior The importance of his two-volume Complete Guide for any
art, making sense of Classics Illustrated seemed akin to the task serious collector or student of the U.S. and foreign Classics
of mastering Finnegans Wake. cannot be overstated. All of us stand on his broad shoulders.
Yet, from the early 1970s onward, a dedicated group of Raymond S. True of Libertyville, Illinois, the founding
experts in the evolving field of popular culture — including father of the hobby, whose efforts in systematizing the publi-
Hames Ware, Jerry Bails, Raymond True, Jim Sands, Bill cation sequence in the early 1970s made intelligent collecting
Briggs, Mike Sawyer, and Dan Malan—made strides in tracing possible, has been an invaluable reference source and an un-
the convoluted history of what was promoted as “the World’s tiring champion of my efforts. When I began collecting Classics
Finest Juvenile Publication” and building a solid foundation the second time around, as a law student looking for something
for research. Their various labors of love resulted in such ref- to take my mind off Prosser on Torts or Corbin on Contracts,
erence sources as The Who’s Who of American Comic Books, Ray guided me to original editions of The Moonstone and Lorna
The Classics Reader, The Classics Collector, and The Complete Doone that I cherish as emblems of more than twenty years of
Guide to Classics Illustrated. friendship.
I have been fortunate in having the generous assistance No words of appreciation can express my heartfelt thanks
of most of the authors and editors of these works while writing to John Haufe of Kettering, Ohio, who supplied me with pho-
this book. I owe an immense debt of gratitude not only to tographs of Albert Kanter, illuminating comments and an ar-
them but also to many others who shared their memories and ticle on his friend L.B. Cole, critical essays, filler details, news
expertise. I am deeply grateful, as well, to those whose encour- about recent developments concerning Classics Illustrated, and
agement sustained my efforts during seven years of copyright years of cheering support and helpful advice. His boyhood ex-
negotiations, artist interviews, and manuscript drafts. periences in Ohio and mine in Arkansas have struck us both
At the inception of this project, the unqualified enthusi- as amazingly similar, though he had sense enough to order The
asm of Michael Frawley of Frawley Enterprises proved instru- Bottle Imp from the publisher before it was too late.
mental in setting the copyright machinery in motion. His kind Rudy Tambone of El Segundo, California, is an amazing
attention to my early inquiries and requests certainly made the resource for anyone interested in Classics Illustrated. His “Clas-
crooked straight and the rough places plain. Richard S. Berger sics Central” website is a research tool of the first order, and it
of First Classics, Inc., followed through with a permissions has been strengthened with the copyright acquisition of Dan
grant of liberal scope that has allowed the generous use of il- Malan’s Complete Guide. With deadlines looming, Rudy pro-
lustrations for this book. vided well-documented filler information for early issues miss-
Without the generous assistance of the Central Arkansas ing from my collection, enabling me to complete the Appen-
Library System and its director, Dr. Bobby Roberts, who au- dices for this volume.
thorized a grant for artwork reproduction, this work would A longtime friend and respected Classics dealer, Philip J.
quite literally have been impossible. My thanks extend beyond Gaudino of Port Washington, New York, has come expedi-
the reach of words. tiously to my rescue too many times on this and other projects
Hames Ware of Little Rock, co-editor with Jerry Bails of over the years. I have enjoyed our phone conversations about
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

the psychology of collecting and the impact of the generational of the Central Arkansas Library System; and Ava Hicks (a tire-
shift on Classics Illustrated. less champion of the civilized institution known as interlibrary
I am much beholden to Bill Briggs of Toronto for his ex- loan), Timothy Holthoff, Jacqueline Wright, and Carol Hamp-
traordinary gift of the entire run of The Classics Reader, a 1970s ton of the Arkansas Supreme Court Library.
and early 1980s fanzine. I am grateful as well to Ron Prager The generosity of Bonnie Slawson of Hot Springs,
and Jim McLoughlin of New York for lending their time and Arkansas, who gave me her Classics Illustrated collection when
offering their recollections. These three gentlemen are among she read about my project, touched me deeply. A substantial
the world’s leading experts on the subject of Classics Illustrated, portion of the artwork reproduced in this book was taken from
and I have been moved by their kindness and breadth of spirit. the issues she provided. Vida Bolding of Little Rock con-
For his witty words of encouragement and approval, I tributed several Classics Illustrated Junior issues to the cause.
am deeply obliged to Hal Kanter, the respected screenwriter For his professionalism and patient endurance, I am
and director whose father, Albert Kanter, launched Classic grateful to Larry Pennington of Peerless Photography, a division
Comics and watched over its growth for thirty years. Mr. of the Peerless Group, Little Rock. Having spent 11 hours on
Kanter generously supplied an unpublished photograph of the the artwork shoot for this book, he uncomplainingly allowed
founder of our feast. me to return two days later to “capture” five overlooked im-
Among the artists who have taken the time to respond so ages.
graciously to my impossibly lengthy queries, I wish to thank Sandra Erbe of Annapolis, my cousin and perpetual
Lou Cameron, George Evans, Gray Morrow, Norman Nodel, booster, and Julie McKenzie of Baton Rouge, who assembled
and Rudi Palais. Herb Feuerlicht was most gracious in sharing my proposal and suggested layout options, kept the faith even
memories of his late wife, Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, under when I had lost it. The persistence of Gary N. Speed, my
difficult circumstances. Harley Griffiths, Jr., provided inval- intellectual-property attorney, helped in a very real sense to
uable details of his father’s life and career. I must single out make this project possible. My agent, the late Charlotte Gor-
Mrs. Louis Zansky for her kindness not only in loaning me don of New York, made unstinting efforts on behalf of a book
photographs and articles about her late husband but also for in which she believed while fighting a gallant battle against
allowing me to examine her file copy of the 1942 Saks-34th cancer.
Robin Hood Christmas giveaway — one of only a handful of Dee Brown — chronicler of the American West, mentor,
copies known to exist. and friend — was a constant source of encouraging words and
Special thanks are due to Wade Roberts and Rick Oba- good counsel. Stevensonian scholar Barry Menikoff of the Uni-
diah, whose 1990 conversations with me about First Pub- versity of Hawaii offered invaluable advice and immeasurable
lishing’s Classics venture were the immediate inspiration for moral support, not to mention a well-timed and much appre-
the present enterprise. Madeleine Robins, editor of Classics Il- ciated nudge. Novelist and fellow attorney Grif Stockley started
lustrated Study Guides, always proved willing to take time from me on my way, and I’m grateful to him for the travel tips. It’s
her busy schedule to share our common enthusiasm. been a rewarding journey.
I can’t adequately express my gratitude to the many Finally, I wish most of all to thank my parents, who have
friends, colleagues, comics dealers, or fellow-collectors who encouraged my writing from the days of the “Isle of Gems”
have helped me, such as Overstreet advisor Michael Tierney; stories to the present; and my sons, Will and Stephen, who
Philip Martin, Karen Martin, and Ed Gray of the Arkansas have their dad free for fireflies again.
Democrat-Gazette; Steve Duin of the Portland Oregonian; Mike
Nicastre; Clint Miller; Jan Emberton, Cary Cox, and the staff
 Introduction:
“Good Stories”
T his is a book about memory and a moment in cultural
history. It is also about stories and storytellers, both those
who use words and those who draw pictures. It begins, as you
hip-shaking singer from Memphis converted me with a reve-
lation about a hound dog.)
Up to that moment, I had shown absolutely no interest
might expect, with a story. in comic books; I suppose I was vaguely aware that they were
bad for you. Still, I asked Dad to confirm that Davy Crockett
In the 1950s, Hall Drug Store stood at the corner of Ka- was indeed the subject (you never could be too sure at five)
vanaugh Boulevard and Hayes Street in a Little Rock neigh- and begged him to get it for me. As an only child, I needed to
borhood known as the Heights. The 19th president’s name do very little begging.
would soon be sacrificed in a fit of civic boosterism, and plain There was something about that yellow rectangle that
Hayes Street would become the grander University Avenue. made an impression. Even where Davy Crockett was
In time, the Heights, an enclave of quaint bungalows, would concerned, it seemed to confer more authority than the Disney
succumb to the invasion of overstated affronts to the principles imprimatur. I asked Dad what the large black letters in the
of architecture. My childhood house, on Grant Street, was not yellow rectangle spelled, and he said, “Classics Illustrated.”
immune to the trend; in 2010 it was leveled to make way for “What does that mean?”
a house almost as large as the lot. Meanwhile, the old Hall “Good stories,” he replied.
Drug Store building still stands on its corner, currently hosting
a new tenant, a Korean restaurant, after housing an upscale For 30 years, from 1941 to 1971, Classics Illustrated (orig-
café for some years. inally known as Classic Comics) introduced GIs, bobby-soxers,
Until the pharmacy closed with his retirement in 1997, and their baby-boom children to “Stories by the World’s Great-
Bill Dutton, J.V. Hall’s son-in-law and successor, filled pre- est Authors”— a category that encompassed Homer’s Odyssey
scriptions in bottles adorned with the same blue-and-white and Frank Buck’s Bring ’Em Back Alive, Shakespeare’s Hamlet
labels that he and the original proprietor had used for more and Talbot Mundy’s King —of the Khyber Rifles, Goethe’s Faust
than forty years. To step inside the pharmacy was to enter a and Owen Wister’s The Virginian. Although the comic-book
realm where memories were easily stirred because so little had series of literary adaptations and biographies was disparaged
changed, down to the supply of Dr. Tichenor’s Antiseptic. by educator May Hill Arbuthnot and attacked by crusader
Apart from out-of-state sojourns for college and graduate Fredric Wertham, it gradually won the applause of skeptics
school, I remained a loyal, lifelong customer. and the affection of at least two generations.
On an evening close to Christmas 1955, when I was five By the middle of the 1950s, with more than 120 titles
years old, I went with my father to Hall’s to pick up a pre- published, a Junior fairy-tale and mythology series under
scription for my mother. While Dad was chatting with Mr. way, and sales in the millions, the Gilberton Company’s Classics
Hall, I spotted a spinner rack of comics, each of which bore a Illustrated had become as much a part of growing up in postwar
bright yellow rectangle in the upper-left-hand corner of the America as baseball cards, hula hoops, Barbie dolls, or rock
cover. One issue near the top leapt out at me —Davy Crock- ’n’ roll. The ubiquitous yellow banner attracted a variety of
ett— a name I had no difficulty reading, even if the buckskin- young readers, whether they were students who wanted to take
clad figure on the cover looked nothing like Fess Parker. (The short-cuts through A Tale of Two Cities and Jane Eyre or kids
coonskin-cap craze may have died down several months earlier, who simply enjoyed the exploits of d’Artagnan and Natty
but I clung to the faith well into 1956, when a sideburned, Bumppo.
1
2 INTRODUCTION

I belonged to the latter category. The yellow rectangle and The Oregon Trail at the downtown Woolworth. My barber,
was reassuring, and I failed to comprehend that the names Loy Scoggins, humored my mania and secured a longtime
“Shakespeare” or “Conrad” or “Dostoevsky” were supposed to client, giving me well-worn copies of The Deerslayer and The
be imposing. All I knew was that they — or their adapters and Adventures of Tom Sawyer from his magazine pile. By age six,
illustrators — told good stories. I had become a collector. I began circling the numbered titles
In the months after my discovery of Davy Crockett at I had acquired on the back-cover reorder list of Waterloo.
Hall’s, I found Moby Dick and Robin Hood at Corder’s Model The pictures and whatever words I understood carried
Market at the other end of the block, Treasure Island and The me through extraordinary adventures. I remember losing
Call of the Wild back at the drug store, and Benjamin Franklin myself in a new copy of The Three Musketeers at my parents’
New Year’s Eve party as 1957 dawned. While
the Little Rock school crisis unfolded on the
other side of town later that year, I was ab-
sorbed in the Classics Illustrated retellings of
The Last of the Mohicans, The Scottish Chiefs,
and Mutiny on the Bounty.
By the time I was eight, the series had
become the fulcrum of my imaginative life.
Photographs from 1958 show me holding
copies of Kidnapped near the White House,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea next to Old
Ironsides, and In the Reign of Terror beneath
our very model of a modern metallic Christ-
mas tree. Wishing to preserve my Classics, I
began having them bound at the Little Rock
Library Bindery, not realizing — or subse-
quently caring — that I was seriously com-
promising their future collectible status.
When I should have been learning the
rudiments of multiplication and division, I
was committing to memory the numbers
and titles on the Gilberton reorder list. My
mother brought me a get-well issue every
bedridden day during bouts of measles or
mumps. Returning from business trips to
New York, my father would produce from
his briefcase crisp copies of the most recent
editions, which I always believed came
straight from the publisher’s offices at 101
Fifth Avenue. For Christmas 1958, my par-
ents allowed me to order 15 titles directly
from the publisher — for $2.25, postage
paid.
The obsession strengthened its grip in
1959. I discovered that some issues were
harder to find than others, so I traded
Classics with schoolmates, obtaining out-of-
print editions of Julius Caesar, David Bal-
four, and Rob Roy in exchange for more read-
ily available titles. During recess at Jefferson
Elementary School, a couple of friends and
Davy Crockett (November 1955). The author’s introduction to Classics Illustrated. I founded our own short-lived Classics club
 INTRODUCTION 3

and staged playground reenactments of

Caesar’s Conquests, The Iliad, and The Three
Musketeers. Convinced I was d’Artagnan, I
challenged a Hayes Street bully who had
taken a Grant Street girl’s bicycle and
quickly discovered that comic-book swords
were no substitute for a pair of experienced
fists.
For my ninth birthday, my mother
took me to the Siebert News Agency ware-
house in Little Rock, where I was allowed
to select as many Classics as I wanted from
a room that seemed stuffed with piles of
them. To my astonishment, I discovered
numerous older issues with line-drawing
covers (Cyrano de Bergerac, The Prairie) and
seven- or eight-year-old reorder lists.
Occasionally, when inspecting the
spinner rack at Safeway or another store, I
would come across a discontinued rarity
such as a 1951 original issue of Crime and
Punishment or an out-of-print Two Years Be-
fore the Mast and would carry the prize tri-
umphantly, like the recovered Grail, to the
check-out counter. As a result of an unsuc-
cessful attempt to acquire from Gilberton a
copy of the recently dropped Bottle Imp
when I was 11, I received an expanded Clas-
sics reorder list, which included otherwise
unavailable titles such as The Cloister and
the Hearth, Mr. Midshipman Easy, and The
Forty-Five Guardsmen. My interior world
suddenly expanded.
Nothing else I read as a child had as
significant an impact on my developing
imagination, which was peopled with such
historical and fictional good and bad guys
as Vercingetorix, Lady Macbeth, Ivanhoe,
William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Quasimodo, The Last of the Mohicans (painted-cover edition, November 1956). An early favorite.
Don Quixote, Cardinal Richelieu, Lorna
Doone, Alan Breck Stewart, Uncas, Ishmael, Hiawatha, Huck- the power of the stories told by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark
leberry Finn, Flashman, Rima the Bird Girl, and Raskolnikov Twain, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Sir Walter Scott, and
(all pronounced with varying degrees of accuracy). With their Alexandre Dumas — as interpreted by artists Louis Zansky,
childish, improbable plotlines, the tight-underwear guys in Henry C. Kiefer, Alex A. Blum, Lou Cameron, George Evans,
other comic books — Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Norman Nodel, and others.
the rest — seemed pitiably weak heroic substitutes for Athos,
Porthos, and Aramis. When it came to villains, I knew that Of course, I wasn’t alone. Romantic poetry scholar Donna
Magua and Madame Defarge could wipe the floor with the Richardson, in an article for American Heritage, recalled her
Joker and the Riddler. first encounter with Classics Illustrated—The Iliad, with its
Through the fusion of pictures and text that comics artist cover painting of “chariots and men wearing skirted armor”—
Will Eisner has termed “sequential art,” I was transformed by purchased at age seven at her local drugstore. “The stories had
4 INTRODUCTION

the imaginative energy of fairy tales,” she noted, “but seemed not only survived the vicissitudes of the postwar anti-comics
more satisfyingly real and serious than the Disney and DC campaign but also emerged as a juvenile-publication power-
comics available on the same rack. Every week I’d obey the ex- house in an international market.
hortation at the end of each issue: ‘Now that you have read Along with its companion lines —Classics Illustrated
Junior, Picture Progress, Classics Illustrated Special Issues, and
the Classics Illustrated edition, don’t miss the [added] enjoyment
of the original, obtainable at your school or public library.’”1 The World Around Us—Classics Illustrated embodied the Ho-
Novelist Anne Rice, whose Tale of the Body Thief and ratian ideal of mixing usefulness and pleasure, delighting gen-
other works have appeared in comic-book adaptations, told erations of young readers while instructing them. Other comics
reserved space for advertisements for Charles Atlas
an interviewer that, as a child, she “adored” Classics Illustrated.
Among the titles she remembered with affection were Jane Eyre, bodybuilding programs or mail-order monkeys that fit in tea
Lorna Doone, and Moby Dick. “Not only did these comics give cups. Inside cover space and back pages in the Gilberton series
us an early appreciation for novels we would later read,” she were devoted to “Who Am I?” literary quizzes; synopses of
said, “they were a thrilling art form in themselves. I can still great operas; biographies of the particular book’s author, “Pi-
remember some of the drawings quite vividly.”2 oneers of Science,” historical figures, and sports heroes; articles
Writing about collecting the series during the 1940s in related to the subject of the book adapted; practical science
his memoir, A Drinking Life, journalist Pete Hamill fondly re- experiments; and even capsule histories of Great Britain and
called the original Classic Comics as “a kind of road map to the the American Civil War.
real books.”3 Demonstrating the hold that the colorful adap- A student of popular culture can learn much from Classics
tations had for more than half a century, he recited the first Illustrated about postwar America’s assumptions about the in-
ten titles in publication order and threw in another five early terests and capacities of its children. Shakespeare’s language
editions for good measure. may have been abridged, but it was never rewritten. Sydney
Hamill also notes, in passing, that the series was renamed Carton may have been painted to look like James Dean on the
Classics Illustrated “for some reason.”4 That reason, as this book
cover of the 1956 revision of A Tale of Two Cities, but he still
will endeavor to show, had everything to do with the purpose went to the guillotine. Though trimmed to 64 or 48 pages,
of the series, as envisioned by its creator, Albert L. Kanter — Javert’s obsessive pursuit of Jean Valjean and Edmond Dantes’s
and with the cultural forces against which the comics industry implacable quest for vengeance were faithfully represented.
was contending in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The series The ugliness of racial hatred was not disguised in either Uncle
Tom’s Cabin or Pitcairn’sI sland.
Goethe and Dostoevsky were
not considered too great a risk for
the series; Jane Austen and Louisa
May Alcott were. Boys and girls
alike enjoyed Classics Illustrated, but
the bottom-line perception at
Gilberton, reflecting the prevailing
view among other publishers, was
that the vast majority of comic-
book readers were male. Yet ample
evidence to the contrary was avail-
able: in 1949, romance comics be-
came the fastest-growing category
in the industry; a 1950 Dayton,
Ohio, study revealed that comic-
book readers were nearly evenly di-
vided by sex, with males accounting
for 52 percent and females for 48
percent.5
Even so, the occasional appear-
ance of a Wuthering Heights or a
Black Beauty notwithstanding, the
The author, age 8, lost in revolutionary France (photograph by Marie W. Jones). Classics reorder list was dominated
 INTRODUCTION 5

by such action tales as Men of Iron, Men

Against the Sea, and The First Men in the
Moon. Practical experience indicated that,
while girls would buy “boys’ books,” boys
wouldn’t be caught dead with “girls’
books.” (I can remember vividly the un-
relenting ribbing I took in the fall of 1960
from a fifth-grade friend who was with me
when I found the long-out-of-print, re-
cently reissued Alice in Wonderland on a
grocery-store rack and, innocent completist
that I was, searched my pocket for enough
change to buy it. “Well,” my father said
consolingly, “you’re a collector, aren’t
you?”) As late as the early 1960s, whenever
editor-in-chief Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht
needed a sure seller, she would order an-
other Jules Verne or G.A. Henty script
from editor Alfred Sundel.

Classics Illustrated was the most sig-

nificant, successful, and influential publi-
cation of its kind. “They were the only
comic books my parents would let me
buy” is a familiar baby-boomer refrain.
Growing up in Pittsburgh under such an
injunction, a future attorney who enjoyed
the series but wanted to savor the pleasures
of the forbidden learned to detach Classics
covers so she could hide copies of Batman
and other proscribed comics. “If only I had
known that I was destroying their value,”
she remarked somewhat ruefully.6
Albert Kanter, founder of Classics Il-
lustrated and its subsidiary series, deserves
recognition as one of the great teachers of
the 20th century. This book tells the story
of his various publishing enterprises and
explores the subsequent incarnations of the
original series under the banners of the
Frawley Corporation, First Publishing, Ac-
Henry C. Kiefer, The Cloister and the Hearth (December 1949). A discontinued title
claim Comics, Jack Lake Productions, and that was still available by direct order from Gilberton in the early 1960s.
Papercutz. It is a cultural history of shifting
attitudes toward art, literature, entertainment, education, and Frawley Corporation, and I am indebted to their scholarship
the once-disfavored but now more-than-mainstream medium and good examples. Their writings were principally directed
known as comic books or, more grandly and self-consciously, to collectors and specialists. It was my intention in the first
graphic novels. edition of this book, and remains so in this revised and ex-
Dan Malan, in his indispensable two-volume Complete panded text, to address not only fellow travelers but also both
Guide to Classics Illustrated, and Mike Sawyer, in a scrupulously an academic and general audience interested in the treatment
documented article for the Journal of Popular Culture, have al- of serious literature in popular culture and in the comic book
ready detailed the fortunes of the Gilberton Company and the as a distinctive American art form.
6 INTRODUCTION

Enthusiasts have been exceptionally well served by culture. The fact that only a handful of adaptations took the
Malan’s thorough studies of the American and international liberties attributed to all was strategically ignored.
series and definitive survey of Classics-related collectibles. This point of view persists to the present, and it is not
Given the emphasis of this book on art, artists, and uncommon to hear the assertion that it is impossible to turn
adaptations, I have not attempted a detailed discussion of such a literary masterpiece into a comic book without trivializing
items as boxes, binders, notebooks, slides, or giveaways — nor it or — the most withering contemporary indictment — ren-
have I delved into the minutiae of cover and color variations dering it middlebrow. In his strikingly original study, Reading
or the arcana of Long Island Independent or Nassau Bulletin Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean,
print runs. These topics appeal primarily to hobbyists and are Douglas Wolk, in a sweeping yet narrow pronouncement, dis-
largely outside the scope or the purpose of this work. misses the “almost uniformly terrible” series as “Classics Illus-
This volume aims at sympathetic engagement with the trated pamphlets” (refusing to confer upon them the pedigree
past while maintaining, to the extent possible, a certain of comic books) and voices the familiar 1950s complaint that
aesthetic distance from it. The book will explore the nature “they end up gutting the original work of a lot of its significant
and quality of Classics Illustrated adaptations and will survey content.”7
the work of the individual artists who gave them life. No other One might as well argue that Verdi had no business turn-
study has yet attempted a comprehensive review of the art of ing Shakespeare’s Othello into an opera or the Coen Brothers
the series, which has been largely neglected and consistently adapting Charles Portis’s True Grit into a film. In the face of
underrated, or a chronicle of the careers of the artists in con- so absolute a prejudice, one can only offer the Classics Illustrated
nection with their work for Gilberton. Ancillary series, includ- versions of, say, The Conquest of Mexico or The Octopus or Faust
ing Classics Illustrated Junior, Picture Progress, Classics Illustrated and trust that the adaptations by Alfred Sundel and the illus-
Special Issues, and The World Around Us, will also be examined. trations by Bruno Premiani, Gray Morrow, and Norman Nodel
The more recent series issued by First Publishing, Acclaim will persuade.
Comics, Jack Lake Productions, and Papercutz — which have In any event, the series was never intended to replace the
featured illustrations by outstanding contemporary artists, re- original works (as the Walt Disney versions of Beauty and the
colored restorations of the original Classics, or occasional new Beast and The Little Mermaid threaten to do). It is unlikely
art — have made their contributions to the cultural mix and that anyone who read the sequential-art abridgments of The
will also receive attention. House of the Seven Gables or Silas Marner as a means of avoiding
Nathaniel Hawthorne or George Eliot would have read those
A chronological review of Classics Illustrated art and adap- authors in the first place. What Classics Illustrated and its off-
tations reveals the evolving seriousness of purpose that spring did with increasing skill between 1941 and 1962, when
animated the efforts of publisher Albert L. Kanter, editors original-title production ceased, was to make the realms of the
Meyer A. Kaplan and Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, scriptwriters literary and historical imagination accessible and immediate.
Ruth A. Roche, Kenneth Fitch, and Alfred Sundel, art directors While the complaint from one side of the cultural chasm
Alex A. Blum and Leonard B. Cole, and artists George Evans was that the Classics were too much like comic books and were
and Norman Nodel. When he launched Classic Comics in the therefore meritless, the cry from the comics camp was that,
fall of 1941, at the peak of the so-called Golden Age of comic with their lack of original stories and innovative art, they bore
books, Kanter was attempting to wean young readers from Ac- too little resemblance to comic books and were therefore mer-
tion Comics, Detective Comics, and Marvel Comics, employing itless. Indeed, many comics authorities tend to judge Classics
the same medium to win new adherents to the works of Illustrated on the basis of the often badly drawn first 22 issues,
Dumas, Scott, Cooper, Melville, and Dickens. As the series published between 1941 and 1944, and to be unaware that some
progressed, the emphasis on its character shifted from comics of their culture heroes — Jack Kirby, Reed Crandall, George
to illustrated books and led to the new name, Classics Evans, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson — worked for Gilberton
Illustrated, in March 1947. and helped raise the quality of the artwork in the late 1950s
The change of focus, however, led to something of an and early 1960s to a level unsurpassed in the industry.
identity crisis for Classics Illustrated. Many educators looked
at the issues and saw comic books, pure and simple. To the Although New York was the center of the comics universe,
extent that the series in the early years (1941–44) bastardized many of the key figures in the Classics story were out-of-
the originals — and one need only look at the 1943 edition of towners — from Russia, Kansas, Hungary, California, Italy.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to see how corrupted a text could be- Some, including the founder of the series, were Jewish immi-
come — the critics reviled Classics as worse than regular comic grants who found themselves engaged, somewhat ironically, in
books because they polluted great literature and subverted high a reverse method of assimilation, interpreting and popularizing
 INTRODUCTION 7

what had been essentially the cultural canon of the Anglo- individual imprints. The most forceful personality of all, the
Saxon Protestant establishment of the Northeastern United editor who reshaped the publication in the 1950s and ’60s, was
States. a young woman with an unswerving devotion to what
In a sense, Albert Kanter’s experience was merely a refine- amounted to a calling. The history of Classics Illustrated is their
ment on the Jewish saga of “Golden Age” comic-book pub- story, and, whenever possible, I have allowed them, or their
lishing. Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of surviving family members, to speak for themselves through
Kavalier & Klay (2000) deals with this aspect of comics history interviews and correspondence.
with brilliant imaginative insight. The editorial-staff power
struggle in the early 1960s between the Old Guard and younger I have never forgotten the moment when, at the age of
challengers echoed in a curious way the cultural and political ten, I turned from Alex A. Blum’s Classics Illustrated rendering
divide in the New York Jewish community between a more of Hamlet to my mother’s old high-school Riverside edition,
conservative, pragmatic older generation and an idealistic, and the words danced to life on the page. If this book serves
leftist-orientedy outhm ovement. no other purpose, I hope that it will set in perspective the
At least one of the Classics artists and one of the scriptwrit- efforts of the artists, editorial staff, and publisher who filled
ers were African-American, an exception at the time. Two of millions of children around the world with an early and en-
the artists and two of the scriptwriters were women, another during passion for what my dad called, quite simply, “good
anomaly in the 1940s and ’50s. A collection of steady profes- stories.”
sionals, a few eccentrics, and a genius or two left their
Unidentified artist, Robinson Crusoe (January 1956). The moment of discovery in an iconic original cover painting (collection of
Dr. Lawrence Chalif ).
 I

Albert Kanter’s Dream

I t was a quintessentially American dream — an immigrant
child, a self-made man, a visionary concept, and an unqual-
ified triumph. Before Classics Illustrated and its companion
ple had three children, Henry (Hal), William (Bill), and Sar-
alea.3 (The two brothers would play vital roles in the Classics
Illustrated story.) Albert passed along his love of history and
series were displaced by television and an exploding consumer literature to his children.4
culture, they could be found in the largest cities and smallest In 1925, seeking to improve his situation, Kanter moved
towns of the United States. In time, the books would also ap- his family to Miami, Florida, where he participated in the real
pear in 26 languages in 36 countries, including Canada, Aus- estate boom satirized in the Marx Brothers’ film The Cocoanuts
tralia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Japan, the United (1929). The venture soured in the wake of the devastating
Kingdom, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Hong Kong, Germany, Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, which was followed a year later
Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, by the arrival of the Great Depression. With the assistance of
Ireland, France, Belgium, the Phillipines, India, Singapore, Albert’s brothers Maurice and Michael, the family relocated
and Malaysia.1 to New York in 1933 or 1934. Kanter landed a job as a pub-
The dreamer in this case was Albert Lewis Kanter (1897– lisher’s representative for Colonial Press, selling, among other
1973). Born in Baranovitch, Russia, on 11 April 1897, he was items, sets of works by Mark Twain, Jack London, and Rafael
the eldest child of Henry and Ila (Mirsky) Kanter, a Russian Sabatini.5 Eventually, he found himself working for Elliott
Jewish couple who fled the Czar’s pogroms. The Kanters im- Publishing Company, located at 6 West 46th Street in New
migrated to the United States in 1904 and settled with their York, selling surplus books and designing a widely used ap-
three young sons in Nashua, New Hampshire. (A younger pointment diary for doctors and dentists. With his customary
brother, Mike, would figure prominently in the business end inventiveness and energy, he also created and produced a
of Classics Illustrated.) In battery-operated toy telegraph set and a crystal radio set that
1907, Henry Kanter was was distributed by the Aldan Manufacturing Company.6
naturalized, and the rest of In 1940, Elliott Publishing Company began repackaging
the family became Ameri- pairs of remaindered comic books in a 128-page format called
can citizens.2 Double Comics. Pairs of coverless comics from different pub-
An eager learner, Al- lishers were bound together with new covers and sold for the
bert read voraciously, even price of one. It was the new industry’s Golden Age, when fresh
after he was obliged to quit series and entire genres were born every few months. Looking
high school in 1913 because at the issues recycled by Elliott and at developments in the
of his father’s poor health. market, Albert Kanter had an idea.
Buoyed by his lifelong
sense of humor, Kanter From a tradition extending back to 17th-century broad-
began working as a door- sheets and the 18th-century satirical series of William Hogarth,
to-door salesman of no- James Gillray, and Thomas Rowlandson, Victorian England
tions, novelties, and cook- produced the forerunners of comic books in Punch (1841) and
ing utensils. The New other humorous magazines that combined illustrations and
Englander’s peregrinations text. Gilbert Dalziel, whose Judy (1867) had imitated the Punch
in time took him to Savan- format, created what comics art historian Roger Sabin regards
Albert Lewis Kanter, circa 1940.
The entrepreneur with an eye on
nah, Georgia, where, in as the first comics publication, Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday (1884),
the future (courtesy John “Buzz” 1917, he met and married a tabloid blend of strips, cartoons, and narrative.7
Kanter). Rose Ehrenrich. The cou- On the continent, the work of Genevan artist Rodolphe

9
10 CLASSICS Illustrated

Töpffer (1799–1846) marked the transition from the 18th- In 1922, Comic Monthly, which was closer to the standard
century caricature style to a more sustained narrative mode comic-book format, began a 12-issue run. At the end of the
with such works as his Histoire de M. Jabot (1833), about a decade, George Delacorte, who would later gain renown as
Restoration-era social climber. As Scott McCloud observes in founder of Dell Publishing Company, produced a 13-issue
Understanding Comics, Töpffer’s “light satiric picture stories tabloid series titled The Funnies that included some original
... employed cartooning and panel borders, and featured the features.16 But the publication that sparked the comics revo-
first interdependent combination of words and pictures seen lution was Eastern Color Printing Company’s Famous Funnies,
in Europe.”8 which offered “100 Comics and Games-Puzzles-Magic” for a
Biographer David Kunzle has noted that “[t]he impact dime and lasted from 1934 to 1955. Major Malcolm Wheeler-
of Töpffer’s new invention was immediate, long-lasting, Eu- Nicholson’s New Fun followed in 1935 and Dell’s Popular
ropean wide, and even reached the United States.”9 Indeed, Comics in 1936. With the appearance of Wheeler-Nicholson’s
the first American comics-style book was a translation of the and Harry Donenfeld’s Detective Comics (later the home of
Swiss artist’s Les Amours de Monsieur Vieux Bois (1837). Retitled Batman) in 1937 and Action Comics (introducing Superman)
The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, the 40-page, panel-filled in 1938, the Golden Age was under way. Captain Marvel, the
supplement to the periodical Brother Jonathan was published Blue Beetle, and other caped or masked competitors soon fol-
in New York in 1842. Töpffer’s work had been translated into lowed.17
several languages and was popular in Europe by this time. In the meantime, a distinctive aesthetic, supported by its
American editions of Obadiah Oldbuck and other comic-strip own vocabulary and grammar, had evolved along with the
books by Töpffer remained in print until 1877.10 medium, and art schools were filled with aspiring comics il-
The first American newspaper comic appeared in Joseph lustrators. As the demand for original artwork and stories ac-
Pulitzer’s New York World in 1895. Drawn by Richard Out- celerated, New York studios known in the trade as “shops”
cault, The Yellow Kid was a single panel rather than a strip and grew rapidly, beginning with one founded in 1936 by the col-
featured a streetwise urchin with an attitude as brash as his orful Harry “A” Chesler (c. 1898–1981). (The “A” was Chesler’s
yellow nightshirt that soon gave its name to a brand of jour- own addition, which stood, he said, for “anything.”)
nalism. Outcault went on to create, perhaps as a moral coun- Certain shops established exclusive relationships with dif-
terweight, the insufferably sanctimonious Buster Brown for ferent comic-book publishers and developed distinctive house
the New York Herald Tribune. Les Daniels views Outcault’s styles. By the end of the decade, four major comics art shops
odd couple as a microcosm of comics history, a recurring cycle had emerged, headed by Chesler, partners Will Eisner and
in which subversive impulses are periodically diluted by the S.M. “Jerry” Iger, Lloyd Jacquet, and Jack Binder.18 Two of
power of conformity.11 these — Iger’s and Jacquet’s — would figure prominently in Al-
By the turn of the century, comic strips such as The bert Kanter’s enterprise. The New York comics-production
Katzenjammer Kids by Rudolph Dirks had become popular world was small, and in time much cross-pollination occurred
fixtures in American newspapers. During the next 25 years, among the shops and publishers. This periodic shift of
the national mythology would be enriched by Winsor McCay’s affiliation would later have a significant impact on the history
Little Nemo in Slumberland, Bud Fisher’s Mutt and Jeff, George of Classics Illustrated.
Herriman’s Krazy Kat, George McManus’s Bringing Up Father,
and Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie. With the appearance Comic books have generated controversy from the be-
of Hal Foster’s Tarzan and Philip Nowlan and Dick Calkins’s ginning. As early as May 1940, children’s author Sterling North
Buck Rogers in 1929, the stage was set for the arrival of the next blasted the phenomenon in a Chicago Daily News editorial,
decade’s superheroes.12 terming it a “national disgrace” and urging parents to introduce
Book reprints of popular newspaper strips began in 1897 their children to such adventure classics as Charles Kingsley’s
with The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s Flats, which featured Out- Westward Ho! and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
cault’s outlandish hero. (Robert C. Harvey notes that The (Both of these works, which contained their share of violence,
Yellow Kid Magazine, often said to have been the first comic were later adapted for the Classics Illustrated series.) Magazines
book, merely displayed the attention-getting character on the exhorted teachers and librarians to fight the good fight.19
cover and had no comics content.)13 Funny Folks (1899), a com- It was clear to many, however, that for most children the
pilation of color and black-and-white comic strips by F.M. comic book was simply too compelling a medium. Parents’
Howarth that originally appeared in Puck magazine, was the Magazine sought to address the problem by producing a series
first book to emphasize sequential narratives.14 The name by of wholesome, fact-filled comics designed to wean preadoles-
which the format would thereafter be known was introduced cents from the rapidly proliferating superhero fare. The result
in Saalfield Publishing Company’s Comic Book (1917).15 was True Comics, which inaugurated its nine-year run in April
 I. ALBERT KANTER’S DREAM 11

1941 with features on Winston Churchill, malaria, the Mara- tained abridgments of individual titles in the comic-book for-
20
thon run, and Simon Bolivar. mat until, in 1941, Albert Lewis Kanter dreamed his American
At this point, Albert Kanter’s idea began to take shape. dream —Classic Comics.
It started in conversations on the Long Island Railroad as
Kanter and another commuter, Raymond Haas, traveled be- Most American dreams, of course, require capital. Kan-
tween their suburban homes in Long Beach and their work in ter’s friend and future copublisher, Raymond Haas, brought
Manhattan. Kanter was concerned that his children seemed to along his business partner, Meyer Levy, to finance the new en-
be drawn to comic books rather
than the literary masterpieces on
the family bookshelves.21 With an
autodidact’s fervor, he dreamed of
a means of introducing young read-
ers to the classic literature that had
sustained him over the years. The
hundreds of thousands of copies of
Double Comics that poured out of
Elliott Publishing Company — and
perhaps the recent example of True
Comics— supplied the immediate
inspiration. Kanter would create a
comic-book line that would devote
each issue to the adaptation of a
single literary work. The concept
was brilliant in its simplicity and
had the merit (and the attendant
risk) of never having been tried.
Not that there had never been
comics-style versions of the classics.
In 1921–1922, newspapers carried
George Storm’s 22-week comic-
strip serialization of Johann Wyss’s
Swiss Family Robinson for the Mc-
Clure Syndicate.22 Major Wheeler-
Nicholson had produced a daily
newspaper adaptation of Robert
Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in
1925 before revisiting the pirate
yarn and introducing a subse-
quently aborted Ivanhoe ten years
later in New Fun. In 1936,
Wheeler-Nicholson’s New Comics
(National Periodical Publications)
serialized Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s
Travels, Charles Dickens’s A Tale of
Two Cities, and H. Rider Haggard’s
She.23 Treasure Island, drawn by
Harold deLay, began a four-issue
run in Doc Savage in 1940, and the
popular tale appeared in ten issues
of Target Comics in 1941–1942. Still, Malcolm Kildale, Classic Comics No. 1, The Three Musketeers (October 1941). The beginning
no one had thought of self-con- of what would become the largest-selling juvenile publication in the world.
12 CLASSICS Illustrated

terprise, which remained nominally an Elliott operation until In time, this would become a matter of some significance to
the spring of 1942.24 Kanter made arrangements with Lloyd the publisher, who in 1941 could not have guessed the depth
Jacquet’s Funnies, Inc., shop for production of the artwork, of devotion of future collectors.
and Malcolm Kildale, as artist and editor, assumed primary Production costs for issue No. 1 were approximately
responsibility for the first issue, a 62-page adaptation of $8,000 for an initial run of about 250,000 copies.26 By the
Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers that appeared in Oc- 1950s, between 250,000 and 500,000 copies of first editions
tober 1941. The novel’s chief protagonist, d’Artagnan, with his were printed, and reprints numbered between 100,000 and
vitality and humanity, proved to be an ideal hero for Kanter’s 250,000 copies.27 According to longtime Classics dealer and
purposes. Two pages at the end of the comic book were devoted authority Raymond True’s analysis of issue availability in the
to a biography of the author.25 On the inside front cover, a collectors’ market, print runs during the period from 1963 on-
letter “To Our Readers” appeared, in which the publisher stated ward, when the series was in decline, appeared to be substan-
the objectives of the new series: tially smaller, perhaps as low as 15,000 per reissued title.28
Here it is! The first edition of the “CLASSIC COMICS LI- (This empirical assumption might account for the curious
BRARY.” circumstance that it is often harder to find reprints of certain
We have chosen “THE THREE MUSKETEERS” as the first later titles such as The Conspirators or Cleopatra than it is to
title because it is the popular choice of thousands. Here you find first printings of those books.)
have presented to you Dumas’ immortal masterpiece, complete Distribution was handled from the beginning by a New
in all the fire and zest of its original form — the thrills, the
romance, the adventures are all here — true, in concise form,
York firm, Publishers Distributing Corporation, whose initials,
nevertheless faithfully reproduced in Dumas’ own text as well as P.D.C., appeared on the front covers of first printings until
possible in only 64 pages. mid–1947. For The Three Musketeers, however, Kanter relied
It is not our intent to replace the old established classics with primarly upon his considerable sales skills as he canvassed var-
these editions of the “CLASSIC COMICS LIBRARY,” but rather ious outlets in the New York area. Thanks to his efforts, No.
we aim to create an active interest in those great masterpieces
1 did well enough to encourage the publication of a second
and to instill a desire to read the original text. It is also our aim
to present these editions to include all of the action that is number, an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, which
bound to stimulate greater enjoyment for its readers. It is our was advertised in a “Coming Soon” ad on the back cover of
sincere belief that men and women, as well as junior men and The Three Musketeers. Issue No. 2 arrived on newsstands in
women have attained a finer taste in literature, and they will December 1941, just about the time daily papers were filled
welcome these highly interesting, concise editions of the estab- with reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entry
lished works of the masters.
Considerable research, writing, re-writing and editing have
in the Second World War.
gone into this book. We have spared no expense in presenting By the time Classic Comics No. 3, The Count of Monte
the finest art work, engraving, paper and binding possible in Cristo, was issued in March 1942, the new enterprise was out-
order to produce the most and the best for 10 cents. This is our growing the limited space it shared with Elliott Publishing
policy and we will continue it in all future editions of what will Company on West 46th Street. Kanter’s partner Raymond
be the “CLASSIC COMICS LIBRARY.”
Haas was able to offer not only a building but also an unused
On the inside back cover is listed forthcoming editions — they
will be published at frequent intervals and will be presented corporate name and corporate papers. Some time earlier, Haas
complete in the same entertaining manner. [These included had bought out a failing chemical firm that had been named
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Deerslayer, Ben-Hur, and the Gilberton Corporation by its founder, Hamilton Gilbert,
Moby Dick, which were added to the series sooner or later, as who had supplied chemistry sets with illustrated instruction
well as several titles that were never adapted (at least in Kanter’s booklets to thousands of young Americans.
series), such as Quentin Durward and Beau Geste.] We have se-
lected them because of their popularity, yet we will welcome
Although it was impossible, because of America’s sudden
your suggestions about any other titles you would like in this involvement in World War II, to secure the dissolution of the
form. original 1935 certificate of incorporation, the charter was
We hope you will begin your “CLASSIC COMICS LIBRARY” amended on 13 May 1942, to permit publishing.29 The
with this edition and that you will receive as much pleasure in Amendment of Certificate of Incorporation, signed by Haas
building it as we do in presenting these publications to you.
and Levy, set forth “additional purposes” of the Gilberton Cor-
Two things mentioned in this prospectus remained true about poration, including the authority “[t]o print, bind, publish,
the series from its inception. The first was that Albert Kanter circulate, distribute, buy, sell and deal in books, pamphlets,
intended the comic-book adaptations to serve as an induce- circulars, posters, newspapers, treatises, magazines and other
ment for young readers to encounter “the original text.” Sec- periodicals[.]”30 Thus, as the Gilberton Corporation, Albert
ondly, he anticipated, by the use of the word “Library” in the Kanter moved Classic Comics to Haas’s building at 510 Sixth
series’ name, that readers would wish to collect Classic Comics. Avenue (near the historic Jefferson Market Courthouse),
 I. ALBERT KANTER’S DREAM 13

Albert Lewis Kanter, circa 1950. The successful publisher (courtesy Hal Kanter).

suspending publication of Classic Comics until August 1942 to lotments from New York–area publishers, whose company
accommodate the changes. names—Elliot Publishing Co., Long Island Independent, Island
On 19 March 1945, with the war winding down, the pub- Publishing Co., Nassau Bulletin, Queens Home News, Sunrise
lisher obtained dissolution of the original certificate of incor- Times, The Courier, and Queens County Times, along with Ray-
poration but retained the first part of the company’s name.31 mond Haas’s Conray Products—appeared in various reprinted
Gilberton it was, and Gilberton it remained for more than editions.33 For example, the third, fourth, and fifth printings
twenty years. In the formal Certificate of Incorporation of the of No. 7, Robin Hood, were produced in quick succession in
Gilberton Company, Inc., signed on 15 November 1946 by March, June, and October 1944 by, respectively, the Long Island
Kanter, Haas, and Levy, the first-stated purpose of the corpo- Independent, the Nassau Bulletin, and the Queens County Times.
ration echoed the 1942 document, with a significant addition: Producing 64-page comic books with a war in progress
“[T]o produce, buy, sell, and generally deal in illustrations, and paper rations in effect called for some strategic maneuver-
drawings, photographs and drawings on which, or by which, ing, and, although Kanter was able to purchase surplus paper,
illustrations may be printed or used; to employ artists and il- the amount available was not sufficient for the standard Classic
lustrators in connection with all of the business aforesaid.”32 Comics length. In August 1943, with issue No. 13, Dr. Jekyll
The employment of “artists and illustrators” was, of course, a and Mr. Hyde, the page count dropped to 56, where it
corporate necessity. remained (with the exception of No. 26, Frankenstein, a 48-
In the meantime, during the war years when paper re- page issue) until January 1948, when rising paper costs forced
strictions were in force, Kanter was able to purchase paper al- a final reduction to 48 pages with issue No. 45, Tom Brown’s
The first Classic Comics reorder list (April 1943). The beginning of another long tradition, and a sign that Gilberton was committed
to maintaining a backlist.
Inside front cover, Classic Comics No. 8 (February 1943). Early feedback.
16 CLASSICS Illustrated

School Days.34 Even with the shrinkage, Classics Illustrated (as firm documentary confirmation, may be “overstated.”38 What-
they were called by that time) were longer than most comic ever the number, it is established that Classic Comics circulated
books, which generally ran to 32 pages. among service personnel in “Gift Boxes” as well as in bulk pur-
From the beginning, Classic Comics were unique in the chases and that other comic-book publishers also benefited
industry. Apart from in-house promotions such as “Coming from the reading habits of GIs, who, more than any other de-
Next” notices or reorder lists, the series carried no advertising. mographic group, were responsible for the growth of the
It was a deliberate break with comic-book convention on the comics industry in the early 1940s.39
part of Kanter, who hoped thereby to retain editorial inde- At home, reader response — from parents and children
pendence and to strengthen the publication’s appeal to edu- alike — was enthusiastic. In February 1943, Gilberton pub-
cators. In addition, the back-of-the-book section in each issue lished some early encomiums on the inside front cover of issue
was reserved for educational or patriotic filler material, includ- No. 8, Arabian Nights. Among the three letters featured was
ing author biographies, poems, and reports on the war.35 By one from 12-year-old Quiz Kids star Harve Fischman, who
the 1950s, these articles displayed an increasing level of sophis- would later make a name for himself, as Harve Bennett, as a
tication and were tailored to complement the work they ac- producer and scriptwriter for the television hit The Mod Squad
companied—for instance, a biography of Bonnie Prince Char- and the first Star Trek film series. “Dear Sirs,” he wrote (on
lie was appended to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jacobite– Quiz Kids letterhead), “I am sending you a dime for which
inflected David Balfour, No. 94 (April 1952), and a description please send me a copy of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ as my copy has
of Elizabethan playhouses served as an epilogue to Shake- been lost and I can’t seem to get another copy. I have enjoyed
speare’s Romeo and Juliet, No. 134 (September 1956). the Classic Comics Library very much; and am saving them
Gilberton’s first competitor appeared in 1942. Famous Sto- all to read to my little brother when he grows older.”40
ries, a series published by Dell, issued only two titles, Treasure Another significant development for Classic Comics oc-
Island and Tom Sawyer, before folding. The artwork in the two curred in 1943. Gilberton began reprinting earlier editions,
Dell books, however, surpassed anything Classic Comics had further setting the publication apart from other comic books,
produced at that point. Meanwhile, the Jacquet shop ended which were typically one-shot productions with relatively short
its affiliation with Gilberton after issue No. 4, The Last of the shelf lives. Only Classic Comics built a catalogue, keeping its
Mohicans (August 1942), and a gifted freelancer, Louis Zansky, earlier titles in print while regularly issuing new ones. Even-
who adapted and illustrated issue No. 5, Moby Dick (Sep- tually, more than 1,200 reprint editions would appear in the
tember 1942), assumed the duties of de facto art director, American series alone, with estimated peak monthly sales of
bringing some improvement to the series as a whole and visual between two and four million.41 The venerable founder would
charm to the titles he drew. become known in Europe as “Papa Klassiker,” and foreign sales
In 1943, Gilberton received an extraordinary financial would exceed the figure of one billion.42
boost. Kanter negotiated the sale of Classic Comics editions to For the present, though, Albert Kanter, salesman and ide-
the American Red Cross and the army post exchange for dis- alist, pursued his novel dream of using the same scorned
tribution to service personnel. He also introduced gift boxes medium to lead young comic-book readers to discover more
containing five different titles for shipment abroad.36 Classics substantial superheroes in d’Artagnan, Ivanhoe, Hawkeye, and
authority Dan Malan has estimated that between five and ten Robin Hood. To keep them hooked, he needed consistently
million copies were sent to soldiers.37 Raymond True, however, good art and reliable adaptations. He would soon have both,
suggests that these widely varying figures, in the absence of thanks to another energetic entrepreneur named Jerry Iger.
 II

Of Musketeers and Mohicans:

The Jacquet Shop
W hen detractors in the comics field speak disparagingly
of Classics Illustrated, what they generally have in mind
are the earliest issues. Perhaps the kindest thing that can be
lustrate Classics. Then, too, there was always the intrinsic appeal
of the stories and Albert Kanter’s dogged sense of what the
publication could become.
said of some of the artwork that appeared in Classic Comics be-
tween 1941 and 1944 is that it aspired to mediocrity. A few of
the cartoonists who illustrated the first issues produced work MALCOLM KILDALE
that was considered inferior even under the minimal standards
of the developing comics industry. Malcolm Kildale (d. 1971) of the Jacquet shop adapted
A probable reason was the low pay artists and inkers re- and illustrated issue No. 1, The Three Musketeers (October 1941),
ceived. Lloyd Jacquet, whose Funnies, Inc., shop had packaged and was listed as art director and editor through issue No. 2,
the original Marvel Comics in 1939, apparently contracted with Ivanhoe, for which he drew the cover. In the view of comics
Kanter to launch Classic Comics but supplied only his second- historian Hames Ware, “Kildale probably would be one of your
string artists, presumably because of the fledgling publisher’s last choices you’d make to start off a new line of comics.”5 His
inability to pay premium rates for the first few titles.1 The sit- work, though filled with verve and rather engaging, often
uation evidently had improved by the fifth issue, when free- lacked polish.
lancer Louis Zansky arrived. His widow recalls that her hus- Kildale was a veteran of the earliest years of comic books.
band, who came from an impoverished Bronx background, By the time he came to Classic Comics by way of Funnies, Inc.,
considered Gilberton’s payment of between $400 and $600 he had introduced “Captain Fearless” in the first issue of Lev
per 64- or 56-page book more than adequate.2 In any case, an Gleason’s Silver Streak Comics (1939) and had produced
artist, whether working independently or through a shop, artwork for Harvey’s short-lived Spitfire Comics (1941).
would naturally have been tempted to rush through one project For The Three Musketeers, Kildale not only supplied the
in order to get to another. illustrations, but he also provided the faithful adaptation. Here
Comics art historian Hames Ware has pointed out that, and there in the interior art, barren backgrounds and wooden
in the infancy of comic books, nearly everyone working seemed figures offer evidence of fast work for low pay. Ware has spotted
to be either youngsters developing their stylistic identities or the styles of other illustrators, including Jacquet stalwart and
old timers finishing out their careers in a new medium.3 (The Wow Comics artist Ken Battefield, in various panels. “The final
more lucrative comic strips, on the other hand, were almost product is erratic, a true shop job,” he observed, “with some-
uniformly the work of veteran cartoonists.4) The groundbreak- body doing the backgrounds and somebody else doing the ink-
ing group of Classic Comics artists conformed to the established ing and lettering.”6 Kildale, however, produced the vast bulk
pattern, and the unevenness of the product may have resulted of the character drawings.
from this inexperience or exhaustion. What he may have lacked in refined technique, Kildale
Yet as bad as some of the early work was, it was really not more than made up for in visual narrative energy. The line-
much worse — and in some instances was actually better — drawing cover and the pages leading up to and containing the
than the now celebrated kitsch produced by other “Golden initial swordplay are filled with a jaunty period swagger. Some
Age” artists. Not everyone employed elsewhere was a Reed of the artist’s connecting panels, such as those depicting M. de
Crandall or a Jack Kirby, both of whom would eventually il- Tréville’s major domo and Madame Bonacieux, are quite strik-

17
18 CLASSICS Illustrated

ing. Kildale created distinctive physical presences for the story’s If the Musketeers artwork was uneven, the adaptation was
Gascon protagonist and each member of the title trio, striking faithful, down to the name of the street on which d’Artagnan
a balance between the iconic and the strictly representational. confronts the Duke of Buckingham. Some of the original’s
D’Artagnan is an unqualified success, animated with the naive, verve was retained in the dialogue, and neither scriptwriter nor
boisterous charm of Dumas’s most appealing character. artist flinched in representing the troubling moral ambiguity
of Milady’s extralegal behead-
ing near the end of the story.
Kildale’s stark image of the ex-
ecutioner raising his sword
above the kneeling villainess,
her exposed neck and dangl-
ing hair eliciting the viewer’s
pity, is one of the most memo-
rable panels in the book. The
reader was allowed to identify
with the mixed emotions of
d’Artagnan (“Oh! I cannot be-
hold this frightful spectacle! I
cannot consent that a woman
should die thus!”) as he wit-
nesses summary justice done
to the woman who has mur-
dered his beloved Constance.
Albert Kanter had shown
that a comic-book version of a
classic tale could capture some-
thing of the spirit—and a hint
of the depth — of the original.

EDD ASHE AND

OTHERS

The second Classic Com-

ics title, Ivanhoe (December
1941), was a spirited but dis-
appointing performance. Gil-
ber ton art director Malcolm
Kildale supplied the cover,
which was based on his design
for the first Classic Comics is-
sue. Edd Ashe, one of the bet-
ter artists in the Jacquet shop,
is generally credited with the
artwork, although in a 1972
letter to Raymond S. True, a
Classics Illustrated dealer and
the founding editor of the
Malcolm Kildale, The Three Musketeers (October 1941, July 1944 recolored reprint). Milady’s Classics Collectors Club News-
execution. This scene was played “offstage” in the 1959 revision. letter, the artist recalled that
 II. OF MUSKETEERS AND MOHICANS 19

“perhaps I only did a part of it” and that “the pay was lousey thralling Alexandre Dumas revenge melodrama featured some
[sic].”7 A page-by-page analysis by comics art expert Hames of the weakest illustrations published under the Classic Comics
Ware has confirmed that Ashe was responsible for a relatively banner. To compound matters, the uncredited scriptwriter sac-
small number of panels. Some of the work, including the im- rificed coherence by squeezing too many subplots into 62
pressive title-page splash depicting a castle, was done by Ray pages.
Ramsey.8 Apart from a perversely naive charm hovering between
As in the The Three Muske-
teers, minimal backgrounds pre-
dominated. A heavy emphasis on
brush rather than pen inks gave
the issue a distinctive look. While
the jousting panels and battle
scenes had a certain vitality, one
need only compare any episode
with its counterpart in Norman
Nodel’s 1957 revision to under-
stand why the 1941 edition was re-
placed. In other respects, the gen-
erally faithful script occasionally
lacked continuity, and the three
Norman villains never achieved
individual identities, perhaps be-
cause they were drawn by dif-
ferent hands at different times.
Years later, Ashe contributed
some outstanding pages to var-
ious titles in the Gilberton sub-
sidiary series The World Around Us
and Classics Illustrated Special Is-
sues, including The Crusades, No.
W16 (December 1959); American
Presidents, No. W21 (May 1960);
and The War Between the States,
No. 162A ( June 1961). By then,
the artist had arrived at a richer,
more complex style. In particular,
he captured human figures and
animals in motion especially well
in the “Holy Lance” chapter of
The Crusades and the “Chatta-
nooga” section of The War Be-
tween the States.

RAY RAMSEY
If the first two issues had
their share of redeeming qualities,
the third, The Count of Monte
Cristo (March 1942), had almost
none. The adaptation of the en- Edd Ashe, Ivanhoe (November 1941). The hero’s identity revealed.
20 CLASSICS Illustrated

has conclusively demonstrated

in comparisons with panels from
the artist’s Last of the Mohicans.9
The hand of Allen Simon is also
evident, along, to an even greater
extent, with that of Vivian Lip-
man (Berg), who subsequently
illustrated Longfellow’s “Chil-
dren’s Hour” as a filler item for
Classic Comics No. 15. (Years
later, Lipman recalled having
worked on a full-scale Gilber-
ton project in 1942.)10
It is likely that Ramsey, a
veteran of Funnies, Inc., ini-
tially received the assignment;
hence his cover and the interior
drawings of the Count. Perhaps
because he was also scheduled to
illustrate the fourth issue, Jac-
quet—or Kanter—turned other
pages and characters over to
Simon and Lipman. The result-
ing assembly-line product fea-
tured an average of eight small,
mostly rectangular panels per
page, filled with crowded, un-
imaginative collections of stiffly
posed characters. Even dramat-
ically effective scenes, such as
Dantès’s discovery of the hid-
den treasure or Villefort’s de-
scent into madness, were under-
cut by the woodenness of the
drawings.
The Last of the Mohicans,
No. 4 (August 1942), was the
last Jacquet job and the first not
to be parceled out among sev-
eral artists. The title belonged ex-
clusively to Ramsey, whose spe-
cialty was western art. Though
he was more at home with 19th-
century cowboys, he adapted
Ray Ramsey and others, The Count of Monte Cristo (March 1942). Great story, bad art. reasonably well to 18th-century
Indians and redcoats (though
kitsch and camp in the interior pages, the best thing about the he gave the French commander Montcalm an ahistorical mus-
book was Jacquet artist Ray Ramsey’s cover, based on a tache and goatee, perhaps assuming that he looked more Gallic
painting by Mead Schaeffer for a 1929 Dodd, Mead edition of with facial hair).
the novel. Ramsey drew the protagonist Edmond Dantès Cultural historians Martin Barker and Roger Sabin, in
throughout the issue, as former Classics Reader editor Bill Briggs their study The Lasting of the Mohicans: History of an American
 II. OF MUSKETEERS AND MOHICANS 21

Ramsey’s Mohicans is filled

with greater energy and fluidity of
movement than any of the preced-
ing titles. The final struggle be-
tween the nominal hero Uncas and
the evil Magua, depicted on one of
the most striking covers in the se-
ries, conveys the strengths of Ram-
sey’s interpretation. In keeping
with the rigid dualism of Cooper’s
novel, not to mention the lingering
attitudes in the 1940s toward “sav-
ages,” noble or otherwise, Uncas
and Magua are drawn as types
rather than individuals. Uncas em-
bodies a natural aristocratic grace
while Magua recalls Milton’s fallen
and degraded Satan.
After drawing Roy Rogers Com-
ics for Dell Publishing Company
for a number of years, Ramsey left
the comics field altogether but re-
turned to Gilberton in the late
1950s. He supplied illustrations for
sections of World Around Us issues
No. W6, The FBI (February 1959),
and No. W9, Army (May 1959). His
chapter “Manhunt!” for Classics Il-
lustrated Special Issue No. 150A,
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
( June 1959), was a striking perfor-
mance in which the artist em-
ployed different visual perspectives
and light-dark contrasts to heighten
the drama of a life-or-death strug-
gle between the Mounties and a
man they almost didn’t get.
By that point, Ramsey’s Mo-
hicans had vanished, like the tribe
in Cooper’s book, replaced by a
Ray Ramsey, The Last of the Mohicans (August 1942). Uncas and Magua locked in mortal
combat, with Hawkeye at the ready. handsome revision by John P. Sev-
erin and Stephen L. Addeo.
Myth, give Ramsey’s work two thumbs down, stating that it
“vies with the 1940 version in the comic White Rider and Super
Horse (whose artist wisely preferred anonymity) for sheer aw- ALLEN SIMON
fulness.”11 Certainly, Gilberton’s 1942 Mohicans had more than
its share of artistic flaws, as the publisher recognized, replacing Allen Simon penciled covers for Daring Comics and Sub-
it in 1959 with a newly adapted and illustrated edition. But, Mariner Comics, produced illustrations for all four issues of
in terms of the halting development during the not-quite- EC’s Picture Stories from American History, and contributed to
toddler stage of Classic Comics, issue No. 4 was the equivalent Classic Comics No. 3, The Count of Monte Cristo. Depending
of a tentative step forward. on one’s point of view, he is either the purest hack or the most
Allen Simon, Westward Ho! (September 1943). The influence of Lynd Ward is evident as the hero, Amyas Leigh, loses his sight to
regain his vision.
 II. OF MUSKETEERS AND MOHICANS 23

Left: Allen Simon, The Corsican Brothers (1944), unpublished original cover art. This suppressed cover was deemed too grotesque
by the publisher (collection of Ron Prager). Right: Allen Simon, The Corsican Brothers (June 1944). The toned-down take on the
duo.

inspired genius among all the Classic Comics illustrators. For back of Notre Dame (No. 18, March 1944). But the adaptation
sheer novelty in rendering the human form, he couldn’t be by Evelyn Goodman, a great believer in textual liberty, owed
topped. Simon’s characters seem to have stepped out of 17th- more to the 1939 film starring Charles Laughton than to Victor
century broadsheets or chapbooks and are either outrageously Hugo’s novel and anticipated the 1996 Walt Disney cartoon
wooden or impossibly elastic. Still, in his contorted, outlandish in its more-or-less happy ending with brave Captain Phoebus
figures, the artist created a self-contained world that offered securing Esmeralda’s pardon and uniting with her in antici-
its own skewed visual charm. pated marital bliss.
Simon’s first complete work as a freelancer for Gilberton, “Esmeralda! My lovely Esmeralda!” the young hero ex-
an adaptation of Charles Kingsley’s Elizabethan adventure claims in a heart-shaped panel. “Come, Djali!” says Gringoire
Westward Ho!, No. 14 (September 1943), was also his best. Pan- the poet to Esmeralda’s goat in his best 1940s end-of-movie
els were inventively shaped (a spyglass motif figured promi- manner. “Don’t you see they want to be alone?” Quasimodo,
nently), illustrations were well composed, and point-of-view meanwhile, dies dramatically in the Classic Comics version,
followed narrative flow. The strongest panel, depicting the rather than forlornly, as in the novel and the 1961 revised
blinding of the protagonist, Amyas Leigh, suggested the Classics Illustrated edition. Pierced by a soldier’s dagger, he falls
woodcut-style influence of Rockwell Kent or Lynd Ward. For from the tower and “plunges to the pavement below,” while his
the period in which it was published, Dan Kushner’s adap- beloved bells are heard “ringing by themselves.”
tation was unusually faithful to the original. Simon’s natural bent was toward the grotesque, and his
The same could not be said for Simon’s next credit. The rather anarchic impulses subvert the sentimental tendencies
future EC artist found a truly congenial subject in The Hunch- of Goodman’s script. His line-drawing cover — the campiest
24 CLASSICS Illustrated

the wooden boot. Simon includes

nightmarish creatures in two pan-
els to underscore the horrors the
gypsy girl is enduring.
He clearly relished the Feast of
Fools scenes, which included some
wartime satire, with Adolf Hitler
making a cameo appearance as one
of the contestants mugging for the
title of Fools’ Pope. The Führer sur-
faces later in the guise of a mean-
spirited magistrate who sentences
Quasimodo to the pillory. The plight
of the poet Gringoire, who is saved
from hanging in the Court of Mira-
cles by Esmeralda, is another comical
high point in a largely successful
issue.
Simon also did well with The
Corsican Brothers, No. 20 ( June
1944), a melodramatic novel by
Alexandre Dumas about telepathic
twins whose linked destinies con-
verge fatefully. The original cover
design, which featured a skeletal
creature threatening the heroes, was
withdrawn before publication, and
a more restrained line drawing
showing the pair on horseback was
substituted. Simon’s interior art-
work was on the whole more con-
trolled — and much less fun — than
hisp roto-punk Hunchback style.
As in Westward Ho!, the wood-
cut influence of Rockwell Kent and
Lynd Ward is evident in The Cor-
sican Brothers. For example, Julien’s
reaction to the physical pain that
informs him of his brother’s death
in the panel immediately following
the climactic duel sequence is clearly
an act of homage in its elemental
simplicity and emotional intensity.
Despite the relative popularity of
Allen Simon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (March 1944). A campy Quasimodo, who was
nonetheless a source of nightmares. the title, which went through seven
printings by 1952, the title was discon-
in the series — shows an outsized Quasimodo wreaking havoc tinued in 1954 and was never revised or reissued in the U.S.
among soldiers attacking the Cathedral. This over-the-top series.
style is maintained in the action sequence depicting “The A short piece, The Flayed Hand, attributed to Guy de
Battle at Notre Dame.” The artist appears to have approached Maupassant and included in 3 Famous Mysteries, No. 21 ( July
with some relish the scene in which Esmeralda is tortured with 1944), gave the artist scope to indulge his affinity for bizarre
 II. OF MUSKETEERS AND MOHICANS 25

characters and situations. The Flayed Hand was a

ghoulish tale about the vengeful severed hand of a
homicidal madman. Simon’s splash page for the story
points the way toward the horror comics of the late
1940s and early 1950s, while the script by Evelyn
Goodman features such improvements on Maupas-
sant as “Die! All my enemies die! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Si-
mon’s rendering of the villain, Henry Matson, is a
study in overstatement; the artist gives him a sharp
nose, sharper teeth, and a bloody ax. More than any-
thing Gilberton had published before, The Flayed
Hand simultaneously tested the middlebrow bound-
aries of what could be considered a “classic” and
affirmed the lowbrow status of a series that, after all,
included “comics” in its name.

Allen Simon, “The Flayed Hand” in 3 Famous Mys-

teries (July 1944). Classic Comics pushes the “horror”
envelope.
 III

Louis Zansky: The Painter’s Touch

D uring the publication’s first four years, no artist left a
greater imprint on Classic Comics than an irrepressible
red-haired New Yorker named Louis Zansky (1921–1978). Re-
The Great Depression had an impact on the artist’s de-
velopment. From his preadolescent years, young Louis drew—
“sometimes,” Mrs. Zansky related, “on smoothed-out paper
called by his wife Jeanette as a natural charmer with an grocery bags when there were no coins with which to buy un-
“impish” personality, 1 the young artist infused each of his lined white paper”— and experimented “with water coloring
Gilberton books with his own exuberance. To turn to Zansky’s and painting when oils were available.”2 Attending DeWitt
first title, Moby Dick, No. 5 (September 1942), from the oc- Clinton High School in the Bronx, the aspiring artist produced
casionally leaden Jacquet issues that preceded it is to experience black-and-white illustrations for The Magpie, the students’
a refreshing expansiveness in the looser, flowing lines and the literary-art magazine, to which schoolmate and future screen-
economical character studies. writer Paddy Chayefsky also contributed.3

Louis Zansky (early 1940s). The Classic Comics art director at his drawing table (courtesy Jeanette Zansky).

26
 III. LOUIS ZANSKY 27

Louis Zansky in Austria, ¡946 (courtesy Jeanette Zansky).

After school, Zansky, who couldn’t afford the five-cent munity. Albert Kanter was paying between $400 and $600
subway fare, walked for miles to attend the Art Students League per book, a substantial if not extravagant sum.5 Thus, in 1942,
(where he was deeply influenced by teacher John Corbino), Zansky began working for Gilberton, where, according to a
the National Academy, and Cooper Union. Upon graduation, 1976 autobiographical statement, he became art director.6 He
he was awarded a full scholarship to New York University’s was only 23 when he submitted his last pages to Classic Comics
School of Art and Architecture but was unable to accept be- in 1944.
cause, said Mrs. Zansky, “he had to bring in money to the Before Zansky’s departure, however, he left his mark on
household. Which brought him to Classic Comics.”4 the Gilberton organization in an altogether different fashion.
Golden Age publishers offered a decent, steady, if not As Mrs. Zansky recounts the tale: “Lou had again been paid
spectacular, income for New York’s overpopulated art com- with a check which bounced. He fumed throughout the
28 CLASSICS Illustrated

was almost unheard of. Lou’s response:

‘I went in, grabbed his collar, shoved
him to the window, and threatened to
throw him out. But — it won’t work un-
less, one, you’re mad enough to say it,
and, two, you’re bigger than he is.’ Ob-
viously, Lou Zansky was both.”7
The artist entered the army in March
1944. Even then, however, he could not
leave Classic Comics behind. His best
friend, etcher Jack Bilander, was serving
at the time in North Africa. He reported
that one day, while driving a Jeep along
a dusty road, he noticed an Arab in the
distance, sitting by the side of the road.
The man was reading a magazine that
somehow looked familiar. As the Jeep
moved closer, Bilander could make out
the English words on the cover —Classic
Comics Presents Moby Dick— Zansky’s
first Gilberton title. He knew that, by
some measure at least, his friend had ar-
rived.8
After the war and a stint as an art
instructor for the United States Infor-
mation Service in Vienna, Zansky re-
turned to New York and continued to
freelance as a comic-book artist, tackling
a Western hero, the “Cross-Draw Kid,”
for Ace and using his wife as a model for
a Fox cover that was “banned in Boston.”9
But, although he never disavowed his
comics work, his artistic fulfillment lay
elsewhere, and he continued with his
work in watercolor, oils, and acrylics. By
the 1960s, Zansky had created an impre-
ssive body of work as an award-winning
painter and watercolorist, retaining the
playful quality of his earlier figurative
Louis Zansky, Moby Dick (September 1942). The White Whale takes Captain Ahab for
efforts and exploring new, more abstract
a ride. treatments of color and space.
Always a superb visual storyteller
subway ride from the Bronx to the publisher’s Manhattan in his Gilberton titles, he never lost the narrative impulse or
office. He rushed in past the other bilked artists patiently wait- his love for literary and historical themes. Mrs. Zansky noted
ing in the ante-room, past the receptionist’s vain attempt to that her husband returned to Don Quixote and Huckleberry
stop him, through [the business manager’s] office door—which Finn, two of his favorite Classic Comics subjects, in later years.
he theatrically slammed behind him. He emerged within min- A painting with a Revolutionary War theme, And Called It
utes, waving real money. The artists and writers crowded Macaroni — II, was accepted by the White House in 1976 for
around him, wanting to know the secret of his success, which the Bicentennial collection, and the artist proudly posed for a

Opposite: Louis Zansky, Robin Hood (December 1942). Robin makes the acquaintance of Little John.
 III. LOUIS ZANSKY 31

photograph on the occasion of its presen-

tation in Washington, D.C. Two years later,
at the peak of his professional achievement,
Louis Zansky died of a heart attack. Mrs.
Zansky recalled her husband’s pleasure in
spotting in House Calls, the last film they
saw together, several of his paintings on the
set.10
As a Classic Comics illustrator, Zansky
generally gave his panels an open, spacious
look, emphasizing the characters at the ex-
pense of the backgrounds. In his first three
assignments —Moby Dick, No. 5 (Septem-
ber 1942); Robin Hood, No. 7 (December
1942); Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, No.
33 (completed in 1943; issued in January
1947)— the artist worked with inker Fred
Eng. Mrs. Zansky remembers him as a fi-
nancially harried man with a large family
who “came to Lou in desperation a couple
of times for inking and lettering work.”11
Such a division of labor inevitably resulted
in lower fees for the artist, but Zansky was
always willing to help his friend. The col-
laborative efforts produced a lighter line
than the nascent painter would employ in
his later Gilberton projects.
Moby Dick was Zansky’s favorite Clas-
sic, and he provided not only the illustra-
tions but also, according to his widow, the
adaptation of Melville’s masterpiece. The
artist was assisted by the then-unknown
Harvey Kurtzman, who was hired to “fill
in the blacks” and thus streamline the pro-
cess. Although Zansky’s abridgment was
cast in the third person and paraphrased
much of the dialogue and narration (“Call
me Ishmael” becomes “Out of the bleak
December dusk, walks the lone figure of
Ishmael, looking for a night’s lodging...”),
it remained faithful to the spirit of the
Louis Zansky, Don Quixote (May 1943). The Man of La Mancha meets the windmills
novel. on one of the most distinctive Classic Comics covers.
The artist’s angular Ahab (derived
from illustrator Rockwell Kent) is a powerful conception, with ters devoted to the mechanics of whaling, the young artist sup-
his flashing eyes and thrusting jaw. A portrait of the captain, plied drawings and descriptions of right and sperm whales and
framed by a life preserver and linked to images of the Pequod a detailed side view of the sailing vessel, down to the “Booby
and the doomed ship’s route, telegraphs the essence of his char- Hatch” and the “Blubber Room.”
acter and obsession. In a kind of visual counterpart to the chap- What is evident in Moby Dick, and elsewhere in Zansky’s

Opposite: Louis Zansky, The Hound of the Baskervilles in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1943/January 1947). The plot
thickens.
32 CLASSICS Illustrated

The next project, Robin Hood, under

the auspices of art director Gail Hillson, fea-
tured a surprisingly text-heavy script by Eve-
lyn Goodman (who, contrary to later spec-
ulation on the part of some Classics collectors,
was not Zansky’s wife). In her adaptations,
Goodman never let source material stand in
the way of her concept of a story, and her
treatment of Robin Hood borrowed several plot
components from the 1938 Warner Brothers
film, interpolated a jousting scene from Ivan-
hoe, and, on the whole, emphasized the hu-
morous elements of the outlaw’s legend. The
scriptwriter evidently decided that Maid
Marian would slow down the action, so the
outlaw’s love interest had to wait until the
1957 Classics Illustrated revision for her Gil-
berton debut.
Zansky obviously enjoyed himself with
Robin Hood, creating an eccentric cast of
Merry Men and a comically unhinged-
looking Prince John. Despite the broad cul-
tural impact of Errol Flynn’s recent portrayal
of the hero, the artist made an effort to give
the title character his own identity, shorten-
ing his hair and trimming his Van Dyke
goatee back to a simple sliver beneath the
lower lip. Zansky’s best panels show Robin
in action, trading blows with Little John,
crossing swords with Friar Tuck, and draw -
ing his bow on the villains. His cover, fea-
turing Robin in profile, sounding his horn
to rally the Merry Men in their battle against
the forces of tyranny, undoubtedly had a cer-
tain wartime resonance. A wrap-around
cover that Zansky designed for a Saks Christ-
mas 1942 giveaway is now among the rarest
and most prized of Classics collectibles.
Louis Zansky, The Deerslayer (January 1944). Natty Bumppo explains his point
of view. Another rarity is the displaced Adven-
tures of Sherlock Holmes issue — scheduled as
work for Gilberton, is the artist’s keen awareness of his No. 9 and released as No. 33 — in which Gilberton paired A
medium. He was not striving to produce a reverent tribute to Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur
the genius of Herman Melville; instead, he was attempting to Conan Doyle. The former mystery, a 17-page adaptation, was
engage young readers in a medium that had its own the weaker script of the two (the resolution of the story was
conventions and resources — and he succeeded handsomely. packed into a 26-line speech balloon in the final panel) and
Yet the artist’s occasionally cartoonish style seemed here and was dropped when the issue was reduced to 48 pages in 1948;
there at odds with the tragic dimensions of Melville’s story. it was reintroduced in 1953 as the lead story in Classics
Nevertheless, when Acclaim Books began reissuing Classics Il- Illustrated No. 110, with artwork by Seymour Moskowitz.
lustrated in 1997, editor Madeleine Robins chose Zansky’s spir- Zansky’s Holmes is all angularity and coiled energy. The
ited Moby Dick for inclusion in the new line rather than its familiar deerstalker cap makes its appearance, and the artist’s
1956 replacement. leaner-than-usual rendering of the character is iconic in its
 III. LOUIS ZANSKY 33

own right. Watson stands independ-

ently, an intelligent companion rather
than mere comic foil. As he would later
in another Sherlock Holmes mystery,
The Sign of the Four in 3 Famous Mys-
teries, No. 21 (July 1944), the artist em-
ployed shading and shadows to good
effect.
The Sign of the Four, though
drawn after The Hound of the Bask-
ervilles and A Study in Scarlet, marked
Sherlock Holmes’s debut in the comic-
book medium.12 Despite its heavier,
brushed inking style, it has a lighter,
jauntier air than its predecessors,
thanks to the comic interplay between
Holmes and Watson, who is smitten
with a young female client.
Zansky’s most delightful work,
for which his whimsical style was per-
fectly suited, was Samuel H. Abram-
son’s adaptation of Miguel de Cer-
vantes’s Don Quixote. The affection the
artist felt for the hapless, idealistic
knight and his faithful, commonsensi-
cal squire is evident, and the pair’s ex-
changes build character and set the
tone of the comic book. Each panel ex-
hibits a swift, impressionistic touch,
and Zansky excels in such comic se-
quences as the knighting at the inn, the
battle with the windmills, the freeing
of the convicts, and the routing of the
barber. The striking line-drawing cover,
with its large title and series banners
above the visualization of the giant Don
Quixote sees, is one of the early Classic
Comics triumphs. Why it disappeared
from print after 1946 remains a Gilber-
ton mystery.
Two of the artist’s finest Gilberton
titles, in which his distinctive brush-
work is pronounced, are a pair from Louis Zansky, Huckleberry Finn (April 1944). Huck lights out for the territory.
James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leather-
stocking” series, The Deerslayer, No. 17 ( January 1944), and canoe episodes in The Pathfinder are notable for their animated
The Pathfinder, No. 22 (October 1944). Both remained in print movement.
until the demise of the American series in 1971. In the two Mark Twain’s masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn, No. 19 (April
books, the central figure of Natty Bumppo is presented as the 1944), occasioned some of the artist’s liveliest efforts. Huck
embodiment of the frontier myth, and the two covers Zansky himself is part Mickey Rooney and part Lou Zansky, an un-
designed amount to a kind of pop-culture apotheosis of the repentant scamp with sound instincts. Nowhere in his Classic
self-reliant, trailblazing frontiersman. The illustrations in the Comics illustrations did the artist come closer to rendering a
34 CLASSICS Illustrated

up of the hero, captures the essence of Zan-

sky’s self-assured, mischievous spirit. Al-
though the dramatic cover illustration of
men firing on Huck and Jim had nothing
whatever to do with the novel, Evelyn
Goodman’s script was better than usual, and
the artist obviously relished the project.
The Classic Comics titles Zansky illus-
trated helped to establish a visual identity
for the series. Had he not entered the service
he might have become as dominant a force
at Gilberton as Henry C. Kiefer or Alex A.
Blum would become in the late 1940s. But
Zansky gave what he could, always in full
measure. With a war beckoning overseas,
the artist was just beginning to find his style,
experimenting on his own with the liberal
inking of Classic Comics boards. His widow
recalled her husband working “with the tip
of his brush in his mouth as he inked, poi-
13
Louis Zansky, “Dancer #9,” 36 in. ¥ 48 in. (1974). Winner of the Paul Puzinas soning himself without knowing it.” The
Memorial Award, Allied Artists of America, National Academy, this painting displays freely brushed lines were the work of an
the characteristic feather-touch of Zansky’s later style (courtesy Jeanette Zansky). artist who was ready to move beyond the
strictly representational limitations of the
self-portrait. A sequence of panels depicting Huck concocting comics formula of the time. And move Lou Zansky did, with
his plan to escape from his father’s cabin, with its circular close- the energy that filled every aspect of his life.
 IV

Eccentricity Abounding:
The War Years
T he year 1942 brought stimulating change to Classic Comics:
the arrival of Louis Zansky, the move to new quarters at
510 Sixth Avenue, and the adoption of the Gilberton Company
cations similar in type and quality to CLASSIC COMICS. ...
There are now 19 titles available, with plans for about 180
more.”6 Things were decidedly looking up.
name. Albert L. Kanter, under the pseudonym Albert W. Ray-
mond (a combination of the co-owners’ first names), served as
editor and briefly as art director. He was assisted by family STANLEY MAXWELL ZUCKERBERG
member and future editor Meyer A. Kaplan, a New York Uni-
versity graduate with a literature background.1 Gail Hillson acted Born on 13 September 1919, native New Yorker Stanley
as art director for a single issue, No. 7, Robin Hood (December Maxwell Zuckerberg spent his formative years at Long Beach,
1942), and became managing editor for issues 8 through 17 be- Long Island, a setting that would have a profound impact on
tween February 1943 and January 1944.2 During this period, his later work. Zuckerberg, a high-school friend of Hal Kanter,
Louis Zansky assumed the duties of art director, and Evelyn studied at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students League of
Goodman and other scriptwriters produced a string of loose New York. His teachers included anatomy specialist George
adaptations that tarnished the reputation of the series in some Bridgman and magazine illustrator Norman Rockwell; he was
quarters for decades to come. But the insistent individuality— deeply influenced by the realism they championed. In the 1930s,
indeed, the exuberant eccentricity — of the artists employed while a student at Pratt, Zuckerberg met fellow artist Lillian
during the war years often triumphed over the less-than- Chestney (see below), whom he married on 22 June 1941. Dur-
faithfuls cripts. ing World War II, he served in the 58th Bombardment Wing
In May 1944, Publishers’ Distributor, a trade paper aimed of the XXI Bomber Command. Ahead of him lay a fulfilling
at wholesalers of the Publishers Distributing Corporation career as a prizewinning painter of marine life.
(P.D.C.), which handled the Classic Comics account, featured Before entering the armed forces, Zuckerberg worked as
one of the earliest articles on the series. The piece provided the a freelance artist in New York, where he picked up two Classic
following listing of Gilberton business staff members: Harry Comics titles.7 The first, A Tale of Two Cities, No. 6 (October
M. Adler, managing editor; Harry H. Hyman, sales manager; 1942), already had a significant strike against it in the form of
Annette Pozner, office manager; S.R. Lee, circulation manager; a howler of a script by Evelyn Goodman, who must have
and S.S. Copeland, publicity and public relations.3 Emphasis carried a high-school grudge against Charles Dickens. Few
was given to the role that P.D.C. wholesalers played “in estab- traces of the author’s language can be detected, while several
lishing this unique publication.”4 pages consist of material not found in the novel. Speech bal-
The article noted that “CLASSIC COMICS is becoming loons are filled with such dialogue as, “That head’s a tough
an institution. It is not only sold on newsstands but is used one to get off!” In a supreme moment of anticlimax, the exe-
extensively in schools as supplementary aid in English classes. cutioner says, immediately after Sydney Carton’s abridged “far,
It is particularly helpful to the backward student.”5 Looking far better” speech: “Put your head on the block, Evremonde!”
to the publication’s future, the uncredited writer (who may A priest stands by in the unlikely, ahistorical role of French
well have been Kanter himself ) stated “When the war is over Revolutionary minister to the condemned. A final panel adds
and paper is available, CLASSIC COMICS will be published an invented moment of bathos as the safely delivered Darnays
in four foreign languages. There will be five other new publi- laud Carton’s sacrifice. The 1956 Classics Illustrated revision,

35
Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg, A Tale of Two Cities (October 1942). Sydney Carton comes to a far, far worse end in the adaptation
by Evelyn Goodman, who didn’t know when to stop. Compare with Joe Orlando’s treatment, page 169.
 IV. ECCENTRICITY ABOUNDING 37

adapted by Annette T. Rubinstein with art by Joe Orlando, Nabokov, Irving Stone, and Norman Mailer. But his finest
restored the actual Dickensian ending. work, reflecting his lifelong love of the sea, was found in his
Zuckerberg, who used the name Stanley Maxwell for his tranquil waterfront studies of familiar sites in New England,
Classics pieces, aggravated matters with his studied indifference Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.8 Zuckerberg died in 1995.
to historical detail. (At this stage in Gilberton’s history, artists
were expected to do their own period research.) The principal
male characters, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, are LILLIAN CHESTNEY ZUCKERBERG
coiffed and clad as Regency dandies, while Mr. Lorry is cos-
tumed as a mid–Victorian swell. Lucie Manette fares better, Although the talents of Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg were
actually landing in the 18th century, though in costumes a perhaps not so well suited to the comics medium, his wife,
mere four or five decades out of date; by the
final panel (the interpolated post-execution
scene), she seems to have added an 1840s-
style dress to her wardrobe.
The painter was already evident in the
panels Zuckerberg sketched for A Tale of Two
Cities. His style was elliptical, to say the
least: backgrounds are often nonexistent and
merely suggested by the colorist. Human
figures occasionally begin to vanish toward
the bottoms of panels, giving the reader the
impression of torsos floating in air. Even the
guillotine partially disappears under the
priest’s right elbow. Other illustrations, how-
ever, such as a full-page depiction of the at-
tack on the Bastille, gave a more favorable
indication of the artist’s abilities.
Robinson Crusoe, No. 10 (April 1943),
showed some improvement for comic-book
purposes; there, Zuckerberg actually finished
his panels, not only drawing complete, if still
sketchy, bodies in all but two instances, but
also filling in the backgrounds more often
than not. Anachronisms still surfaced,
though not as frequently as in A Tale of Two
Cities. A 17th-century sailor is given a 19th-
century cap with bill, and Robinson Crusoe
fires a six-shooter. The “savages,” who are
accorded great prominence, seem to be de-
rived from 1930s Tarzan films rather than
from the pages of Daniel Defoe, whose work
more or less served as the source for this pop-
ular Classic. A better-illustrated 1957 revi-
sion, narrated in the manner of the novel in
the first person, was much closer to the
mark.
After the war, Zuckerberg continued
in the vein of book illustration, moving away
from comics to cover art for such authors as
John Dos Passos, Somerset Maugham, Sin- Lillian Chestney Zuckerberg, Arabian Nights (February 1943). Note the ornate
clair Lewis, James Michener, Vladimir panel borders.
38 CLASSICS Illustrated

balloons in her script, allowing greater scope for strictly illus-

trative art.
For Arabian Nights, Chestney designed the most unusual
cover in the history of the series. She placed the Classic Comics
logo, which had not yet achieved the instantly recognizable
yellow-banner form, in an ornamented black oval. A bare-
chested jinn looms over two smaller figures, wearing an ex-
tremely low-cut loincloth. Generations of readers and col-
lectors have debated whether Chestney or inker Fred Eng had
meant to suggest a shadow beneath the navel or pubic hair.
The Gilberton editorial staff had its own ideas, and the black
blotch disappeared from the cover when the book was reprinted
in 1944.
In the view of comics historian Hames Ware, “It was re-
freshing to have a woman render the narrative of Scheher-
azade.”10 The illustrations for Arabian Nights display a charm-
ingly naive quality that is augmented by assorted rococo
embellishments, such as embroidered panel borders, twinkling
stars, and bejewelled turbans. Perhaps the childlike mystique
was too precious for the boys who comprised so much of the

Lillian Chestney Zuckerberg, Arabian Nights (February 1943).

Lillian Chestney, born on 22 September 1913, carved a small

but memorable niche for herself at Gilberton. As a female car-
toonist in the 1940s, she was a rarity in the overwhelmingly
male-dominated world of shop production. Like her husband,
Chestney studied at the Pratt Institute, where the couple met,
and the Art Students League of New York. Both dropped the
name Zuckerberg in their work for Gilberton. Again like her
husband, Chestney illustrated two Classics titles, her only
signed comics efforts.9 The pair of works were equally charm-
ing in their mixture of realism and fantasy.
Chestney’s first freelance assignment was Arabian Nights,
No. 8 (February 1943). It was the first of many titles added to
the catalogue with an eye to capitalizing on a recently released
Hollywood B-movie of the same name, which had next to
nothing to do with the Thousand and One Nights. The Gil-
berton adaptation, a fine effort by Evelyn Goodman, featured
four tales: “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”; “The Story of the
Magic Horse”; “The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor”; “Aladdin Lillian Chestney Zuckerberg, Gulliver’s Travels (December 1943).
and His Magic Lamp.” Goodman made minimal use of speech Gulliver wins the war for Lilliput.
 IV. ECCENTRICITY ABOUNDING 39

readership; at any rate, Chestney’s Arabian Nights was last reis- ROLLAND H. LIVINGSTONE
sued in 1950, and a single-printing revision of the title, with
new art by Charles Berger, did not appear until 1961. One of the most interesting of the early Classics artists,
The second Chestney Classic, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Rolland H. Livingstone foreshadowed Henry C. Kiefer with
Travels, No. 16 (December 1943), features another collection his beguilingly antiquated style. Livingstone’s panels for Les
of beguiling drawings. However, adapter Dan Kushner, in lim- Miserables, No. 9 (March 1943), Rip Van Winkle and the Head-
iting the tale to the “Voyage to Lilliput” and allowing himself less Horseman, No. 12 ( June 1943), and Uncle Tom’s Cabin, No.
more than a few textual liberties, entirely missed the “savage 15 (November 1943), bore a greater resemblance to earlier styles
indignation” of Swift’s satire — there was no colloquy with the of book illustration, from elaborate to naive, than to mid-
King of Brobdingnag, no encounter with the Struldbrugs, no 20th-centuryc omic-bookd rawings.
discourses on truth and “the thing which
was not” by talking horses. But then, it is
difficult to imagine the fanciful Chestney
of the early 1940s decorating panels de-
voted to Houyhnhnms and Yahoos.
In 1954, Gulliver’s Travels was dropped
from the Classics Illustrated reorder list, per-
haps because the style and the focus on the
Lilliputians appealed less to the series’ older
readers. Almost two years later, a Dell
Junior Treasury edition of the “Voyage to
Lilliput” (January 1956) was published; the
script stuck much closer to the original than
Kushner’s Swiftian improvisations, while
the artwork by Alberto Giolitti aimed at
a more realistic representation. Gilberton
reissued No. 16 in 1960 with a new painted
cover by an unidentified artist in response
to the release that year of a film titled The
Three Worlds of Gulliver. Whatever reader
resistance the title had encountered in the
mid-1950s, it regained its position as one
of the most popular reprints.
Chestney spent only a couple of years
in the comics field. She turned to com-
mercial art and soon distinguished herself
with an award for Best Advertisement of
1948. Later, Chestney received honors as a
book and magazine illustrator, producing
an evocative painted cover for the Signet
Classic edition of Theodore Dreiser’s An
American Tragedy in 1964 and earning the
Citation for Merit from the Society for Il-
lustrators in 1961 and 1965.6 She and her
husband enjoyed their travels in New En-
gland and Nova Scotia; both drew on the
experiences for their paintings in later life
of harbor and shoreline scenes. Chestney
died on 6 August 2000. Her New York
Times obituary noted her work for Classic
Comics, singling out Gulliver’s Travels.11 Rolland H. Livingstone, Les Miserables (March 1943). Jean Valjean savors the sewers.
40 CLASSICS Illustrated

makes effective use of atmospheric line-

work to enhance the suspense of Jean
Valjean’s rooftop escape, the battle at the
barricade, and the flight through the sew-
ers.
Washington Irving’s Sketch-Book
tales provided Livingstone ample oppor-
tunity to exhibit his skills as a caricaturist
and his eye for period detail in the artist’s
most accomplished work for Gilberton.
The line-drawing cover for Rip Van Winkle
and the Headless Horseman shows in par-
ticular the influence of turn-of-the-century
illustrator Edmund Dulac. Rip Van Win-
kle’s encounter with Henry Hudson’s
crew, his return to the village and ensuing
confusion, Ichabod Crane’s efforts at
courtship, and his fateful meeting with
the Headless Horseman are all engaging
illustrations that successfully blend car-
toonish figures and realistic backgrounds.
The adaptations by Dan Levin are
typical of early Classic Comics retellings.
Though faithful to the spirit of Irving’s
sketches, they contain interpolated mate-
rial to which the author might have been
reluctant to sign his name. Where, for ex-
ample, Irving writes that Rip told the vil-
lage children “long stories of ghosts,
witches and Indians,”12 the scriptwriter ex-
pands the general statement to a two-page
account of single-handed combat with
and capture by “the redskins.” Levin also
adds a shot cow and a menacing boulder
to Rip’s adventures.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was seriously
marred by the racial stereotyping of the
period. Amazingly, given the changing
social and political currents between the
first printing in 1943 and the 19th in
1970, the book was neither discontinued
nor redrawn. It received a new painted
Rolland H. Livingstone, Rip Van Winkle and The Headless Horseman (June 1943/1946
reprint). A cover that looked back decades to Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham. cover in 1954, the year the United States
Supreme Court handed down Brown v.
The unpolished awkwardness that permeated the work Board of Education, and was the only title illustrated by Liv-
of so many other early Classics artists is particularly evident in ingstone to remain on the active list until the series shut down.
Les Miserables, where stiff-limbed figures and odd perspectives Uncle Tom’s Cabin was, in fact, one of the 12 best-selling Clas-
occasionally defeat the artist’s evident intentions. But Living- sics.13
stone is a natural visual storyteller, and his treatment of Victor A few efforts were made in the painted-cover reissue to
Hugo’s masterpiece, though technically surpassed by Norman tone down some of the more overtly racist depictions of black
Nodel’s 1961 revision, remains compelling. In particular, he characters. In a retouched panel showing the eye-popping,
 IV. ECCENTRICITY ABOUNDING 41

wide-mouthed Sambo and Quimbo

fleeing from sheet-draped figures,
the grotesquely enlarged eye and lip
sizes were reduced and quivering
speech balloons were eliminated. Yet
the offensive drawing remained, even
with its cosmetic enhancements, an
inexplicable lapse in editorial judg-
ment. A grave marker bearing the
name “Uncle Tom” also disappeared.
Otherwise, except for a more as-
sertive Tom on a second painted cover
in 1969, the artwork was never re-
vised, even after Livingstone’s better
efforts in Rip Van Winkle were axed.
If Topsy is a minstrel-show em-
barrassment (“I didn’ steal nuffin’, I
didn’”), Tom himself is allowed a
measure of dignity, though in a rather
patronizing sort of way (“My soul is
myself, so you can’t really harm me”).
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Hollis
Robbins, remarking on Tom’s drama-
tic rescue of Little Eva, have ob-
served that Livingstone’s “depiction
of a muscular and virile Uncle Tom
suggests his latent sexual prowess. He
could easily be a superhero dressed
incognito: Uncle Tom as Super
Tom.”14 Still, Livingstone’s drawing
of his death scene effectively neuters
the character and restores the “Uncle”
to Tom.
Eliza’s flight over the ice (im-
mortalized in The King and I) has a
certain stagy period appeal. The
episode has a kind of archetypal
quality and has been echoed by car-
toonists from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
time to the present.15 Livingstone is
perhaps at his best in this melodra-
matic scene. Little Eva’s deathbed
ascension is rendered with enough Rolland H. Livingstone, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (November 1943). Eliza makes her great escape,
sentimentality (“The ... angels ... are with a little help from a friend.
... coming ... for ... me”) to satisfy
the most maudlin Victorian tastes. The good white folks, the overseer inhabits the realm of camp and almost redeems this
Shelbys and the St. Clares, all but wear halos. Simon Legree, curious artifact, a work of overwrought illustration art that,
shown slavehunting on the original cover and in various states even when new, seemed to belong to another age — and that
of rage in the interior, exudes sheer malevolence with his flaring continues to send as many conflicting messages as the novel
nostrils, bared teeth, hairy arms, and raised fists. The big bad on which it was based.
 V

Arnold Lorne Hicks:

Transitional Figure
A rnold Lorne Hicks is a transitional figure in the
early history of Classic Illustrated. An older
artist, born on 24 April 1888, he was producing pulp
covers as early as 1920. Other works included ad-
vertising art for Monarch Coffee (1926) and illus-
trations for Esther Merriam Ames’s Twistum Tales
and Samuel Gabriel’s Book of Indians (both 1929).
Hicks was the only Iger Shop affiliate to provide art-
work for Gilberton before and after Jerry Iger as-
sumed artistic control in 1945. Although he began
with an uneven performance, in the end he produced
some of the strongest Classic Comics issues.
Hicks’s initial title for the series, Robert Louis
Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, No. 13 (August
1943), has considerable historical significance as the
first example of what would become a major genre—
horror comics.1 Unfortunately, despite its popular-
culture credentials, the issue was an overstated
clunker afflicted with the endemic crudeness of the
early issues. In Stevenson’s story, the doctor describes
the projection of the “evil side of my nature” as “so
much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry
Jekyll.”2 Elsewhere, Hyde is said to be “pale and
dwarfish,” giving “an impression of deformity with-
out any nameable malformation....”3 Nothing if not
obvious, Hicks’s stocky, “unbridled, monster-like”
Hyde came equipped with fangs, the better to scare
you with. The script, another Evelyn Goodman
atrocity, had even less to do with Stevenson’s study
of human duality than the Spencer Tracy movie of
that approximate vintage.
In fact, Goodman and Hicks both may have
called upon memories of the 1931 Rouben Mamou-
lian film or, more likely, the more recent 1941
Spencer Tracy vehicle to flesh out their conceptions Arnold L. Hicks, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (August 1943). Dr. Jekyll un-
of the tale. As in the movie versions, a love interest leashes Mr. Hyde.

42
 V. ARNOLD LORNE HICKS 43

unknown to Stevenson appears. Goodman begins the Classic faithful adaptation by Georgina Campbell, Oliver Twist rep-
Comic with a wholly invented party scene in which the fun- resented a decisive step forward for the series.
loving, debonair Jekyll (obviously no relation to his literary Campbell’s script emphasized the melodramatic aspects
progenitor) exclaims, “To life! To laughter! To a gay evening!” of Dickens’s novel, giving considerable prominence to the mur-
The adaptation ends with another example of the unintentional der of Nancy by Sikes and Sikes’s own hanging, accompanied
humor that Goodman excelled in providing. Commenting on by the death of his dog. Hicks rose to the macabre occasion,
his friend Jekyll’s fate, Dr. Lanyon sagely counsels, “[E]vil be- producing menacing, occasionally horrific panels that hear-
comes a habit-forming drug. My advice is stay away from that kened back to an earlier style of illustration. The artist’s de-
first taste!” Beneath the speech balloon, Hicks helpfully drew piction of Nancy’s bludgeoning still has a disturbing power,
a devil’s head and pitchfork. while his rendering of the haunting of Sikes by his own
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde proved problematic for Gilberton conjured image of Nancy is a memorable sequence.
as the company endeavored to distance itself from the perceived Fagin’s character has been problematic since the novel’s
excesses of the comics industry. In 1949, one year before publication. Frequently identified in the novel as “the Jew,”
William Gaines raised the bar for horror with the first issue of Fagin is an antisemitic stereotype. When the Classic Comics
The Haunt of Fear, Hicks’s original Classic Comics cover, which edition was published shortly after the end of the Second World
displayed a rampaging Hyde scattering panic-
stricken Londoners, was suppressed, and a tamer,
more respectable version drawn by Henry C. Kiefer
was substituted in the renamed Classics Illustrated
series (see page 93). By 1953, however, it was ob-
vious that the issue itself no longer had a place in
the series, and managing editor Meyer A. Kaplan
authorized a new adaptation, new interior art, and
a painted cover, which showed a contemplative, fang-
less Hyde rising from Jekyll’s green formula. A
victim of the mid-fifties anti-comics hysteria, No.
13 was withdrawn in November 1955; when it re-
turned to the reorder list in November 1959, it
quickly became one of Gilberton’s best-sellers.
A second pre–Iger piece, Edgar Allan Poe’s
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 3 Famous Mys-
teries, No. 21 ( July 1944), evidenced only modest
improvements on the part of both the artist and the
adapter. With its panels depicting a bright-red pool
of blood and a woman wedged upside down in a
chimney, the story appeared to be Gilberton’s rather
awkward attempt to capitalize on the popularity of
Lev Gleason’s sanguinary Crime Does Not Pay series.
The artist spoiled the resolution of the mystery by
filling the title-page splash with the looming shadow
of an ape.
Hicks truly came into his own when he re-
ceived the first assignment of the Iger era, Oliver
Twist , No. 23 ( July 1945). Only Henry C. Kiefer
equaled the artist among Classics illustrators in his
affinity for Dickens. Hicks’s drawings of Oliver, the
Artful Dodger, Fagin, Nancy, and Sikes catch some
of the robustness of George Cruikshank’s original
illustrations without imitating them. His line-
draw ing cover, which features a kaleidoscope of
characters, remains a striking conception. With its Arnold L. Hicks, Oliver Twist (July 1945). A Dickensian kaleidoscope.
44 CLASSICS Illustrated

Adam from Jules Verne’s novel (Albert Kanter’s

favorite), kept the action flowing from panel to
panel with cinematic momentum. A departure
from the author’s usual science-fiction fare, the
early espionage tale moves rapidly through the
hero’s dangerous mission to Siberia and his ef-
forts to foil the nefarious schemes of the wily
traitor Ivan Ogareff. The Classic Comics version
was an exciting union of pictures and words and
one of the most artistically successful issues in
the early Gilberton series, but the story’s violence
(stabbings, shootings, flogging, blinding) made
it a target of critics, and it appeared erratically
on the reorder lists until a painted-cover edition
was published in 1954. Even then, another six
years elapsed before Michael Strogoff was re-
printed, by which time the comics scare had sub-
sided.
The artist’s remaining four works for Gilber-
ton —The Prince and the Pauper, No. 29 ( July
1946), The Black Arrow, No. 31 (October 1946),
The Spy, No. 51 (August–September 1948), and
Silas Marner, No. 55 (January 1949)— were exe-
cuted as Hicks approached the age of sixty and
represented a return to the lighter-inked style of
Oliver Twist. Both The Spy and Silas Marner were
originally issued in longer Illustrated Classics
newspaper editions in 1947; they were reduced
to the standard 48-page format when subse-
quently published as comic books.
Mark Twain’s Tudor-era historical fantasy
of switched identities generated controversy with
its “horror” cover depicting the young prince in
the clutches of a mad hermit. The offending cover
was withdrawn after a single printing, but the
popular title earned 14 additional printings with
two replacement covers (in 1949 and 1955). Hicks
Arnold L. Hicks, Michael Strogoff (1946). Avenging his mother’s lashing, the
supplied some of his best period drawings for the
Courier of the Czar delivers “blow for blow.” interior of The Prince and the Pauper. His render-
ings of the interchangeable Prince Edward and
War in Europe and the discovery of the horrors of the con- Tom Canty were subtly different character studies of the effects
centration camps, care was taken not to emphasize Fagin’s eth- of privilege, poverty, and reversals of fortune. Hicks gave the
nicity in either the script or the illustrations. (The 1961 Classics heroic Miles Herndon an air of swashbuckling bravado through
Illustrated revision made no reference whatsoever to the matter economical pen strokes that added a jaunty mustache. Through-
and included a back-of-the-book article about Chaim Weiz- out the comic book, fluidity of movement marks each page.
mann, the first president of the State of Israel.) Hicks illustrated what both Jerry Iger and Albert Kanter
Hicks’s heavily inked, and at times brushed, Michael Stro- considered one of the finest of the earlier books in the series,
goff: A Courier of the Czar, No. 28 ( June 1946), adapted by Pat The Black Arrow.4 It was a skillful if occasionally loose adap-

Opposite: Arnold L. Hicks, The Black Arrow (October 1946). A page of original art, deleted from reprinted editions because of
the violence. Note the Iger Shop address in the upper left corner (collection of the author).
 V. ARNOLD LORNE HICKS 47

tation by Ruth A. Roche and Thomas T.

Scott of Robert Louis Stevenson’s exercise
in Lancastrian-Yorkist “tushery” (as RLS
termed the pseudo-medieval dialogue in-
vented for the novel). The details of cos-
tuming and backgrounds indicate that the
artist spent a respectable amount of time
in period research, with more than a
casual glance at N.C. Wyeth’s paintings
for the 1916 Scribner’s edition of the book.
Some coherence was lost when the book
was reduced to a 48-page format in 1948;
the moral ambiguities of the tale were
softened with the excision of pages de-
picting hero Dick Shelton killing a soldier
in the presence of his disguised compan-
ion and later, while cloaked as a monk,
stabbing and disposing of the body of an
enemy spy.
Most striking, however, are the em-
phatically individualized characters, from
the “crafty and ambitious nobleman,” Sir
Daniel Brackley, to the “best maid and
bravest under heaven,” Joan Sedley—the
latter being a rare achievement in 1940s
comic books, where women were most
often either sultry vixens or vapid ciphers.
Gestures, expressions, bearing, and move-
ment not only breathed life into the figures
but also served to drive the script, so that,
unlike some of the more static Classics in
the pre–Iger era, the illustrations carried
more than their share of the narrative bur-
den. The Black Arrow was worlds apart
from Hicks’s previous Stevensonian excur-
sion, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the
artist’s transformation seemed to symbol-
ize the new day at Gilberton.
For The Spy, James Fenimore Cooper’s
Revolutionary War tale of double agent
Harvey Birch, the artist produced a
thoughtful study of the complex central Arnold L. Hicks, Silas Marner (January 1949). Silas loses his gold, only to find his
character. One of the interesting aspects true treasure.
of The Spy was Hicks’s success in making
the actions of the titular hero, drawn as an older man, com- which it is drawn. The Cooper issue also featured the most
pelling to young readers. A page showing Birch’s infirm father overt adult nudity in the series, in the episode of Captain Law-
rising from his deathbed and terrifying the outlaw “Skinners” ton’s whipping of the “Skinners,” where bare-bottomed men
is an effective sequence that transcends the caricature style in were shown strung up by their wrists, receiving punishment.

Opposite: Arnold L. Hicks, The Spy (August-September 1948). Captain Lawton spanks the Skinners, and one of the Skinners
bites back.
48 CLASSICS Illustrated

It was indeed a different era — the illustration never attracted discoveries that his fortune has been stolen and that an un-
the attention of comics censors, presumably because the figures known child sleeps on his hearth are among his best efforts. A
in question were male, and the title never went out of print. sureness of purpose that informs the economy of linework
The Classics edition of Silas Marner, George Eliot’s story throughout the comic book makes Silas Marner an unjustly
of the redemption of a cataleptic miser by golden-haired neglected gem — much like the artist himself.
foundling Eppie, proved a perennial favorite with high-school Hicks went on to a rewarding career as a landscape
students whose efforts to dodge the original saw the abridgment painter. In 1960, he won first prize in the inaugural Winter
through 12 printings. Due to its ubiquity (one couldn’t avoid Park Art Festival in Winter Park, Florida. The artist sold four
it on spinner racks in the 1950s and 1960s), No. 55 was taken paintings at the festival and returned the $40 he earned to the
for granted and undervalued. But Hicks infused the arts organization, thus contributing to the perpetuation of the
relationship between the weaver and the little girl with a grace long-running event. He won another first-place award in 1961.
note of gentle sympathy, deeper than the comic books of the A resident of Deland, Florida, he continued painting until his
period demanded. The artist’s depictions of Marner’s parallel death at the age of eighty-two in November 1970.5
 C1

Top, left: Rolland H. Livingstone, Les Miserables (March 1943). Line-drawing cover. Top, right: Allen Simon, Westward Ho! (Sep-
tember 1943; June 1946 reprint). Line-drawing cover. Bottom, left: Louis Zansky, Huckleberry Finn (April 1944; June 1946 reprint).
Line-drawing cover. Bottom, right: Arnold L. Hicks, The Black Arrow (October 1946). Line-drawing cover.
 C2

Left: Robert H. Webb and David Heames, Two Years Before the Mast (October 1945). Line-drawing cover. Right: Arnold L. Hicks, The Prince and the Pauper (July 1946).
Line-drawing “horror” cover.
Left: Henry C. Kiefer, Swiss Family Robinson (October 1947). Line-drawing cover. Right: Henry C. Kiefer, Great Expectations (November 1947). Line-drawing cover,
noted by Dr. Fredric Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent (1954).
C3
C4

Top, left: Rudolph Palais, The Pioneers (May 1947). Line-drawing cover. Top, right: Aldo Rubano, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(August-September 1948). Line-drawing cover. Bottom, left: Alex A. Blum, The Black Tulip (July 1950; British edition 1954).
Line-drawing cover. Bottom, right: Alex A. Blum, Mr. Midshipman Easy (August 1950). Line-drawing cover.
Left: Alex A. Blum, The Master of Ballantrae (April 1951). Gilberton color cover proof. Right: Unidentified artist, David Balfour (April 1952). Gilberton color cover proof.
C5
 C6

Left: Mort Künstler, Buffalo Bill (April 1953). Gilberton color cover proof. Right: Mort Künstler, A Study in Scarlet (August 1953). Painted cover.
 C7

Top, left: Mort Künstler, Don Quixote (August 1953; May 1960 reprint). Painted cover. Top, right: Unidentified artist, How I
Found Livingstone (January 1954). Painted cover. Bottom, left: Victor Prezio, Robin Hood (November 1955). Painted cover. Bottom,
right: Unidentified artist, Caesar’s Conquests (January 1956). Painted cover.
 C8

Left: George Wilson, The Time Machine (July 1956). Painted cover. Right: Unidentified artist, Off on a Comet (March 1959). Painted cover.
 VI

Enter Iger:
The Fiction House Artists
C artoonist and writer Samuel Maxwell “Jerry” Iger (1910–
1990) was a major player in the comics field from the
1930s through the 1950s. In 1937, he and Will Eisner formed
Story of the Commandos, three issues of Bomber Comics, and
two issues of Spitfire Comics.6 The following year, using an al-
lotment of book paper obtained through a friend, Kanter pub-
a shop that offered publishers ready-made original stories and lished a 12-volume set of children’s books designed to compete
artwork to meet the demands of the booming market. The next with the popular Little Golden Books. Inside-cover ads for
year, they approached Thomas T. Scott of Fiction House, a the “Little Folks” line (Pee Wee and the Sneezing Elephant, Tickle
leading pulp publisher, with a proposal for a monthly comic- Tickle Tickle, The Grasshopper Man, among other titles) ap-
book series to be called Jumbo Comics, featuring a pin-up-style peared in various Classic Comics issues. Iger’s assistant editor,
jungle queen named Sheena. Scott signed on, and Sheena began Ruth A. Roche, oversaw the unsuccessful project, which
a lengthy, well-endowed existence on newsstands and in dreams.1 proved to be no match for Golden’s Poky Little Puppy.7
Jumbo Comics begat Fiction House’s Jungle Comics. Other Louis Zansky, who had been acting as de facto art director
packaged creations from Iger and Eisner were Planet Comics, for Gilberton, entered the armed forces in 1944; simultan-
Hit Comics, and Wonderworld Comics; popular characters in- eously, the impact of paper rations began to be felt, defeating
cluded the Blue Beetle, Wonder Boy, and the Flame.2 Eisner even Kanter’s ingenuity. Classic Comics suspended publication
left the partnership in 1940 to win a place in the comics pan- in October 1944 with No. 22, The Pathfinder, Zansky’s last
theon as the creator of The Spirit, an innovative Sunday comics title for Gilberton. Iger turned his attention to the line in the
newspaper insert.3 spring of 1945 and began assigning new titles to his shop artists,
Iger continued running what was then the preeminent who were paid salaries rather than per-page rates.8 Gilberton
comic-book shop, producing a variety of series for Fiction House, retained final control under the joint direction of managing
Fox Features Syndicate, and Quality Comics Group, and em- editor Harry M. Adler (1944–1951) and editor William E. Kan-
ploying a diverse group of artists, including Rafael Astarita, Alex ter (1946–1956), the founder’s son.
A. Blum, Reed Crandall, Lou Fine, Joe Kubert, and Henry The first issue in the series under the new arrangement
C. Kiefer.4 The Iger shop became particularly identified with was Oliver Twist, No. 23 ( July 1945), illustrated by Arnold
“Good Girl Art,” drawings of pouting-lipped, ample-bosomed, Hicks. Iger’s and Kanter’s relationship would last for the next
minimally clothed heroines, which staffers Matt Baker and nine years, would cover nearly 100 issues, and would result in
John Forte supplied for Fiction House and Fox. some of the finest editions published under the yellow banner.
In November 1943, Jerry Iger met Albert Kanter, and the A “house style” would develop that would make Classics Illus-
fortunes of both men changed. Kanter was well aware of the trated immediately identifiable.
uneven quality of the artwork in the early Classic Comics, and Not only the artwork but the adaptations also dra-
Iger, who was impressed with the idea of publishing adapta- matically improved — gone were the days of unrecognizable
tions of great literature in comic-book form, introduced variations on themes by Stevenson and Hugo. The change for
himself and offered the resources of his shop to produce other the better was due to Ruth A. Roche (1921–1983), who began
titles and, incidentally, improve the product.5 scripting for Iger in 1940 and later became his coeditor and
Having secured additional paper supplies, Kanter first business partner. She wrote such Fiction House jungle features
engaged the services of the Iger shop to produce, between June as “Sheena,” “Kaanga,” “Camilla,” and “Wambi,” as well as Matt
and December 1944, three war-related comics: the single-issue Baker’s syndicated Flamingo strip.9

49
50 CLASSICS Illustrated

Roche was also the single most important person in Iger’s tained a higher level of technical achievement. The artist used
life — in a personal as well as professional sense. As his friend skillful shading to convey atmosphere and character. Highly
Ron Prager recalled, “Ruth Roche was the love of Jerry Iger’s individualized facial features that border on the eccentric lift
life. He loved her till the day she died, and he loved her till the protagonist, Hank Morgan, almost out of the comic-book
his own death several years later.”10 The romantic and crea- realm. Throughout Yankee, Hearne employed unusual vantage
tive electricity generated be-
tween the two fueled the Fic-
tion House dynamics that
made it one of the strongest
contenders in the late 1940s
comics field. The Gilberton
Company was a third-party
beneficiary.
The young writer dis-
played a command of narrative
pacing in her scripts for Classic
Comics and a willingness to
trust the authors whose works
she adapted. Fewer liberties
would be taken with the orig-
inals on Roche’s watch, and
the textual matter would as-
sume increasing importance
during the Iger years, as the
educational role of Classics Il-
lustrated grew more promi-
nent.
In the end, however, Iger
decided that the large-scale
adaptations demanded too
much time and effort for the
amount of compensation.11 He
and Kanter reached an amica-
ble parting in 1953, and one
of his principal artists, Alex A.
Blum, remained with Gilber-
ton as art director. Iger bowed
out of the comic-book busi-
ness in 1955 when the Comics
Code effectively shut down his
remaining publishing outlets.

JACK R. HEARNE

With Jack R. Hearne’s

cover and interior art for A
Connecticut Yankee in King Ar-
thur’s Court, No. 24 (Septem- Jack R. Hearne, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (September 1945). Hank Morgan
ber 1945), Classic Comics at- receives an invitation to visit Camelot.
 VI. ENTER IGER 51

points to maintain visual interest, as in the episode of Hank’s disclaimer failed to convince critics that the artists weren’t en-
capture while up a tree. Ruth A. Roche’s adaptation of Mark joying the effects of Captain Thompson’s whip just a little too
Twain’s novel was in some respects closer to the darker intent much, and the title was withdrawn from 1955 to 1960.
of the original than the 1957 Classics revision, where Morgan The only instance of Gilberton issuing a sequel before
awakens in the final panel safe at home in Connecticut. the work that preceded it, Mysterious Island appeared a year
A Connecticut Yankee was Hearne’s only title for before 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was added to the Classics
Gilberton. Years later, he told comic-book artist Alex Toth list. The artwork emphasizes one exciting incident after
that he had been paid $500 for the book.12 Hearne, who had another. Webb lavished attention on the cover illustration of
been active in the Binder and Jacquet shops earlier in the a boat under sail, and the heavily inked panels of the interior
decade and had made a name for himself for his work with show the castaways strenuously contending with the sea, wild
Novelty, a Curtis comics imprint, apparently had a brief con- animals, and pirates.
nection with the Iger operation in the mid-forties. Subse- For his last Classics title, The Dark Frigate, an adaptation
quently, he became a well-established magazine and juvenile- of Charles Boardman Hawes’s Newbery Award–winning his-
book illustrator, providing art for an Alfred Hitchcock line in torical novel, Ed Waldman provided support, but the panels
the 1960s.13 for the most part lacked the brio of Webb’s earlier work. (There
were, however, as always, plenty of hairy chests and forearms
to go around.) Nestled between issues illustrated by represen-
ROBERT HAYWARD WEBB, DAVID HEAMES, tatives of a newer style, Norman Nodel and Lou Cameron,
ANN BREWSTER , AND ED WALDMAN The Dark Frigate seemed a visual anachronism.
The artist joined forces on Frankenstein, No. 26 (Decem-
A man who seemed more content on the waves than ber 1945), with Ann Brewster, an Iger inker capable of holding
under an illustrator’s lamp, Robert Hayward Webb charged her own with the Good Girl boys. Arriving at the Iger shop
his illustrations with his own robust virility. Comics historian in the mid-forties after an apprenticeship with Jack Binder,
Hames Ware describes him as a good-humored man with a she inked the Jane Martin and Hawk strips and later gained
hearty laugh. Webb went to work for Jerry Iger in 1940 and recognition for her work in the “true crime” genre.16 Between
spent the rest of his career with him, drawing such features as 1958 and 1960, Brewster’s work appeared in assorted World
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle for Fiction House. At his retirement Around Us issues. Her best work for that Gilberton series in-
in the 1960s, he held the record as the shop’s longest-tenured cluded the cleanly rendered “Caesar’s Revenge” in Pirates, No.
artist.14 W7 (March 1959), the richly detailed “Rise of Napoleon” in
Webb’s greatest passion was ships and boats, and he drew The French Revolution, No. W14 (October 1959), and the
them with obsessive enthusiasm for Classics in Two Years Before crisply inked “Cursed Trick” in Magic, No. W25 (September
the Mast, No. 25 (October 1945); Mysterious Island, No. 34 1960). Later, Brewster won several fine arts awards.
(February 1947); Kidnapped, No. 46 (April 1948); and The One of the plum assignments of the series, Ruth A.
Dark Frigate, No. 132 (May 1956). After leaving the comics Roche’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic parable remained
field, he turned to boatbuilding and later roared with laughter one of Gilberton’s most popular titles, going through 19 print-
as he told Hames Ware, “I used to draw boats, and now I build ings between 1945 and 1971. Comics authority Mike Benton
them.”15 lauded the Classic Comics edition of Frankenstein as “probably
Webb generally inked his own pencils but occasionally the most faithful adaptation of the original novel — movies in-
worked with collaborators. His favorite was David Heames, a cluded.”17 Comic-book writer Donald F. Glut singled out Ruth
younger artist who ably assisted him on Richard Henry Dana’s A. Roche’s script for praise: “Her breakdown as interpreted by
Two Years Before the Mast and Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island. the artists remains as a veritable storyboard for the definitive
The antithesis of Webb’s Sheena illustrations, the images in the movie version..., if it is ever filmed.”18
Dana and Verne books were as macho as Classic Comics ever Glut also noted the similarity between Boris Karloff ’s
got, with their muscular he-men exerting themselves in panel monster and Webb’s and Brewster’s creature, who was given
after panel. bare feet and dark-gray skin coloring to avoid legal problems
Two Years Before the Mast ran afoul of comic-book censors with Universal Pictures.19 Webb and Brewster, like film director
in the 1950s for its portrayal of brutal conditions aboard the James Whale, got the period wrong, garbing the characters in
good ship Pilgrim. The title page had warned readers that what something like Regency style rather than in clothing appro-
followed was “A voice from the forecastle ... presenting such priate to the novel’s 18th-century setting. But most film cos-
shocking evidence of the seaman’s life that it revolutionized tumers and, for that matter, book illustrators (Lynd Ward is a
the entire administration of maritime law!” But the educational notable exception) have made the same mistake.
 VI. ENTER IGER 53

By the standards of the mid-

forties, Frankenstein featured the
most shocking mixture of sex and
violence to appear in Classic Com-
ics. The murder of Victor’s bride
Elizabeth and the hanging of the
innocent servant Justine were ren-
dered in Webb’s and Brewster’s
familiar erotically charged “Good
Girl” style. Despite Elizabeth’s
plunging neckline and strategically
uncovered leg and Justine’s bared
shoulder and prominent breast,
the issue somehow escaped the
scrutiny of the self-appointed up-
holders of decency in the 1950s,
who evidently found the whip in
Two Years Before the Mast more of-
fensive. In any event, Frankenstein
was neither withdrawn nor re-
drawn, a fact that may support an
alternative view that sales rather
than attempted censorship was the
critical factor in a title’s survival.
By 1971, No. 26 had gone through
19 printings.
Perhaps Webb’s finest effort
for Gilberton was Robert Louis
Stevenson’s Kidnapped, on which
he worked alone. Although the
manly artist evidently had qualms
about giving David Balfour, the
red-blooded Scottish Lowland pro-
tagonist, 18th-century-style rib-
boned hair, he caught the dark,
mythic overtones of the first sec-
tion of the bildungsroman, creating
a memorable sequence of panels
depicting the young hero’s ascent
of the unfinished tower. Webb was
equally up to the task of swashing
buckles with Alan Breck Stewart
in the siege of the Round-House. Robert H. Webb and David Heames, Mysterious Island (February 1947). Trouble looms for
The only disappointing aspect of Captain Harding in sight of land.
the issue was John O’Rourke’s
adaptation, which, though faithful to the plot, sacrificed an Given his long association with the Iger Shop, it seems a
entire layer of meaning by abandoning the novel’s first-person pity that Webb was not assigned more Classics titles. His ap-
narrative voice. proaches to Treasure Island, The Pilot, Mr. Midshipman Easy,

Opposite: A page of original art for Two Years Before the Mast; the artist’s love of ships and boats is revealed in the attention to
detail in the lower left panel (collection of the author).
Left: Robert Hayward Webb, Kidnapped (April 1948). Swashbuckling action in the siege of the Round-House. Right: Robert Hayward Webb and Ann Brewster, Frankenstein
(December 1945). The Monster pays his respects to Victor’s bride on her wedding night.
 VI. ENTER IGER 55

and The Sea Wolf would have given each of those stories an 1948), was a beautifully old-fashioned production. The draw-
injection of high spirits and nautical authenticity. But at the ings of Thomas Arnold’s Rugby seemed to belong more to a
time, the artist’s prolific Fiction House work took precedence. 19th-century illustrated boys’ book than to a mid-20th-century
comic book. Tom Brown is portrayed as the paragon of Vic-
torian boyhood, while the bully Flashman, with his wild shock
HOMER FLEMING of hair, is a comically effective caricature. The antique charm
of Fleming’s work is evident in both the cover illustration,
An older artist, Homer Fleming (1883–1967) was drawing where Tom is shown in a rugby match as a worthy exemplar
cartoons as early as 1912.20 By the late 1930s, when the comics of gentlemanly “good form,” and in a final game of cricket, where
boom was underway, he was supplying artwork for Malcolm Tom, as “captain of the eleven,” allows a less accomplished
Wheeler-Nicholson’s More Fun.21 Fleming
was a respected cartoonist and magazine
illustrator whose style linked the Gibson
Girl era and the Golden Age of comic
books. In 1946, under Jerry Iger’s aus-
pices, he tackled the first nominally non-
fiction Classic Comics title, The Adventures
of Marco Polo, No. 27 (April 1946).
The factual basis of portions of the
Travels has been a matter of dispute for
centuries, though Marco Polo’s (if not his
collaborator Rustichello’s) credibility is in
the main now generally conceded. In the
Classics version, however, distinctions be-
tween legend and fact were of no moment;
the first page announced that “[g]aps in
narration have been filled in to make this
a dramatic presentation of the travels of
the world’s most talked of explorer.” Some
episodes appear to have been suggested by
Donn Byrne’s popular novel, Messer Marco
Polo (1921).
Marco’s romance with a Princess Sil-
ver Bells (Golden Bells in Byrne’s book),
the daughter of Kublai Khan,was derived
from the novel. A victory orchestrated by
the hero over “Japanese cannibals” (World
War II was less than a year in the past) was
not only an interpolation but also an egre-
gious example of racial stereotyping in a
publication that later stood so firmly
against such practices. “I have seen many
strange people,” Marco Polo muses, “but
never have I hated any except these sneaky
men of Japan.”
Fleming’s second Gilberton title,
Tom Brown’s School Days, No. 45 (January

Homer Fleming, The Adventures of Marco

Polo (April 1946). Romance blooms for the
hero and Princess Silver Bells while
intrigue stirs.
 VI. ENTER IGER 57

player a chance to prove himself. The

artist’s well-defined linework visually
reinforces the social code championed
in the text.

DON RICO
Donato Francisco (Don) Rico
(1918–1985) was a multitalented artist
and writer whose sole Classic Comics
title, The Moonstone, No. 30 (Septem-
ber 1946), showed him working at less
than his full capacity. Trained at Cooper
Union and influenced by Lynd Ward’s
and Rockwell Kent’s woodcut tech-
niques, Rico worked for the Chesler,
Binder, Jacquet, and Iger shops in the
1940s. During that period, he supplied
art for Target Comics and produced a
syndicated comic strip called “Johnny
Jones.”22 While working for Timely,
he substituted for Jack Kirby, who had
enlisted to fight in the Second World
War. In the late forties, he provided il-
lustrations for Murder Incorporated, a
crime-comics series published by Fox
Features Syndicate.23 Later, his paint-
ings found homes in private collections
and museums, and the artist taught at
UCLA. Rico became the first president
of the Cartoon Arts Professionals So-
ciety in Los Angeles.24 The artist’s in-
terest in writing led to his authoring
about 50 novels and screenplays, in-
cluding scripts for Adam-12 and other
television series.25
Rico’s illustrations for The Moon-
stone strike the right note of alien mys-
tery, but neither they nor Dan Levin’s
severely truncated adaptation do
justice to Wilkie Collins’s novel of de-
tection, with its mixture of suspense
and wit. The artist evidently was given Don Rico, The Moonstone (September 1946). John Herncastle unleashes the curse of the
no guidance on character descriptions fatal jewel.
or period costuming. An unevenness
runs from panel to panel, where well-executed homages to grounds. Yet, with all its shortcomings, Rico’s work offered an
Ward and Kent alternate with stiff-limbed figures. The women otherworldly strangeness and promises of richer wonders in
appear to be afterthoughts, as do the stylized, minimalist back- the original.

Opposite: Homer Fleming, Tom Brown’s School Days (January 1948). Well bowled, indeed.
58 CLASSICS Illustrated

MATT BAKER showed, there was much more to his art than the Good Girls
who made and, in a sense, circumscribed his reputation.
Among the most gifted of Iger’s artists was Matt Baker, An African-American, Clarence Matthew Baker was born
who, though chiefly recalled for his curvaceously drawn fe- on 10 December 1921 in Homestead, Pennsylvania, a black
males, was a superb all-around artist. He was admired and re- community in the Pittsburgh area.26 Like many of his con-
spected by his comics industry peers and others who knew him temporaries in the comics trade, he received his training at
in his all-too-short life. As his brief experience with Gilberton New York’s Cooper Union. By the mid–1940s, when he was
barely into his twenties, the handsome, dapper
young artist arrived at Jerry Iger’s studio and
said simply, “Looking for a job.” After he sub-
mitted a color sketch of, naturally, a beautiful
woman, Iger, on the recommendation of Ruth
Roche, signed him on. Beginning as a back-
ground artist, Baker was soon receiving major
assignments.27
His Fiction House resume included the
skimpily clad and frequently bound Phantom
Lady, the alluring Tiger Girl, and the seductive
South Sea Girl.28 Apparently not wishing to
divert the artist’s attention from his lucrative
Good Girls, Iger gave him only one Classic
Comics project, but it was a beauty — Ruth A.
Roche’s skillful adaptation of R.D. Black-
more’s historical romance, Lorna Doone, No.
32 (December 1946).
Baker seemed right at home in 17th-
century Exmoor, with the broad-shouldered
hero John Ridd and jackbooted villain Carver
Doone. The royal officer Jeremy Stickles is, in
particular, a well-realized character study. Of
course, the Good Girl artist couldn’t resist giv-
ing the virginal heroine Lorna pouting lips
and, on the title-page splash, a plunging neck-
line. The original splash was replaced in 1957
with the line-drawing cover illustration when
a painted cover was substituted and the
interior artwork recolored.
Fine sequences of visual storytelling fill
Baker’s Lorna Doone: the abduction of the
heroine as a child; John Ridd’s ascent of the
waterfall in Doone Glen; the outlaws’ ambush
of the troopers led by Jeremy Stickles; Ridd’s
arrest and near execution; the wounding of
the heroine at her wedding; the hero’s pursuit
of Carver Doone into the Wizard’s Slough.
The artist emphasized action and yet supplied
a host of arresting images that rewarded
scrutiny. As well wrought as Roche’s script is,
Matt Baker, Lorna Doone (December 1946). This line-drawing cover had become
so iconic by the time it was replaced in 1957 with a painted cover that the Gilber- not a single panel is subordinated to the text;
ton editors used a reverse image of it as the first-page splash in all subsequent word and picture are finely balanced in a way
editions. that would not be possible in some later issues
 VI. ENTER IGER 59

where the verbal element im-

pinged on the pictorial. Readers
responded warmly and kept the
Classics edition of Lorna Doone
in print throughout the life of
the series, even as the popularity
of the novel on which it was
based waned.
The artist continued draw-
ing Good Girls for Iger, pro-
ducing, from 1952 to 1956, the
syndicated siren Flamingo. Oth-
ers covered (or uncovered) the
same territory, but Baker tran-
scended the Good Girl genre,
investing his female characters
with strength as well as sex ap-
peal. Lorna Doone showed a
greater depth in the artist’s work.
From the late 1940s through
the 1950s, Baker demonstrated
his versatility, supplying illus-
trations for such publications
as Archer St. John’s Northwest
Mounties, The Texan, Teen-Age
Temptations, and True Love Pic-
torial; Ajax-Farrell’s Voodoo; At-
las Comics’ Western Outlaws; and
Dell’s Lassie series and Movie
Classic edition (No. 588) of King
Richard and the Crusaders. (The
Dell King Richard, based on Sir
Walter Scott’s The Talisman, gives
one a sense of how the artist
might have approached the story
in Classics Illustrated No. 111.)
In 1949, Baker assumed the du-
ties of art director for St. John,
where he remained until 1955.29
The artist continued freelancing
until his death a few years later.
Comics art expert Jim Vadebon-
coeur, Jr., spotted his posthu-
mous hand in a publication
dated as late as 1962.30
Novelist and former com- Matt Baker, Lorna Doone (December 1946). Sex and violence erupt in Classic Comics No. 32.
ics artist Lou Cameron knew
Baker in the St. John days and wrote that “Matt was an agree- the assignment he had for you, and how you were going to
able handsome man who reminded one of the younger Harry manage it. I never met anyone in the field who didn’t respect
Belafonte. Matt handled the race bit in a very comfortable and like Matt.... I last saw Matt one cold December day [in
manner. He never brought it up. The topic of the meeting was 1959] when we were both shopping at Bloomingdales for
Matt Baker, Lorna Doone (December 1946). “Good Girl” Lorna as eighth-grade English teachers never imagined her.
 VI. ENTER IGER 61

Christmas.... The next thing I hear

of Matt he was dead. All I know is
that the causes were natural. Nobody
admits they might be sick when
they’re free lancing. Who’d hire a
dying swan?”31
Plagued by a rheumatic heart
throughout his short life, and dying,
on 11 August 1959, before he reached
the age of 40, the artist never expected
to live as long as he did. But Matt
Baker left behind one of the richest
legacies in the history of comics.

“EZRA WHITEMAN”
(EZRA JACKSON AND
MAURICE WHITMAN)

Herman Melville’s Typee, No. 36

(April 1947), was adapted by Harry
Miller and signed by Ezra Whiteman,
whose name appears nowhere else in
comics annals. Hames Ware suggests
that “Ezra Whiteman” most likely was
a joint effort on the part of African-
American artist, Ezra Jackson, and
his frequent collaborator, Maurice
Whitman (1922–1983), a young,
self-taught Iger regular.32
Jackson, like Matt Baker, was a
pioneering figure in the comics field
in the 1940s. He illustrated stories
and served as art director for Eerie
Publications in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. The artist was the father
of U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson
Lee of Houston, Texas. Whitman
worked in the 1940s for Harry “A”
Chesler, Fiction House, and Funnies,
Inc., drawing such titles as Nyoka,
Kaanga, and Tabu. He also produced
a well-toned Sheena on Jumbo Com- Ezra Whiteman, Typee (April 1947). Exit Toby, pursued by cannibals.
ics covers in the early 1950s.
The two artists are known to have played name games More cartoonish than the art in other Iger-era Classics,
such as signing their joint ventures “Whit I. Jackson” (for the illustrations for the Melville adventure yarn possess a
“Whitman inked by Jackson”). Hence, Ware argues, it is pos- unique charm that make it one of the most appealing issues
sible that, for Typee, with its interracial themes, Jackson and in the series. The drawings are marked by bold lines and a
Whitman combined their names in a more straightforward simple, primitivist design. Forceful movement predominates,
manner, adding the “e” to Whitman as an inside joke.33 whether of hands, arms, or entire bodies, as most dramatically
62 CLASSICS Illustrated

shown in the cover drawing of the narrator’s friend Toby dodg- remained on the reorder list until 1952, when it was dropped.
ing a spear. Strong facial expressions fill the panels, as when In 1960, Typee was reissued with one of Gerald McCann’s most
Mehevi expresses “his displeasure and resentment at the very striking painted covers. Meanwhile, Luis Dominguez prepared
thought of [the narrator] leaving the valley” or when the nar- a beautiful new interior for a revised edition that,
rator discovers shrunken heads inside a bundle. unfortunately, was withdrawn when Gilberton halted new-
Typee was Melville’s most popular book in his lifetime title production in 1962. It remained for the British Classics
and for some years thereafter; the title didn’t fare so well in the Illustrated series, which outlasted its American parent, to issue
early years of Classics Illustrated. After a 1949 reprint, No. 36 the replacement.
 VII

Henry Carl Kiefer and

the Classics House Style
N o artist did more to define the Classics Illustrated house
style in the late 1940s than Henry Carl Kiefer. A prolific
illustrator, Kiefer produced artwork for a 1928 edition of
putting his stamp on Gilberton, he had drawn Wing Brady for
Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s New Fun and More Fun
(National/DC, 1935–1940) and was best known for Wambi
Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s Story of a Bad Boy and for more than the Jungle Boy (Fiction House, 1940–1948).1
sixty different comics series between 1935 and 1955. Before Despite his involvement with nearly every major comics

Henry C. Kiefer, Julius Caesar (February 1950). Mark Antony works the crowd. Note Kiefer’s employment of the sequential-art
strategy of telescoping time within a single large panel (here, two treated as one). The reader’s eye travels from Antony as he begins
his speech, through the text, and then to the reactions of his audience.

63
64 CLASSICS Illustrated

airs (though these may have been simply

misunderstood Old World mannerisms).
A sometime Shakespearean actor who
had married an actress, Kiefer sometimes
sported a cape and declaimed rather than
spoke. Eleanor Lidofsky remembered Kiefer as
“a sweet, lovely man,” clean-shaven, with dark
hair and brown eyes. “He and his wife lived
like artists in one big room in a coach house
in Westchester,” she said.3
Although under contract to Jerry Iger,
he considered himself above the drones who
toiled in the rows of the shop’s drafting ta-
bles. Kiefer worked at his own studio and
made occasional dramatic appearances, de-
livering his completed pages with a theatrical
flourish, tossing his cape over a shoulder. As
Ware observed, “He would never have called
himself a cartoonist; he would have consid-
ered himself an illustrator.”4
Kiefer received his artistic training at
the Atelier Julian in Paris and was engaged
in the 1930s in supplying art for educational
film strips, motion-picture promotional ma-
terial, and pulp fiction.5 From 1937 to 1940,
he illustrated comics under the less-than-
pleasant conditions prevailing in Harry “A”
Chesler’s shop, producing in 1937 an abridg-
ment of Oliver Twist, in what might be seen
as a dress rehearsal for Classics Illustrated a
decade later.
In 1940, Kiefer became affiliated with
Jerry Iger’s operation but freelanced for dif-
ferent publishers. Given his steady, reliable
output, it is apparent that the flamboyant
artist was a favored star in the Iger Shop.
Unlike many other shop-system veterans, he
both penciled and inked his own pictures,
apparently not wishing to entrust his work
Henry Carl Kiefer, Great Expectations (November 1947). Pip and Estella “play” to other hands.
for Miss Havisham. After Iger assumed responsibility for
Kanter’s series, Kiefer quickly became, along
publisher at one point or another, little information is available with Alex A. Blum, one of the two dominant Classics Illustrated
about Kiefer’s life. He was born in 1890, but his birthplace is artists. He shaped the initial imaginative response of millions
unknown, although Gilberton public-relations director Eleanor of young readers to such works as 20,000 Leagues Under the
Lidofsky stated that he was from what is now the Czech Re- Sea, David Copperfield, and Wuthering Heights. The artist’s first
public.2 According to comics historian Hames Ware, his contem- work for Gilberton, in January 1947, was the bloody-finger,
poraries recalled a tall, imposing figure who affected aristocratic mad-dog cover and two splash pages for issue No. 33, The

Opposite: Henry C. Kiefer, A Christmas Carol (November 1948). A reformed Scrooge pranks Bob Cratchit. Note the heavily inked
areas (collection of the author).
66 CLASSICS Illustrated

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Louis Zansky had illustrated covers alone for nine issues and one “Giant” (an anthology of
the book, which included adaptations of The Hound of the earlier issues republished under the title An Illustrated Library
Baskervilles and A Study in Scarlet, in 1943, but publication of Great Adventure Stories, consisting of A Tale of Two Cities,
had been delayed because of difficulties with Sir Arthur Conan Robin Hood, Arabian Nights, and Robinson Crusoe).
Doyle’s estate.6 Yet, as closely identified with Classics Illustrated as he was,
Kiefer landed the prestigious assignment of providing a major rift with Gilberton occurred in 1949. A new competitor
artwork for No. 35, The Last Days of Pompeii by Sir Edward in the literary-adaptation market, Seaboard Publishers, Inc.,
Bulwer-Lytton, the first issue of the rechristened Classics Illus- sought out the artist to illustrate their edition of Rafael Saba-
trated, in March 1947.7 In retrospect, it seems rather symbolic. tini’s Captain Blood, the second title in the recently launched
Between 1947 and 1953, Kiefer supplied covers and interior art Fast Fiction series. Of the 13 Fast Fiction/Stories by Famous Au-
for 24 titles and two special “educational” issues, Shelter Through thors Illustrated issues between October 1949 and May 1951,
the Ages and The Westinghouse Story: The Dreams of a Man, and when Albert Kanter bought the trademark and stopped pro-
duction, Kiefer produced covers and interior art
for seven titles and covers for two reprints at the
same time he was drawing and inking five titles for
Classics Illustrated.
The artist’s relations with Gilberton were
never again the same. A degree of animus was ev-
ident during the fall 1951 reprint runs of No. 18, The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, and No. 33, The Adven-
tures of Sherlock Holmes, when the presses were
stopped so that Kiefer’s name could be effaced from
the covers. The name was restored in a 1954 reprint
of No. 18, a year after Kiefer’s last work for the series.8
Gilberton offered no assignments in 1951 and only
four titles (painted covers and interior art) and three
additional painted covers in 1952 and 1953.
An old man by comics-industry standards,
Kiefer continued working until 1955 for another
longtime account, Eastern Color Printing Com-
pany’s New Heroic Comics, to which he had con-
tributed numerous covers and some interior art.
He died in 1957.
Kiefer brought his acting experience and Eu-
ropean training to bear in the period pieces he
drew for Gilberton. Eleanor Lidofsky recalled that
the artist used theatrical props and costuming for
his Julius Caesar illustrations.9 As Hames Ware put
it, “There wasn’t anyone out there like him. Love
his work or hate it, Henry C. Kiefer was an original,
and whatever may be said about his efforts for other
publishers, he and Classics Illustrated were a perfect
match. As a world traveler blessed with an actor’s
insight, his style captivated young readers and kept
them coming back for more.”7
A certain alienness runs through Kiefer’s
work — a willful antiquity that set him apart from
other illustrators of his time. It was a quality that

Henry C. Kiefer, “The Adventures of Hans Pfall,”

in Mysteries (August 1947).
 VII. HENRY CARL KIEFER AND THE CLASSICS HOUSE STYLE 67

some never understood or appreci-

ated. He has been dismissed by such
perceptive critics as Ron Goulart as
“one of the busiest hacks of the for-
ties.”10 Others have taken a different
view: Hubert H. Crawford, in a dis-
cussion of the Wambi series, saluted
Kiefer as a master of animal anat-
omy.11 This aspect of the artist’s work
is best seen in Swiss Family Robinson,
No. 42 (October 1947), with its dogs,
cattle, monkeys, shark, lobster, kan-
garoos, sea turtle, sea gull, wild buf-
falo, donkey, and boa constrictor.
Whatever the opinions of others
may have been, Kiefer was single-
handedly responsible for investing
Classics Illustrated with an air of his-
torical accuracy and almost metaphys-
ical mystery not found in any other
comic-book line. This gift, according
to Hames Ware, may have derived
from his European training and the-
atrical approach to illustration.12
Kiefer’s illustrations appear to
be less in the comics mold than a
continuation of the tradition of 19th-
century book or magazine illustration.
His drawings for William Shake-
speare’s Julius Caesar, No. 68 (Feb-
ruary 1950), for example, often sug-
gest woodcuts, while the characters’
dramatic attitudes recall Victorian or
Edwardian stage poses, particularly
in Mark Antony’s funeral oration
(“Friends, Romans, countrymen...”)
or his closing tribute to Brutus (“This
was the noblest Roman of them all”),
drawn in a manner suggestive of the
Henry Irving stentorian style of de-
livery. (See page 63.)
It is equally arguable that Kiefer’s
compositional approach is largely based
on the proscenium perspective, a nat- Henry C. Kiefer, Mysteries of Paris (December 1947). Screech-Owl (a “horror” comic pro-
ural point of reference for a stage ac- totype of EC’s Old Witch) and the Schoolmaster perform their deadly duet.
tor. (In Julius Caesar, the staginess of
the meeting of the conspirators with Brutus, the assassination Kiefer’s work, was amply displayed in Julius Caesar. The artist’s
scene, and Caesar’s funeral are examples.) Rarely do the cine- rendering of Brutus suggested an Aryan poster boy prepar-
matic influences that are so evident in the work of younger ing to launch into a chorus of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me.”
contemporaries, such as Rudy Palais, appear in his panels. His rendering of Mark Antony, in Lupercal attire at the be-
An insistently singular vision, which marked much of ginning of the story, exhibited a pronounced degree of gender-
68 CLASSICS Illustrated

working on Victorian-era stories charged

with atmosphere. Of the five novels by
Charles Dickens adapted in Classics Illus-
trated, three —Great Expectations, No. 43
(November 1947), David Copperfield, No.
48 ( June 1948), and A Christmas Carol,
No. 53 (November 1948)—were drawn by
Kiefer. The artist’s rendering of the grave-
yard scene at the beginning of Great Ex-
pectations was regarded as too intense for
children by critics in the late 1940s. Kiefer
was at his best in the issue in his depiction
of the eerie desolation of Miss Havisham’s
existence. He effectively conveyed young
David Copperfield’s misery under the sa-
distic Murdstone and presented a vibrant
Wilkins Micawber that was equally inde-
pendent of the original renderings by
“Phiz” (Hablôt K. Browne) and the cellu-
loid impersonation by W.C. Fields. In A
Christmas Carol, Kiefer’s inking created a
striking visual symbolism of the thematic
elements of darkness and light; deep
blacks alternate with bright spaces in var-
ious panels.
A less successful period piece was
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, No. 59
(May 1949), in which the artist simply got
the period wrong. Donna Richardson has
faulted Kiefer for failing to place the char-
acters in the novel’s 18th-century setting.13
But then, few illustrators of the Brontë novel
have managed to locate the correct time
frame, possibly because the intense Roman-
ticism of the work seems at odds with the
visual style of the 1770s and 1780s. In any
event, Kiefer obviously had adopted the
early–Victorian model of William Wyler’s
1939 film version, basing his Heathcliff
and Cathy on Laurence Olivier and Merle
Oberon. Taking his cue from the movie,
the artist filled his pages with a brooding
atmosphere through his heavily inked
Henry C. Kiefer, The Prisoner of Zenda (October 1950). Rassendyll derails Black
linework.
Michael’s conspiracy, while Princess Flavia takes an interest in the new and improved
Rudolf. He was on more comfortable mid-
19th-century ground with Mark Twain’s
bending ambivalence not ordinarily found in comics published antebellum thriller, Pudd’nhead Wilson, No. 93 (March 1952),
in 1950. and he offered a memorable character study of the villain’s
If Kiefer was thus somewhat set apart from his contem- moral degeneration. For the cover, Kiefer painted the climactic
poraries, it made him the ideal artist for costume pieces. He scene in which the dissipated young master learns his true
seemed most comfortable, and was clearly at his best, when identity from his actual mother. The trial scene, in which
 VII. HENRY CARL KIEFER AND THE CLASSICS HOUSE STYLE 69

lawyer Wilson introduces the novel concept of fingerprint-

ing, was dramatically effective in Kiefer’s rendering. Ques-
tions concerning mixed race and slavery, which were at the
center of Twain’s short novel, may have contributed to the
title’s disappearance from the Classics Illustrated reorder list
in 1955 after one printing. It returned with a new painted
cover by Gerald McCann in 1962.
Among the artist’s attributes was a flair for the gro-
tesque, which he shared with William Hogarth (1697–1764),
James Gillray (1757–1815), Thomas Rowlandson (1756–
1827), Rodolphe Töpffer (1799–1846), and other 18th- and
early-19th-century caricaturists. Kiefer’s illustrations for
“The Adventure of Hans Pfall” by Edgar Allan Poe in Mys-
teries, No. 40 (August 1947), reveal a wry comic sensibility
with their shooting stars, pipe-puffing Dutch burghers, and
long-nosed inhabitants of the moon.14 More than any other
work the artist produced for Classics Illustrated, “Hans Pfall”
seems specifically informed by a European tradition of satir-
ical sequential art.
On the other hand, Kiefer’s drawings of the hideous
criminals Screech-Owl and the Schoolmaster in Eugene
Sue’s Mysteries of Paris, No. 44 (December 1947), and his
line-drawing cover showing a corpse on the ground behind
the hero and heroine were evidently so disturbing to parents
and teachers that they helped bring an end to the 1940s run
of Classics “horror” issues. The artist’s rendering of the novel’s
protagonist, Prince Rudolf, was the prototype for future
square-jawed Kieferesque heroes. But Mysteries of Paris was
also an example of the ability of the artist to create and sus-
tain a self-contained world with vividly sketched, memor-
able characters. Panel after panel reveals his attention to
what can only be called a stylized nightmare-realism in both
background and foreground detail. (See page 67.)
Adventure yarns and swashbucklers came naturally to
Kiefer. The artist brought a certain Sigmund Romberg
Henry C. Kiefer, King Solomon’s Mines (July 1952). Sir Henry and
flavor and Ronald Colman flair to Anthony Hope’s The Pris- Twala duel to the death.
oner of Zenda, No. 76 (October 1950). The Ruritanian fan-
tasy of royal impersonation may well be the quintessential action sequences. The racial climate of 1952 being what it was,
Kiefer Classic, with its dashing uniforms, clashing swords, and Kiefer was obliged to compromise in depicting the interracial
desperate rescue. Vivid characterizations of the hero Rudolf relationship in King Solomon’s Mines between the white explorer
Rassendyll, the villain Black Michael, and the amoral schemer John Good and the African woman Foulata, who was given
Rupert of Hentzau keep the visual style delightfully over the vaguely Polynesian features and flowing tresses. (It should be
top. Unfortunately, the colorist flooded nearly half the pages noted, however, that Rider Haggard’s description provides
with greens, blues, violets, and the occasional orange or yellow some basis for the illustrations.) Apart from such consider-
highlight in an attempt to convey a nighttime flavor. As a con- ations, the issue showcases Kiefer in top form, glorying in his
sequence, Kiefer’s linework is occasionally obscured. natural element — the exotic tale of adventure.
In H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines, No. 97 (July Two of the most popular Gilberton titles by the most
1952), a charging elephant, an ancient witch, and a chamber popular Classics author — Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under
of petrified corpses kept the reader turning pages. The artist’s the Sea, No. 47 (May 1948), and Around the World in Eighty
handling of the mortal combat between Sir Henry Curtis and Days, No. 69 (March 1950)— reveal the artist’s strengths and
the usurper Twala was one of his strongest Classics Illustrated weaknesses. Kiefer’s theatricality served him well in his solid
 VII. HENRY CARL KIEFER AND THE CLASSICS HOUSE STYLE 71

character interpretations of Captain Nemo, Ned

Land, Professor Aronnax, Phileas Fogg, Passep-
artout, and Detective Fix. The artist packed the
Verne adaptations with rousing depictions of
submarine attacks, battles with giant octopi and
marauding Sioux, escapes from ice and flames,
and wonders below and above the waves.
On the second page of 20,000 Leagues Un-
der the Sea, a dramatic sense of shipboard urgency
is conveyed as the crew of a doomed vessel at-
tempts to discern what strange creature ap-
proaches. His Captain Nemo is a consistent study
in intense monomania, whether he is demanding
that Ned Land release a crew member or pro-
claiming “I am the law, and I am the judge!” Yet,
as Swedish Classics authority Lars Teglbjaerg has
observed, Kiefer’s notions of geography seem a
bit challenged in panel 3 on page 24, where the
westward bound Professor Aronnax says, “Bah,
we’ve just passed Gibraltar,” and then points east-
ward to the tip of a rudimentary rendering of Italy
on a “not ... very convincing map of Europe.”
This gaffe, Teglbjaerg notes, is followed by the
inexplicable presence, in panels 4 and 5 on page
26, of “Christmas trees on the South Pole!”15
Around the World in 80 Days is one of the
most satisfying of Kiefer’s performances for
Gilberton. His Phileas Fogg, another red-haired
variant on Prince Rudolf from Mysteries of Paris
and Rudolf Rassendyll from The Prisoner of Zenda,
is presented as the quintessential firm-jawed, un-
flappable English gentleman. The servant Pass-
epatout, with his extended side-whiskers, and
the Detective Fix, face obscured by a ferocious
handlebar mustache, both tend toward carica-
ture. The suttee procession and the rescue of
Aouda from her husband’s funeral pyre constitute
one of Kiefer’s finest sequences. But once Fogg
gets the girl, the artist doesn’t seem to know how
to manage the situation. He produces in the cul-
Henry C. Kiefer, Around the World in 80 Days (March 1950). The creator of
minating love scene a remarkable degree of stiff- Wambi revisits India in Verne’s suttee episode.
ness that can’t be blamed entirely on Fogg’s Anglo-
Saxonr eserve. James, drawn throughout with considerable brio, while Ellen
Kiefer extended his range to the medieval realm in his il- may have been one of his most successful female characters.
lustrations for Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of The Talisman was Kiefer’s final Gilberton project (as Iger was
the Lake, No. 75 (September 1950)16 and historical novel The closing its Gilberton account) and showed him still at the top
Talisman, No. 111 (September 1953). The Lady of the Lake fea- of his form, fighting the Crusades with King Richard and Sal-
tured one of the artist’s most appealing heroes, James Fitz- adin. A high point of the comic book was the artist’s brief and

Opposite: Henry C. Kiefer, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (May 1948). A page of original art from Verne’s submarine story (col-
lection of the author).
Left: Henry C. Kiefer, The Lady of the Lake (September 1950). One of Kiefer’s most striking line-drawing covers. Right: Henry C. Kiefer, Joan of Arc (December 1950).
Allons enfants de la Patrie... The Maid leads the charge.
 VII. HENRY CARL KIEFER AND THE CLASSICS HOUSE STYLE 73

uncharacteristic detour to the domain of Good

Girl art in his depiction of the seductive queen.
The Cloister and the Hearth, No. 66 (De-
cember 1949), Charles Reade’s account of the
thwarted love between the parents of Erasmus,
never appealed to young readers and was not re-
printed. The comic book, however, is an interest-
ing collection of some of Kiefer’s best and worst
work, from handsomely rendered, historically ac-
curate figures and buildings to ludicrously scaled
perspectives. By far, the good outweighs the aw-
ful, and the transitional late-medieval costuming
and martial accouterments rank among the artist’s
finest period effects. (See page 5 for cover.)
A good candidate for Kiefer’s finest Gilber-
ton effort is Joan of Arc, No. 78 (December 1950).
The line-drawing cover, the artist’s last of its kind
for Classics Illustrated, is quite simply his strong-
est, with its charcoal shading and burst of bright-
ness at the center where the Archangel Michael
calls the Maid to her duty. Throughout the bi-
ography, skillfully scripted by Sam Willinsky, the
artist took obvious pains with the composition
of both individual panels and full-page illustra-
tions depicting battle scenes and Joan’s martyrdom.
If the Maid seems a bit too serene at the stake, it
is worth remembering that Kiefer was self-con-
sciously invoking the conventions of religious
iconography. He leaves no doubt about his atti-
tude toward the subject.
All-purpose artist that he was, Kiefer was
also at home in the Wild West. His illustrations
for “The Luck of Roaring Camp” and “The Out-
casts of Poker Flat” in Bret Harte’s Western Stories,
No. 62 (August 1949), are as rough-and-tumble
as the mining towns and wilderness they evoke.
The tragic endings of the two stories are depicted
with an almost classical austerity, particularly in
the images of Piney and “the Duchess” facing
death in the blizzard and Oakhurst the gambler The “strongest and yet the weakest of the Outcasts of Poker Flat” hands in his
discovered buried in snow by a rescue party — checks.
“[p]ulseless and cold, with a derringer by his side,
and a bullet in his heart.” the political schemer. Nevertheless, a certain heroic dash, es-
In Edward Everett Hale’s The Man Without a Country, tablished in the depiction of Philip Nolan directing a naval
No. 63 (September 1949), Kiefer included a bare-breasted battle on the line-drawing cover (and echoed in 1960 on Gerald
African woman in a slave-ship scene — the only female nudity McCann’s painted cover), is present throughout the book.
in the series; somehow, the “headlights”-obsessed Dr. Fredric A singular distinction held by the artist was the exclusion
Wertham, comic-book nemesis, missed the panel. The colorist of dialogue balloons from an entire issue, Francis Parkman’s
made an odd decision to outfit all the American soldiers (c. The Oregon Trail, No. 72 ( June 1950). In the manner of Hal
1805) in red uniforms. Kiefer himself apparently had found it Foster’s Tarzan and Prince Valiant comic strips, speech was in-
inconvenient to look at a portrait of Aaron Burr when drawing serted in narrative boxes and surrounded with quotation
Henry C. Kiefer, The Man Without a Country (September 1949). Philip Nolan fights for his forsaken flag.
 VII. HENRY CARL KIEFER AND THE CLASSICS HOUSE STYLE 75

marks. Although the issue went through

eleven printings, the experiment was never
repeated. Even so, it demonstrated the de-
gree to which the artist saw himself as em-
ployed in the illustration of books rather
than the drawing of comics.
Constantly in demand, Kiefer often
showed the strain of a rapid production
cycle. On one page of Bret Harte’s “The
Outcasts of Poker Flat,” four panels dis-
play slight variations on one static scene.
His figures are occasionally wooden, with
stiff limbs and flat expressions. The pro-
tagonist in Frank Buck’s Bring ’Em Back
Alive, No. 104 (February 1953), does a
considerable amount of jumping to avoid
being mauled or bitten by the wild ani-
mals he traps, yet the artist seemed in-
capable of drawing a credible represen-
tation of a person bounding in the air,
despite his convincing big cats and ele-
phants. In certain books (notably Mys-
teries of Paris and The Prisoner of Zenda),
Kiefer’s men tend to look like Errol
Flynn — and so, one might add, do his
women.
This ambiguous, androgynous qual-
ity is evident in much of Kiefer’s work.
It is that aspect of his art, Hames Ware
maintains, which is central to his achieve-
ment and “which probably accounts for
why Kiefer’s work appealed to younger
children who had not yet formed clearly
defined roles and likewise also would ex-
plain why older comics fans disliked his
work for other publishers. But as for his
Classics work, children did not have to
take a very big leap from fairy-tale char-
acters who undergo marvelous transfor-
mations to Kiefer’s figures that achieved
a universality that transcended gender.”17
Ware notes that a “Germanic darkness” Henry C. Kiefer, The Oregon Trail (June 1950). Adopting Hal Foster’s device, Kiefer
permeated Kiefer’s illustrations and ob- used narrative boxes to handle all textual matter.
serves that “[t]he difference between
Blum and Kiefer is the difference between Hans Christian An- endyll, and Joan of Arc were definitive. But at his best, Henry
18
dersen and the Brothers Grimm.” C. Kiefer could conjure the essential mood of a literary work
His limitations were obvious, even to the children for or historical period. In that respect, for all his failings, no con-
whom his Captain Nemo, David Copperfield, Rudolf Rass- temporary comics artist could touch him. He had the magic.
 VIII

Alex A. Blum: “A Prince of a Man”

S haring with Henry C. Kiefer the honors for ubiquity at
Gilberton in the late 1940s and early 1950s was Alexander
Anthony (Sándor Aladár) Blum (1889–1969), an artist whose
Illustrated Classics newspaper series. In July 1948, the title was
reduced to the standard 48-page format and issued as Classics
Illustrated No. 49. Blum also penciled and inked an
training as an etcher left its unique stamp on more than
20 Classics Illustrated titles. Born in Budapest, Hungary,
Blum studied at the National Academy of Design in
New York and the Cincinnati Art Academy. While liv-
ing in Philadelphia during the 1920s, he exhibited his
dry-point etchings and won the Philadelphia Alliance
Bronze Medal (1920) and an award from the National
Academy of Design (1924).1 Some of his works are in-
cluded in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Yale University, and the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts.
Blum illustrated Mary Hazelton Wade’s juvenile
biographies of William Penn (1929) and Captain James
Cook (1931), but by 1935, like a number of other mar-
ginally successful Depression-era artists, he was working
in the rapidly growing comics industry. In that year,
he illustrated part of a serialized adaptation of Ivanhoe
for Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s New Fun.2
Around 1938, Blum signed on with the Eisner-Iger
shop; it was an association that lasted until 1954. The
artist’s daughter, Audrey (“Toni”) Blum Bossert, also
joined the team in 1938 as a scriptwriter.3 One of
Blum’s earliest assignments was the Samson series for
Victor Fox’s Fantastic Comics.4 He also produced draw-
ings for Quality, Worth/Harvey, and Fawcett. In 1940,
the artist introduced the popular Kaanga in Fiction
House’s Jungle Comics. As a Fiction House artist, he
also worked under the pseudonym Armand Budd. “Ar-
mand” is one of twelve Gilberton-associated names
given the princes in the Classics Illustrated Junior edition
of The Dancing Princesses, No. 532 (November 1956),
along with “Alex” and “Aladar.”
Although Iger had been supplying artists for
Classic Comics/Classics Illustrated since 1945, Alex A.
Blum’s first work for Gilberton did not appear until
June 1947, when he provided a 63-page adaptation of Alex A. Blum, Alice in Wonderland (March 1948). Alice unleashes court-
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland for the short-lived room pandemonium.

76
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 77

abbreviated Illustrated Classics newspaper version of Henry rabbit hole. From Alice’s rapid descent behind the White
Wadsworth Longfellow’s Courtship of Miles Standish, which Rabbit to the courtroom pandemonium near the end of the
appeared complete in a single Sunday section in March 1948. story, the artist’s clean, controlled linework makes the Carroll
The narrative poem was paired with Blum’s newly produced title one of his most consistently successful efforts for the se-
Evangeline, another Longfellow work, and was published in ries.
February 1952 as Classics Illustrated No. 92. Perhaps because he had already drawn The Courtship of
Soon Blum rivaled Henry C. Kiefer in output for the se- Miles Standish, Blum was handed another narrative poem by
ries; from 1948 to 1951, the two artists illustrated all but four Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, No. 57
of the titles between No. 57 and No. 80. (Those four—actually (March 1949), as his third Gilberton project. The old school-
partial — exceptions to the Blum-Kiefer rule were No. 58, The room warhorse with its often-parodied trochaic meter proved
Prairie [Rudolph Palais]; No. 60, Black Beauty
[August M. Froehlich]; No. 65, Benjamin
Franklin [Bob Hebberd, and Gustav Schrot-
ter, with some interior art by Blum and a cover
by Kiefer], and No. 74, Mr. Midshipman Easy
[Bob Lamme, with cover by Blum].) The two
very different artists established between them-
selves a Janus-faced Classics Illustrated house
style that alternated between Kiefer’s darkness
and Blum’s light.
Blum’s work is as distinctively idiosyn-
cratic as Kiefer’s; both have a marked old-
fashioned European quaintness about them.
Yet Blum’s etching experience translated into
a clean, uncluttered style of linework, some-
what reminiscent of neoclassical sculptor-
engraver John Flaxman (1755–1826), that
stood in marked contrast to the heavily
scored, Hogarthian panels by Kiefer. A strik-
ing compositional balance and pictorial
clarity distinguish his best work, along with
a self-assured lightness of touch.
In Hames Ware’s view, Blum was “essen-
tially a miniaturist and worked best on a small
scale.”5 Perhaps the most distinctive trade-
marks of Blum’s illustrations are the rather
angular bodies of his characters and their ta-
pered, feminine hands. At his best, he invests
his figures with an almost neoclassical grace.
But at times his work appears half-finished
and exhibits a startling lack of proportion and
a disappointing lack of vitality. These occa-
sional lapses may have been the result of the
increasing demands on the artist’s time during
his years with Classics Illustrated.
The delicacy of Blum’s technique made
him especially well-suited for Alice in Won-
derland, in which he preserved the flavor of
John Tenniel’s wood engravings while pro-
ducing his own crisp, spare interpretation of Alex A. Blum, The Song of Hiawatha (March 1949). One of the artist’s most accom-
the surreal proceedings at the bottom of the plished works, the Longfellow adaptation shows a strong classical influence.
78 CLASSICS Illustrated

Next came a Wilkie Collins mystery, The

Woman in White, No. 61 ( July 1949), which
was marred either by Blum’s evident unfamil-
iarity with the text of the original or script-
writer John O’Rourke’s failure to provide ad-
equate character descriptions. The villainous
Count Fosco, for instance, described in the
novel as “immensely fat,”7 was portrayed by
the artist as a slender, insinuating figure; his
fellow conspirator, Sir Percival Glyde, ac-
quired some of the count’s amplitude in Blum’s
rendering. Still, the artist managed to convey
some of the claustrophobic suspense—or just
plain Victorian creepiness — of the novel.
The inclusion of the title in the Classics
line was probably due to two factors: the 1948
release of a film version that featured the ro-
tund Sydney Greenstreet as Count Fosco
(Blum apparently missed the movie, too) and
the emergence in 1949 of romance comics as
the industry’s fastest-growing category. The
Woman in White failed to catch on (it was out
of print from 1952 to 1960) possibly because
Blum rarely drew a woman whose face didn’t
call to mind the skull beneath the skin. The
heroine Laura Fairlie was rendered as a walk-
ing memento mori.
A major assignment followed. Walt Dis-
ney was soon to release a film version of Rob-
ert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, and
Gilberton, which, inexplicably, after eight
years still had not added the boyhood favorite
to the Classics Illustrated list, took advantage
of the timing and issued an abridgment as
No. 64 (October 1949). Kiefer was occupied
with Western Stories and The Man Without a
Country, so Blum, master of the refined line,
stepped in. His memorable line-drawing
cover depicted the principal characters in a
vertical box along the left side and showed
the crow’s nest duel between Jim Hawkins
Alex A. Blum, The Woman in White (July 1949). Anne Catherick falls victim to
the evil machinations of a trim Count Fosco. and Israel Hands.
The artist’s Long John Silver is a leaner
congenial to the artist, who cloaked Longfellow’s insistently model of the buccaneer than N.C. Wyeth’s or Norman Price’s
rhythmic folk material with an otherworldly fairy-tale air that, familiar depictions, to say nothing of Robert Newton’s or Wal-
at times, approaches what Classics Reader editor Bill Briggs lace Beery’s cinematic portrayals. Stevenson described the
termed “mythic grandeur.”6 The illustrations aim at an ele- pirate as “very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham —
gantly elevated visual style that is most effectively conveyed in plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling.”8 Blum’s Long John
the line-drawing cover depiction of the chieftain beneficently may be tall, strong, and intelligent, but he has the lean and
surveying his people or in the final-page “Westward, westward” hungry features of a Cassius. Still, the artist caught something
departure of the retiring hero “into the dusk of evening.” of the character’s ambivalent charm.
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 79

Jim Hawkins, for his part, looks like a startled Vassar un- in a 1989 painted-cover reprint that promoted the Long John
dergraduate of the Jazz Age, with a page-boy bob. Blum may Silver seafood-restaurant chain and the Charlton Heston tel-
have had at hand stills from the 1920 Maurice Tourneur film evision film based on the novel. In 2008, Jack Lake Produc-
version of the story, in which actress Shirley Mason appeared tions reissued the title as part of the Canadian publisher’s re-
as Jim. The white blouse, red waistcoat, and red knee-breeches vived original series.
in which the artist outfitted Jim
from start to finish of the comic
book resemble the costume Mason
wore in the silent movie.9
Blum had better success with
secondary characters. The artist ef-
fectively conveyed the hollow blus-
ter of Billy Bones, the embittered
malice of Blind Pew, and the sneak-
ing menace of Israel Hands. Squire
Trelawney is sufficiently stout and
obtuse, while Captain Smollett is
abrasively forthright and resolute.
Throughout the book, Blum
makes creative use of panel shapes
to enhance visual interest. Many of
the crucial sequences are dramati-
cally potent — Black Dog’s cutlass
fight with Billy Bones, the pirates’
search of the Admiral Benbow Inn,
Silver’s parley with Captain Smol-
lett, Jim’s shipboard confrontation
with Israel Hands, and the treasure
hunt itself. Other mythic scenes,
however, such as Jim hiding in the
apple barrel or the buccaneers storm-
ing the stockade, are disappoint-
ingly unimaginative in composition
or point of view.
It is likely that another, more
robust artist such as Robert Hay-
ward Webb, who had brought Ste-
venson’s Kidnapped dramatically to
life for Classics, would have infused
the pirate yarn with greater energy.
Even so, Blum’s interpretation held
its own through fourteen printings
between 1949 and 1969 and achieved
a kind of iconic status with young
readers. His Treasure Island illustra-
tions inspired several imitations,
the first of which was an anony-
mous set of drawings for a coloring
book published in 1958 by James
& Jonathan, Inc. The Classics Illus-
trated edition attained an afterlife Alex A. Blum, Treasure Island (October 1949). “One more step, Mr. Hands....”
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 81

Having proved himself in an action

tale, the artist went on to a historical ro-
mance, The Scottish Chiefs, No. 67 ( Jan-
uary 1950), a skillful adaptation by John
O’Rourke, shorn of what Donna Richard-
son termed “Jane Porter’s florid prose.”10
Using N.C. Wyeth’s illustrations of the
novel as a guide, Blum created an equally
idealized William Wallace, sword upraised
and crying, “Liberty and Lord Mar!” The
villainess of the tale, Lady Mar, is among
the artist’s few successful female charac-
ters. Blum invested her with a sort of ser-
pentine grace as she vainly attempts to se-
duce the unmoved Wallace.
In The Pilot, No. 70 (April 1950),
James Fenimore Cooper’s Revolutionary
War naval adventure, the artist revealed a
prejudice (or blind spot) common to illus-
trators, film producers, and directors of his
generation: a distaste for men’s hairstyles
of the 18th century. Most of the principal
male characters appear with hair trimmed
in the manner of the Napoleonic era.
Whenever something resembling a peruke
is seen, it ends in a prodigious ducktail
with no ribbon to hold it together. Mean-
while, Blum gave Mr. Grey, the mysterious
pilot of the title, the features of a rather
prim, strongly disapproving John Wayne.
Two inspired treatments of a pair of
lesser-known 19th-century French classics
followed. A somewhat softened adaptation
of Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs,
No. 71 (May 1950), featured a less grotesque
Gwynplaine than would appear in Nor-
man Nodel’s 1962 revision. Hugo’s plea
for downtrodden, “mutilated” humanity
obviously moved the artist, whose inking
was generally darker than usual in the book.
An anachronistic 1890s Ferris wheel in the
background of a scene set in the early
Alex A. Blum, The Man Who Laughs (May 1950). “I am not laughing!” Compare
1700s failed to spoil one of Blum’s finest Blum’s rendering of this scene with Norman Nodel’s 1962 revision (Chapter XV).
covers. The terror of the young Gwyn-
plaine in the shadow of the gibbet is a memorable sequence, Equally impressive was The Black Tulip, No. 73 ( July
as is the revelation of his disfigurement to Ursus (“I am not 1950). Alexandre Dumas’s novel of political and personal in-
laughing”). Despite the comic book’s happy ending, based on trigue set in 17th-century Holland highlighted Blum’s predilec-
the 1928 Conrad Veidt film rather than Hugo’s novel, The Man tion for working in miniature. Seldom are characters seen at
Who Laughs ranks among the artist’s best works for Gilberton. close range; most of the panel composition is in midrange or

Opposite: Alex A. Blum, The Scottish Chiefs (January 1950). Lord Mar trusts in Wallace, while Lady Mar puts that trust to the test.
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 83

at an even farther distance. The result is to

heighten the reader’s sense that greater forces
are at work behind the scenes and that more
is at stake than mere bulb envy.
Turning to Homeric epic, Blum offered
a controlled, austere account of The Iliad, No.
77 (November 1950). Even if the armor is
generic Greco-Roman and most of the details
anachronistic, the tragedies of combat and the
relations between gods and mortals unfold in
understated panels evocative of Flaxman’s de-
signs for The Iliad. Especially effective are the
sequences depicting dialogue between the
Olympians and their acts of intervention in
battle. Nowhere else in the series is the artist’s
fundamentally classical vision more evident.
The following project, Edmond Ros-
tand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, No. 79 ( January
1951), continued in the martial vein but with
a baroque flavor. Blum’s crowded but well-
balanced panels echo the instructions of script-
writer Ken W. Fitch and exhibit the artist’s
obvious enthusiasm for the material, from the
silencing of Montfleury in the theatre to the
appointment with Death in the convent. The
line-drawing cover was one of his best for the
series. Blum’s sketches of the swordsman-poet
Cyrano, the inarticulate lover Christian, and
the twice-beloved Roxane must be counted
among his strongest character studies.
The artist was responsible for two of three
novels by Jack London that were adapted for
Classics Illustrated. Both White Fang, No. 80
(February 1951), which featured the last line-
drawing cover, and The Sea Wolf, No. 85 (July
1951), were somewhat out of Blum’s range. He
was never at his best drawing animals, and his
elegant linework was at odds with the brutality
aboard Wolf Larsen’s ship, although both books
contained some stirring action sequences.
Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, No. Alex A. Blum, The Iliad (November 1950). Blum’s spare linework revealed the
83 (May 1951), a collaborative effort with son- neoclassical influence of sculptor-engraver John Flaxman.
in-law and fellow Iger artist William Bossert,
was a striking, though uneven, venture into more exotic ter- his stride again in an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A
ritory. The work was weakest in the wolf-pack scenes and Midsummer Night’s Dream, No. 87 (September 1951). The
strongest in “The King’s Ankus,” with its pair of gracefully in- painted cover captured, in its naive style, something of the
terpreted snakes, Kaa the python and the white cobra. moonlight, madness, and magic that suffuses the comedy.
Blum did a fair job on the title piece in Edgar Allan Poe’s Blum’s treatment of the forest antics of Puck and the theatrical
The Gold Bug and Other Stories, No. 84 ( June 1951), but hit effusions of Nick Bottom and his fellow rustics was nothing if

Opposite: Alex A. Blum, The Black Tulip (July 1950). “Tulipomania” nearly takes its toll.
Alex A. Blum, Cyrano de Bergerac (January 1951). Strong character studies distinguished the artist’s illustrations for Cyrano, the
first Gilberton title to bear a “by arrangement with” notice.
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 85

not charming. The artist seemed to be

enjoying himself, adding playful dec-
orative motifs and experimenting with
panel shapes and layout. Unfortunately,
both Blum and the colorist were con-
fused by the pair of vapid lovers. They
reversed the characters of Hermia, who
should be dark and short, and Helena,
who should be tall and fair; instead,
Hermia is depicted as a blonde and Hel-
ena as a brunette.
When painted covers were intro-
duced in 1951, Blum supplied most of
the first dozen. Because his specialty was
the thin, supple line applied to paper,
some of these works, such as the covers
for The Odyssey and The Sea Wolf, seem
uncharacteristically strained or inde-
finite. The artist’s most successful ef-
forts with brushes, such as the covers
for The Gold Bug and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, achieve a precision of
execution similar to the best of his in-
terior art.
Hames Ware has observed that
Blum “responded well when text-heavy
scripts were assigned, as in the Shake-
speare adaptations.”11 The Bard elicited
what was perhaps the artist’s greatest
single effort for Classics Illustrated—
Hamlet, No. 99 (September 1952). The
character of Polonius appears to have
been modeled to some extent on the
actor in the 1948 film by Laurence
Oliv ier. The Prince himself, however,
was Blum’s own concept, and was ren-
dered with unusual complexity for the
artist.
Blum’s instinct for pacing was un-
erring; he broke down short exchanges
of dialogue into naturally flowing
smaller panels, incorporated dramatic
theatrical gestures in larger panels, and
kept longer speeches, such as Hamlet’s
two soliloquies, intact in large balloons. Alex A. Blum, Hamlet (September 1952). The illustration serves the text in the first of
Hamlet’s great soliloquies, encapsulated in a single speech balloon; the fatherly admo-
Rocco Versaci argues that “the visual nition of Polonius also receives, in abbreviated form, the tableau treatment.
delivery of these speeches is stagnant,”
contending that, in the case of the “To be or not to be” solil- telling point. Shakespearean scholar Michael P. Jensen made
oquy, “the visual accomplishes little more than to establish much the same point, independently, at about the same time.13
12
staging; the storytelling duties fall completely to the text.” The art of Alex A. Blum and, for that matter, his peer Henry
In terms of sequential-art strategies, Versaci makes a C. Kiefer, is indeed often static because the two men, born in
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 87

Left: Alex A. Blum, Daniel Boone (June 1952). The kidnapping of Jemima Boone and friends. Note Ken Fitch’s text-laden narrative
boxes, which appear in three of the page’s five panels. Right: Alex A. Blum, Knights of the Round Table (June 1953). Arthur’s
finest, Galahad, prayerfully contemplates the Grail. Blum was at his best in this sort of formal composition.

the nineteenth century, approached comics from the per- the Wilderness, No. 96 ( June 1952), Blum supplied vigorous
spective of illustrators trained to focus on the grand dramatic drawings of frontier life. The adaptation by Ken W. Fitch was
moment. The proverbial old dogs, they failed to master — or text-heavy even by Classics Illustrated standards, and the artist
perhaps even fully to understand—the new medium’s capacity cleverly compressed panels in which the narrative voice sup-
for dynamic movement. As illustrators, they served the printed planted dialogue, producing lively pictures on the miniature
word. That, they fervently believed, was their mission. scale in which he worked so well. The page-one splash, the
One can only wonder what Matt Baker might have done kidnapping panels, and the attack-on-Boonesborough center-
with W.H. Hudson’s Green Mansions, No. 90 (December 1951), fold are memorable images. Gregory Cwiklik observed of
with its jungle heroine Rima, the Bird Girl. Blum’s Rima was Daniel Boone that “Blum’s layout is fluid. Each page has an
the closest the artist ever came to Iger shop Good Girl art; she organic look to it, done ... in the Iger Shop manner of varying
was drawn as an ethereal, demurely erotic woman, though, of panel shape and size.”14
course, more demure than erotic. All the same, she bears little A tale of 15th-century derring-do by Sir Arthur Conan
resemblance to the artist’s usual asexual, skeletal creatures. Doyle, The White Company, No. 102 (December 1952), an
For John Bakeless’s biography, Daniel Boone: Master of outstanding adaptation by Fitch, and a cycle of Arthurian leg-

Opposite: Alex A. Blum, Green Mansions (December 1951). Rima the Bird Girl, perhaps the artist’s most successful female character.
88 CLASSICS Illustrated

sword-wielding combatants against

clean, uncluttered backgrounds. Be-
cause Knights of the Round Table was
published during the heyday of the
anti-comics crusade, the scriptwriter
omitted the adulterous affair of Lanc-
elot and Guinevere and instead gave
prominence to the quest for the Holy
Grail. This emphasis elicited one of
Blum’s most striking full-page draw-
ings: a study of Galahad kneeling in
reverential contemplation before the
elevated Grail.
Jules Verne’s From the Earth to
the Moon, No. 105 (March 1953), the
artist’s single foray into the realm of
science-fiction for Gilberton, featured
delightful caricatures of stovepipe-
hatted, high-collared Victorian-era
astronauts. The scriptwriter, who
combined From the Earth to the Moon
and Round the Moon for the adapta-
tion, captured something of Verne’s
wit and satirical style, for which
Blum found visual equivalents in the
portraits and antics of the unlikely
space-voyage companions. (The
artist seemed, however, to have had
difficulty drawing waves in the splash-
down sequence; in one panel, green
flames appear to be engulfing the
U.S.S. Susquehanna.) Issue No. 105
represented the first departure in the
Iger era from the use of hand-
lettered speech balloons and the in-
troduction of Leroy lettering. From
the Earth to the Moon proved to be
the best-selling of all Classics Illus-
trated titles with a cover number
higher than 100.
Valuing Blum’s affability as well
as his experience, Albert Kanter hired
the veteran in 1953 as art director for
Classics Illustrated and the newly
Alex A. Blum, From the Earth to the Moon (March 1953). Verne’s Victorian astronauts dis-
launched Classics Illustrated Junior
cover weightlessness. and Picture Parade series, just as the
artist’s former employer, Jerry Iger,
ends, Knights of the Round Table, No. 108 (June 1953), superbly was disengaging himself from the Gilberton account. Blum’s
scripted by John Cooney, demonstrated once again Blum’s duties limited his output to a handful of titles. He illustrated
affinity for romanticized medieval settings. In both books, he the first Junior, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, No. 501
drew and inked striking single-page or centerfold splashes of (October 1953), the most “Old World” effort of his career. His
 VIII. ALEX A. BLUM 89

other complete issues in this period were Jack and the Beanstalk, cruiting some of the most talented artists ever to work under
No. 507 (April 1954); Macbeth, No. 128 (September 1955); and the yellow banner, including Norman Nodel, Joe Orlando,
The Story of Jesus, No. 129A (December 1955), in which, as- and George Evans.
sisting William A. Walsh, he supplied backgrounds. From 1954 Colleagues respected him and remembered him fondly.
until his retirement in 1957, most of his artwork was confined An old acquaintance and fellow Iger-shop alumnus, Rafael As-
to painting the odd cover, such as Waterloo, ornamenting filler tarita, described him as always impeccably dressed in a suit
material in Classics Illustrated and Classics Illustrated Junior, and tie.15 George Evans “found [Blum] to be one of the nicest,
and sketching “Coming Next” ads for both series. gentlest, kindest people I had ever met. He was quite elderly,
The drawings for Blum’s final Classics Illustrated edition, and if I were a movie director, I’d have had him play every
Shakespeare’s Macbeth, displayed continuity with his first in charismatic older man in every film, even if only to show him
its emphasis on clean linework, but most panels lack the elegant as an ‘extra.’ He ‘had it’— and those other artists I know who
energy of his earlier illustrations. By that point, the artist was knew him all agreed with that assessment.”16 But the final as-
66 — an old man, by the standards of the time, in a young sessment belongs to Norman Nodel, who lauded Blum as “a
man’s game—and he devoted most of his energies to his duties real gentleman, a prince of a man.”17
as Gilberton’s art director. In that role, he remained active, re-
 IX

A “Newer, Truer Name”:

The Late Forties
A lbert Kanter was proud of his publication, which was
gaining increasing acceptance among parents and educa-
tors, some of whom wrote ringing endorsements for Classic
their place in the world of literature. Just look at the list of coming
titles and you’ll see that we have picked just what you want.
Yes, there’s another piece of news for you ... something im-
portant that you will want to know and remember! The name of
Comics. But there was always that second half of the name, Classic Comics is being changed. Starting in March, with issue
and comics were coming under increasing fire as postwar crime number 35, the new name will be “Classics Illustrated.”
series attracted increasingly negative, and even hostile, Why the change? Well, ever since our first issues, you have
publicity. Adults who approved of the publication and even said that they really aren’t “comics.” We agree with you and so
some young readers sent letters to the editorial staff urging that we’re changing the name to “Classics Illustrated.”
Remember the date ... March, 1947 ... the issue, number 35,
Gilberton further distance its series from the “comics” stigma.
and the new name, “Classics Illustrated.” Ask for them by name,
It was apparently Gilberton accountant Arthur Massin or ask for just plain “Classics”; your dealer will know.
who hit upon the name Classics Illustrated. He contended that Yours truly,
it would be more descriptive because the series had little in com- The Editors
mon with other comic books and offered in-
stead illustrated versions of literary master-
pieces. Kanter agreed, seconded by his son,
managing editor William E. Kanter, recog-
nizing that the reputation of the line would
be enhanced by the image makeover.1 It
would prove to be Gilberton’s pivotal mo-
ment.
In January 1947, the following notice
ran on the inside front cover of issue No.
33, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes:
A NEW NAME BY POPULAR ACCLAIM!
Dear Reader:
1947 marks another milestone in the his-
tory of Classic Comics ... it is the sixth year
that you’ve read and thrilled to these great
stories. Because you have demanded the
best in literature over these years, that’s ex-
actly what you have received ... the best
that money can buy! Thanks to you for
your splendid cooperation in making Clas-
sic Comics the acknowledged great publi-
cation that it is.
The stories that you will read this year “Coming Next” ad for Classics Illustrated No. 35, The Last Days of Pompeii, appeared
have been selected for their thrills and excite- in the inside back cover of Classic Comics No. 34 (February 1947). A “newer, truer
ment, their appeal to young and old, and name” is announced.

90
 IX. A “NEWER, TRUER NAME” 91

The next month, the new logo

was unveiled, and another slogan was
added to the announcement in issue
No. 34, Mysterious Island, the last
title to appear under the Classic
Comics ribbon: “Classics Illustrated....
A newer, truer name for Classic
Comics.... IT’S NEW! IT’S TRUE!
IT’S YOU!” Elaborating on the ear-
lier blurb, the editors explained that
The name “Classics Illustrated”
is the better name for your favorite
periodical. It really isn’t a “comic”
... it’s the illustrated, or picture,
version of your favorite classics.
The name “Classics Illustrated”
is a name that you have suggested.
We’ve had scores of letters from
you readers, your parents, teachers
and clergy urging us that Classic
Comics needs a new name ... it’s
your idea!
A “Coming Next” ad heralded
the imminent arrival of “the great
first issue of Classics Illustrated.”
Then, in March 1947, with
issue No. 35, Sir Edward Bulwer-
Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii,
the “newer, truer” name appeared.
The long yellow banner that filled
the top of each cover was reduced
to a yellow rectangle in the upper
left-hand corner that remained a
constant fixture (with some retool-
ing of the logo lettering in Decem-
ber 1951) until 1971.

NEWSPAPER CLASSICS
During the same month that
Gilberton introduced the new
series name, the company tried it
Illustrated Classic Sunday supplement, Milwaukee Journal (22 June 1947). “Down the
out in reverse for a full year in Rabbit-Hole”: the first of four newspaper installments of Alice in Wonderland. Alex A.
newspaper comics supplements ti- Blum’s title panel was used in March 1948 as the Classics Illustrated cover; the large illus-
tled Illustrated Classics. Syndicated tration marked “3” was cut from the comic-book edition.
through the New York Post, the se-
ries ran from 30 March 1947 to 21 Fourteen adaptations appeared in mostly four-week in-
March 1948 and was carried, in whole or in part, by eight pa- stallments that generally amounted to the equivalent of 64-
pers: the Post, the Newark Star Ledger, the Queens Home News, page books: Kidnapped, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, David
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Chicago Sun, the Indianapolis Copperfield, Alice in Wonderland, The Spy, The Adventures of
Star, the Milwaukee Journal, and the Dallas Home News.2 Tom Sawyer, The House of the Seven Gables, Julius Caesar, Silas
92 CLASSICS Illustrated

Marner, A Christmas Carol, The Lady of the Lake, The Man in

the Iron Mask, The Toilers of the Sea, and The Courtship of Miles
Standish. These were later added as Classics Illustrated titles in
editions of reduced length to fit the 48-page format introduced
with issue No. 45, Tom Brown’s School Days, in January 1948.
In most cases, such as Kidnapped and Alice in Wonderland,
entire pages were excised for the comic-book versions with
minimal, or at least acceptable, disruption to the narrative
flow. Single-page illustrations were the first to be discarded,
such as an image, repeated in the next panel, of Alice falling
down the rabbit-hole. All that was lost in that instance was
Alice’s thought-bubble observation: “How slowly I’m falling.”
David Copperfield, however, was another matter. Three
pages dealing with the shipwreck that claims the lives of Ham
and Steerforth were omitted. Unfortunately, the Gilberton ed-
itors chose to use for issue No. 48’s cover one of the weekly
introductory splash illustrations that depicted Steerforth and
Ham plunging into the waves. Readers unaware of the
existence of the newspaper edition searched the comic book
in vain for the cover scene.
For Julius Caesar, pages were rearranged with a consid-
erable amount of cutting, pasting, trimming, or expanding.
Henry C. Kiefer reworked some panels for the comic-book
edition. The 1947 newspaper illustration of Casca’s initial blow,
for example, showed Caesar’s left arm extended to the viewer’s
right in an effort to ward off thrusts from other conspirators’
swords leveled against him. In the 1950 comic book, however,
both Caesar’s left arm and the conspirators’ swords are
upraised. The episode of the murder of Cinna the poet was
dropped, but the greater attention paid to continuity was ev-
ident when issue No. 68 finally appeared more than two years
later.
Some friction developed between Jerry Iger and Albert
Kanter concerning the newspaper serials. Iger believed that his
shop was entitled to a share of the revenue from each of the
papers running the weekly installments. Kanter, however, in-
sisted that Gilberton’s standard contractual arrangement with
Iger controlled. Although Iger briefly considered legal action,
the dispute subsided, and cordial relations between publisher
and art director were soon restored.3

“KEEP UP THE SWELL WORK”

Meanwhile, endorsements for the renamed Classics Illus-

trated series came from parents and young readers alike, and
some were printed on the inside front cover of No. 36, Typee
(April 1947). From Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, a “mother of a

Classics Illustrated advertisement in The Instructor (October

1949) (collection of John Haufe).
 IX. A “NEWER, TRUER NAME” 93

nine year old girl and a teacher in the ele-

mentary school” declared that “I cannot
praise your Classics too highly. Books of this
type can be successfully used to build a better
world, so please give us books that build bet-
ter character, teach higher ideals and better
morals.”
The summer-camp contingent was rep-
resented by a writer from Chicago: “Your
Classics were by far the most popular books
at our camp last year, and we are in the act
of having them bound in books with hard
covers for use at our camp, which should
lengthen their life considerably. Your chang-
ing your name to Classics Illustrated is ex-
cellent. They are in no class to be placed with
the trashy so-called comics now on the mar-
ket. Keep up the swell work.”
A student from Smith Center, Kansas,
sounded what would become an increasingly
familiar note: “I like your adaptations of the
Classics very much. In school I have made
book reports on nearly every one of these.
Of course I read the book along with the
Classic magazine. It helped me to visualize
the characters and scenes. I have had several
compliments on my book reports by the
teachers. Your magazine is really a great
help.” Many young readers agreed.
Other, perhaps weightier, endorse-
ments appeared. For instance, Classics Illus-
trated appeared on the “white list” of accept-
able reading matter compiled in the Catholic
Library World by Louis A. Rongione in 1948.
However, popular-culture historian Michael
Sawyer suggests that Rongione may not have
carefully examined the series, which was later
attacked by the guardians of public rectitude
and decency for its violent and horrific fare.4
In the meantime, Albert Kanter Henry C. Kiefer, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (June 1949). This line-drawing cover,
which replaced the original 1943 cover (see first edition of this work), was still
courted the educational market, with re- regarded by some critics as too horrific; it was, in turn, replaced in 1953 with a
peated ads in The Instructor during the late more contemplative painted cover.
1940s and early 1950s. Special school rates
were offered, and the series was said to have been acclaimed THE HORROR! THE HORROR!
by “thousands of school officials ... from Maine to California.”
A special 48-slide package based on Moby Dick was created, Lurid covers depicting violence and horror themes
but, apart from the periodical advertisements promoting it, became common comics fare in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
no evidence is available to indicate whether this experiment The Gilberton Company had actually paved the way in 1943
in educational marketing was successful. The fact that a slide with a fanged Mr. Hyde bearing down on a panicked and flee-
set was made only for the Melville story suggests that the re- ing London populace on the cover of No. 13, Dr. Jekyll and
sponse from schools was disappointing. Mr. Hyde, the first actual “horror” comic book. A comically
94 CLASSICS Illustrated

with even greater regularity. For the cover of No. 40, Mysteries,
the protagonist of “The Pit and the Pendulum” was shown di-
rectly beneath the menacing blade, covered by rats gnawing
on his bonds. The floating corpse on the cover of No. 41,
Twenty Years After, was perhaps the most notorious Gilberton
cover and is highly prized by collectors. (See page 100.)
By the standards of the day, even the substantially tamer
covers of No. 43, Great Expectations, and No. 44, Mysteries of
Paris, were controversial. The former title figured prominently,
several years later, in Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the
Innocent:
There is a comic book which has on its cover two struggling
men, one manacled with chains locked around hands and feet,
the other with upraised fist and a reddened, bloody bandage
around his head; onlookers: a man with a heavy iron mallet on
one side and a man with a rifle and bayonet on the other. The
first eight pictures of this comic book show an evil-looking man
with a big knife held like a dagger threatening a child who says:
“Oh, don’t cut my throat, sir!” Am I correct in classifying this as
a crime comic? Or should I accept it as what it pretends to be —
Dickens’ Great Expectations?5

The dialogue quoted by Wertham —“Oh, don’t cut my

throat, sir!”— appears in Chapter 1 of Dickens’s novel as “O!
Don’t cut my throat, sir!” (The cover scene he describes can
be found in the first color section.)
After the appearance of Mysteries of Paris in December
1947, Iger toned down the terror, and Henry C. Kiefer was as-
signed to render the worst offenders — Nos. 13, 18, 29, and
41— unobjectionable. Except for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he
succeeded too well. The replacements were not only unobjec-
tionable, they were emphatically uninspiring.
Meanwhile, Jerry Iger was trying out a variety of hands
826 Broadway, New York, site of the Gilberton Company
offices, 1948–1952 (photograph by Yslan Hicks, March 2008).
on the rechristened Classics Illustrated, beginning with Henry
C. Kiefer in No. 35. A visual identity for the series was evolving.
grotesque Quasimodo dominated the original cover of No. 18, Thanks in no small part to the energy brought to the family
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. A severed hand was featured business by William Kanter, the Gilberton Company itself was
on the cover of No. 21, 3 Famous Mysteries, but the depiction evolving as well, moving in 1948 to sixth-floor offices at 826
of a skeletal figure on the cover of No. 20, The Corsican Broadway and raising its international profile with Classics
Brothers, was withdrawn before publication. series in Australia and Brazil.
When the Iger shop took over production of Classic
Comics in 1945, it promptly added more “horror” covers to the
line. The first was a Boris Karloff knock-off on No. 26, AUGUST M. FROEHLICH
Frankenstein, followed by a controversial “child abuse” scene
gracing the front of No. 29, The Prince and the Pauper, which Impressionistic linework, subtle character studies, and at-
had actually been toned down from the mock-up that had ap- tention to historical costuming characterize the contributions
peared in the “Coming Next” ad. A blood-stained finger and of August M. Froehlich, an older artist who died in 1949 shortly
rabid dog added to the newsstand appeal of No. 33, The Ad- after completing his last Classics Illustrated assignment. A solo
ventures of Sherlock Holmes. illustrator who penciled and inked his own work, Froehlich had
The change of the series name to the more respectable drawn Captain Marvel, Jr., for Fawcett in the mid–1940s and
Classics Illustrated seemed, paradoxically, to encourage the Iger had worked for Jack Binder’s and Bernard Baily’s shops before
artists to produce, for a brief period, even more horror subjects coming to Iger.6 Yet so consciously antiquated was his style,
 IX. A “NEWER, TRUER NAME” 95

Left: August M. Froehlich, Adventures of Cellini (June 1947). Cellini’s problems with the Pope, which led, in turn, to Gilberton’s
problems with the Church. Right: August M. Froehlich, The Toilers of the Sea (February 1949). Gilliatt battles the octopus.

so Europeanized was his grounding, that it is difficult to imag- 1948), The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo, No. 56 (February
ine him being associated with any comics of the period other 1949, originally an Illustrated Classic newspaper adaptation,
than Classics. The very nature of Gilberton’s publication made February–March 1948), and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, No.
what would have appeared hopelessly old-fashioned elsewhere 60 ( June 1949).
ideally suited for the context. Froehlich produced striking line-drawing covers and
Probably because of their anachronistic look, all of evocative interiors for Adventures of Cellini and The Toilers of
Froehlich’s Classics titles were eventually redrawn or discon- the Sea. The Cellini autobiography is the most concretely ren-
tinued. An adaptation of Benvenuto Cellini’s autobiography dered of the artist’s Gilberton efforts and provides a robust vi-
was dropped because of the less-than-flattering portrait it sual counterpart to the Florentine goldsmith’s lively, self-ag-
painted of the Renaissance Catholic Church.7 Yet for the seven grandizing memoir of life in Renaissance Italy. For the Victor
years or less that they remained in print, each offered what Hugo title, the artist captured the starkness of the struggle of
seemed a direct passage to another time. Quaintness, however, the protagonist, Gilliatt, to salvage an engine from a wrecked
is only part of the charm of Adventures of Cellini, No. 38 ( June ship; his memorable line-drawing cover depicted Gilliatt’s life-
1947), “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe in or-death struggle with an octopus.
Mysteries, No. 40 (August 1947), The Man in the Iron Mask by In Froehlich’s hands, The Man in the Iron Mask became
Alexandre Dumas, No. 54 (December 1948, originally an Il- something more than a well-executed period piece. The Classics
lustrated Classic newspaper adaptation, January–February Illustrated version of Dumas’s novel of dynastic intrigue
96 CLASSICS Illustrated

artist’s light touch, like a whisper,

draws the reader into the panels
and demands imaginative collabo-
ration.

HARLEY M. GRIFFITHS
Few artists associated with
Classics Illustrated seemed so per-
fectly matched with their material
as Harley M. Griffiths. At home with
the grotesque, he conjured fevered
worlds for such gothic-tinged titles
as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, No.
39 ( July 1947), Edgar Allan Poe’s
“The Fall of the House of Usher” in
Mysteries, No. 40 (August 1947), and
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of
the Seven Gables, No. 52 (October
1948). Griffiths also proved himself
adept at handling classical matter,
with a dash of strangeness, in his
illustrations for The Odyssey of
Homer, No. 81 (March 1951).
The artist completed all of his
work for Gilberton in 1947.8 The
House of the Seven Gables made its
first appearance as an Illustrated
Classics newspaper serial in Sep-
tember 1947; the pages for The Od-
yssey were held for nearly four years
and apparently retouched by an-
other hand.
Griffiths was born in June
1908 in Brooklyn, where he grad-
uated from St. Augustine’s High
School. He attended the Pratt In-
stitute at night while working as a
designer for a lighting manufac-
turer. Later, Griffiths attended the
National Academy of Art while
employed by Rambusch Liturgical
Arts Co., designing art for their
August M. Froehlich, The Man in the Iron Mask (December 1948). The deceiver and the
deceived: Aramis, would-be kingmaker, tempts Phillipe, would-be king. publications and religious stat-
utes. This led to work as an illus-
suggests depths of motive beyond the capacity of most comic trator for “Valiant Lives,” a syndicated strip in Catholic news-
books in 1948, particularly in the scene, set within the oppres- papers.9
sive atmosphere of the Bastille, in which the fallen musketeer During World War II, Griffiths worked for General Dy-
Aramis tempts the still-innocent royal twin Phillipe. The namics in San Diego, rendering drawings of engineering plans

Opposite: Harley M. Griffiths, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” in Mysteries (August 1947). Madeline and Roderick, together at last.
 IX. A “NEWER, TRUER NAME” 99

for U.S. aircraft. In 1943, he married in New

York, where he entered the comics field as a
freelancer. Following a move with his family
to Lac St. Joseph, Quebec, the artist submitted
his completed assignments for Classics Illus-
trated by mail. At the same time, he was pro-
viding illustrations for Picture Stories from the
Bible, a series published by Max Gaines’s Ed-
ucational Comics (soon to become notorious
with its own change of name to Entertaining
Comics, or just plain EC). That association
lasted until Gaines’s death in a freak boating
accident.10
By the autumn of 1947, Griffiths was
ready for a change of pace. He returned to New
York to assume duties as an advertising art di-
rector for B. Altman and Company, where he
worked until his retirement in 1973. Afterward,
Griffiths found fulfillment as a watercolorist,
and his art was shown in a number of one-man
exhibits on Nantucket Island, where he spent
his summers, in Westchester County, and in
New York City. He was an active member of
the National Arts Club, the Nantucket Artists
Association, and the Hudson River Artists As-
sociation until his death in April 1986.11
In Griffiths’s work for Classics Illustrated
(with the exception of The Odyssey, which was
probably inked by another hand), characters in-
habit a realm of shadows in which forms con-
tinually threaten to dissolve or mutate into other,
possibly sinister shapes. The covers for Jane Eyre
and The House of the Seven Gables represent the
most concentrated examples of the artist’s un-
settling vision. Griffiths creates an atmosphere
that suggests extreme emotion barely held in
check or breaking violently through conventional
decorum. Averted eyes and bent or twisted
figures are common. None of his men are con-
ventionally handsome; none of his women are
conventionally beautiful. Yet in Jane Eyre, the Harley M. Griffiths, Jane Eyre (July 1947). Mad Bertha leaps.
principals exude a barely suppressed sensuality.
With his rendering of Rochester’s deranged wife, Griffiths cap- It is significant that, when earlier Classics editions were
tures extreme emotion bursting through conventional decorum. being revamped in the late 1950s and early 1960s to conform
Near the end of the book, the artist presents a chilling image to the new Gilberton house style, only one title by Griffiths —
(omitted in the 1962 revision) of mad Bertha leaping to her the atypical Odyssey —survived overhauling and deletion. Like
death. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the consummation Rochester’s mad wife, Harley Griffiths’s idiosyncratic art was
of Roderick’s obsession with his sister is grotesquely rendered removed to the attic, a reminder of a more undisciplined, un-
in a sequence that was shortened in reprinted editions. predictable past.

Oppostite: Harley M. Griffiths, The House of the Seven Gables (October 1948). Extreme emotion was the artist’s element.
100 CLASSICS Illustrated

surface, it was a wonder that Albert Kanter,

who had taken pains to disassociate his
publication from “comics” by changing
the line’s name earlier in the year, allowed
the controversial cover to be issued.
He didn’t wait long, however, to cor-
rect what must have seemed at the time a
major gaffe, and when the second printing
of the title rolled off the presses in 1949,
Henry C. Kiefer had dutifully supplied a
soberly bland cover depicting Anne of
Austria and the faithful Musketeers. The
1960 painted cover by Doug Roea was an
improvement, showing d’Artagnan and
the guys in action on horseback, clatter-
ing through a darkened street.
Robert C. Burns, the artist who drew
Twenty Years After, held a B.F.A. from Yale
University, a B.A. from Rollins College,
and an M.A. and Ed.D. from Columbia
University. He was known as a portrait
painter, having received a first-place “Our
Men in the Service” award from Life mag-
azine during World War II.12 Burns taught
at Rollins College and was for many years
a professor of art at Trenton State College.
He and his wife, Amie Goodwin Burns,
lived in Princeton, New Jersey.
Burns’s style in Twenty Years After is
a mixture of swirling woodcut-style line-
work and carefully rendered gore — as
where, for example, the Executioner of
Lille meets his end. It is a meeting of Lynd
Ward–influenced modernism and gothic
sensibility. When critics complain about
the “sameness” of the Classics Illustrated
art, they obviously have never seen issue
No. 41. Burns displays genuine enthusiasm
for the story, faithfully adapted (if neces-
sarily truncated) by Harry Miller, and a
Robert C. Burns, Twenty Years After (September 1947). One of several “horror” covers certain flair for crossed swords.
that were replaced in response to the anti-comics movement.

ROBERT C. BURNS ALDO RUBANO

The most violent “horror” cover to appear in the Classics Aldo Rubano was highly regarded in the Iger organization
series graced Alexandre Dumas’s Twenty Years After, No. 41 for his backgrounds and inking. A lover of classical music, he
(September 1947), a sequel to The Three Musketeers. With its played it continually at his desk in the shop, irritating some of
bloody image of the villain Mordaunt’s corpse floating to the his colleagues whose tastes inclined more toward Hit Parade fare.13

Aldo Rubano, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (August-September 1948). Tom’s whitewashing scheme intrigues a willing dupe.
Left: Robert Hebberd et al., Benjamin Franklin (November 1949). Young Ben Franklin arrives in Philadelphia, amuses his future wife, and begins to make his way in the
world. Right: Benjamin Franklin promotional edition (1956). This painted-cover giveaway was distributed by the Ben Franklin 5-10 chain in 1956, the 250th anniversary
of Franklin’s birth and the year in which the recently reissued comic book won the Thomas Alva Edison Award.
 IX. A “NEWER, TRUER NAME” 103

Iger assigned Rubano one Classics Illustrated title, The Van Doren’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize–winning biography. At the
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, No. 50 (August–September 1948), time, all art for Classics Illustrated was supplied by S.M. “Jerry”
which originally appeared in newspaper format in August– Iger’s comics-art studio. Unlike any other Gilberton title since
September 1947. Mark Twain’s tale of growing up on the Mis- The Count of Monte Cristo (March 1942), Benjamin Franklin
sissippi was well served by Harry Miller’s adaptation, and was the work of multiple artists, a true “shop job,” supplied
Rubano infused the illustrations with a rough-and-tumble, by S.M. “Jerry” Iger’s comics-art regulars. Henry C. Kiefer
cartoonlike energy. Caricature predominates over realism, fur- produced the original line-drawing cover, while Robert Heb-
ther boosting the high spirits of Tom’s whitewashing scheme berd, Gustav Schrotter, and Alex A. Blum contributed to the
and schoolhouse heroics. The darker side of Twain’s story was interior art.16
also well served by Rubano’s evocative shading in the graveyard Despite its hodgepodge of styles that shift in some cases
and cave episodes. from panel to panel, the book holds together well with its sus-
The cover illustration was singled out for its violence by tained attention to costuming and period details. A substantial
Fredric Wertham in Seduction of the Innocent: “An adaptation amount of cribbing from well-known portraits is evident. The
of one of Mark Twain’s novels has the picture of two small artists convincingly portrayed Franklin at different stages of
boys in a fight, one tearing the other’s hair — a scene not the his life; the boyhood and apprenticeship episodes were espe-
keynote of Mark Twain’s novel. Inside, three consecutive pic- cially well-managed, as well as the mission to France. Oddly
tures show a fight between two boys (‘In an instant both boys enough, considering the issue’s educational-market potential,
were gripped together like cats’) and the last picture shows one the first printing of Benjamin Franklin failed to attract a sub-
boy with a finger almost in the other’s eye (the injury-to-the- stantial audience, and the title disappeared from the Classics
eye motif again).”14 Illustrated reorder list in 1952.
One of the liveliest of the Classics issues, Rubano’s The year 1956 was the 250th anniversary of Franklin’s
splendid edition went through eight printings before it was re- birth, and in honor of the occasion Gilberton restored No. 65
placed with a stupefyingly pedestrian rendering by an to the line, this time with a striking painted cover that refer-
unknown hand in 1961. Fortunately, when Acclaim Comics enced the original Kiefer line-drawing cover illustration. The
revived the original Classics series in 1997, editor Madeleine Ben Franklin 5-10 variety-store chain and the Franklin Life
Robins restored Rubano’s unique Tom Sawyer, citing her fond- Insurance Company, recognizing promotional opportunities
ness for its “loopy charm.”15 in the anniversary year, distributed free editions that sported
a variation of the Classics Illustrated painted cover with red
background, minus the distinctive yellow-rectangle logo. This
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: ROBERT HEBBERD ET AL. time, Gilberton had a winner — quite literally — on its hands.
In 1956, Benjamin Franklin received the Thomas Alva Edison
In November 1949, the Gilberton Company added a bi- Award for juvenile publications. The painted-cover edition,
ography of Benjamin Franklin to the Classics Illustrated series one of the most honored books in the series’ history, was never
as issue No. 65. The anonymous script was derived in part again withdrawn from distribution and went through five
from Franklin’s Autobiography and possibly in part from Carl printings by 1969.
 X

Blood, Sweat, and Rudy Palais

O ne of the most distinctive Classics Illustrated stylists,
Rudolph (“Rudy” or “Rudi”) Palais1 (1912–2004), filled
such titles as The Prairie, Crime and Punishment, David
would be lectured by the professor about developing the imag-
ination of the student. By selecting a subject at random, we

Balfour, and Pitcairn’s Island with characters seemingly

always on the verge of springing into action or suffering
agonies of suspense — muscles tensed, knuckles tight-
ened, and sweat pouring. At his best, he brought a cin-
ematic narrative sensibility to the eccentric, expression-
istic panels he drew.
Palais came by it naturally — and early. Born in
Hoboken, New Jersey, he was the son of an artist-
turned-draftsman who had studied in Vienna.2 “At the
age of twelve,” Palais wrote, “I joined a group of students
selected by an art professor who had a radical approach
to teaching art. Every Saturday morning, we the class

Left: Rudolph Palais, circa 1948 (courtesy Rudolph Palais; collection of the author). Right: Rudolph Palais, The Pioneers (May
1947). Natty Bumppo looks on in dismay at the “destruction of the birds.”

104
 X. BLOOD, SWEAT, AND RUDY PALAIS 105

Left: Rudolph Palais, The Prairie (April 1949). Sweating horses and determined foes. Right: Rudolph Palais, The Adventures of
Kit Carson (October 1953). The hero is wounded in a battle with Mohawk-hairstyled Blackfeet.

would then proceed to paint the subject strictly from our imag- artist. While employed by Warner Brothers, Palais met Robin-
ination — be it the rainy streets of a town or city—or a series son, James Cagney, and other actors.5 After leaving the film
of balloons in beautiful transparent colors. The professor disre- company’s advertising and poster department and before a
garded the basic academic approach, stating that the develop- five-year stint as a junior artist for Columbia Pictures, he
ment of the imagination was most important, and all else worked briefly for the Medal Gold Ice Cream Company in
would follow in time.” Traveling to various museums and art Brooklyn, where, he told interviewer Jim Amash, he received
galleries in New York, the young Palais was captivated by the $20 (and no royalties) for dashing off the lettering still used
sunlight-drenched canvases of Georges Seurat.3 for the “Popsicle” trademark.6
After attending the National Academy of Art and the Art Rudy’s younger brother Walter, a comic-book artist, lured
Students League of New York, where he came under the in- him to the fast-growing business and introduced him to Will
fluence of illustrators Norman Rockwell, J.F. Kernan, and Eisner and Jerry Iger, in whose shop he had worked since 1941.7
Montgomery Flagg, among others, Palais spent a total of seven By the mid–1940s, Palais was successfully negotiating his way
years in the 1930s producing “hundreds of full-color posters” in his new field, freelancing for a variety of comics publishers,
for Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures.4 During his two including Fiction House, Quality, Ace, Fox, and Harvey.8 He
years with Warner, one of his biggest projects (in the most literal produced artwork for the “Stormy Foster” series in Hit Comics
sense) was a twelve-foot-high painting of Edward G. and the “Deacon and Mickey” series in Catman Comics. In
Robinson’s head, done in collaboration with another studio Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay, Palais established his trade-
Rudolph Palais, Crime and Punishment (November 1951). Two consecutive pages of original art; note the artist’s reliance on hands, sweat, and cinematic angles to build
suspense.
 X. BLOOD, SWEAT, AND RUDY PALAIS 107

mark style, wreathing his panels in

smoke, bathing his bad guys in sweat,
and clothing his loose women in as
little as possible.9 Later, the artist
worked for EC, Fawcett, and Charl-
ton. Among his influences in the
realm of comics were Alex Raymond,
Hal Foster, and associates Milt Can-
iff, Jack Cole, and Reed Crandall.10
In 1947, the artist began a seven-
year association with Classics Illus-
trated. His first project for the series,
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pio-
neers, No. 37 (May 1947), was among
his finest efforts. The cover, showing
Natty Bumppo being placed in the
stocks while a dog nips at the heels
of the petty official responsible for
the indignity, concisely conveys the
Hogarthian energy Palais invested in
the adaptation. (Indeed, the cover’s
concentrated anarchic movement is
somewhat comparable to the swarm
of activity in William Hogarth’s
“Hudibras Encounters the Skim-
mington.”) Palais’s Pioneers was one
of the last two line-drawing covers
to be replaced by a painted cover in
the American Classics series. Along
with Louis Zansky’s cover art for The
Deerslayer, another Cooper title,
Palais’s original cover for The Pioneers
remained in print until 1968.
The artist did no work for Gil-
berton for nearly two years; then he
was assigned the final Leatherstock-
ing novel to be published in the se-
ries: The Prairie, No. 58 (April 1949).
Although the book lacked the verve
of The Pioneers, Palais designed a strik-
ing cover based on an illustration
from a 19th-century edition of the
novel. His editors at Gilberton initially
rejected his “roughs” for the charac-
ters in The Prairie, insisting on period
authenticity for the costumes. Other Rudolph Palais, David Balfour (April 1952). The artist keeps the reader’s eye moving in a
than that, however, he encountered dramatically effective example of visual storytelling.
little editorial interference.11 Both The
Pioneers and The Prairie went through eleven printings, and Returning to Western themes with The Adventures of Kit
one suspects that their success had more to do with the energy Carson, No. 112 (October 1953), a title issued to capitalize on
of the artist’s images than the turgidness of Cooper’s prose. the popularity of a current television series, Palais produced
108 CLASSICS Illustrated

was packed with action and quickly

became one of the staples of the 1950s
Classics catalogue.
From a later perspective, the book
seems marred by the usually reliable
Ken W. Fitch’s surprisingly sanguinary
script. “Drive this tack into your gun,
Kit,” a mountain man admonishes the
young scout. “That’s the way we keep
count ... a brass tack for every Redskin
we get!” For his part, the illustrator
never quite got the locale or the period
right. Although Carson was born in
1809 and died in 1868, as the Classics
edition informs the reader, vigilantes
use six-shooters, which hadn’t been in-
vented yet, in an 1829 raid on a band
ofM ohawk-coiffedA paches.
Lapses in Kit Carson notwith-
standing, most of the artist’s work for
Gilberton revealed his close attention
to historical setting. “Research was al-
ways a must,” Palais recalled, singling
out David Balfour, No. 94 (April 1952),
as well as the Cooper books. Robert
Louis Stevenson’s sequel to Kidnapped
(known as Catriona, after the heroine,
in British editions of the novel) gave the
artist a grounding in 18th-century cos-
tuming, which became something of
a specialty for him.13 An almost tactile
quality permeates his drawings of men
and women in their 1750s clothing.
In David Balfour, Palais made ex-
cellent use of the comic-book panel’s
adaptability, skillfully deploying differ-
ently shaped frames and pushing char-
acters outside them to accelerate the
pacing and to achieve the desired at-
mospheric effect. The naive David’s
encounters with a fortune-telling hag
and the cynical representatives of the
Scottish judicial system are given an
ominous edge through the constant re-
Rudolph Palais, “The Cask of Amontillado” in The Gold Bug and Other Stories (June
1951). A perspiring Montressor serves his revenge brick by brick. location of the viewer’s position. A fight
between David and a hired swordsman
an abundance of sweating, bleeding, white-knuckled char- moves from fists to blades in alternating close-up and mid-
acters. In this assignment, he was assisted by “a young kid range panel images. With the artist’s inventive shifting of visual
named Schofield who went to Boston Art School” and had a perspective and bold inking and adapter Ken W. Fitch’s smooth
love of Westerns. “This kid,” Palais told Jim Amash, “would streamlining of the morally complex tale, David Balfour
draw a million and one Indians running around.”12 The issue remains one of the most interesting Classics Illustrated issues.
 X. BLOOD, SWEAT, AND RUDY PALAIS 109

The artist’s most characteristic — and memorable — work

for Gilberton was Crime and Punishment, No. 89 (November
1951), a natural title for the Lev Gleason veteran. In his illus-
trations for Dostoevsky’s study of moral ruin and regeneration,
the artist was faithful to the intent of the severe and prudish
abridgment, which presented the novel strictly as a psycho-
logical thriller and omitted entirely Sonya the prostitute, the
agent of Raskolnikov’s redemption. (To be fair, the usual “Now
that you have read” closing tag was changed in No. 89 to state
that “Because of space limitations, we regretfully omitted some
of the original characters and sub-plots of this brilliantly
written novel. Nevertheless, we have retained its main theme
and mood. We strongly urge you to read the original.”)
Palais’s protagonist bears an uncanny resemblance to the
young Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang’s M, and the murder scene
proceeds with Hitchcock-style suspense, Welles-style angles
and Palais-style perspiration as the pawnbroker suspiciously
regards the intricately wrapped “pledge” her killer uses to dis-
tract her. On the page on which the attack occurs, the hands
of both Raskolnikov and the pawnbroker are given special
prominence, and close-ups alternate with elevated views of
the action. (See page 106.)
The artist incorporated “angle shots” as “a ploy to heighten
interest in the story telling — a method I employed to a great
degree in horror and mystery stories.”14 Sweat-soaked protag-
onists served as another visual hook. The prominence given in
Crime and Punishment to the pawnbroker’s and Raskolnikov’s
hands was part of the same strategy. Indeed, hands are a central
image in much of Palais’s work; the artist stated that “Hands
were always extremely important, and I tried to pay extra at-
tention in rendering them. Hands expressed fright, anger, love,
devotion, loyalty, etc., as one art instructor pointed out. An-
atomically, I became very much aware of the potential....”15 Rudolph Palais, Pitcairn’s Island (July 1953). Interracial vio-
Related to Crime and Punishment in tone is Palais’s art- lence descends on paradise — and Classics Illustrated.
work for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” in The
Gold Bug and Other Stories, No. 84 ( June 1951). The artist had tineers. Palais’s crowded, detailed panels endow the book, set
established a solid reputation elsewhere with his horror illus- mostly on the wide expanse of the sea, with the intensity of a
trations, and the Poe story fell comfortably within the familiar radically narrowed world. Among the strongest sequences are
genre.16 Montressor sweats a storm as he walls up his old enemy those depicting a 36-hour storm in which Bligh, seated at the
Fortunato in the 14-page abridgment. The terror of the situ- tiller, “seemed to have an exhilaration of mind that grew greater
ation is depicted principally in the narrator’s face. Adding va- as our peril increased.”
porous streaks to augment the ambience in the catacombs and The final installment of Nordhoff and Hall’s Bounty cycle,
jutting, Caligari-style panels, Palais produced the most suc- Pitcairn’s Island, No. 109 ( July 1953), pushes the emotional in-
cessful rendering of a Poe story in the Classics Illustrated cata- tensity of the tale of interracial passion and revenge to the
logue. boundaries of the grotesque. The artist depicted the English
An almost Düreresque obsession with linework is evident and Polynesian settlers hacking, clubbing, and shooting each
in Men Against the Sea, No. 103 ( January 1953), the second other to death. With more than 30 panels devoted to some
title in the Bounty trilogy by Charles Nordhoff and James Nor- representation of violence, including the breaking of arms and
man Hall. The heavily scored waves, sails, and wood grain of the heaving of an enemy over a cliff, Pitcairn’s Island was the
the open boat — and even the folds in Bligh’s coat — combine most horrific of Palais’s Classics efforts and an easy target for com-
to convey the desperation of the 19 men set adrift by the mu- ics censors. The issue was withdrawn in 1955, when Gilberton
110 CLASSICS Illustrated

dropped several objectionable titles, and remained out of print Palais illustrated no more Classics. A new wave of talent would
until 1962. soon arrive.
Rob Roy, No. 118 (April 1954), one of Sir Walter Scott’s “I was in the comic field for fifteen years,” Palais wrote,
“Waverley” novels, was added to the Classics list to capitalize on “and I enjoyed every minute of it. The stories were assigned on
a current Walt Disney film of the same name. (A month earlier, a random basis at Classic Comics as well as throughout the in-
Dell had issued, with a similar yellow cover, a handsome dustry. ... Regarding the work schedule..., it was always a three-
edition, No. 544, of the Disney Rob Roy, illustrated by Russ month assignment, because the stories ... were approximately
Manning.) The Gilberton book was Palais’s final project for 50 pages long. We were usually paid one-third on the roughs,
the publisher; it was interrupted midway by the illness of the another one-third on the completed pencils, and finally one-
artist.17 third on the completed and inked page. All assignments created
He turned the penciling and inking over to his brother problems that were to be mastered by innovation and creativ-
and comics mentor, Walter Palais, whose attempt to duplicate ity.”18 The sum amounted to about $100 a week, which, he said,
Rudy’s style resulted in a pallid imitation. All of the life goes “in those days was a lot.”19
out of the illustrations after a full-page duel between the hero, Rudy Palais earned every penny of it. Any nine-year-old
Francis Obaldistone, and his villainous cousin Rashleigh at who has anxiously perspired with Raskolnikov, nervously
the story’s midpoint. Walter inked several of the pages penciled gripped a sword with David Balfour, or strained for a passing
by his brother and improved none. About the time of Rob Roy, bird with Captain Bligh can attest to the indelible force of the
Gilberton began exploring a new artistic direction, and Rudy artist’s images.
 XI

Painted Covers and an Extra Nickel:

The Early Fifties
T he dawning of the 1950s saw the appearance of the first
Shakespearean Classics title, Julius Caesar, No. 68 (Feb-
ruary 1950), illustrated, appropriately enough, by the former
Captain Marvel it wasn’t, and, although “Tippy, the Ter-
rier” indeed made his appearance in a “Dog Heroes” filler at
page 47, Dempsey neglected to mention, and Wertham failed
thespian, Henry C. Kiefer. (The adaptation had actually run to discover, that the Classics adaptation of Julius Caesar was
in Gilberton’s newspaper format from 12 October to 2 No- immediately followed, on page 45, by a biography of “The
vember 1947.) For Albert Kanter, the inclusion of Shakespeare Bard of Avon.” On page 46, opposite the offending “Tippy,”
in the line offered incontrovertible evidence of the seriousness Dempsey and Wertham would have found a “Pioneers of Sci-
of his publication’s purpose. ence” biography of Blaise Pascal containing such violent
Even the New York Times found the news fit to print. The language as “Pressure exerted anywhere upon the surface of a
nation’s newspaper of record reported (relying on a press release liquid enclosed in a vessel is transmitted equally in all directions,
provided by Gilberton publicist Eleanor Lidofsky1) that the and acts with equal force upon all equal surfaces, and at right
“unexpurgated and unsimplified” comics adaptation had been angles to the surfaces.” Had either of the learned gentlemen
prepared by Gilberton’s “twenty man staff ” with the cooper- bothered to turn to page 48, he would have been able to read
ation of New York University at a cost of $11,000. The Times a two-column plot summary of Jules Massenet’s Manon. All
also quoted Kanter’s estimate that 25,000 schools around the in all, No. 68 was a typical issue of the period.
world used Classics Illustrated, which had sold 200,000,000 With Shakespeare enthroned on the reorder list, Kanter
copies since the Gilberton Company began production.2 forged ahead to claim more of the literary high ground, issuing
Not everyone, however, was impressed. In his polemical adaptations of the Homeric epics, The Iliad, No. 77 (Novem-
diatribe, Seduction of the Innocent, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham ber 1950), and The Odyssey, No. 81 (March 1951). Plans to pro-
noted that duce a version of Shakespeare’s Richard III in 1951 were not
David Dempsey, writing in the New York Times Book Review, realized, but Hamlet was published as No. 99 in September
has said of the comic book Julius Caesar that it has “a Brutus 1952. Classics Illustrated versions of works by Caesar, Dosto-
that looks astonishingly like Superman. ‘Our course will seem evsky, Schiller, Zola, Conrad, Sienkiewicz, Gogol, and Goethe
too bloody to cut the head off and then hack the limbs...’ says would eventually follow. Meanwhile, in April 1950, at the end
Brutus, in language that sounds like Captain Marvel...” and he of The Pilot, No. 70, Gilberton appended the high-minded tag
notes that “Julius Caesar is followed by a story called ‘Tippy, the
Terrier.’”3
line that would endure as long as the series itself: “Now that
you have read the Classics Illustrated edition, don’t miss the
Of course, the language to which Dempsey and Wertham ob- added enjoyment of reading the original, obtainable at your
jected was Shakespeare’s, slightly compressed, from Act II, scene school or public library.”
i. The Classics Illustrated abridged line continues with the phrase With that sort of plug, it was no wonder that the Amer-
“for Antony is but a limb of Caesar.” Both the critic and the ican educational establishment began to come to terms with
doctor may have needed to brush up their Shakespeare; the the series. After all, if kids were going to read comic books
original reads, in relevant part: “Our course will seem too bloody, anyway, they might as well read The Black Arrow rather than
Caius Cassius, / To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, / Green Arrow, The Lady of the Lake rather than Phantom Lady.
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards — / For Antony is Teachers began distributing Classics Illustrated editions of Ivan-
but a limb of Caesar.”4 hoe and other assigned novels to encourage reluctant readers.

111
112 CLASSICS Illustrated

In time, tens of thousands of schools in the United States, the issue price from ten to fifteen cents in March 1951 with
Canada, and other countries adopted Gilberton publications The Odyssey. The Homeric title proved to be a significant mile-
as supplementary instructional aids.5 stone in another respect, as well, inaugurating the painted cov-
ers that were to reshape the image of the series in the 1950s
and boost its sales to spectacular levels. It is impossible to over-
ENTER CURTIS state the significance of the painted covers, which further set
Classics apart from other comic books and, incidentally, served
In 1948, through the efforts of William Kanter, Gilberton to justify the five-cent increase.9 For many parents, the higher
signed on with the Curtis Circulation Company for distri- price seemed a guarantee of greater worth.
bution of Classics Illustrated in Canada. At the time, distribution Another Curtis-inspired innovation was a redesign of the
in the United States was handled by Publishers Distributing Classics Illustrated logo. The new look — looser and bolder yet
Corporation (P.D.C.) and was concentrated in larger cities on still traditional — was introduced in December 1951 on the
the east coast. Pleased with Curtis’s Canadian performance, cover of issue No. 90, Green Mansions. The combination of
Albert Kanter awarded the company distribution rights for the the 19th-century poster lettering for “CLASSICS” and the
United States in 1951.6 The move gave Gilberton the display- flowing modern script for “Illustrated” subtly affirmed the pub-
space advantage of a nationwide system that stocked news- lication’s mission and method. For the next 20 years, until the
stands with The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, series came to an end, the logo remained in place.
The Atlantic Monthly, Holiday, and Esquire.
As soon as the deal with Curtis was done, Classics Illus-
trated found its public profile raised across the country. Mean- CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED EDUCATIONAL SERIES
while, from the Gilberton home office, publicist Eleanor Lid-
ofsky landed both Albert and William Kanter interviews on a Two giveaway titles issued by Classics Illustrated in the
number of New York–area radio and television general interest early 1950s were part of what was termed the Classics Illustrated
programs in 1952 and 1953.7 The message was always the same: Educational Series. These 16-page comic books were commer-
Classics Illustrated was not just another comic-book series; it cially generated products that had the merit of making the CI
was a proven educational resource. Kanter, although willing logo visible in less familiar territory.
to invest in print advertising in educational publications, much The first, Shelter Through the Ages (1951), was sponsored
preferred to promote the product by “word of mouth” through by the Ruberoid Company and adapted from a book titled
the more dynamic broadcast media.8 Shelter that the roofing corporation had published several years
On the advice of the Curtis organization, Gilberton raised before. The second, The Westinghouse Story: The Dreams of a
Man (1953), was issued in four
languages (English, French, Ital-
ian, and Spanish) with the pur-
pose of promoting the image of
the corporate giant.
Gilberton’s production and
successful distribution of both
books showed that Classics Illus-
trated had the capacity to col-
laborate with outside entities
and deliver desired results. Build-
ing on this experience, Albert
Kanter would enter into a joint
publishing venture later in the
decade with the Boy Scouts
of America. Most importantly,
however, the Educational Series
would serve as a prototype for
Albert Kanter promotes Classics Illustrated on popular talk-show host Virginia Graham’s Food
two ambitious instructional
for Thought syndicated television program, WABD-TV (DuMont), New York, 12 October 1953 lines —Picture Progress and The
(courtesy John Kanter). World Around Us.
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 113

As Seaboard Publishers proudly announced in its first Fast Fic-

tion issue, The Scarlet Pimpernel (October 1949): “There’s no
‘waste motion’ when you read famous novels as presented in
the Fast Fiction style. ... Long descriptive passages, popular
with readers years ago, have been done away with to save your
time and bring you nothing but thrills, excitement and drama.”
In Famous Authors No. 6, Macbeth (August 1950), which her-
alded the change in the name of the series, the publisher further
assured the reader, “No longer is it necessary to wade through
hundreds of pages of text to enjoy these great stories.... When
you read FAMOUS AUTHORS ILLUSTRATED you, too,
will know the great characters of literature. You, too, can quote
the famous lines and impress your friends.”
The only problem was that some of the “famous lines”
were inexactly rendered: “Oh, that this too, too solid flesh of

Alex A. Blum, The Odyssey (March 1951). The first Classics Illus-
trated painted cover, a Curtis marketing move that literally
changed the face and the fortunes of the series.

FAST FICTION / FAMOUS AUTHORS

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Albert Kanter
should have felt flattered indeed by the appearance of Seaboard
Publishers’ Fast Fiction (soon to be renamed Stories by Famous
Authors Illustrated), a 32- to 48-page competitor that began
issuing titles such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Captain Blood, and
She in the fall of 1949. Instead, of course, he was rather annoyed,
particularly because the prolific Henry C. Kiefer, whose style
was so closely identified with Classics Illustrated, was churning
out artwork for the new series, illustrating Shakespeare’s
Hamlet and Macbeth, neither of which had been issued by
Gilberton at that point.
Famous Authors was not, in fact, much in the way of com- Henry C. Kiefer, Macbeth, Stories by Famous Authors Illus-
trated No. 6 (August 1950). The artist’s work for Gilberton’s
petition. Unlike Classics Illustrated, the would-be rival series rival caused hard feelings, but the competition proved beneficial
sacrificed textual integrity for the sake of reader accessibility. to Classics Illustrated.
114 CLASSICS Illustrated

copyright by Erich Maria Remar-

que, John Bakeless, Frank Buck,
Talbot Mundy, Charles Boardman
Hawes, Walter Van Tilburg Clark,
Emerson Hough, and Charles Nord-
hoff and James Norman Hall.

101 FIFTH AVENUE , NEW

YORK 3, N.Y.

With the publication flourish-

ing, Kanter decided to vacate the
crowded sixth-floor office and ware-
house site at 826 Broadway. In Sep-
tember 1952, at the time the 99th
Classics title, Hamlet, was issued, Gil-
berton relocated to its final home,
on the third floor of 101 Fifth Av-
enue, a more prestigious business
address. The 11-story building in
Albert Kanter (right) promoting Classics Illustrated on the air with Pat and Barbara Barnes the Flatiron district had been part
(1952) (courtesy Hal Kanter and John Haufe).
of the business life of the old Ladies’
mine would melt and release my soul from body,” Hamlet Mile zone since 1908; it also housed
moans in Dana E. Dutch’s pastiche, No. FA8 (October 1950). Ian Ballantine’s newly founded Ballantine Books. The focus
When Classics Illustrated got around to Hamlet in September at 101 Fifth Avenue would be business and editorial. Kanter’s
1952, adapter Sam Willinsky allowed the prince to use the brother Michael moved the warehouse to Brooklyn, later to Con-
words Shakespeare had given him. cord, New Hampshire, and finally to Passiac, New Jersey.10
Kanter’s answer to the aggravation was to buy out the up- Beginning in 1953, with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, No. 13,
start and kill it, turning one of the unpublished titles in the and Don Quixote, No. 11, painted covers began to replace the
series, The Red Badge of Courage, into a Classics issue, No. 98, old line- drawing covers. In the case of No. 13, a new, more
in August 1952. A 15-page filler, “An Outline History of the faithful script and improved interior art were also intro-
Civil War,” was added to bring the length into conformity duced — a stylistic makeover that would accelerate from 1956
with the 48-page Gilberton norm. Famous Authors would be- onward as Gilberton reaffirmed its commitment to its cultural
come a subsidiary company and, in 1953, the nominal pub- and educational mission.
lisher of Kanter’s new series for younger readers, Classics Illus- But ominous signs of trouble ahead surfaced, for anyone
trated Junior. paying attention to the gathering cultural storm clouds. The
Seaboard’s example had the salutary effect of weaning ratings for Classics Illustrated in Parents’ Magazine dropped
Gilberton from an exclusive dependence on public-domain from an “A” (acceptable) in 1951 to a “B” (some objection) and
material. The inclusion in the Famous Authors series of works finally a “C” (objectionable) in 1952.11 The anti-comics crusade
still under copyright, such as John Buchan’s The 39 Steps, Per- was underway, and the publication “Featuring Stories by the
cival Christopher Wren’s Beau Geste, and Rafael Sabatini’s World’s Greatest Authors” was yet another target.
Scaramouche, spurred Kanter to take similar steps. In January
1951, a copyright-permissions notice appeared on the title page
of No. 79, Cyrano de Bergerac. A proud declaration on the title KENNETH W. FITCH, SCRIPTWRITER
page of White Fang, No. 80 (February 1951), informed the reader
that the edition was “[p]ublished through special arrangement From 1950 to 1953, Kenneth William Fitch (1908–1965)
with Charmian K. London, sole and exclusive owner of copy- wrote more than twenty faithful, literate scripts for Gilberton,
right.” During the next five years, Classics Illustrated would dramatically enhancing the quality of the series. Formerly a
add to its catalogue authorized adaptations of books under writer for Fox’s Murder Incorporated, he brought a profes-
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 115

sional’s skills to the task of presenting subject mat-

ter of a decidedly different stamp.
Fitch’s standard practice was to read the book
to be adapted and relevant reference works. The
scriptwriter then took extensive notes on the plot,
the characters, and the historical setting. In the
case of Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness, he
corresponded at some length with author John
Bakeless. After outlining the book, drafting back-
ground memos that amounted to critical essays,
and describing the characters for the benefit of the
artist, Fitch would prepare a forty- to forty-five-
page panel-by-panelb reakdown.
In his work on Robert Louis Stevenson’s
Master of Ballantrae, published in April 1951, the
scriptwriter first sent editor Harry M. Adler a syn-
opsis on 26 September 1950, noting in his cover
letter, “It is, of necessity, a bare outline of plot,
and cannot go into the matter of character devel-
opment, which is a good part of the strength of
the story.” Fitch submitted the completed script
on 31 October 1950. Dialogue was rendered in a
manner similar to play or film scripts.
The package included character sketches, in-
cluding the following notes for artist Lawrence
Dresser on the charmingly duplicitous title char-
acter, James Durie, Master of Ballantrae: “He is
a dashing handsome man in appearance.... He has
an arrogant graceful bearing. Make his face if pos-
sible one that can be pleasing when he is in the
mood and vicious when he is angry. He is tall,
erect, well-proportioned. He has a very intelligent
look about him.” Of the story’s possibly unreliable
narrator, Ephraim Mackellar, Fitch commented: The home of Classics Illustrated in its heyday: 101 Fifth Avenue, New York
“Thin, rather tall, scholarly looking man. He is (photograph by Stephen Jones, December 2010).
not handsome, but has the appearance of a trusted
servant. He is ... educated, but fussy and particular, such a added six pages of duels with assorted Spaniards and a would-
12
man as Mrs. Henry Durie would once call an ‘old maid.’” bea ssassin.
For Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, the script- Besides acting as project historian, Fitch played the
writer offered atmospheric context with a discussion of “The scriptwriter’s usual role of film-director equivalent, providing,
Days of Cyrano”: “Paris in the days of Savinien de Cyrano de for example, the following detailed instructions for illustrating
Bergerac was a city teeming with people threading noisily the page-one splash in The White Company by Sir Arthur
through her narrow streets. Merchants vended their wares while Conan Doyle, referring the artist to N.C. Wyeth’s treatment
nobles rode in sedan chairs carried on the shoulders of servants of the same scene: “The scene is the tilting yard of the Abbey
or hirelings. Urchins scampered through the streets between of St. Andrews in Bordeaux, France, in the year 1366. High
men of the church, the robe, or the guard. And among them walls of the abbey close in three sides of the yard, while a swiftly
all thieves and pickpockets thrived.... A man who could not flowing river borders the fourth side. Show trees and rough
fight his own way in the world seldom lived past the first flush grass. Two men are dueling desperately. They are Alleyne
of youth.” In his script, Fitch interpolated a three-page account Edricson and John Trantner. Refer to picture, p. 196. Alleyne’s
of Cyrano’s expulsion from school and subsequent lessons in sword is being broken by Trantner’s, but instead of showing
swordplay at the “Salle d’Armes of Sieur Moussard.” He also position of men as they are shown in the illustration, place the
116 CLASSICS Illustrated

the scriptwriter points up, in an adjacent nar-

rative panel, the irony of the hero’s situation as
he is being marched to the executioner’s block:
“As Cornelius followed the guards to the scaf-
fold, his mind dwelt bitterly on fate’s sudden
paradox; for where John and Cornelius de Witt
had lost their lives for having thought too
much of politics, he, Cornelius van Baerle, was
about to lose his life for having thought too
much of tulips.” It was precisely this sort of
emphasis on text that caused friends and foes
of Classics Illustrated to revere or revile them
as atypical comic books.

BOB LAMME
During the period in which Iger was sup-
plying artwork for Gilberton’s rival, Fast
Fiction, several unaffiliated artists of varying
abilities worked briefly under the Classics ban-
ner. Book illustrator Bob Lamme was the
childhood best friend of Hal Kanter in Miami,
where the two were classmates at Southside El-
ementary School.13 Lamme, who had no comic-
book credits elsewhere, was assigned Frederick
Marryat’s Mr. Midshipman Easy, No. 74 (August
1950). Albert Kanter offered to employ him full-
time, but the artist preferred to remain in
Florida.14
In a 1977 letter to Classics Index author
Charles Heffelfinger, Lamme, an artist for the
Miami Herald, stated that he drew his one and
only Classics Illustrated title in 1949. He noted
that he didn’t keep a copy of the book himself
because he didn’t believe he had done a good
job on it.15 In another letter, to Michael
Sawyer, Lamme stated simply, “It was pretty
bad.”16 Indeed, the interior art in Mr. Midship-
man Easy, though not without its compensat-
ing naive charm, is often flat.
Alex A. Blum, The White Company (December 1952). The artist follows (more
or less) the scriptwriter’s directions. Lamme recalled that the script for Mr.
Midshipman Easy “came to me roughly indi-
men so that Trantner’s back is to the river. Several squires stand cating what was to go on each page, but I had freedom of how
about watching the fight. Wyeth’s illustration of clothes of the to present it. I had some discussions with them because they
period are authentic.” left something out of the early part of the story which was rel-
Fitch made extensive use of introductory and connecting evant to the rest of it, but they did not change it. I did have
rectangular spaces, which in other comics were often reserved to do research about the ships, guns and costumes of that pe-
for such terse explanations as “Later...” or “Then...,” to include riod. Of course, I had to read the book.”17
more of the story — and the authorial presence — than would Captain Marryat’s lively adventure tale was neatly com-
have been possible otherwise. In The Black Tulip, for instance, pressed by scriptwriter Ken W. Fitch, but the novel’s early
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 117

chapters were dropped, resulting in a lack

of context for the transformation of Jack
Easy, the spoiled child of privilege and apos-
tle of the theory of equality, on the decks of
the warship Harpy. Perhaps under editorial
direction, Lamme drew Mesty, the hero’s
black mentor and companion, as a white
man. Still, a certain period charm is evident
in such scenes as Easy and his friend Ned
Gascoigne facing a storm at sea or routing
Don Silvio’s brigands on land.
Always more popular with a British
audience, Mr. Midshipman Easy was not in
great demand with American readers and
was dropped from the reorder list in 1952.
So few copies had been sold that it was
possible to obtain first and only editions
from the Gilberton warehouse as late as
1963. (A plate for a second-printing cover,
bearing a 15-cent price mark, was discov-
ered years later in the publisher’s New Jer-
sey warehouse.) Plans to revise the title for
a new U.S. edition were abandoned as new-
artwork production ceased in 1962. A Eu-
ropean issue with Lamme’s original art and
an independently commissioned painted
cover fared somewhat better abroad.

LAWRENCE DRESSER AND

GUSTAV SCHROTTER

Known primarily as an illustrator of

hardcover juvenile books, such as Augusta
Stevenson’s George Washington: Boy Leader
(1942), Marguerite Henry’s Robert Fulton:
Boy Craftsman (1945), and Rita Halle Klee-
man’s Young Franklin Roosevelt (1946),
Lawrence Dresser brought a decidedly dif-
ferent perspective to his comics assign-
ments for Classics Illustrated. In The Master
Bob Lamme, Mr. Midshipman Easy (August 1950). The artist, a childhood friend of
of Ballantrae, No. 82 (April 1951), the artist Hal Kanter, regarded his illustrations for the Marryat novel as “pretty bad.”
produced a well-researched costume piece,
basing some of his drawings, including the shading. A solid grasp of the complex psychological dimensions
first-page splash of a midnight duel, on William Hole’s turn- of the main characters—the manipulative charm of “The Mas-
of-the-century illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale ter,” the thwarted decency of the younger brother — on the
of fratricidal hatred. part of both adapter and artist made Ballantrae one of the finest
The murky moral atmosphere of the novel is well con- Classics titles. The only false note in Fitch’s adaptation was his
veyed in the intelligent script by Ken W. Fitch, as well as by the addition of a spoken line by the revived “week-old corpse” of
contrast between Dresser’s light linework and frequently heavy James Durie on the final page: “Hello, Mackellar.”
Lawrence Dresser, The Master of Ballantrae (April 1951). The tossing of a coin leads to family tragedy. Right: Lawrence Dresser, Gustav Schrotter, and Harry Daugherty,
Men of Iron (October 1951). The artists did their historical homework for the Howard Pyle adventure.
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 119

Dresser, probably working with

Gustav Schrotter and Harry Daugherty
(brother of children’s book illustrator
James Daugherty), offered homage to
author-illustrator Howard Pyle in Men
of Iron, No. 88 (October 1951).18 Yet the
trio’s work was by no means a mere de-
rivative exercise. The Classics Illustrated
retelling of the story of Myles Falworth’s
training as a squire and quest for honor
is filled with fluid action scenes and
carefully observed character develop-
ment.
Schrotter, like Dresser, was a
juvenile-book illustrator who also ven-
tured into the comics field. Associated
with Jerry Iger, he turned out Nicholas
Nickleby, No. FA9 (November 1950),
and La Svengali (Trilby), No. FA12 (Feb-
ruary 1951) for Famous Authors Illus-
trated. While his contributions to Gil-
berton’s Benjamin Franklin and Men of
Iron were notable, his best — and only
solo — work for Classics was The Red
Badge of Courage, No. 98 (August 1952),
a title originally scheduled for Famous
Authors Illustrated.
Stephen Crane’s masterpiece re-
ceived less than its due from the un-
known adapter, who, in Famous Authors
fashion, invented dialogue when
needed and ignored the author’s ironic
inflections. Still, Schrotter’s drawings,
based in part on the 1951 John Huston
film, evoked to some extent the rush and
confusion of battle and rout. After his
episodic stint with Gilberton, Schrotter
returned to juvenile books, illustrating
such works as H.C. Thomas’s Noah Carr,
Yankee Firebrand (1957), A. Van der
Loeff ’s Avalanche! (1958), and Esther
Willard Bates’s Marilda and the Bird of
Time (1960). Gustav Schrotter, The Red Badge of Courage (August 1952). “The youth” improves his
battlefield performance.

JIM WILCOX the work to be that of Jim Lavery but was never comfortable
with the tentative attribution. In notes to himself, he had ob-
The identity of the artist who provided the unusual draw- served that “this artist resembles Jim Wilcox” of the Jacquet
ings for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” in The Gold shop. Yet because the Iger shop was in charge of Gilberton’s
Bug and Other Stories, No. 84 ( June 1951), has been something art in 1951, Ware assumed that it would have been impossible
of a mystery. Comics authority Hames Ware initially judged for a Jacquet artist to receive an assignment.19
120 CLASSICS Illustrated

period when Henry C. Kiefer was busy sup-

plying artwork for Gilberton’s competitor,
Seaboard’s Stories by Famous Authors Illus-
trated.
In any event, Wilcox’s illustrations for
the macabre tale are among the most distinc-
tive to appear in any Classics Illustrated issue.
The spare linework and studied primitivism,
which may seem at first glance a throwback
to the awkward art of the early 1940s, suc-
ceed splendidly in conveying the narrator’s
mad obsession through the very strangeness,
the “otherness,” of the artist’s style.

MORRIS WALDINGER
Issue No. 100, Mutiny on the Bounty (Oc-
tober 1952), was a prize for Albert Kanter.
Not only had Classics Illustrated reached a
publishing milestone, but Gilberton had ac-
quired the rights to adapt the other two nov-
els in Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
Hall’s Bounty trilogy, Men Against the Sea
and Pitcairn’s Island. Yet the choice for illus-
trator of the 100th issue was unusual, con-
sidering the availability of Kiefer (who pro-
vided the painted cover), Blum, Palais, and
del Bourgo.
Morris Waldinger, who received the
nod, had no previous Gilberton assignments
to his credit. His principal work elsewhere
consisted of filler material and lettering for
DC.21 He also provided illustrations for For-
bidden Worlds and Wonder Woman. In Mu-
tiny on the Bounty, the artist was at his best
depicting action sequences — Bligh’s acts of
brutality, Christian’s seizing of the ship, and
the suffering of the captured mutineers
aboard the Pandora. These scenes are as pow-
JimWilcox, “The Tell-Tale Heart” in The Gold Bug and Other Stories (June 1951). erful as anything that appeared in Classics Il-
Spare linework and studied primitivism support the macabre narrative. lustrated at the time.
Yet some of the work shows signs of
Meanwhile, Classics collector Bill Briggs discovered Wil- haste, particularly in panels where one figure positioned par-
cox’s signature on an unpublished line-drawing cover for The tially behind another is missing a leg or a shoulder at the point
Odyssey, the title that appeared as the first painted-cover issue where the rest of the body should appear again on the other
in March 1951, a few months before “The Tell-Tale Heart.” side of the foreground character. The narrator, midshipman
Ware reexamined the evidence and concluded that Jim Wilcox’s Roger Byam, is not quite 18 years old when the story begins,
was indeed the hand responsible for the Poe story.20 It is but his apparent age changes from panel to panel — here he
possible that, although Wilcox was tied to the Jacquet opera- seems a callow youth and there a man well past his prime.
tion, he may have subcontracted with Jerry Iger during the Matters weren’t helped by the colorist’s decision to endow
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 121

Byam and most of the other male char-

acters with powdered hair, which gave
the Bounty the appearance of a floating
retirement community.
Waldinger was never assigned an-
other Classics project. Rudy Palais was
given the remaining Bounty stories. And
Albert Kanter, whose fortunes had im-
proved to the point that he was able to
pay royalties for a best-selling trilogy of
contemporary fiction, threw a party at
a restaurant for Gilberton personnel to
celebrate reaching the 100th issue. A
short film of the occasion exists, but the
faces are barely discernible — lost, it
seems, to time and poor lighting.

SEYMOUR MOSKOWITZ
Seymour Moskowitz, a veteran of
Morris Waldinger, Mutiny on the Bounty (October 1952). Mr. Christian assumes com- Atlas Comics, illustrated two Classics Il-
mand.
lustrated titles in 1953: King — of the
Khyber Rifles, No. 107 (May), and A
Study in Scarlet, No. 110 (August). Had Fredric Wertham been
aware of either book, he probably would have heaped abuse
on them in his Seduction of the Innocent.
Talbot Mundy’s King — of the Khyber Rifles was one of an
increasing number of adaptations of works of marginal literary
stature that were added to the Classics list during the mid- and
late-1950s. A novel still under copyright that had recently been
the basis of a motion picture, the tale of British imperial intrigue
remained in print even during the peak of anti-comics hys-
teria in 1954 and 1955 — despite three pages dealing with the
hero’s discovery that he is holding his brother’s severed head
in his hands.
Like King Solomon’s Mines, King — of the Khyber Rifles de-
picted a white man romantically involved with an exotic, dark-
skinned woman. In this case, the woman not only lived, but
she also got her man. It probably helped, in 1953, that she had
blonde hair.
Two Sherlock Holmes stories were included in A Study
in Scarlet—the title mystery and “The Adventure of the Speck-
led Band.” The title story had originally appeared in the 1947
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes but had been cut when the 56-
page issue was trimmed to the standard 48 pages in 1948. The
new edition of A Study in Scarlet was criticized for its perceived

Seymour Moskowitz, King — of the Khyber Rifles (May 1953).

A severed head — and the hero’s brother’s, for good measure —
that managed to escape the notice of anti-comics crusaders.
122 CLASSICS Illustrated

soon disappeared. Despite the popularity of

Sherlock Holmes, it was never again reissued.
Moskowitz was the first representative of
a new, leaner technique of comics illustration
that came to dominate the Gilberton house style
in the mid- and later-1950s. The baroque am-
plitude of Henry C. Kiefer and Rudy Palais gave
way to crisp linework and less ornately wrought
panels.

PETER COSTANZA
As various comic-book publishers folded
or shrank in the mid–1950s, succumbing either
to the overburdened market or to the relentless
anticomics campaign, different groups of free-
lancers found themselves calling on the editorial
offices at 101 Fifth Avenue. Among the first were
Peter Costanza (1913–1984) and Kurt Schaff-
enberger, two talented fugitives from the 1953
Fawcett shutdown, occasioned by the publish-
er’s decision not to engage in protracted copy-
right-infringement litigation with DC Comics
concerning Fawcett’s Superman-clone, Captain
Marvel. Faster than you could say “Shazam,”
Fawcett abandoned not only superheroes but
also the publication of comics.22
Costanza possessed one of the most indi-
vidualistic styles of any artist whose work ap-
peared in Classics Illustrated. A former pulp il-
lustrator, he had assisted Charles Clarence Beck
on Captain Marvel in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics
and on Captain Tootsie for Tootsie Rolls during
the 1940s.23 Fawcett artist Marc Swayze recalled
Costanza as a “fast layout artist,” a “great joker,”
and a “wonderful man to know,” who, as Beck’s
assistant, never fully emerged from the older
artist’s shadow.24
Seymour Moskowitz, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” in A Study in Scar- Where Rudy Palais emphasized hands and
let (August 1953). Dr. Roylott discovers that what goes around.... sweaty brows, Costanza highlighted eyes and
toothy mouths, bestowing on his characters a
anti–Mormon bias, a factor that may have resulted in its dele- kind of cartoonlike cuteness that made him especially well
tion from the reorder list in 1955. The macabre elements of suited to illustrate Andy’s Atomic Adventures (September 1953)
the plot, with a bloody message inscribed on a wall and a force- for the first Picture Parade issue, and Cinderella, No. 503 (De-
fed poison pill, probably played a part, as well. As for “The cember 1953), and The Sleeping Beauty, No. 505 (February
Adventure of the Speckled Band,” a depiction of a snake 1954), for the newly inaugurated Classics Illustrated Junior se-
wrapped around a victim’s head did little to endear the issue ries.
to critics of “horror” comics. A reprint surfaced in 1962 and The artist illustrated three sea tales for the regular Classics

Opposite: Peter Costanza, The Red Rover (December 1953). The bright-eyed Rover shows his true colors.
124 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Peter Costanza, Captains Courageous, original art (March 1954). Rich kid Harvey and captain’s son Dan listen to another
of Long Jack’s yarns. Right: Peter Costanza, The Mutineers (September 1954). The good guys decisively beat the bad guys.

Illustrated line: James Fenimore Cooper’s The Red Rover, No. man’s experiences with pirates and other perils. A charming
114 (December 1953), Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous, pirate was the central character in The Red Rover; as drawn by
No. 117 (March 1954) and Charles Boardman Hawes’s The Costanza, his appearance suggested a maritime Robin Hood,
Mutineers, No. 122 (September 1954). In each book, Costanza’s with his distinctive feathered hat, which is shown floating on
light, almost comic touch seems occasionally at odds with the the waves at the end.
violent world depicted, though the tension between the com- During the 1960s, the artist worked for DC Comics, il-
peting elements makes the artist’s efforts invariably compelling. lustrating Jimmy Olsen stories. Costanza also illustrated
Captains Courageous, the strongest of the trio, presents a Martha and Charles Shapp’s Let’s Find Out About (Firemen,
credible visual account of spoiled rich boy Harvey Cheyne’s Houses, Indians) children’s books.
education and transformation, from his rescue at sea to his im-
mersion in the fisherman’s life. The artist also produced fine
characterizations of Disko, Dan, Manuel, Penn, and others KURT SCHAFFENBERGER
aboard the fishing vessel We’re Here. In his work for Gilberton,
Costanza always seemed most comfortable — and his art most Another Fawcett veteran and Captain Marvel artist,
natural — when his subjects were youthful protagonists. Ben German-born, Pratt-trained Kurt Schaffenberger (1920–2002)
Lathrop, the 16-year-old narrator of The Mutineers, is a less brought Charles Clarence Beck’s emphasis on humor and
complex figure than Harvey Cheyne but an equally clarity of design to his one Classics Illustrated assignment, Sol-
sympathetic figure in the artist’s rendering of the novice sea- diers of Fortune, No. 119 (May 1954), Richard Harding Davis’s
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 125

imperialistic potboiler about dashing

gringos foiling a Latin American rev-
olution to ensure that the benighted
natives will enjoy the disinterested gui-
dance of the benevolent North Amer-
ican mining interests that employ the
mercenaries of the title. Schaffenber-
ger portrayed the suave protagonist
Robert Clay, “civil engineer and sol-
dier of fortune,” with wit and panache,
and the drawings are distinguished by
their vitality and economy of line.
A year later, Schaffenberger pro-
duced artwork for a Classics Illustrated
Junior title, Aladdin and His Lamp,
No. 516 (May 1955). Introduced in
Gilberton’s series for younger readers
to replace the discontinued Classics
Illustrated No. 8, Arabian Nights, the
comic book offers a more robust aes-
thetic than the typical simplified Jun-
ior fare. The artist’s style is engag-
ingly comic and exotic. Schaffenberger
moved from Gilberton to DC, where
he became the lead artist for the
newly introduced Lois Lane series in
1958.25 He later illustrated Patricia
Relf ’s Adventures of Superman (1982)
for Golden Books and inked Curt
Swan’s pencils in Alan Moore’s Super-
man: Whatever Happened to the Man
of Tomorrow? (1997) for DC.

MORT KÜNSTLER ,
COVER ARTIST
Still a fledgling artist, Mort
Künstler (b. 1931) supplied Classics Il-
lustrated with nine cover paintings
before he went on to a successful career
as a painter of American Civil War
scenes and other historical subjects. As
a young man, he studied at Brooklyn
Kurt Schaffenberger, Soldiers of Fortune (May 1954). Robert Clay, “civil engineer and sol-
College, the University of California dier of fortune,” makes South America safe for New York–owned iron mines.
at Los Angeles, and the Pratt Institute,
from which he graduated in 1951.26 As the artist recalled, “It was a tough time for illustrators.
Künstler was soon in demand in New York as a book and mag- Magazines that used illustrations were shrinking or folding in
azine illustrator. He produced two painted covers a month for the early Fifties; the field was dying. Fiction was being watched
various men’s adventure magazines and received invaluable train- on TV rather than being read in the pulps.”28 A friend who
27
ing in his association with National Geographic Magazine. knew someone at Gilberton managed to open the door for
126 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Mort Künstler, Pitcairn’s Island (July 1953). A painting that packs a punch; the artist recognized the original as his own
work when it appeared in an auction-house catalogue. Right: Mort Künstler, The Talisman (September 1953). The future Civil
War historical artist gets practice in showing men and horses in combat.

Künstler’s association with Classics Illustrated. At the time, for ings for Gilberton, Don Quixote and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,
one who aspired to a better-paying future in advertising art, were among the most iconic of Classics Illustrated covers. The
the experience seemed something of a step backward. Indeed, Jekyll and Hyde dual portrait, later parodied by the Harvard
as the artist later confessed, “I was embarrassed that I was doing Lampoon, was something of a private joke on the part of the
comics.”29 artist. “Jekyll was a self-portrait,” Künstler revealed in an in-
During this period, Künstler received assignments from terview. “And Hyde was actually a portrait of my mentor,
Gilberton for what turned out to be most of the cover art for George Gross, a pulp artist.”31 Until the artist recognized the
the year 1953: Buffalo Bill, No. 106 (April 1953); King — of the original cover painting of Pitcairn’s Island while perusing a
Khyber Rifles, No. 107 (May 1953); Knights of the Round Table, Heritage Galleries auction catalogue in 2008, his work for
No. 108 ( June 1953); Pitcairn’s Island, No. 109 ( July 1953); Classics Illustrated had been noted as “unattributed.”32
Don Quixote, No. 11 (reprint, August 1953); A Study in Scarlet, It is perhaps significant that the subjects of Künstler’s first
No. 110 (August 1953); The Talisman, No. 111 (September and last paintings for Gilberton, Buffalo Bill and The
1953); Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, No. 13 (new edition, October Adventures of Kit Carson, were Western historical subjects. As
1953); The Adventures of Kit Carson, No. 112 (October 1953).30 his work came to the attention of serious collectors in the early
In these early works, the artist already exhibited a gift for 1970s, interest was primarily focused on pieces with Western
dramatic images (King — of the Khyber Rifles) and an affinity themes. Following a major museum retrospective exhibition
for historical settings (The Talisman). Two of Künstler’s paint- and a one-man show in New York, Künstler became known
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 127

and highly regarded for his historical paintings. Then, in 1982,

when CBS-TV commissioned the artist to produce a painting
for the miniseries The Blue and the Gray, a major shift in interest
and direction occurred. Since that time, Künstler has centered
his attention on meticulously researched paintings documenting
personalities and battles of the American Civil War.33

JO POLSENO, COVER ARTIST

The cover of The Red Rover, No. 114 (December 1953),
depicted a figure who in no way resembled the title character
of the story as drawn by interior artist Peter Costanza. Rather,
the image of the hero in the rigging with sword in hand was a
stirring tribute to the swashbuckling tradition, painted by Jo
Polseno (1924–1991), who had studied at the École des Beaux
Arts, Marseilles, and the Whitney Art School.
A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, the artist discovered
a wildlife area known as the Redding Glen at the age of sixteen.
It was a decisive experience, and Polseno later produced
striking renderings of wild birds. These works made his rep-
utation as a serious artist.34
For twenty-five years, Polseno was active as a freelance
artist. In 1958, he illustrated a Grosset and Dunlap “Signature”
biography of Robert Louis Stevenson and in the 1960s supplied
artwork for Stevenson’s Kidnapped, Twain’s The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer, and Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
in Grosset and Dunlap’s Companion Library series.

THE CHARLTON CONNECTION :

SALVATORE A. (“SAL”) TRAPANI, MEDIO Jo Polseno, The Red Rover (December 1953). Though a mem-
orable swashbuckling cover image, the artist’s painting made
IORIO, AND SAL FINOCCHIARO little visual reference to the story inside.

At about the time that Jerry Iger was finding Gilberton a The comics version of Stanley’s journalistic quest for the
less than satisfactory channel for his own shop’s talents, various missing missionary was all too often an unsatisfactory hodge-
artists associated with Charlton Comics were brought on board podge of derivative drawings, many of which, according to
to illustrate two titles, Sir Henry Morton Stanley’s How I Found Hames Ware, had been “lifted in toto from the work of Dell
Livingstone, No. 115 ( January 1954), and a western biography, artist Alberto Giolitti.”35 Some of the depictions of Africans
Wild Bill Hickok, No. 121 ( July 1954). Neither book had a dis- are reflexively racist in the offhanded way of 1930s jungle
tinctively Classics Illustrated look about them, and both seemed movies, as in the case of an eye-popping medicine man who
to suggest that Gilberton, which had recently launched its Jun- is given a whiff of ammonia. “Wah!” he cries, falling on the
ior line and the educational Picture Parade series for schools, ground, “Medicine too strong! You keep! You keep!”
was allowing its main product to drift toward a new, undefined The adaptation, however, was fast-paced and filled with
post–Kiefer identity. dramatic episodes, including a fierce sandstorm and the famous
Salvatore A. (“Sal”) Trapani (1927–1999), a Charlton artist greeting itself. Despite other instances of racial stereotyping,
whose later credits included DC’s Metamorpho and Dell’s Fab the true hero of the tale proves to be Selim, Stanley’s intelligent,
Four, worked on both issues. He was assisted by other Charlton multilingual African guide, who “can tell what kind of animal
artists, including Sal Finocchiaro, on How I Found Livingstone. broke a leaf of grass, if only one hair of his body has fallen on
Trapani’s style is noted for its heavy inking, a signature trait it.”
that is plainly in evidence in No. 115. Joining Trapani for Wild Bill Hickok was Medio Iorio;
128 CLASSICS Illustrated

ACE ARTIST: LIN STREETER

Lin Streeter, a veteran of the fading Ace Comics, came
to Gilberton in the early 1950s. With writer Joe Blair, he had
created Captain Flag for MLJ Magazines’ Blue Ribbon Comics
in 1941. Streeter had worked on the Marine comic strip,
Sergeant Stony Craig, in 1946 and was known for his cartoonish
style.36 An affable man who supported a large family,37 he drew
Frank Buck’s Fang and Claw, No. 123 (November 1954).
A brisk, sketchy technique brought a light-hearted energy
to the adaptation of the famous animal collector’s tales of track-
ing clouded leopards, wild boars, crocodiles, orangutans, and
elephants. The artist’s best drawings in the book were reserved
for the larger panels that introduced each of the stories or the
action sequences within each of the tales, such as the capture
of the fearsome Naga Besar in “Crocodile Tears.”
Streeter’s most characteristic work for Gilberton appeared

Sal Trapani et al., How I Found Livingstone ( January 1

954). Selim looks on as Stanley delivers the inevitable payoff
line.

the pair gave the Western biography an unmistakable Charlton

stamp. Trapani (inks) and Iorio (pencils) most likely were hired
for the project because they had collaborated on Charlton’s
“Wild Bill Hickok and Jingles” stories for Cowboy Western
Comics. Published to capitalize on the popularity of the long-
running television series starring Guy Madison and Andy
Devine, the Classics version, like Mr. Clemens in Tom Sawyer,
“mainly ... told the truth.”
Still, the artists opted for a clean-shaven, short-haired
hero somewhat like the one on TV rather than the mus-
tachioed, hirsute gunslinger of history. (Gilberton later set the
pictorial record straight in Men, Guns and Cattle, a 1959 Special
Issue that revealed a more complex figure in fewer pages.) Al-
though Wild Bill Hickok was one of the most popular of the
Lin Streeter, Fang and Claw (November 1954). Catching a croc.
later Classics titles, with eight printings between 1954 and 1969, The artist, however, found the fairy tales of Classics Illustrated
the book always seemed a stylistic anomaly in the series. Junior more congenial.
 XI. PAINTED COVERS AND AN EXTRA NICKEL 129

in the Classics Illustrated Junior series: Thumbelina, No. 520 Among her earliest publicity successes was an
(November 1955); The Frog Prince, No. 526 (May 1956); The arrangement with RKO to have copies of the recently
Golden Bird, No. 530 (September 1956); Rapunzel, No. 531 published Classics Illustrated edition of Treasure Island available
(October 1956); The Three Fairies, No. 537 (April 1957); The for sale in theatres showing the Walt Disney film version of
Enchanted Fish, No. 539 ( June 1957); The House in the Woods, the Robert Louis Stevenson pirate adventure. (A Disney comic-
No. 543 (October 1957); and The Wishing Table, No. 547 book treatment of the movie was not issued by Dell until 1955.)
(February 1958). Of these, the finest are The Enchanted Fish But the young publicist’s greatest coup came in 1950 with the
and The Wishing Table, which display the artist’s abundant ca- landing of the New York Times article on the preparation of
pacity for visual humor with his portraits of the overreaching the Classics Illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.40
wife in the former title and the thieving innkeeper in the latter. Responding to Lidofsky’s engaging, vivacious personality
On the other hand, Thumbelina and The Frog Prince exhibit a as much as to her achievements with movie tie-ins with Joan
consciously simplified generic cuteness. of Arc and Cyrano de Bergerac, Albert Kanter promoted her in
In addition to these works, Streeter also provided illus- 1951 to a position he had created for her — public relations di-
trations for the educational Picture Parade/Picture Progress rector. In that capacity, she promoted new issues on television
series. One of these, A Christmas Adventure, Picture Parade and radio programs hosted by the likes of Virginia Graham
Vol. 1, No. 4 (December 1953), was reissued as a giveaway in and Jim Ameche. She also sparred on the air with anti-comics
1969. Another title, The Birth of America, Picture Progress Vol. crusader Fredric Wertham. “I made scrambled eggs of him,”
1, No. 6 (February 1954), subsequently found its way as a she remembered proudly.41
reprinted section in The Story of America, Special Issue No. 132A Meanwhile, with sales increasing and foreign affiliates
( June 1956). Streeter also illustrated “From Tom-Tom to TV,” growing, Albert Kanter saw in Lidofsky a representative for
which appeared in Adventures in Science, No. 138A (June 1957). his product who would be at ease with all the people calling
The artist contributed two chapters to the first number of the at the headquarters of what was becoming an international op-
World Around Us series, The Illustrated Story of Dogs, No. W1
(September 1958).
Like Costanza, Trapani, and others, Lin Streeter can be
seen as playing a transitional role in the Gilberton story as the
publisher searched for a style in the aftermath of the severing
of ties with the Iger shop. It remained for his fellow Ace col-
leagues, Lou Cameron and Norman Nodel, to transform Clas-
sics Illustrated.

ELEANOR LIDOFSKY, PUBLIC RELATIONS

DIRECTOR
For several years spanning the end of the 1940s to 1954,
Eleanor Lidofsky was the public face of the Gilberton Com-
pany. A graduate of Brooklyn College, the young woman had
been doing publicity for the United Way when she learned
that Classics Illustrated needed a publicist. At the time, few
women in New York had ventured into the field of public re-
lations. “There were only fifty women in the New York City
Publicity Club at the time,” Lidofsky recalled.38
She was hired at Gilberton as a combination publicist,
copy editor, and researcher. “I spent a lot of time at the 42nd
Street Library,” she reminisced. Lidofsky’s salary was $50 a
week. In addition to other responsibilities, she wrote synopses
for the back-of-the-book “Famous Operas” series. “I began at
826 Broadway,” Lidofsky recalled, “in a wonderful neighbor-
hood, next to the Strand bookstore.”39
Eleanor Lidofsky, Gilberton publicity director, 1952.
130 CLASSICS Illustrated

eration. A move to the greater comfort of 101 Fifth Avenue in Kanter made her both editor and chief scriptwriter. She wrote
1952 facilitated the publicist’s efforts. “I took foreign publishers the contents of the first nine issues, which covered the 1953-
and their wives out to lunch,” she said. She also flew to Hol- 54 school year. Not long after the line was launched in Sep-
lywood to attend pre-release screenings of movies that had tie- tember 1953, lawyers for the newspaper supplement Parade
in potential. She often met with Hal Kanter, the publisher’s insisted that the name be changed. “I just hadn’t given any
screenwriter-director son, though the two never quite estab- thought to that,” Lidofsky said. And so Picture Parade became
lished a comfortable working relationship. “I assumed he Picture Progress.44
thought I was too young for the job,” Lidofsky said.42 In any The first issue, the now-legendary Cold War artifact
event, she was recognized as the go-to person in New York, as Andy’s Atomic Adventures, was Lidofsky’s pet project. (Andy
evidenced by a notice in the 23 January 1954 issue of Boxoffice, was named for Kanter’s grandson.) She wrote the script,
a trade paper, where her name was given as the Classics Illus- assisted by her husband, Leon J. Lidofsky, a renowned nuclear
trated contact for movie tie-in promotions for the film version physicist and professor at Columbia University. For the inside
of King — of the Khyber Rifles. front cover, Dr. Lidofsky was asked to pose for a photo wearing
That project and a movie-poster campaign for Knights of a jacket, shirt, and tie. “But it was a hot July day in New York
the Round Table were among Lidofsky’s last flagship-series as- City,” his wife recalled. “So that’s exactly what he wore for the
signments at Gilberton. She left in early 1954 to have a baby. picture: a shirt, a tie, a jacket — and nothing else. All these
In her last year at 101 Fifth Avenue, Lidofsky embarked on the years later, the photo makes me laugh.” 45
work that gave her the greatest satisfaction of all her efforts for Of her time at Gilberton, Lidofsky said, “It was a lark. I
Classics Illustrated. It was an educational series to be marketed loved it.” She remembered Albert Kanter with affection. “He
directly to schools. The concept was Albert Kanter’s, but it was a very warm person,” she said, “and a good businessman.
was Lidofsky’s advocacy that shaped the purpose. “At the time, He was very close to his children.” He was also physically very
there was little information in school textbooks about the close to his comics. Current issues were kept in the rear offices,
United Nations,” she recalled. “And there was also a lot of fear and, Lidofsky recalled, “Al Kanter would go running to the
among schoolchildren about the atomic bomb. I said I thought back, screaming at the man in charge there to get the stock
schoolchildren should know about the UN and should learn moving. He wasn’t yelling because he was angry. It was just
about the benefits as well as dangers of nuclear energy. Then that the man was hard of hearing and wore a hearing aid. But
Al said, ‘Go write ’em.’”43 when he heard Al coming, he would turn off his volume con-
Lidofsky named the new publication Picture Parade, and trol.”46
 XII

Maurice del Bourgo:

A “Man’s World Artist”
A superb illustrator who, in the words of Hames
Ware, “never produced a disappointment,” Mau-
rice del Bourgo had worked for Ace, Hillman, and
Prize.1 At one point, he provided art for DC’s Green
Arrow. Although he was not associated with the Iger
shop, he became a Gilberton regular between 1951 and
1953. Among the younger Classics artists of the early
1950s, only Rudy Palais equaled his dramatic energy;
no one surpassed his pictorial narrative skill.
Like Robert Hayward Webb before and Lou
Cameron after him, del Bourgo was a decisively mas-
culine presence on the Gilberton roster. He was, in the
words of Classics Reader editor Bill Briggs, an “out-
doorsy, blow-by-blow, give-no-quarter, man’s world
artist.”2 His confidently inked work, whether set in
the Alaskan wilderness or the North African desert,
the trenches of the Western Front or the plains of the
Wild West, seemed “all vigor, all struggle, all male
bonding.”3
But del Bourgo was also an intellectual among
illustrators, an introspective artist who set high aes-
thetic standards for himself. He would never allow
anyone else to do his inking, and he sought, unsuc-
cessfully, to have some input in the coloring of his
pages. As the artist observed in a written interview
with Classics Reader editor Jim Sands, he “would ...
agonize over things that ultimately didn’t mean much
of anything, but had a lot of significance for me.”4
Although he “deplored some of the illustrations” he
saw in other Classics Illustrated issues, he concluded
that “the publisher wanted mass production with rea-
sonable competence, and that’s just what he got.”5
Del Bourgo studied “sporadically” for six years

Maurice del Bourgo, Under Two Flags (August 1951).

Cigarette gives all for love.

131
132 CLASSICS Illustrated

Cigarette was the most vibrant Classics heroine since Matt

Baker’s Lorna Doone. Her sacrificial intervention before the
aristocratic English hero’s firing squad broke many a preado-
lescent reader’s heart.
Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, No. 91 ( January
1952), as adapted by Fitch, featured minimal dialogue and
showcased del Bourgo’s skill in creating character and conflict
with animals. The artist approached the novel with his charac-
teristic self-tasking vitality, consulting the original 1903
illustrations by Philip R. Goodwin and Charles Livingston Bull
in his handling of Buck, the central figure of the novel. Buck’s
mortal combat with Spitz, his growing bond with John Thorn-
ton, and his ultimate transformation into the feared “ghost
dog” are rendered without verbal or visual sentiment.
The devastation of war brought forth the artist’s most har-
rowing work in Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the West-
ern Front, No. 95 (May 1952), published, interestingly enough,

Maurice del Bourgo, The Call of the Wild (January 1952). The
“dominant primordial beast” makes his kill.

at the Art Students League in New York under George Bridgman,

who taught him anatomy, and Ivan Olinsky and William von
Schlegell, two fine-arts painters. The artist’s resources were
limited, and he would from time to time “play saxophone with
dance bands until I could get enough $$$ to resume my studies.
This was possible at the ASL. After this I managed to latch on
to some illustration and commercial art jobs with art studios,
newspapers and ad agencies.”6 Meyer Kaplan recruited free-
lancer del Bourgo for Gilberton; editor and artist would later
collaborate on a project for NBC, with Kaplan acting as agent.7
The first title assigned to del Bourgo was Under Two Flags,
No. 86 (August 1951), an 1867 French Chasseurs d’Afrique melo-
drama by Ouida (Maria Louisa de la Ramée), whose works
have slipped from popular consciousness since Hollywood lost
interest in them in the early 1960s. It is arguable that the over-
Maurice del Bourgo, All Quiet on the Western Front (May
ripe Under Two Flags was actually improved by scriptwriter 1952). The horrors of war are on display in a timely title pub-
Ken W. Fitch’s pruning. As for the artist’s contribution, his lished during the Korean conflict.
 XII. MAURICE DEL BOURGO 133

Among the finest of del Bour-

go’s efforts, William Tell, No. 101 (No-
vember 1952), features consistently
interesting panel composition, vivid
character delineation, and striking
background detail. Tell’s escape from
a storm-tossed boat and the assassi-
nation of the tyrant Gessler are dra-
matically executed tableaux. Most
memorable, however, is the famous
episode in which the hero is forced
to shoot an arrow through an apple
placed on his son’s head. Del Bourgo
placed it at the center of William Tell,
spreading the scene across two pages
and adding to the tension, as the arrow
speeds on its way, by rendering the re-
actions of the gathered witnesses.
Shifting to a Western setting
posed no problem for the artist in Buf-
falo Bill, No. 106 (April 1953), which
Maurice del Bourgo, William Tell (November 1952). Grace under pressure. remained one of the most popular ti-
tles in the series through the early
during the Korean War, in a year when war comics such as 1970s. A centerfold illustration of William Cody earning his so-
War Adventures (Atlas/Marvel) and Star Spangled War Stories briquet is an epic-scale scene of cheerful mayhem among the
8
(DC) were proliferating on newsstands. The artist recalled bison. Equally impressive is the sequence of panels, carefully set
that “I was delighted with the chance to do All Quiet. I had read up on the preceding page by a narrative box explanation of
Erich Maria Remarque and had been tremendously moved by “bleeding Kansas,” in which young Cody witnesses a near-fatal
it. Once I got the script, I determined to pull out all the stops.”9 attack on his free-state father by a group of pro-slavery “Missouri
So disturbingly true to the antiwar novel were Fitch’s adap- men.” Del Bourgo made effective use of shading in close-up
tation and del Bourgo’s illustrations that the title was withdrawn drawings of characters’ faces, lending greater nuance and depth
in 1955, when several other “objectionable” issues were discon- to the most extroverted of his Gilberton performances.
tinued. Violent images, such as the graveyard-scene splash or The artist’s final title for Classics Illustrated was a beauti-
the hand-to-hand combat centerfold, were scrutinized in the fully drawn adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s relatively un-
wake of legislative hearings on the alleged harmful effects of known historical novel, The Forty-Five Guardsmen, No. 113
comic books on American youth. All Quiet on the Western Front (November 1953), part of the Valois cycle that included Queen
was not reprinted for another decade, when another, more di- Margot and Chicot the Jester. The abridgment itself was deftly
visive, war was beginning to capture the nation’s attention. achieved, but, with its emphasis on the dynastic struggle be-
If there was a single instance to disprove Hames Ware’s tween Henri III and Henri of Navarre, the book demanded a
dictum that del Bourgo never produced a disappointment, it better acquaintance with 16th-century French history than
was the artist’s work on “An Outline History of the Civil War.” most young American readers could claim. In The Forty-Five
The 15-page filler item for issue No. 98 could be said to have Guardsmen, the artist presented a rich panoply of period cos-
paved the way for the Special Issues and World Around Us series tumes. At the same time, del Bourgo’s compositional technique
of the late 1950s and was the first of three Classics Illustrated shifted toward the clean lines and uncluttered backgrounds
treatments of the national conflict. Designed to extend the that would characterize the Gilberton house style from the
length of the issue containing the Famous Authors edition of mid–1950s onward.
The Red Badge of Courage, the “Outline History” suffers from Standing always apart, the artist saw himself as a serious
uncharacteristic lapses, including a panel depicting Abraham illustrator who understood but resisted the traditional, com-
Lincoln, alone in his box at Ford’s Theatre, clutching his chest mercialized comic-book formula. Meyer Kaplan hired him for
and tilting his head backward as a rather simian John “Wilks” specific projects if he thought his style was “compatible with
(a letterer’s, not the artist’s, mistake) Booth leaps to the stage. the story.”10 Del Bourgo never met any other Gilberton artist
134 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Maurice del Bourgo, Buffalo Bill (April 1953). Young Bill Cody is introduced to a “bleeding Kansas” political discussion.
Right: Maurice del Bourgo, The Forty-Five Guardsmen (November 1953). The artist’s eye for period detail is evident throughout
the adaptation of the Dumas novel of dynastic intrigue.

and always worked in his home studio, devoting a month to At the time, according to the artist, Gilberton’s standard
six weeks to each Classics script while simultaneously engaged rate was $15 per page, a low pay scale in keeping with the com-
in other projects. pany’s policy of getting the most for the least. But there were
The artist stated in his interview with Jim Sands that compensating factors in terms of page layout (six panels on
“Kiefer and Blum were in the traditional comic-book mold. I average rather than eight), book length (44 pages), and creative
was not.”11 As for the other artists who worked for Gilberton control. “We had total freedom in interpretation,” del Bourgo
at the time, “I neither looked up to them nor did I feel con- declared. “We developed our own guidelines.”13 That state of
tempt for their work. They were much more favored than I affairs would change significantly within a few years, thanks
was because their pages were so much more useful to the em- to a young woman hired at about the time the artist finished
ployer. He wanted mass production with reasonable compe- his last Classics Illustrated assignment.
tence, and that’s just what he got.”12
 XIII

Canonical Matters and

Classical Curiosities
“THE WORLD’S GREATEST AUTHORS” Eliot (Mary Ann or Marian Evans), Ouida (Marie Louise de
la Ramée), Jane Porter, Anna Sewell, Mary Wollstonecraft

T he cover of each Classics Illustrated issue boasted that the

series featured “Stories by the World’s Greatest Authors.”
Reorder lists in the early 1950s declared that “There Have Been
Shelley, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. With respect to 19th-
century women authors, two omissions are glaringly obvious.

No Greater Story Tellers Than These Immortal Authors” whose

names were then catalogued. But who were they? And who
weren’t they?
A quick answer to both questions might be the “usual
suspects.” Most of the writers represented were European or
American males. With ten books in the series, Jules Verne was
the most adapted author, followed by Alexandre Dumas (nine);
James Fenimore Cooper (eight); Robert Louis Stevenson (seven);
a tie among Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, William Shake-
speare, Mark Twain, and H.G. Wells (five); and a tie among Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, G.A. Henty, Victor Hugo, and co-authors
Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall (four). Also-rans in-
cluded Frank Buck, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, and Edgar
Allan Poe (three titles); and William Wilkie Collins, H. Rider
Haggard, Charles Boardman Hawes, Homer, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, Frederick Marryat, Herman Melville,
Francis Parkman, and Ernest Thompson Seton (two titles).
Some of these were writers whose stories appealed pri-
marily to boys, who, most industry analysts believed, bought
most of the comic books in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, although
available data suggests a more even distribution. Indeed, the
year 1949 witnessed a surge in the sales of romance comics,
and Gilberton responded with the publication of three titles
in a row aimed primarily at female readers: Wuthering Heights,
Black Beauty, and The Woman in White.
In any event, only eight women authors were represented
in Classics Illustrated: Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, George

Alex A. Blum, From the Earth to the Moon (March 1953). With
ten Classics Illustrated adaptations from his “Extraordinary
Voyages” published between 1946 and 1962, Jules Verne was
the most popular author in the Gilberton catalogue.

135
136 CLASSICS Illustrated

edged” (at least by Gilberton’s editorial

board and inventory control) that, where
comic books were concerned, it was a
boys’ world. At least it was thought to be
so, whatever the available data might have
said to the contrary.
The received wisdom maintained that
boys drew a distinction between women
writers and what they perceived as girls’
books. Thus, despite the battlefield cover
of the 1949 edition of Black Beauty, most
boys of the era would have had some dif-
ficulty in regarding it as a wartime story.
Other books, although written by women,
passed what might be called the “gender-
neutral test.” These included Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, Frankenstein, The Scottish Chiefs,
and Under Two Flags. Of course, Shelley’s
Frankenstein was sui generis, existing out-
side all conventional categories; the Classics
Illustrated adaptation went through 19
printings between 1945 and 1971.
Then, too, there was the matter of
the frequent appearance of the Brontë sis-
ters and George Eliot on high school
required-reading lists (though that still
doesn’t explain the absence of Austen). Of
the titles by the eight women authors,
three —Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and
Black Beauty— were, at one time or an-
other, dropped from the reorder list; these
were more explicitly “girls’ books.”
Some honorary “girls’ books” by male
authors, such as Alice in Wonderland and
The Woman in White, were out of print
for long periods of time. The Cloister and
the Hearth, a borderline half-adventure,
half-romance case, disappeared from the
reorder lists after a single printing. Yet oth-
ers, such as Lorna Doone, enjoyed contin-
uous runs. For that matter, the best-selling
Unidentified artist, Joan of Arc (first painted cover, 1955). Although few “girls’ books”
were included in the series, Joan of Arc transcended gender appeal and was the best-
biography published in the series was Joan
selling Classics Illustrated biography. of Arc. These latter two titles, naturally,
were packed with action.
If Silas Marner made the cut, why didn’t Little Women? No black authors appeared in the Classics catalogue; at
(The Louisa May Alcott favorite appeared in a 1956 Simon & the time little attention was paid to African-American literature
Schuster Golden Picture Classic edition, a sort of Classics Illus- in either popular or academic culture. A well-intentioned effort
trated “Senior.”) If there was room for the Brontës, why was to make amends in 1969 resulted in the final Classics Illustrated
Jane Austen excluded? Perhaps Pride and Prejudice was con- edition, Negro Americans —The Early Years. When it hit the
sidered too sophisticated in its deployment of irony. Whatever newsstands a year after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
the case might have been, it was “a truth universally acknowl- King, Jr., the title was already an anachronism.
 XIII. CANONICAL MATTERS AND CLASSICAL CURIOSITIES 137

Classics Illustrated, in effect, established a literary canon Walter Scott’s embarrassing and painful mishap with George
for its young readership that to some degree mirrored the canon IV’s brandy glass was duly recorded, along with an anecdote
endorsed by high school and college English departments and about James Fenimore Cooper’s impulsive decision to become
that reflected the cultural assumptions of the period. Sir Walter a novelist while reading a book he disliked.
Scott’s Ivanhoe was the single best-selling title in the series, However, concessions to propriety were made in certain
but the plays of Shakespeare clearly held pride of place. Except instances: the circumstances of Jack London’s death and the
for the first Classics Illustrated title by the Bard, Julius Caesar, marital status of Fanny Osbourne at the time she met Robert
each of the Shakespeare adaptations was issued in Septem- Louis Stevenson were treated with an excess of delicacy (Fanny
ber —1951, 1952, 1955, 1956 — to coincide with the beginning was described as “an American widow”). In the 1941 edition
of the school year. of The Three Musketeers, readers were assured that, whatever
Ivanhoe, Moby Dick, A Tale of Two Cities, Huckleberry Finn, his racial ancestry, Alexandre Dumas “had a fair skin, light
Jane Eyre, Silas Marner, The Call of the Wild, The Red Badge of hair and blue eyes.” The comment was cut in 1959.
Courage, and Lord Jim were among the most often-assigned Issue No. 3, The Count of Monte Cristo, contained the
works in postwar American schools, and Classics Illustrated first actual filler item, a biography of Napoleon, whose fortunes
ratified these and other pedagogical preferences. (On the other set the plot of the Dumas novel in motion. During World War
hand, not a single work by Thomas Hardy was adapted by II, combat articles such as Michael Sullivan’s “Flight Over
Gilberton, despite the classroom omnipresence of The Return Tokyo” or patriotic poems such as Ralph Waldo Emerson
of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd.) Sixty-six of “Concord Hymn” frequently appeared. After the Iger shop
the titles that appeared in the series were recommended in the began packaging Classic Comics in 1945, regular filler features
1957 Boy Scouts of America Reading manual (Merit Badge Se- were added. Heroic dog stories were an early and long-
ries), including such relative obscurities as Henryk Sienk- endurings taple.
iewicz’s With Fire and Sword and Frederick Marryat’s Mr. Mid- “Pioneers of Science” was inaugurated in 1946 with an out-
shipman Easy. line of Joseph Priestley’s contributions; the feature continued
At the same time, the series extended the shelf lives of until 1952, surveying the careers of 58 scientists, mathematicians,
second- or third-tier authors such as Charles Kingsley, R.D. explorers, and inventors. Figures profiled ranged from Hip-
Blackmore, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Sue, Edward Everett pocrates to Marie Curie. The article on Pythagoras, in issue No.
Hale, Charles Reade, Jane Porter, Anthony Hope, Ouida, W.H. 75, contained the following passages that indicate the level on
Hudson, Talbot Mundy, Richard Harding Davis, G.A. Henty, which some of the “Pioneers of Science” fillers were written:
and Winston Churchill (the American author, not the British To Pythagoras goes the honor of first proving two fundamen-
prime minister). By mid-century, these writers had largely re- tal propositions of geometry. One of these, known as the 47th
ceded from popular consciousness; they were introduced to proposition in Euclid, deals with right angled triangles. The the-
another generation thanks to the childhood reading habits of orum, or statement to be proven is: the square (the number
times itself ) on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right
Albert Kanter, William Kanter, Meyer Kaplan, and other
angle) is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides.
Gilberton staffers — or the impending release of a Hollywood The other proposition proves that the sum of the three angles
film. of a triangle equals two right angles. The solution is simple
enough when all the necessary preliminaries are proved, but its
demonstration, with that of its necessary preliminaries, proves
that Pythagoras was a very brilliant reasoner.
FILLERS AND FEATURES
In a 1989 article in the Journal of Chemical Education,
In keeping with Albert Kanter’s insistence on the educa- Henry A. Carter praised the feature and other Gilberton pub-
tional role of Classics Illustrated, extra pages at the end of each lications for providing “a source of information on the lives of
issue were devoted to informative articles that, by the early many famous chemists....”1 For example, issue No. 54 provided
1950s, were often related to the subject matter of the book. a biography of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, “The Father of
During Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht’s editorial tenure in the late Chemistry.” Young readers learned about the scientist’s formu-
1950s and early 1960s, nearly all of the filler material had some lation of the theory of elements and compounds as well as his
thematic connection. death during the Reign of Terror, although the view adopted
From issue No. 1 onward, a biography of the author ac- of the French Revolution was so oversimplified and reactionary
companied the adaptation. Dumas, Scott, and Cooper, the (suggesting outright hostility to science) that it might have
first authors included in the series, received two-page profiles; satisfied Prince Metternich himself.
later sketches were reduced to a single page. For the most part, “Famous Operas” (often written by Kenneth W. Fitch or
the brief lives were accurate and occasionally entertaining. Sir Eleanor Lidofsky) introduced young readers to Mozart’s Don
138 CLASSICS Illustrated

spreads. Sports legends Babe Ruth, Lou

Gehrig, the Dean Brothers, and Knute
Rockne were profiled, among others, in
“Stories from the World of Sports.”
A feature titled “Great Lives” of-
fered in 1948 a biography of Elizabeth
Blackwell, the first American woman to
receive a medical degree. Other figures
profiled in the series included Aesop,
Nathan Hale, and Lawrence of Arabia.
“American Presidents” offered “inci-
dents” in the lives of George Washing-
ton, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and others. Even
“Bad Men of the West” found their
place in the back pages, as reverse im-
ages of heroes such as Buffalo Bill and
Wild Bill Hickok.
A 12-part comics-style series titled
“The Story of Great Britain” was intro-
duced in issue No. 127 in July 1955 and
concluded in issue No. 138 in May
1957. The back-of-the-book two-page
spread offered compact illustrated over-
views of historical eras or events such as
Roman Britain, the Norman Conquest,
the Elizabethan Age, the Puritan Rev-
olution, and the Victorian Era. A young
reader following the series from the be-
ginning would have learned about
Hadrian’s Wall, the Domesday Book,
Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt, the
Spanish Armada, the “Glorious Revo-
lution,” the Crystal Palace Exhibition
of 1851, and the Anglo-American al-
liance during World War II.
By the late 1950s, under Roberta
Strauss Feuerlicht’s direction, filler pieces
bore some relation to the work adapted
and supplied a broader context for the
reader. Thus, a child who had just fin-
ished the Classics edition of G.A. Henty’s
In the Reign of Terror could read a bi-
Lou Cameron, “The Story of Great Britain,” Part 9, in Classics Illustrated No. 135 ography of Robespierre — or, on com-
(November 1956). The 12-part series surveyed British history from the Celtic invasion
to the postwar era. pleting Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, could
learn about the life of the Buddha. Jules
Giovanni, Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, Richard Wagner’s Das Rhein- Verne’s Off on a Comet included a back-
gold, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. In “Stories from Early of-the-book article contrasting the planets Mercury and Jupiter
America,” the capture of Ticonderoga and the California Gold and another recounting the mythological origins of constella-
Rush were among the many historical events recounted. Amer- tions’ names.
ican Indians and American rivers were studied in two-page In the 1961 revised edition of Tom Brown’s School Days,
 XIII. CANONICAL MATTERS AND CLASSICAL CURIOSITIES 139

the article “Children of the Slums” revealed the other side of CLUE V: I returned to France and, using the name “Sinbad the
Victorian England, while “A Mound of Ruins” juxtaposed the Sailor,” helped my loyal friends. With the use of disguise and
1755 Lisbon earthquake with the devastation depicted in the the fortune at my disposal, I brought about the downfall of my
four enemies. My adventures were recorded by Alexandre
1961 revision of The Last Days of Pompeii. An essay on the an- Dumas in his novel The Count of Monte Cristo.
cient Egyptian cult of the dead appeared in the 1961 edition [Edmond Dantes]
of Cleopatra, along with an account of the ill-fated union of
Antony and the Greco-Egyptian queen.
From No. 156:
It was quite an education for pocket change.
CLUE I: I was a member of a group of amateur actors. I
dwelled in a little town surrounded by a large, quiet forest.

“WHO AM I?” CLUE II: One day, the leader of our group told us we were to
give a command performance before the duke and his bride on
their wedding day.
One of the most popular and enduring features in Classics
Illustrated was the “Who Am I?” quiz that appeared inside the CLUE III: We decided to practice reading our parts in the for-
front covers of hundreds of original editions and reprints, be- est. Although we didn’t know it at the time, the forest was in-
habited by a group of fairies.
ginning with issue No. 86, Under Two Flags (August 1951), and
ending with issue No. 163, Master of the World ( July 1961). CLUE IV: I had the misfortune of meeting with one of these
The literary trivia game not only tested the reader’s knowledge impish fellows. For reasons of his own, he changed the appear-
ance of my head to that of a donkey! When my fellow actors saw
of characters in stories adapted for Classics Illustrated, but also
me, they were so frightened they fled the forest in terror.
promoted the series. For ten years, the format never changed—
five clues gave information that amounted to plot summaries, CLUE V: As if this wasn’t enough, that prankish fairy had also
cast a spell over the queen of all the fairies which caused her to
with the title of the book and the author’s name in the fifth
fall in love with me — donkey head and all. The exciting climax
clue, and the name of the character was printed upside down of my story can be found in the play A Midsummer Night’s
at the end. Among the names included were such well-known Dream by William Shakespeare.
characters as Uncas from The Last of the Mohicans and Ishmael [Nick Bottom]
from Moby Dick as well as more obscure ones such as
Humphrey Van Weyden from The Sea Wolf and Jean Macquart
from The Downfall. THE MYSTIQUE OF THE REORDER LIST
The following are early and late “Who Am I?” quizzes,
as printed in issue No. 89, Crime and Punishment (November A source of profound confusion to the uninitiated, the
1951), and in issue No. 156, The Conquest of Mexico (May 1960). Classics Illustrated reorder list enabled readers to check off by
The same rules prefaced both: issue number the titles they had already obtained or those they
I am a famous literary character. Can you guess my name from the wished to order directly from the publisher. For collectors, the
clues below? Rate your familiarity with me as follows: If you can lists have long provided the most accurate method of dating
identify me from CLUE I, your score is superior; from CLUE II — an edition.
excellent; from CLUE III — very good; from CLUE IV — good; from More than 1,200 reprinted editions of 164 titles rolled off
CLUE V — fair. If after CLUE V you still cannot identify me, I the presses between 1943 and 1971. Until September 1963,
suggest you read the exciting story in which I appear.
Gilberton did not date its reprints but instead reproduced the
From No. 89: original publication indicia inside the front covers. A (usually)
CLUE I: On my engagement day, I was imprisoned in the current title list, however, was placed on the back or inside
Chateau d’If on forged evidence and false charges. covers of all but a few reprinted editions, along with a coupon
addressed to the publisher. Raymond True provided a signal
CLUE II: In prison, I tried to escape with a fellow prisoner, the
old Abbe Faria. From him, I learned about the plot against me. service for Classics collectors in the early 1970s, when he es-
I swore that I would avenge myself. Before we could escape, he tablished a formal system of dating issues by means of the last
died. title listed on reorder lists; this time-stamp came to be known
CLUE III: Upon the Abbe’s death, I became heir to his hidden among collectors by the term he used — the highest reorder
treasure. I escaped from prison in his death shrouds, cut myself number (HRN).2
loose and was rescued by a passing smuggling ship. Thus, if the title list on your copy of No. 128, Macbeth
CLUE IV: I made my way to the island of Monte Cristo, where (September 1955), ended at HRN 128 and had a “Coming
I discovered a vast treasure. Although it meant danger, I had but Next” ad for No. 129, Davy Crockett, on the inside front cover,
one goal in life — revenge. you knew you had an original edition. If the HRN was 143,
140 CLASSICS Illustrated

If the example sounds con-

fusing, in practice it wasn’t. One’s
frame of reference was pictorial;
the colorful lists spotlighted repro-
ductions of different issue covers.
When introduced at HRN 10 in
1943, each of the Classic Comics ti-
tles was depicted, but after the first
20 began crowding each other,
representative issues were dis-
played. After 1953, only a single
title, or at most two, were shown.
Eight-year-olds could easily dis-
tinguish between reprints from the
mid–1950s (showing Don Quixote
against a red background), the late
’50s (Caesar’s Conquests on light
blue), and the ’60s (Off on a Comet
on blue or white). Ten-year-old
experts could explain why you
should be wary of HRN 149 in
guessing a book’s age. (An HRN
149 surfaced in 1961, with the cover
of No. 149 instead of No. 130
shown as the representative book,
two years after No. 149 appeared.)
For obsessive personalities in
the making, the reorder lists pro-
vided ideal training. Why was No.
43, Great Expectations, a frequently
assigned school text, deleted in
1952 after a second printing, never
to return to the Classics catalogue?
Why was No. 11, Don Quixote, dis-
continued in 1949, reissued in
1953 with a painted cover that was
given pride of place as the represen-
tative issue on reorder lists for nearly
three years, and dropped again in
1956? Why were Nos. 68 and 82
available on coupons between 1955
and 1960 but not included on the
actual title lists? Pity the young
A 1951 Classics Illustrated reorder list. For an earlier example, see Chapter I; for later exam-
collector whose faith in an ordered
ples, see Chapters XVI and XXII. universe might have been shaken
by coming upon a British Classics
the book was a reprint, issued around March 1958, when No. Illustrated edition in which the renumbered list showed Huck-
143, Kim, was added to the series. A Macbeth with a list ending leberry Finn rather than The Three Musketeers as issue No. 1.
at HRN 158 dated from the fall of 1960. And so on until the The real source of fascination was in the older lists, where
spring of 1970, when the eighth printing appeared with the subsequently discontinued titles offered tantalizing bits of in-
terminal HRN of 169. formation and raised assorted conundrums: Was Westward Ho!
 XIII. CANONICAL MATTERS AND CLASSICAL CURIOSITIES 141

about cowboys? Who were The Corsi-

can Brothers? What was The Black
Tulip? And how about Mr. Midship-
man Easy or those Forty-Five Guards-
men? But most intriguing of all, what
would you find in Mysteries, 3 Famous
Mysteries, and Mysteries of Paris?

“COMING NEXT”
From the very first issue, Classic
Comics—and then Classics Illustrated—
previewed the next title with “Coming
Next” ads. Back-cover, full-page color
illustrations heralded subsequent edi-
tions through No. 14. In issue No. 15,
the notice was moved to the inside
back cover, where the short-lived “Klas-
sic Komic Kid” (drawn by Lou Zan-
sky), clutching a baseball bat and wear-
ing a mortar board, an academic gown,
and cleats, informed readers that “I’ve
just seen the colored proofs of
Gulliver’s Travels.... Gee ... it sure is ex-
citing....” A few issues later, the Kid
was exhorting readers not to miss “the
mad story about The Hunchback of
Notre Dame ... the homely little man
who was brave enough to fight the
whole population of Paris ... single-
handed! Golly!” Despite these en-
dorsements, the issues sold well.
A less goofy but no less restrained
style soon took hold, and the “Coming
Next” feature eventually moved to the
inside front cover, displaying mock-
ups of the forthcoming line-drawing
covers. Breathless descriptions spoke
of “action—suspense—excitement in the
next great issue of Classic Comics.” Each
successive issue was promoted in the
language of testosterone. “Never has
there been a greater story than Kid- “Coming Next...” The May 1958 ad for Classics Illustrated No. 145.
napped in the next great issue of Classics
Illustrated,” a January 1948 ad proclaimed. In April 1952, shifted to a bimonthly publication schedule in 1954. Brief, de-
Gilberton announced the upcoming All Quiet on the Western scriptive paragraphs, written with increasingly greater skill,
Front as “a story with the impact of an exploding bomb.” were appended. For instance, the September 1958 teaser for
Two months later, in issue No. 96, the understated head- Ben-Hur emphasized the theme of revenge: “At the time of
ing, “Coming Next Month,” first appeared. It was replaced by Jesus, young Judah Ben-Hur, son of a prince of Jerusalem, had
“Coming” and finally “Coming Next” after Classics Illustrated wealth, money, and power. In a day he was stripped of this by
Two longtime in-house promotions for Classics Illustrated.
 XIII. CANONICAL MATTERS AND CLASSICAL CURIOSITIES 143

Messala, a Roman. Through years of toil as a galley slave, Ben- The problem was that the five issues were boxed together
Hur thought of nothing but vengeance. Then one day his wish at a cost of fifty-nine cents, while the buyer, who had no choice
was granted. He met Messala in a chariot race.” The style was concerning the box’s contents, could select five titles from the
adopted for Classics Illustrated Junior in 1953. Both series ran newsstand for only fifty cents, allowing change for a soft drink
the ads in every new title until the final issues appeared — or a candy bar. Doing a little subtraction, most readers passed
neither CI No. 168 nor No. 169 contained one, nor did Junior on the offer.
No. 577. Simple math also doomed the three Classics Illustrated
While the “Coming Next” ads in the line-drawing cover “Giant” editions, advertised on back covers and inside covers
era generally provided an accurate representation in reduction from 1949 to 1951. Each of the issues consisted of four previ-
of the following month’s cover, painted covers were redrawn, ously published titles, collected under a single cover. The cost
usually by Alex Blum, with pen and ink. (Only Crime and was fifty cents, which, until the cover price of the series in-
Punishment was advertised using a photograph of the painted creased from ten to fifteen cents in March 1951, put the pur-
cover.) Generally, the line-draw ing sketches of painted covers chaser at a disadvantage.
were reasonably accurate in terms of scale and physical features, In 1949, Gilberton introduced a subscription premium:
but on some occasions, such as the promotions for Davy Crock- “FREE! FREE! FREE! 40 of the World’s Greatest Comic Strip
ett and In the Reign of Terror, Blum wasn’t even close. Characters in TATTOOS (also known as Transfers or Decal-
Then, too, there was the nonexistent No. 145, The Buc- comanias) are yours FREE with a subscription for only 10 com-
caneer, scheduled for July 1958 but delayed because of a last- ing issues of Classics Illustrated.” The same ad was printed on
minute artist substitution. Blum created a cover that, as it turned countless inside covers until 1959, when a World Around Us
out, had nothing to do with the rescheduled book and a figure subscription solicitation took its place. Presumably, the same
who looked nothing like Yul Brynner, the star of the film on stock of “tattoos” lasted for a full decade.
which the title was based. The Buccaneer was issued as No. 148 Another long-running Gilberton promotion was for Clas-
in January 1949 with a quite different painted-cover design by sics Illustrated binders, which were introduced in 1951 and were
Norm Saunders, featuring a Brynner-like Jean Lafitte. Mean- advertised until the end in 1971. The supply more than
while, The Crisis had been substituted in the No. 145 slot, and exceeded the demand, and with good reason. According to the
the original edition of No. 144, with its erroneous “Coming advertisement, “Each binder holds 12 books securely. Each is
Next” ad, became an instant collector’s item. covered in beautiful, brown simulated leather and is richly im-
printed with gold on both cover and backbone. Simple in-
structions make binding possible in a matter of minutes.”
PROMOS AND PREMIUMS Unfortunately, “simulated” was the controlling descriptive
term. Worse, binding was achieved with thick, remarkably
Although the actual pages of Classic Comics and Classics unelastic rubber bands that tore the tops and bottoms of
Illustrated did not, with some early exceptions, contain adver- comic-book spines or that snapped when stretched too far to
tising, the inside and back covers always displayed in-house reach the opposing hook. Originally priced at $1.00, the cost
promotional matter, from reorder lists for the various Gilberton had risen only to $1.50 when Classics Illustrated ceased publi-
series to inducements for subscribers. In the 1960s, Gilberton cation, and the original inventory still served the purpose.
even promoted a series of Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks Responding to interest in the space race, Gilberton bor-
published by its 101 Fifth Avenue neighbor, Ballantine Books. rowed a promotional product and ad from its British subsidiary
The ads evolved as the years progressed, reflecting the changing in the 1960s. “Now you can ‘shoot the Moon’— land on Venus
identity of the publication. or Mars and perform many adventures in orbit with the sen-
Featured on numerous back covers in the mid- to late- sational new Space Age Toy ORBITOP, ‘Satellite on a string.’”
1940s were colorful pitches for “Classic Comics Gift Boxes,” A boy in distinctly English attire, wearing a school sweater and
which contained five issues of sequentially numbered titles. tie, was shown spinning what appeared to be a yo-yo with en-
Thus, the first box’s contents consisted of issues 1 through 5; capsulated back-to-back astronauts, strange creatures unknown
the second, issues 6 through 10; and so on. Originally designed to the GIs who had received Classic Comics Gift Boxes twenty
for mailing to World War II servicemen, the boxes were re- years earlier.
lentlessly promoted but never really caught on.
 XIV

Lou Cameron: “If John Wayne Had

Drawn Comic Books”
“
If John Wayne had drawn comic books,” Hames Ware ob-
served, “he would have been Lou Cameron.”1 There is, in-
deed, something larger than life about the artist turned writer,
trators, syndicated cartoonists, writers, et al.”5 Cameron wrote
that “[N]one of us at the time thought we were doing all that
much but paying the rent whilst we waited for Norman Rock-
who won awards in both capacities. His drawings and painted well to die and give us a crack at the real money. When a panel
covers for Classics Illustrated from 1953 to 1956 included some went well you smiled and inked it. When it came out a mess
of the most vital artwork published in the series. In addition, you considered what they were paying you and inked it.”6
the broad-smiling, hearty characters he drew reflected his own Several years after the end of World War II, Cameron,
expansive personality. who “wanted to be an illustrator,” had found himself “hand
Born in San Francisco on 20 June 1924, the son of actor painting china lamps signed by the artist.”7 Deciding that
Louis Arnold and Ziegfeld girl Ruth Marvin (through whom comics “had to be an improvement,” he broke into the field
he was distantly related to actor Lee Marvin), Cameron studied with publisher Billy Friedman, who paid $23 a page, “which
at the California School of Fine Arts. Dropping out to join was low, but, Lord, he was easy to please and always wrote you
the army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he served a check the day after you delivered.”8 Later, he did some work
as an artillery scout and combat instructor in the European for DC and Timely (Atlas) before “finding a fairly steady niche
theater during World War II. He became a technical sergeant with Ace,” where the page rate was $32. Cameron became
and won the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and three battle known in the early 1950s for his skull-strewn horror illustra-
stars.2 tions, which, however, were less overtly horrific than those of
At various times, the professed “Deathbed Catholic” some of his contemporaries.9
worked as a movie extra, a private detective, a ranch hand, and In 1953, Ace and Gilberton both used the Bob MacLeod
a trucker. Between 1950 and 1960, Cameron freelanced for studio for Leroy-lettering penciled pages. Meyer A. Kaplan,
magazines and comic books. For The Man Who Discovered managing editor of Classics Illustrated, recruited Cameron and
America, a pictorial biography of Columbus that he drew for Lin Streeter to freelance for the series. The rate was $5 less per
Gilberton’s Picture Progress educational series, he received the page than Ace paid, but the 44 to 47 pages of artwork in a
Thomas Alva Edison Award in 1956.3 Classics issue more than compensated for the difference. As
Abruptly turning his back on commercial art in 1957, Cameron observed, “Classics hired you to do a whole book at
Cameron began a successful career as the author of such novels once, rather than the usual seven pages. So their check looked
as The Block Busters, The Big Red Ball, The Dirty War of Sgt. good at rent time.”10
Slade, The Amphorae Pirates, Cybernia, How the West Was Won, Kaplan evidently recognized and had confidence in
The Wilderness Seekers, and The Grass of Goodnight. As he put Cameron’s abilities. Commenting on his editor, the artist
it, “I went home and threw out my drawing board, set up the wrote, “He was a reasonable guy who’d started out in the sales
first typewriter I had ever bought, and announced I was a department, had no airs about his artistic or editorial skills
writer, period. I have never regretted the move.”4 In 1976, he and simply hired writers and artists who’d been hired earlier
won the Spur Award for his western novel, The Spirit Horses. by other publishers. Most of whom paid better.”11 Cameron
Cameron the author felt no warm nostalgia for his days had less charitable memories of other Gilberton personnel,
as a comics artist. “What the Golden Age buffs fail to grasp,” such as Alex A. Blum, whom he dismissed as a man “who’d
he observed, “is that we were all starting out as wannabe illus- failed as an artist and hence had to work as an ‘Art Director.’”12

144
Lou Cameron, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (October 1953). Dr. Jekyll fights a losing battle.
146 CLASSICS Illustrated

iconic painting for No. 13 by Mort Kün-

stler graced the cover of the replacement.
The revised Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
remains one of the most compelling Clas-
sics. Eschewing the horror style employed
by Arnold Hicks in 1943 (except for the
trademark skull here and there), Cameron
brought to the surface the internal conflict
in Robert Louis Stevenson’s parable of
human duality, emphasizing the moral
desperation in both the respected
physician and his criminal alter ego
through dramatic shading and imaginative
angles.
Technically, Cameron’s most inter-
esting work for Gilberton was another
Stevenson project — a pair of South Seas
tales, “The Bottle Imp” and “The Beach
of Falesa,” issued together under the title,
The Bottle Imp, No. 116 (February 1954).
Harry Miller’s adaptation of “Falesa,”
Stevenson’s critique of colonial exploita-
tion, softened the sexual and racial over-
tones and dispensed altogether with the
distinctive first-person voice of the narra-
tor, Wiltshire, and hence the author’s
carefully crafted irony. Still, it is to the
publisher’s credit that editor Meyer A. Ka-
plan recognized the neglected tale’s merit
at a time when both high school and uni-
versity English departments largely
ignored Stevenson’s innovative later fic-
tion.
Following the example of science-fic-
tion illustrator Ed Cartier, the artist ex-
perimented with a Wolff carbon pencil in-
stead of inking, which resulted in more
textured panels in both “The Beach of
Falesa” and “The Bottle Imp.” The tech-
nique allowed Cameron, who excelled in
rendering strenuous action, to experiment
with shading and to achieve a dynamically
Lou Cameron, “The Beach of Falesa” in The Bottle Imp (February 1954). The artist’s
Wolff carbon pencil explosively in action. fluid effect in three full-page illustrations
in the Stevenson issue.
For his first assignment, the artist was given the task of Another superbly drafted South Sea
completely redrawing a newly scripted edition of one of the adventure followed — Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
most popular titles, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Hall’s The Hurricane, No. 120 ( June 1954), for which he sup-
Mr. Hyde, No. 13 (October 1953), which had been horribly plied both the interior art and the painted cover. A 14-page
adapted and crudely drawn in its original Classic Comics in- sequence shows the storm building to its climax. The artist
carnation. This was the first of thirty earlier titles to be reissued fills panels with streaked and swirled linework representing
with new illustrations and, with one exception, texts; a now- the deadly tempest, while never losing the human focus and
 XIV. LOU CAMERON 147

the life-or-death decisions made by char-

acters attempting to choose the course
of action most likely to ensure survival.
Of his illustrations in 1954, Cameron re-
marked, “I think some of my earlier
work for Classics was better because I was
simply allowed to draw it, hand it in,
and cash the modest check.”13
If any Classics Illustrated title has as-
sured the artist a place in comics history,
it is his spectacular rendering of H.G.
Wells’s The War of the Worlds, No. 124
(January 1955), for which he also painted
the cover. Cameron’s gripping visual nar-
rative featured the definitive depiction of
the deadly Martian tripods. A two-page
splash portrayed the lethal effect of the
aliens’ attack in one of the most memo-
rable drawings ever to appear in the se-
ries. Several decades later, when First
Publishing attempted to revive Classics Il-
lustrated, artist Ken Steacy was asked to
provide artwork for a new edition of The
War of the Worlds. He advised the editor
simply to reprint Cameron’s version.
“There is no way I could do it any better,”
Steacy is reported as having said.14
Emile Zola’s ironic novel of the
Franco-Prussian War, The Downfall (La
Débâcle), No. 126 (May 1955), was, with
“The Beach of Falesa,” one of the more
mature literary adaptations that Cam-
eron illustrated for Gilberton. It also fea-
tured Cameron’s most polished work for
the series. His one-page minidrama of
Henriette Weiss’s arrival at the scene of
her husband’s imminent execution and
his two-page treatment of Jean Macquart
mortally wounding his friend, Maurice
Levasseur, are concise triumphs of se-
quential art.
Beginning in July 1955 with issue
No. 127, Classics Illustrated ran a 12-part
“Story of Great Britain” as a two-page,
Lou Cameron, The Hurricane (June 1954). A minor work of popular fiction is given
back-of-the-book spread. Cameron il- first-class treatment.
lustrated all of the installments and ob-
viously relished working on the first nine (“The Celtic was having significant differences with the Gilberton editorial
Invasion” through “The Restoration”), lavishing attention upon staff.
Roman, Saxon, Norse, Norman, Tudor, and Stuart arms, Davy Crockett, No. 129 (November 1955), was issued
armor, and costumes. The later chapters, which appear to have by Gilberton in an effort to capitalize on the coonskin-cap
been completed in haste, date from the period when the artist craze sparked by Walt Disney’s three-part Disneyland television
148 CLASSICS Illustrated

gained increasing momentum

with the airing of the second
and third parts of the “Frontier-
land” trilogy, “Davy Crockett
Goes to Congress” (26 January
1955) and “Davy Crockett at
the Alamo” (23 February 1955).
The entire series was repeated
in April and May. Two addi-
tional episodes were filmed and
broadcast later in the year: “Davy
Crockett’s Keelboat Race” (16
November 1955) and “Davy
Crockett and the River Pirates”
(14 December 1955). By the
time the fad ended, Crockett-
related toys, clothes, books,
comics, games, guitars, lunch
boxes, trading cards, accessor-
ies, and other items had gener-
ated $300 million in sales.15
Perhaps the most striking thing
about Crockett mania was the
Lou Cameron, The War of the Worlds (January 1955). Mars attacks! The artist’s conception of
the original alien-invasion story is regarded by many as definitive. fact that it was absolutely spon-
taneous in its inception. For the
production (1954–1955) loosely based on the Tennessee con- first time, the baby-boom generation gave an indication of
gressman and Texas martyr’s life. In 1954, Walt Disney had its demographic and economic power, and Madison Avenue
selected folk hero Davy Crockett as the subject for the initial took notice.
“Frontierland” episodes on the new ABC Disneyland television In response to the national Crockett frenzy, Classics Il-
program. (Each week, the series would highlight a different lustrated released its own contribution to the voluminous pub-
section —“Fantasyland,” “Tomorrowland”— of the California lications on the hero that appeared in 1955. Issue No. 129,
theme park then under construction. To portray Crockett, Davy Crockett, was exceptionally well-researched; the script
Disney hired Fess Parker (1925–2010), a relatively unknown was largely based on the congressman’s own Narrative of the
actor whose performance in the 1954 science-fiction film Them! Life of David Crockett (1834), with some additional material
had impressed him. added from Richard Penn Smith’s Col. Crockett’s Exploits and
No one — not even Walt Disney himself— was prepared Adventures in Texas (1836), an unreliable work that had previ-
for what happened when the first of the episodes, “Davy ously been accepted by many as authentic.
Crockett, Indian Fighter,” aired on Wednesday, 15 December Unfortunately, the bimonthly Classics production sched-
1954. On Thursday, 16 December, playgrounds across America ule didn’t accommodate fads very well, and the Crockett phe-
witnessed thousands of replays of the previous night’s program. nomenon had played itself out when Gilberton’s Davy Crockett
In response to more than 200 calls that same day from licensees hit the newsstands in November 1955. As a result, sales of the
for rights to Davy Crockett products, Disney hurriedly assem- issue were disappointing, and the first printing was available
bled a publicity kit, and marketing was underway. It was too until 1961, when it was withdrawn; a second, and final printing,
late for the 1954 Christmas season, but the next year more than appeared in 1966 and was also subsequently discontinued.
made up for the missed opportunity. Indeed, what followed was At about the time that Cameron was given the Davy
simply staggering as word-of-mouth excitement spread from Crockett assignment, his disagreements with then untitled ed-
neighborhood to neighborhood throughout the United States. itorial assistant Roberta Strauss about “alterations,” which had
During the first two months of 1955, the Crockett craze been accelerating since The Hurricane, were coming to a head.

Lou Cameron, The Downfall (May 1955). A tragic meeting between the novel’s two principal characters vividly displays the artist’s
storytelling skills.
Left: Lou Cameron, Davy Crockett (November 1955). Davy Crockett, “Indian Fighter,” in a comic book published nearly a year after the Disneyland episode that sparked
Crockett mania. Right: Lou Cameron, The Time Machine (June 1956). The Time Traveller declines the Morlocks’ invitation to dinner.
Lou Cameron, The Count of Monte Cristo (November 1956). The Count’s web of vengeance catches two flies (collection of the
author).
152 CLASSICS Illustrated

“That’s what you call ego-trip changes for the sake of changes, originally appeared in the Picture Progress series (September
‘Alterations,’” Cameron commented.16 He described Strauss as 1955) and was subsequently included in Classics Illustrated Spe-
something of a New York bohemian of the sort who are “taught cial Issue No. 132A, The Story of America ( June 1956), “won a
... to wear gray wrap-around skirts over leotards and ballet prize off the Thomas Edison Foundation, do gooders who cited
flats and never, never approve of any lesser artist’s work.”17 it as an outstandingly educational comic book for kiddies blah
In a way, what occurred was an inevitable collision of two blah. They threw a dinner at a swank New York hotel and
different, absolutely incompatible varieties of perfectionism. handed out various citations to various swell guys like me.
Strauss, who would later become editor-in-chief, had a passion Only I never got the invitation reserving places for me and my
for historical accuracy, textual fidelity, and pictorial continuity. then current lady. The first I heard I had won in the comix
Cameron, who had his own sense of historical accuracy, textual category was by phone, from friends who’d read it in the trades.
fidelity, and pictorial continuity, found her editorial directives This inspired me to call Gilberton. Without so much as a
meddlesome and an infringement upon the artist’s creative hangdog grin I was given my citation from the Edison guys
sphere. and told they hadn’t forwarded my invitation because members
The result was a halfhearted effort in Davy Crockett. “I of the staff had wanted to go to the dinner. I mean, they didn’t
tried to cope,” Cameron wrote, “leaving a few things roughly even know this was not nice!”22
drawn so I could ‘Alterate’ in a way that didn’t matter. You can Cameron’s final Classics project was a revision of
see how steamed I was....”18 Some of the panels seem rushed, Alexandre Dumas’s epic of revenge, The Count of Monte Cristo,
and the characteristic Cameron brio gleams only intermittently. No. 3 (November 1956). The artist’s illustrations included
Yet when it does, as in a hunting episode or at the Alamo, the some interesting, if often spare, panel compositions, such as
legendary hero (who bears more than a passing resemblance Edmond Dantes’s shrouded escape from Château d’If, the
to the artist) leaps to life. “I should have quit right there,” Count’s preparation for his duel with Albert, and Villefort’s
Cameron wrote. “I didn’t. Their checks were welcome and ... judgment on his wife. These were as strong a series of images
the whole field was shrinking in the mid-fifties.”19 as any he had produced for Gilberton. Here and there the book
For H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, No. 133 ( July 1956), showed signs of halfhearted, shortcut efforts, including about
Cameron “perked up ... because it was fun, or would have 30 panels with no background detail whatsoever.
been.”20 The artist’s Morlocks remind the reader of Swift’s Ya- Regarding the legend that grew concerning his supposed
hoos, while his time machine is an elegant contraption that revenge on Gilberton by creating his own salty dialogue in
resembles, as Robert Franks has noted, electrons orbiting an speech balloons on pages of original Monte Cristo art, Cameron
atom, a potent symbol in the 1950s. declared, “I never saw them. I never would have done such a
But the text was flawed by scriptwriter Lorenz Graham’s sophomoric thing. ... [N]obody in the process of producing
sentimental unwillingness to follow the novel’s ending. More- anything has any call to vandalize production copy. I can only
over, editorial demands that the artist alter the Time Traveller’s hazard a guess that some collector, of the species that carves
features to conform to the figure on George Wilson’s painted notches on antique six guns, felt a need to improve their
cover resulted in his most frustrating Classics Illustrated assign- prize.”23
ment. Cameron “made dumb changes to ‘Suit The Original Better things beckoned, as the artist turned toward his
Mss’ and get my damned money,” but his distaste for Gilberton true calling as a writer. “I would like to say I quit,” Cameron
had reached critical mass.21 wrote. “But they never gave any of us the chance. ... I wasn’t
Then, just when it appeared that things couldn’t get there when Classics went down the tube but I wasn’t surprised.
worse, they did. As Cameron tells the story, his Christopher The hell of it was, ... it began as one of the best ideas in the
Columbus book, The Man Who Discovered America, which field.”24
 XV

Norman Nodel:
“A Certain Integrity”
D uring the late 1950s and early 1960s, the prolific and ac-
complished Norman Nodel (Nochem Yeshaya) defined
the increasingly polished Classics Illustrated house style. The
While his musical career was taking shape, Nodel
explored another creative passion, drawing and painting con-
stantly. “At that time,” he recalled, “I was offered two scholar-
soft-spoken artist dominated Gilberton’s stable of freelancers ships; one to the National Academy of Design and one to Juil-
in much the same way that Henry C. Kiefer had a decade ear- liard to study composition. I was forced to decline both by my
lier. Indeed, in terms of output, if any artist deserves to be called, sponsors, my voice coach, my voice teacher, and my dramatic
as Kiefer was, “Mr. Classics Illustrated,” it is Norman Nodel. instructor.”3
In his quiet, unassuming way, he managed to outdraw and Nodel served in the European Theater in the Second
outlast them all. World War, winning the Bronze Star as a combat artist. In 1945,
Nodel has been described by former editor and script- he was asked to perform at the celebration of the meeting of
writer Al Sundel as “a gentleman [of ] the jacket-and-tie type, the American and Russian armies, where “top American brass
with a pleasing politeness”;1 his praises have been sung both and top Russian brass joined me in singing the ‘Volga Boat-
as illustrator and man by artists as different in temperament men.’”4
as Lou Cameron and George Evans. A protégé of Alex A. Blum, After the war, Nodel became the art director for an ad-
the veteran art director, he was a favorite, along with Evans and vertising agency. There he specialized in tight renderings using
Gray Morrow, of Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, the young, ener- airbrush and scratchboard, techniques that would be put to
getic editor who entrusted him with various major projects. use later in Classics Illustrated. After a year of producing ads
Among Nodel’s strengths were a good compositional eye, for the Tourneau watch, William Wise, and others, the artist
a realistic approach to his subjects, an instinct for appropriate decided to “go free lance.”5 Among his accounts was Ace Com-
atmosphere, close attention to period detail, and an ability to ics, which also employed Classics artists Lou Cameron, Lin
create convincing caricatures and fantastic figures within a Streeter, and Louis Zansky.
solidly representational context. These qualities enabled him Norman Nodel’s association with the Gilberton Com-
to produce some of the finest and most memorable books in pany began in 1954. “When I first went there,” the artist re-
the series. called, “I submitted a portfolio to [art director] Alex Blum,
Born in Phoebus, Virginia, near Hampton Roads, in 1922, who told me that The Ox-Bow Incident was scheduled for pub-
Nodel spent his formative years in St. Louis, Missouri, where lication and asked me to work up a page for it. I did and then
he developed an early interest in singing. At 15, he auditioned was hired.”6 Nodel’s illustrations for issue No. 125 (March
for the St. Louis Opera Chorus, impressing the conductor, 1955) caught the stark, somber mood of Walter Van Tilburg
Laslo Halasz, with his youthful bass voice. Nodel performed Clark’s tragic study of mob justice in the waning days of the
with the chorus through the season and was sponsored by the Wild West. From the disillusioned narrator Croft with his
company and a contributor to study in New York. dangling cigarette to the implacable self-appointed executioner
“One of the roles I studied,” he wrote, “was Mephistopheles Tetly with his unforgiving profile, from the earnest defender
in Faust. When I drew the artwork for the Classics edition of of the rule of law, Davies, to the anguished innocent victim
Faust, some of the mannerisms and the way that I depicted Meph- Martin, the artist tellingly conveyed the essence of the novel’s
isto were very much influenced by the way I had studied the role characters.
and the tutoring I had received from the dramatic coach.”2 During the same period, Nodel also worked on Gilber-

153
154 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Norman Nodel, The Ox-Bow Incident (March 1955). Powerful character studies in the artist’s first assignment led to the
longest freelance association in the history of the publication. Right: Norman Nodel, The King of the Mountains (July 1955). The
artist’s sprightliest Gilberton performance.

ton’s Picture Progress educational series, earning the respect of Dick, No. 5 (revised edition, March 1956), and Ivanhoe, No.
the editorial staff for his reliability. His next Classics assignment 2 (revised edition, January 1957). For the new adaptation of
was an adaptation of The King of the Mountains, No. 127 ( July Moby Dick, issued in the same year as John Huston’s film,
1955), a little-known French satirical work based on author Nodel avoided turning Captain Ahab into Gregory Peck and
Edmond About’s experiences among Greek bandits. The title Ishmael into Richard Basehart; instead, he chose to model his
allowed the artist scope for his gift for caricature, and he characters’ features on Louis Zansky’s familiar 1942 Classic Comics
applied it gleefully to such types as the pedantic German nar- drawings. But where Zansky’s panels were clearly in the comics
rator and the snobbish English hostages. Nodel returned to tradition, Nodel’s obviously belonged to the family of book il-
Western terrain for Emerson Hough’s combination of morality lustration. (In addition, a more accurate script restored some
play and romantic triangle, The Covered Wagon, No. 131 (March of Herman Melville’s language, including the famous opening
1956), but the drawings—and particularly the inking—lacked line, “Call me Ishmael.”) The artist devoted particular attention
the subtlety of his previous efforts. to giving visual expression to the inner torment of Ahab as he
In short order, the Gilberton editorial staff recognized the harangues or mesmerizes his crew. His whale-hunting scenes
artist’s merits and assigned him the task of illustrating conveyed a sense of energy, movement, and danger.
revamped editions of significant earlier titles, beginning with Nodel’s work on Ivanhoe also bore some resemblance to the
the two most popular books in the history of the series, Moby Jacquet shop’s 1941 interpretation of Sir Walter Scott’s medieval
 XV. NORMAN NODEL 155

romance. Here, however, the artist,

who was light-years ahead in technique,
invested the various characters with
well-observed personality distinctions,
animating even the rather passive no-
minal hero. A particular triumph was
Rebecca, who loved Ivanhoe but was
pursued by Bois-Guilbert. Nodel re-
marked that, as a Jewish illustrator, he
particularly enjoyed his work on the
self-sufficient Jewish heroine, one of
Scott’s most appealing female charac-
ters.7 The confrontation scene between
Rebecca and the Norman Templar is
one of the strongest sequences in the
1957 revision. In Ivanhoe, Nodel per-
fected his closeup character studies
and also displayed his flair for histor-
ical detail, from weaponry to falconry.
The result was one of the most hand-
some issues in the Classics Illustrated
catalogue.
For The Ten Commandments, Spe-
cial Issue No. 135A (December 1956),
Nodel’s commitment to authenticity
was further evidenced. In addition to
studying the materials provided by
Gilberton’s research staff, the artist
spent an afternoon with Dr. William
C. Hayes, the curator of New York’s
Metropolitan Museum of Art, who
showed him various antiquities that
found their way into the book’s illus-
trations.8 Nodel noted that “I used the
scratchboard technique in The Ten
Commandments and Faust. This is a
method in which the illustrations are
‘scratched’ out of a completely black
surface.”9 The experiment allowed the
artist to enhance the effect of the in-
terplay between darkness and light.
His painted cover for The Ten Com-
mandments, on the other hand, is awash
in red and yellow as Moses receives the Norman Nodel, Moby Dick (March 1956). Ahab and his crew meet their doom.
tablets of the law.
After The Ten Commandments and Ivanhoe, which had scope. Nodel seized the opportunity, adding depth to his por-
kept him occupied for a considerable length of time, Nodel trayal of the trio of subterranean adventurers and providing
turned his attention to Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Center of exotic views of imagined landscapes and extinct creatures.
the Earth, No. 138 (May 1957). One of the most popular titles Among his most effective sequences in Journey was a depiction
in the Classics Illustrated series, the science-fiction tale offered in elongated vertical panels of a storm on the underground
the artist a small number of characters and great imaginative sea. The claustrophobic narrowness of the panel spaces visually
Left: Norman Nodel, Ivanhoe (January 1957). The artist enjoyed drawing the proud Jewish heroine Rebecca. Right: Norman Nodel, The Ten Commandments (December
1956). Using the scratchboard technique, the artist created created light from darkness.
 XV. NORMAN NODEL 157

reinforced the three principal char-

acters’ sense of isolation, help-
lessness, and fear. Nodel would
continue playing with page-layout
conventions in his subsequent
work for Gilberton.
Although the quality of Clas-
sics Illustrated artwork had dra-
matically improved during the
years Nodel was associated with
Gilberton, it had been at the cost
of a certain homogenization in
the format of the series. This was
particularly evident in the almost
universal prescription of square
or rectangular panels with straight-
edged borders. These gave the
pages a clean, crisp look but sac-
rificed much of the function of
the panel as a narrative device as
employed, for example, by Rudy
Palais in David Balfour. Comics
artist and theorist Will Eisner has
noted that the very shape or ab-
sence of the panel can further the
momentum of the story by con-
veying “something of the dimen-
sion of sound and emotional cli-
mate in which the action occurs,
as well as contributing to the at-
mosphere of the page as a whole.”10
Breaks from the straight-lined box
were rare in Classics Illustrated
after 1957, but even within those
constraints, Nodel showed his
command of the medium.
In Ernest Thompson Seton’s
Lives of the Hunted, No. 157 (July
1960), the artist made the con-
vention work in his favor in a se-
quence of four elongated panels
on one page showing the stages
of a hunted ram’s leap for safety
down the sides of a steep gorge. Norman Nodel, A Journey to the Center of the Earth (May 1957). Vertical panels emphasize
Nodel retained the full-length fear and suspense.
frame on the next page but
widened it to depict the ram’s entire flock following his exam- Hunted, Frank Buck’s On Jungle Trails, No. 140 (September
ple. Half-length panels then revealed the fate of the pursuing 1957), and Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, No. 60 (revised edition,
dogs and the bafflement of the hunters. Fall 1960). He demonstrated his mastery of historical illus-
Versatility was one of the artist’s most esteemed qualities, tration in Abraham Lincoln, No. 142 ( January 1958), G.A.
and he showed it in his animal illustrations for Lives of the Henty’s The Lion of the North, No. 155 (March 1960), H. Rider
158 CLASSICS Illustrated

Norman Nodel, Lives of the Hunted (July 1960). The artist further explores the use of vertical panels to engage the reader in the
breathtaking immediacy of a ram’s escape.

Haggard’s Cleopatra, No. 161 (March 1961), and in various Spe- Two books issued in the spring of 1959 showed the artist
cial Issues and World Around Us titles. moving toward a new range of expression. Both Owen Wister’s
For the Lincoln biography, Nodel relied on a variety of The Virginian, No. 150 (May 1959), and Washington Irving’s
period photographs and portraits. The Henty adaptation con- Rip Van Winkle, No. 12 (revised edition, May 1959), featured a
tained well-researched drawings of the middle phase of the greater emphasis on shading to set the tone of a particular se-
Thirty Years’ War, and contains some of the finest examples of quence of panels. A poker game in the former title is invested
the artist’s use of line patterns to underscore the atmosphere and with ominous foreboding, thanks to Nodel’s attention to line-
emotional content of the tale. Indeed, The Lion of the North prop- work. Rip Van Winkle included “The Legend of Sleepy Hol-
erly ranks with Nodel’s major Gilberton projects, such as his low,” which contains one of the most delightful renderings of the
Hugo and Goethe titles, and probably would be more highly pursuit of the hapless, lanky schoolmaster Ichabod Crane by
regarded if the literary stock of the boys’ book that he illustrated Brom Bones, disguised as the Headless Horseman. (These illus-
had not fallen so low in the second half of the 20th century. trations served the artist so well that he used them as models
Cleopatra, another slight novel, included a wealth of Hellenized for another edition of the story in 1970.11) The new adaptation,
Egyptian details and showed the artist’s ability to elevate almost unlike the 1943 version, was faithful to Irving’s sketches, in-
any source material. Nodel’s depiction of the execution of Louis corporating the author’s language and conveying his gently
XVI, in The French Revolution, No. W14 (September 1959), re- satirical tone of voice.
vealed an acquaintance with documentary accounts of the event. Regarding his technique, Nodel commented that “At first
 XV. NORMAN NODEL 159

I did mostly outline work as Mr. Blum

directed, but in the later period I was
able to add stronger blacks to attain
richer texture.”12 The shift in style
became particularly pronounced in
The Invisible Man, No. 153 (Novem-
ber 1959), where a striking scratch-
board title-page splash and detailed
drybrush strokes and pointillist dots
in the opening pages immediately cre-
ate a suspenseful atmosphere for the
H.G. Wells “horror” title. In that is-
sue, Nodel also produced carefully ob-
served character studies of Mrs. Hall,
Marvel, Kemp, and Colonel Ayde.
The finest examples of the art-
ist’s mature style are found in two Vic-
tor Hugo titles, Les Miserables, No. 9
(revised edition, March 1961), and The
Man Who Laughs, No. 71 (revised
edition, spring 1962), and Goethe’s
Faust (August 1962). Somber shad-
ings underscore the social and polit-
ical messages of the Hugo adapta-
tions. Nodel’s three-page sequence in
Les Miserables depicting Jean Valjean
bearing Marius through the Paris sew-
ers masterfully compresses the themes
of degradation, aspiration, and re-
newal. The artist’s favorite illustra-
tions in the book were the panels
showing Jean Valjean emerging from
the water and approaching the light
shining through a grating.13
In The Man Who Laughs, the
artist produced a more startling and
more deeply human conception of
the disfigured Gwynplaine than Alex
Blum’s 1950 rendering. Alfred Sun-
del’s adaptation passed over the happy
ending that had been tacked on to the
earlier edition, and Nodel invested
Hugo’s parable of oppression with
tragic dignity and a sharply satirical
Norman Nodel, The Lion of the North (March 1960). A dark vision of war and its human
thrust. Just as there was a concern for cost.
social justice that animated the
French author’s fiction, so there was, in the devoutly religious The artist returned to Jules Verne for one of his last Gil-
Jewish artist’s artistic vision, a moral imperative drawn from berton projects, Tigers and Traitors, No. 166 (May 1962). Based
the prophetic tradition that infused his best work. The Man on the second part of the French author’s larger work, The
Who Laughs stands, with Les Miserables and Faust, foremost Steam-House, the story was a rousing adventure tale set in India
among Nodel’s noblest efforts in the sequential-art form. after the Sepoy Mutiny. Nodel produced striking illustrations
160 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Norman Nodel, The Virginian (May 1959). Oppressive linework foreshadows the ultimate confrontation between the Virginian
and Trampas. Right: Norman Nodel, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in Rip Van Winkle (May 1959). Ichabod Crane gets his
comeuppance.

of the steam-powered mechanical elephant in motion, a tiger Indeed, the appearance of the book, which transcended the
attack, and the dramatic reunion of the grieving Colonel comics category, prompted William Kanter’s wry remark that
Munro and his long-lost wife Laura. “We make Cadillacs and market them as Chevrolets.”
Editor Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht considered the artist’s In addition to the intelligent adaptation, Faust provides
treatment of Faust the pinnacle of Gilberton’s achievement. It a visual feast, with Nodel adroitly moving from baroque pro-
ranked with the Hugo books and the Irving stories among fuseness in Part I to classical spareness in Part II. Part of the
Nodel’s favorites. Alfred Sundel, who wrote the script, recalled artist’s inspiration came from the stage. When he was working
that the Goethe title was “done at my insistence to impress the on the book, a German theater company came to New York
[American Library Association] and booksellers’ and educa- for a rare production of Goethe’s drama. Gilberton purchased
tional conventions. I wrote Faust in a blaze on a weekend and two tickets for the artist and his wife so that he would have a
in a few evenings, quickly, while I was on staff. It may have more complete frame of reference for his illustrations. “That
been one of the toughest scripts ever for me. Roberta gave it was the sort of care that they took,” Nodel said.15
to Norman Nodel, and it took off as our showroom Cadillac.”14 The deadline for Faust was tight; a booksellers’ conven-

Opposite: Norman Nodel, The Invisible Man (November 1959). Pointillist dots, shadows, and Citizen Kane lighting effects con-
tribute to an atmosphere of terror.
162 CLASSICS Illustrated

Nodel discovered that no sooner had

he completed a penciled sketch for the
cover than it was colored in by art di-
rector Sidney Miller and used in place
of the painting he had intended to
provide. “That was my only regret
about the book,” the artist remarked.
“It [the cover] looked so unfinished.”16
The next project was, in fact, left
unfinished. In 1962, Roberta Strauss
Feuerlicht assigned Nodel a revision
of The Pathfinder, No. 22, which he
had partially completed when the do-
mestic Classics operation abruptly came
to a halt. The boards remained with
the artist but were eventually discarded
after sustaining water damage.17 Nod-
el’s cover painting for the title, show -
ing how the characters would have ap-
peared in the revised edition, had
already been submitted by the artist
and was issued by Gilberton on a re-
print in November 1963.
Turning elsewhere for employ-
ment, the artist produced a treatment
of Doctor No, the first James Bond
film, for DC’s Showcase series. The
artwork was censored for what were
deemed racially insensitive portrayals,
but before the toned-down American
edition appeared, an unexpurgated edi-
tion surfaced as British Classics Illus-
trated No. 158A. Near the end of the
decade, Gilberton’s successor, Frawley,
engaged Nodel to produce a variety
of new painted covers, including A
Tale of Two Cities, Les Miserables, Jane
Eyre, and 20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea; to overhaul completely The Jungle
Book; and to illustrate the final Classics
title, Negro Americans —The Early
Years, No. 169 (Spring 1969).
Working in his Long Island back-
yard when weather permitted, Nodel
Norman Nodel, Les Miserables (March 1961). Darkness and light provide thematic con-
trasts in the illustrations for Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. enjoyed the frequent visits of neighbor-
hood high school students who “knew
tion was looming, and the book was to be the centerpiece of I was working on Classics and would come to see what I was do-
the Gilberton display. The artist returned to the scratchboard ing to get ideas for book reports.”18 In the 1990s, he continued
style that had worked so well for him in The Ten Commandments. producing artwork for educational and religious publications

Opposite: Norman Nodel, The Man Who Laughs (Spring 1962). Compare with the Blum illustrations in the 1950 edition.
164 CLASSICS Illustrated

raising it to a high level of quality so that we could

attract children who would otherwise never be in-
troduced to the great world of literature. I was also
very proud to share this goal with George Evans,
Lou Cameron, and other outstanding artists.”19
Illustrating 48-page books with an eye to
authenticity was “tough work,” the artist said,
“but I enjoyed it, and I tried to keep a certain in-
tegrity in what I did.”20 Decades later, it still
showed. In 1997, Nodel discussed the possibility
of illustrating a children’s retelling of “The Judg-
ment of Paris,” the background story of the origin
of the Trojan War. “I’d like to do a series of books
based on Greek myths,” he said.21 But he also had
plans for travel to Israel and other projects to com-
plete. Continuing the work he loved in his calling
as an artist, Norman Nodel died on 25 February
2000.

AN ARTIST ’S NOTES

Norman Nodel on the creation of the art-

work for a Classics Illustrated issue:
After conferring with Roberta [Strauss Feuerlicht]
about the next story to be illustrated, I would often
make sketches of characters and backgrounds. We
would exchange ideas. I then proceeded to lay out
the entire story, breaking the artwork into panels and
lettering in the script so the letterer could gauge his
or her spacing.
In illustrating a story, you, the artist, are like a
movie director. You choose the cast, act as scenic de-
signer, angle the dramatic shots, distant, close-up,
down shots, up shots; whatever you feel adds interest
and drama to the story. And let’s not forget about re-
search! Here is where you must avoid being side-
tracked by some fascinating bit of historical informa-
tion and lose valuable time. Sometimes Classics
would provide me with some important reference.
Norman Nodel, Faust (August 1962). Mephistopheles works his wiles on Upon completion of pencils, Roberta and other
Goethe’s intellectual hero. editorial staff would “fine-tooth comb” every panel,
making comments in blue pencil on the margins of the
aimed at younger readers, such as historical and Biblical col- work, sometimes to your irritation. You often had to stand your
oring books and card games and a 12-book series of full-color ground about your interpretation.
paintings depicting favorite Biblical stories such as David and After this procedure, the inking began. I used a Number 3
Windsor Newton Sable brush. In some stories, I used brush
Goliath for Waldman-Creative Child Press and several comic throughout, often employing a technique called ‘feathering.’
books, including The Story of Money and The Story of Inflation, This required a very delicate touch to the tip of your brush
for the Federal Reserve. where you made the brush spread gradually by increasing pres-
“It was my good fortune,” Nodel wrote, “to work with a sure. This was often repeated, one lien to another till you cre-
visionary publisher, Mr. Albert Kanter, and a dedicated editor, ated an almost half-tone effect. It may also be done in reverse
fashion. In other stories, I used pen first, then added brush.
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. We shared a common dream: to
improve on an authentic American art form, the comic book, — Letter to author, 25 July 1997
 XVI

From the Crypt to the Classics:

The EC Era
B y 1954, the term “witch hunt” had gained great currency,
thanks to Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin Repub-
lican whose continually inflating demagoguery would soon be
link to comics was forged, he earned professional distinction as
the author, with his wife Florence Hesketh Wertham, of the
influential textbook, The Brain as an Organ: Its Postmortem
punctured by a few quietly spoken words. That year, the comics Study and Interpretation (1934). From 1933 to 1939, Wertham
industry endured the climax of its own witch hunt, spearheaded held various positions at New York’s Bellevue Hospital and in
by a rather unlikely figure, Dr. Fredric Wertham (1895–1981), 1940 assumed the psychiatric-services directorship at Queens
a German-born psychiatrist and theorist aligned, like his friend Hospital. Focusing on the link between mental health and vi-
Theodor Adorno, with the neo–Marxist Frankfurt School, olent crime, he established the first psychiatric facility to
which viewed American mass culture with a critical eye.1 provide evaluations for convicted criminals. A proponent of
Few people have had a greater impact on the history of racial equality, the psychiatrist helped found the Lafargue
the comic book and its place in popular culture than Wertham. Clinic for low-income and black patients in Harlem in 1946.3
Like Thomas Bowdler, Anthony Comstock, or, for that matter, Wertham entered the realm of popular culture with his
Joe McCarthy, his name has become — in comics circles, at best-selling Dark Legend: A Study in Murder (1941), an account
least—a byword for prudery, bigotry, and persecution. It was an of a teenager who killed his mother. Another work, the sensa-
ironic twist for one whose critique of comic books was grounded tionally titled The Show of Violence: A Psychiatrist Tells Why
in passionately liberal social concerns and was anything but a People Kill and How Murder Can Be Prevented (1949), based
reactionary gesture. To the end, he protested (though perhaps on his involvement with murder trials, further solidified his
too much) that his intentions had been misconstrued and, hav- standing as a popularizer of psychiatric research and purveyor
ing rung the death knell for the Golden Age of comics in the of psychological speculation.
mid-1950s, surprised many with a sympathetic study of comics During the late 1940s, when the crime-comics wave was
fandom in The World of Fanzines (1973). at its peak, Wertham, who had been working extensively with
Born Frederic J. Wertheimer in Nuremberg on 20 March children, began focusing on comic books as a key to antisocial,
1895, the future cultural lightning rod received his medical abnormal behavior. In March 1948, while serving as president
degree in Germany and furthered his education in France and of the Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, he
England. In 1921, he began his career in psychiatry at Emile chaired a symposium on “The Psychopathology of Comic
Kraepelin’s clinic in Munich, where the importance of the pa- Books.” Wertham claimed that comic books promoted sex and
tient’s environment was emphasized. Wertheimer emigrated violence, asserting that in each of his case studies of juvenile
to the United States in 1922, settled in Baltimore, and joined delinquents and disturbed children, the reading of comic books
the staff and eventually became director of the Phipps Psychi- was a significant factor.4
atric Clinic at Johns Hopkins University. Five years later, on The psychiatrist’s critique of comic books touched a nerve
becoming a United States citizen, he changed his last name to at a time when what was termed “juvenile delinquency” aroused
Wertham. (In 1948, “Frederic” became “Fredric,” to the ever- intense national concern. In 1948, Time magazine reported sev-
lasting confusion of bibliographers.)2 eral “copycat” crimes — burglary, hanging, and poisoning —
Wertham moved to New York City in 1932 to serve as committed by youths who had been inspired by examples in
senior psychiatrist in the New York City Department of Hos- comic books. In the same year, ABC radio presented a program
pitals and to teach at New York University. Before his eternal titled “What’s Wrong With Comics?”5

165
166 CLASSICS Illustrated

horror comic books such as Lev Gleason’s

Crime Does Not Pay and EC’s Haunt of
Fear that continued to multiply with each
new wave of aroused indignation.6
Classics Illustrated was not exempted
from the attacks. Earlier titles, including
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, The Prince and the Pauper, and
Twenty Years After, had been criticized for
covers depicting extreme violence, and
Henry C. Kiefer was kept busy in 1949
supplying tepid replacements. Yet even
Kiefer had contributed “horror” covers of
his own to The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes, Mysteries, Great Expectations, and
Mysteries of Paris. In 1952, when Great Ex-
pectations generated controversy because
of the intensity of the cover depiction of
two convicts struggling and the opening
graveyard scene, the title was dropped
from the U.S. series after a second print-
ing, though it remained in circulation
abroad (with different covers).
Meanwhile, the tireless Dr. Wertham
had weighed in with his own condemna-
tion of Classics Illustrated —and, for that
matter, comic books in general. With the
publication in 1954 of Seduction of the In-
nocent, he earned a species of immortality.
The overwrought jeremiad was abstracted
in the Reader’s Digest, the popular conser-
vative oracle, and was an alternate selec-
tion of the Book of the Month Club. It
captured the reflexive public imagination
and remains perhaps the single most im-
portant, and certainly the most influential,
book ever written on comics.
Seduction of the Innocent amplified
the themes sounded by Wertham since
1948. The author indiscriminately lumped
a wide range of comics together, indicting
Classics Illustrated reorder list (May 1954). This catalogue listing, current in the year crime, horror, and romance series for their
of the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, shows some “objectionable” titles (Dr. dangerous influence on susceptible young
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 3 Famous Mysteries, Two Years Before the Mast, Mysteries, The minds. To underscore his concerns, he re-
Gold Bug, and Crime and Punishment) still available. Mysteries of Paris last appeared
on the reorder list the month before. By November 1955, all of the other titles men- produced out of context sixteen pages of
tioned would be withdrawn — in some cases, forever. panels and covers from different publica-
tions. Although Wertham included exam-
Despite dissenting opinions from the psychiatric com- ples of violence and horror, he seemed particularly obsessed
munity concerning Wertham’s methodology, the anticomics with images of buxom, leggy, half-clad women, such as Matt
crusade gathered increasing publicity and support in the late Baker’s bound and headlighted Phantom Lady.
1940s and early 1950s. The principal targets were crime and Evidently warming to the subject, the good doctor man-
 XVI. FROM THE CRYPT TO THE CLASSICS 167

aged to detect a hidden image of a woman’s pubic hair in an crushing inequality and the dog-eat-dog existence which is
enlargement of triangular shading on a man’s shoulder: “In the lot of most of us. It comes from the slums and stews, from
ordinary comic books,” he noted beneath the panel in question, oppression and poverty. It was engendered and nurtured
“there are pictures within pictures for children who know how through the war years when every kind of violence and
to look.”7 Or, one is tempted to add, for adults who try hard brutality was man’s ultimate virtue.”13
to find. Responding to Wertham’s attack on Classics Illustrated in
Naturally, Classics Illustrated attracted Wertham’s attention particular, Kaplan delivered a defense of the series in his con-
and disapproval. The subjective, anecdotal character of cluding remarks that ranged from measured to overwrought:
Seduction of the Innocent is distilled in the following paragraph: [I]t was on this form of “comic” that Dr. Wertham, in his
Comic books adapted from classical literature are reportedly [Saturday Review] article, waxed the most indignant. It is his
used in 25,000 schools in the United States. If this is true, then contention that these magazines should be taken from the chil-
I have never heard a more serious indictment of American edu- dren and that they should be fed the original classics instead.
cation, for they emasculate the classics, condense them (leaving Forcibly, if necessary.
out everything that makes the book great), are just as badly I cannot, of course, like this meddlesome and apparently hys-
printed and inartistically drawn as other comic books and, as I terical medicine man, speak from beneath the mystic mantle of
have often found, do not reveal to children the world of good psychiatric mumbo-jumbo. But in all humility, I suggest that
literature which has at all times been the mainstay of liberal and the child who has no interest in good literature will never, of his
humanistic education. They conceal it. The folklorist, G. Leg- own choice, read it. Forcible feeding of the classics will make no
man, writes of comic books based on classics, “After being more impression on him than a visit to the Museum of Art will
processed in this way, no classic, no matter who wrote it, is in make on a child who has no interest in fine art. The taste for
any way distinguishable from the floppity-rabbit and crime good literature and fine art must be cultivated in a child slowly.
comics it is supposed to replace.”8 He must be made to understand it before he can like it. By forc-
ing him to read the truly heavy and none too easily understood
The authoritarian tone and broad brushstroke, evident through- language of the classics while still too young to appreciate it, a
out Wertham’s book, foreclosed the possibility of serious debate. dislike for good reading will be cultivated rather than an inter-
The judge had already pronounced the sentence: “here was a est. But a pictorial rendering of the great stories of the world
which can be easily understood and therefore more readily liked
civilization poisoning its wellspring[.]”9
would tend to cultivate that interest. Then, when he grows
A generally sympathetic reader, Commentary associate older, if he has any appetite at all for these things, he will want
editor Robert Warshow, noted Dr. Wertham’s “humorless ded- to know more fully those bookish treasures merely suggested in
ication” and pointed to his tendency to take anything said by this, his first acquaintance with them. He will more eagerly read
a child at face value: “I suspect it would be a dull child indeed them in the original form because he will already have a mind’s
who could go to Dr. Wertham’s clinic and not discover very eye picture of what the author was trying to portray in words.
He will be able to visualize the protagonists: he will know how
quickly that most of his problematical behavior can be ex- they looked and dressed and amidst what backgrounds and sur-
plained in terms of comic books.”10 Yet Warshow, the father rounding they worked, fought, loved and died. The names of
of an 11-year-old EC fan, expressed a parent’s concern: “I find d’Artagnan, Ivanhoe, Jean Valjean and other famous characters
it hard to accept the idea that there should be one area of his in the world of literature will be no strangers to him.
experience, apparently of considerable importance to him, And even if he should not have the desire to go on to reading
the great works of literature in their original form, at least his
which will have no important consequences. One comic book
cultural bankruptcy will not be as complete as otherwise.
a week or ten, they must have an effect. How can I be expected And when, at last, according to Dr. Wertham’s reasoning, he
to believe that it will be a good one?”11 goes to the electric chair because in his unguarded and mis-
Meanwhile, the New York Legislature had found itself so guided youth he read Dick Tracy and Superman, he will be able
exercised by the threat to decency posed by comic books that to walk the last mile with head erect and shoulders squared, his
it created a Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publica- spirit upheld by the shades of Rhoderick Dhu and Sydney Car-
ton and an endless host of legendary heroes.14
tion of Comics, which held hearings in New York City in De-
cember 1951. Among the authorities invited to appear was Dr. The committee issued a report in 1955, finding Gilberton’s 3
Wertham, who declared that comic books caused the “psycho- Famous Mysteries, The Pathfinder, and Two Years Before the Mast
logical mutilation of children.”12 especially reprehensible and declaring that “a quick examination
Classics Illustrated managing editor Meyer A. Kaplan an- readily reveals that the use of the word ‘classics’ is no guarantee
swered the psychiatrist with a rhetorical flourish that against the presentation of brutality and violence.”15 In the fall
constituted a Lower East Side manifesto: “No one denies the of that year, 3 Famous Mysteries and Two Years Before the Mast
existence of juvenile delinquency. But to say that juvenile crime disappeared from the reorder list, along with Dr. Jekyll and
or the stimulus for it comes out of books is a falsehood. Instead, Mr. Hyde. Only The Pathfinder remained in print.
it comes from social injustice and economic exploitation, from With anxiety mounting, it was perhaps inevitable that
168 CLASSICS Illustrated

Although the Senate hearings resulted in no con-

gressional action, the comic-book industry responded
with its own policing agency, the Comics Code Au-
thority, administered under the auspices of the Comics
Magazine Association of America.17 Twenty-six pub-
lishers—including Archie, DC, Harvey, and Timely—
joined 19 distributors and technical-support compa-
nies in the incorporation of the CMAA on 7
September 1954, and within a week a “code of ethics”
was in force.18 Disrespectful treatment of police or
public officials was prohibited, as well as scenes of hor-
ror or lust. Overendowed women were out; the “sanc-
tity of marriage” was in.19 Blandness became the pre-
scribed order of the day.
In 1955, following the negative publicity gener-
ated by Seduction of the Innocent and the Kefauver
hearings, William Gaines folded the EC comics lines,
killing the popular Tales from the Crypt and other series
and throwing some of the most talented comics artists
out of work. DC and other publishers quickly embraced
the newly devised content guidelines of the Comics
Code Authority, and the former EC illustrators found
themselves unemployed and, given the fearfulness per-
meating the industry, often unemployable.
Gilberton, like Dell (the home of Walt Disney’s
Comics and Stories, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Dell
Movie Classics, and other mainstream comics), refused
to adopt the Code, insisting that the quality of its self-
regulated publications required no external review.
Thus, where other comics publishers hesitated or simply
refused to employ the “tainted” EC veterans, Albert
Kanter declined to acknowledge such constraints.
Instead, he opened the door for the refugees.

Classics Illustrated No. 21, 3 Famous Mysteries (December 1953). Gilber-

JOE ORLANDO
ton’s toned-down painted cover prominently featured bloodstains and
was a principal target of anti-comics critics. The first of the EC artists to find a temporary
home at 101 Fifth Avenue was Joe Orlando, one of the
the comics controversy should ascend to the exalted realm of most innovative figures in the history of comics. From 1966
the United States Senate. That august body, like the New York onward, the artist was active as editor, vice president, and cre-
Legislature before it, dispatched its Subcommittee on the Ju- ative director for DC Comics, where, among other things, he
diciary to Manhattan, where, under the chairmanship of Sen- rehabilitated the horror genre, collaborated on the creation of
ator Estes Kefauver, it held hearings on the connection between Swamp Thing, and supervised the publication of the company’s
comic books and children behaving badly. EC publisher first graphic novel, Star Raiders, in 1983.20 Following the death
William M. Gaines bore the brunt of hostile questioning from of his longtime friend William M. Gaines in 1995, Orlando
Senator Kefauver concerning a Crime SuspenStories cover de- assumed the mantle of associate publisher of Mad Magazine.
picting a woman’s severed head. The exchange, framed in un- In the 1950s, though, he was celebrated as one of the stars of
winnable aesthetic rather than constitutional terms, doomed Gaines’s EC powerhouse roster.
EC’s horror and crime comics — and, as it happened, other Born on 4 April 1927 in Bari, Italy, Orlando was brought
companies’ publications as well.16 to the United States by his family in 1929. The young resident
 XVI. FROM THE CRYPT TO THE CLASSICS 169

Although Orlando easily made the transition from the

EC realm to the Roman, producing a superb title-page splash
and some splendid battle sequences, elsewhere the artwork is
uneven and gives the impression that the artist was not fully
engaged in the book. Comics art authority Jim Vadeboncoeur,
Jr., spotted other hands that neither he nor fellow researcher
Hames Ware could conclusively identify.24
Whoever may have been involved with Orlando in Cae-
sar’s Conquests, they freely adapted artwork from other sources.
At least one panel, at the top of page 30, was “swiped” (the
refreshingly noneuphemistic comics term for a direct borrow-
ing) from the 22 January 1939 installment of Hal Foster’s
Prince Valiant. But “swipes” have been common in comics from
the beginning and, of course, are not unique to that particular
art form.
Caesar’s Conquests enjoyed steady support from young

Joe Orlando, Caesar’s Conquests (January 1956). The first Gil-

berton title to benefit from the EC diaspora.

of East Harlem and aspiring artist received his initial training

in art at New York’s School of Industrial Arts.21 After studying
under John Groth at New York’s Art Students League, he began
illustrating comics under the auspices of Lloyd Jacquet in 1949,
providing illustrations for Treasure Chest.22
Sharing studio space with Wally Wood and Harry Har-
rison, Orlando contributed to Fox, Fawcett, Avon, and other
comics publishers until Fox’s business reverses cost the trio
$6,000 in unpaid work. For a brief period, the artist left the
comics field, but Wood enlisted him in 1951 to assist on projects
for EC, such as Weird Fantasy, Tales from the Crypt, and Mad.
There he remained until 1956, establishing himself as a master
of horror, science-fiction, and humor.23
With EC foundering, Orlando found a haven at
Gilberton in late 1955. His first Classics Illustrated title, Caesar’s
Conquests, No. 130 ( January 1956), was an adaptation of that
bane of second-year Latin students, Caesar’s Gallic War. (Cu- Joe Orlando, A Tale of Two Cities (May 1956). Sydney Carton
riously, Annette T. Rubinstein’s script skipped over the noto- makes a far, far better exit in the revised Classics version
rious opening: “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres....”) scripted by Annette T. Rubinstein. (Compare with page 36.)
170 CLASSICS Illustrated

readers (or Latin students), who kept the title in print until fusion would result if both were listed at the same time. Al-
the series ended in 1971. Curiously enough, however, its pub- though Julius Caesar was not named on any reorder list from
lication in January 1956 may have been the cause of the November 1955 to May 1960 (when the Shakespeare adap-
deletion of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar from the Classics Illus- tation appeared again on newsstands with a new painted cover),
trated reorder list in November 1955. It is likely that Meyer its series number, 68, was always listed on the direct-order
Kaplan found the two titles too similar and feared that con- coupon.
Meanwhile, Orlando received a sec-
ond Classics assignment that became his
most widely known title for the series.
The artist received the nod to draw the
revised edition of A Tale of Two Cities,
No. 6 (May 1956). It proved to be one of
the most fortunate editorial decisions
made at Gilberton. This time, Classics Il-
lustrated got it right, producing a faithful,
literate adaptation of the Dickens novel
of sacrificial friendship — and Orlando,
assisted by his EC friend George Evans,25
didn’t try to get away with shortcuts or
steals. He produced memorable character
studies of Sydney Carton, Madame De-
farge, Doctor Manette, Mr. Lorry, and
Miss Pross, and even breathed life into
the heavily starched Charles Darnay and
saintly Lucie Manette.
Orlando’s illustrations for Rudyard
Kipling’s Kim, No. 143 (March 1958), are
superb examples of visual storytelling.
The parallel plots of the Lama’s quest for
the River of the Arrow and Kim’s search
for his identity and participation in “The
Great Game” are framed by beautifully
realized backgrounds and costumes of late
19th-century British India. The characters
of Kim, the Lama, the horse trader Mah-
bub Ali, and the English officer Colonel
Creighton are delineated with subtle pre-
cision.
In anticipation of the following
year’s release of the wide-screen William
Wyler blockbuster Ben-Hur, Gilberton
commissioned the artist to illustrate a com-
ics version of Lew Wallace’s historical-
religious novel, issued as No. 147 (Novem-
ber 1958) in the series. (Gustav Schrotter
had produced an edition of the story for
Famous Authors in 1951.) The most or-
nately wrought of Orlando’s Classics, the
book features generally busier panels and
Joe Orlando, Kim (March 1958). The “Little Friend of All the World” and his mentor the frequent use of parallel lines to indi-
begin their adventures in “The Great Game.” cate shading or to suggest texture.
 XVI. FROM THE CRYPT TO THE CLASSICS 171

Besides the four Classics Illus-

trated titles, Orlando also provided
artwork for sections of a Special Issue,
Crossing the Rockies, No. 147A (De-
cember 1958), and two World Around
Us issues, The Army, No. W9 (May
1959), and The Marines, No. W11
( July 1959). In none of these shorter
projects, however, despite a vigorous
section on the Pony Express for No.
147A (see page 257), did the artist at-
tain the same level he had set for him-
self in his earlier Gilberton books.
Whatever the case, Orlando was
soon on his way to greater challenges,
including a remarkable 1965 Blazing
Combat (Warren) story titled “Land-
scape,” which captured the moral am-
bivalence of America’s engagement in
Vietnam at a point before the war had
fully taken hold of the American psy-
che.26 Classics Illustrated, in the mean-
time, had helped pay the bills and
further advance an outstanding art-
ist’s reputation. Universally respected,
Joe Orlando died on 23 December
1998.

GRAHAM INGELS
The most extreme representative
of the EC diaspora, Graham Ingels
(1915–1991), who signed his experi-
ments in terror “Ghastly,” produced
some surprisingly tame work for Gil-
berton. Whether the uncharacteristic
restraint was the result of self-censor-
ship or editorial direction is un-
known, but, at least in the case of one
Classics Illustrated title, he made the
limitations work for him.
Having begun his career as a
freelancer in 1935, the artist moved
Joe Orlando, Ben-Hur (November 1958). Detailed linework enhances the panels depicting
to Fiction House in 1943 while serv- the climactic chariot race.
ing in a Long Island navy desk as-
signment. After the war, Ingels became art director for Ned With EC’s shift to horror comics in 1950, Ingels achieved
Pines’s Better Publications. By the end of the decade, he had comics immortality as the creator of the “Old Witch” and as
found his spiritual home at William Gaines’s Entertaining the lead artist for The Haunt of Fear. The bizarre, contorted
Comics, where he supplied a story for the first issue of War features of his subjects and the detailed linework in his often
Against Crime.27 shocking panels contributed to the outré image of the EC line
 XVI. FROM THE CRYPT TO THE CLASSICS 173

and earned Ingels recognition as the leading horror-comics them a little later, both asleep in the chair — and I didn’t have
artist.28 a camera!”32 Although Ingels was “a devout Catholic who was
Following the burial of the Old Witch and The Haunt of deeply disturbed by the work he had done for EC,” Evans
Fear, “Ghastly” Graham turned, in 1956, to the Code-defying recalls a “playful man who could have fun with that image.”
Gilberton Company. Already plagued by the alcoholism that One Halloween, Ingels, who lived in a wooded area, “rigged
would eventually destroy his career and his family life, Ingels up a pulley that stretched for 90 feet from a tree to his house.
accepted a commission to illustrate an adaptation of Erckmann- He hung sheets from the line, and when kids came to his door,
Chatrain’s Waterloo, No. 135 (November 1956), a historical he flashed the lights and shook the line. The kids ran away
sermon-as-novel on the follies of war and ambitious men. screaming, and he was rolling on the floor. I told him,
Where William Gaines had promoted an atmosphere of ‘Graham, that probably did more harm than any of your comic
friendly rivalry and unexampled creativity at EC, Classics Il- books.’”33
lustrated was a comparatively regimented operation in the days Following his Gilberton years and a period spent as a Fa-
of Roberta Strauss’s ascendancy. Although Alex Blum was art mous Artists School instructor, Ingels moved to Florida, where
director and Meyer Kaplan managing editor, the young edi- he led an increasingly reclusive life, estranged from his family
torial assistant, who had already crossed swords with Lou and most of his former colleagues. Although he eventually
Cameron, was unlikely to have been overawed by the industry reestablished a relationship with his daughter, he refused, with
reputation of the inimitable “Ghastly.” Unwilling to compro- Salingeresque rectitude, to entertain inquiries from anyone in-
mise on period detail and internal consistency, Strauss insisted terested in his “Ghastly” career.34
that Ingels keep track of the number of buttons on the
Napoleonic-era uniforms from panel to panel.29
If the editorial demands wore on the artist, the strain GEORGE WOODBRIDGE
didn’t show in the finished product, which has been dismissed
by some who admire the EC Ingels as “forgettable.”30 Waterloo A product of the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and
is a disciplined performance, containing arresting contrasts be- an artist whose work appeared in William Gaines’s Mad,
tween closeup individualized character studies and midrange to George Woodbridge (1930–2004) was part of that circle of
panoramic configurations of massed soldiers. Ingels drew what talented younger illustrators who toiled for Classics in the late
Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrain wrote, conveying a 1950s. A fine draftsman who was fascinated by history and
different kind of terror — that of war and the annihilation of hailed as the “Dean of Uniform Illustration,” his light linework
the individual — in images of inhumanly mechanical columns and rather sketchy figures foreshadowed Gilberton styles of
of uniformed troops who achieve separate identities only when the early sixties.
killed or wounded. No EC overstatement was necessary. Woodbridge’s drawings for the revised edition of The
Ingels also illustrated sections in seven World Around Us House of the Seven Gables, No. 52 ( January 1958), have almost
issues and the “Pony Soldiers” chapter in Special Issue No. 150A, too airy a tone for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s meditation on the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Except for the “Bloody Black- workings of time and the expiation of Matthew Maule’s curse.
beard” section in Pirates, No. W7 (March 1959) and the “Fron- Still, certain panels, such as the hanging of Maule or the pro-
tier Forts” section in Army, No. W9 (May 1959), which showed cession of ghostly Pyncheons, are evocative compositions.
some sparks of energy, he seemed to be doing the minimum An interesting addition to the American Classics Illustrated
required to collect his check. In an effort to help Ingels, who, series, Betty Jacobson’s adaptation of With Fire and Sword, No.
between his reputation as “Ghastly” Graham and his fondness 146 (September 1958), the relatively unknown (to English-
for drink was having trouble getting work, George Evans speaking readers, at least) first part of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s
passed along some penciled pages in The French Revolution, Polish historical trilogy, occasioned Woodbridge’s finest work
No. W14 (October 1959), which his friend inked, lending the for Gilberton and one of the handsomest titles of the late 1950s.
illustrations something of his own style.31 The artist’s heavier brush strokes accentuated the dark atmos-
The Evans and Ingels families were close friends and en- phere of the tale of the 17th-century Cossack revolt,
joyed sharing backyard cookouts. Evans recalls one such oc- particularly in his renderings of battle scenes. His attention to
casion when his young daughter “crawled into Graham’s lap period detail, from armor to weapons, is impressive, and his
and started sipping beer from the can he was holding. I found touch, however light, is always sure.

Opposite: Graham Ingels, Waterloo (November 1956). Often underrated, the illustrations by “Ghastly” for Erckmann-Chatrain’s
historical novel convey an antiwar message in an atypical, understated way (photograph of original art by Will Jones; collection
of the author). Note the editorial instructions to the colorist.
174 CLASSICS Illustrated

MOON MEN : AL
WILLIAMSON, ANGELO
TORRES, ROY G. KRENKEL
A popular issue that went through
seven printings, The First Men in the
Moon was something of an EC home-
coming event. Given the opportunity to
explore the congenial terrain of science
fiction, Woodbridge, who supplied most
of the drawings of human characters, Al
Williamson, Angelo Torres, and Roy G.
Krenkel turned in imaginative drawings
that stirred young baby boomers at the
dawn of the space race.
Born in New York in 1931 and reared
in Bogotá, Colombia, Al Williamson be-
came one of the most revered figures in
the comics field. Returning to New York
in the 1940s, he studied under illustrator
Burne Hogarth, whom he subsequently
assisted on the Tarzan comic strip.35 He
also worked with John Prentice on the
Rip Kirby strip originated by his child-
hood idol, Alex Raymond, whose style he
emulated. Les Daniels has observed that
“The subtle texture of his artwork was
based on his ability to suggest shapes with-
out a constant reliance on hard lines.”36
In the early 1950s, Williamson rap-
idly rose to prominence with the refined,
realistic style that he brought to such EC
series as Weird Science and Weird Fantasy.
Following EC’s demise, he worked in the
horror, western, and adventure genres for
Atlas (later Marvel). Gilberton secured his
services for The First Men in the Moon—
where his talent for imagining alien worlds
served the project well—and for two World
Around Us titles, Prehistoric Animals, No.
W15 (November 1959), and Great Scien-
George Woodbridge, The House of the Seven Gables (January 1958). The Pyncheons tists, No. 18 (February 1960).
pay their respects to their new recruit. Following his brief encounter with
Classics Illustrated, Williamson, along with
But the title for which Woodbridge is best remembered other former EC colleagues, contributed to the black-and-
by Classics collectors is H.G. Wells’s The First Men in the Moon, white magazines Creepy and Eerie. At the beginning of 1967,
No. 144 (May 1958), a collaborative effort with three EC he took over the Secret Agent Corrigan comic strip (originally
alumni. an Alex Raymond vehicle titled Secret Agent X-9). Williamson

Opposite: George Woodbridge, With Fire and Sword (September 1958). Original art showing a grim view of war from an EC
veteran (collection of the author).
176 CLASSICS Illustrated

Ranking the Classics artists of the

later years, scriptwriter and editor Alfred
Sundel placed Angelo Torres (b. 1932)
among the top four regular freelancers—
surpassed only by George Evans, Nor-
man Nodel, and Gray Morrow. The
young EC veteran provided some strik-
ing panels for The First Men in the
Moon, but his finest work for Gilberton
was the 1962 revision of issue No. 56,
Victor Hugo’s The Toilers of the Sea. Ably
exploiting the medium’s narrative (as op-
posed to merely illustrative) properties,
Torres created drama and suspense in
Gilliatt’s single-handed salvage opera-
tion, discovery of Clubin’s skeleton, and
battle with an octopus. The artist revealed
character in his depictions of the hero
Gilliatt and the villain Clubin through
closely observed facial expressions.
Assisted by Stephen L. Addeo, who
also worked on revisions of The Last of
the Mohicans and Black Beauty, Torres
produced an updated edition of The
Man Without a Country, No. 63 (1962),
that improved on Henry C. Kiefer’s
1949 version in many respects. For one
thing, the pair limned an Aaron Burr
that more or less resembled the historical
figure. The uniforms and hair styles be-
long to the correct period, and the col-
orist remembered not to put American
soldiers of the early 19th century in red
coats. But the lightly sketched drawings
often appear unfinished, and the colorist
filled in an average of one panel per page
monochromatically.
Most of Torres’s work for Gil-
berton appeared in short sections in var-
ious Special Issues—The Atomic Age, No.
156A ( June 1960); To the Stars!, No.
165A (December 1961); World War II,
George Woodbridge, Al Williamson, Angelo Torres, and Roy Krenkel, The First Men No. 166A (Spring 1962); Prehistoric
in the Moon (May 1958). Weird Fantasy meets Classics Illustrated. World, No. 167A ( July 1962); and The
United Nations (no number or date)—
relinquished the strip to George Evans in the early 1980s.37 At and World Around Us titles —Great Scientists, No. W18 (Feb-
the behest of George Lucas, he also drew a Star Wars comic ruary 1960); Through Time and Space: The Story of Communi-
strip. Al Williamson died in upstate New York on 12 June 2010. cations, No. W20 (April 1960); The Civil War, No. W26

Opposite: Angelo Torres, The Toilers of the Sea (Spring 1962). Original art showing Gilliatt’s encounter with the villain Clubin’s
skeleton (collection of the author).
178 CLASSICS Illustrated

(October 1960); Whaling, No. W28 (December 1960); Vikings, pheric settings was respected by his fellow artists. Always some-
No. W29 (January 1961); Undersea Adventures, No. W30 (Feb- what overshadowed by his colleagues, Krenkel achieved greater
ruary 1961); Famous Teens, No. W33 (May 1961); and Fishing, renown in the 1960s illustrating science-fiction and fantasy pa-
No. W34 ( June 1961). According to Al Sundel, “The artists perback covers.
liked these shorter pieces, which meant more change in their George Evans recalled the artist as “a wild man with a
pockets.”38 wonderful sense of style and humor.”39 When Krenkel was
Also assisting on the H.G. Wells title was Al Williamson’s dying of lung cancer (an irony that he, as a nonsmoker, was
longtime friend and fellow EC émigré Roy G. Krenkel (1918– able to appreciate), he frequently found himself in the position
1983), a background specialist whose ability to create atmos- of comforting his friends, telling them, “I’m anxious to see
what’s over there, if anything.”40

JOHN P. SEVERIN
EC artist and Will Eisner Comic Book
Hall of Fame honoree John Powers Severin (b.
26 December 1921) had a brief and ultimately
unpleasant relationship with the Gilberton ed-
itorial department. Celebrated for the sophis-
ticated simplicity that he had exploited to great
effect in William Gaines’s Two-Fisted Tales, Sev-
erin had developed by the late 1950s a tech-
nique at once ornately realistic and elegantly
clean.
His first work for Classics was a pair of
chapters, “Texas and the Alamo” and “The Mex-
ican War,” in Special Issue No. 144A, Blazing the
Trails West ( June 1958). The battle scenes are
among the finest contributions to one of the
strongest titles in the series and reflect the
painstaking research that was part of Severin’s
legacy from Two-Fisted Tales editor (and Mad
mentor) Harvey Kurtzman.
In 1959, art director L.B. Cole assigned
Severin the art revision of The Last of the Mo-
hicans, one of the best-selling Classics Illustrated
titles. Detailed drawings of British uniforms,
Native American gear, and frontier attire con-
tribute to an atmosphere of authenticity. Sev-
erin’s sketches of Hawkeye, Uncas, Chingach-
gook, Magua, Duncan, Cora, Alice, and David
Gamut establish fundamental character traits.
The animated composition draws the reader
ever deeper into the forest drama.
Unfortunately, Severin completed only a
dozen or so pages of pencils and then made his
exit.41 Like Lou Cameron before him, the artist
didn’t appreciate what might have been construed
as editorial over-involvement on the part of
John P. Severin, The Last of the Mohicans (May 1959). The EC artist brought Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. What Severin man-
historical realism to the dozen or so pages he completed for the Cooper revision. aged to do in the book, even without finishing
Stephen Addeo and John P. Severin, The Last of the Mohicans (May 1959). Gilberton staffer Stephen Addeo acquits himself as well
as possible in attempting to fill the shoes of a comics legend.
180 CLASSICS Illustrated

assessment seems long overdue. It ap-

pears, from a close study of original-art
panels, that Severin probably penciled a
number of foreground figures on other
boards beyond page 12. Further, although
it may be heretical in some quarters to
suggest that Addeo did a workmanlike job
on the remainder of the book, it is equally
clear that his contributions to the overall
effect have been unfairly undervalued.
The Severin-Addeo Last of the Mohicans
remains what might be judged an acci-
dental landmark in Classics Illustrated his-
tory.

ANNETTE T. RUBINSTEIN,
SCRIPTWRITER
Also associated with Classics Illus-
trated in its EC era was the notable social-
ist writer, teacher, and activist Annette
T. Rubinstein (1910–2007), who in 1955
and 1956 scripted adaptations of Caesar’s
Conquests, The Covered Wagon, A Tale of
Two Cities, and, possibly, Robin Hood.42
A scholar with a Ph.D. from Columbia
University who authored Marxist inter-
pretations of English and American lit-
erature, she was a passionate supporter of
civil rights, women’s rights, and other
social-justice causes from the 1930s to the
end of her life. Rubinstein, a member of
the American Communist Party until
1952, was the object of blacklisting dur-
ing the McCarthy period and the subject
of scrutiny by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. She
taught philosophy at New York Univer-
sity, served as principal of the Robert
Louis Stevenson School, and worked
with the Brecht Forum’s New York Marx-
ist School.43
Norman Nodel, The Covered Wagon (March 1956). Scriptwriter Annette T. Rubinstein At a time when the Gilberton Com-
unsuccessfully pleaded with editor Roberta Strauss to allow her to rewrite a story she
detested. Indeed, the novel is afflicted with purple prose and poor plotting. pany was welcoming blackballed EC art-
ists, Roberta Strauss made several script-
the job, elevated it to the front ranks of Gilberton productions. ing assignments available for her controversial mentor-friend.
The comic was completed by Stephen L. Addeo, a competent Rubinstein evidently found all of the work congenial, except
illustrator who subsequently served as art assistant for the series for the adaptation of Emerson Hough’s The Covered Wagon.
in 1961 and 1962. While Caesar, Dickens, and the cycle of Robin Hood ballads
A loss of vitality is evident on page 13, and some critics and legends occupied a higher literary plane, the western novel,
regard the revised Mohicans as fatally flawed. A more balanced a now largely forgotten 1922 best-seller, belonged to a distinctly
 XVI. FROM THE CRYPT TO THE CLASSICS 181

lower literary order. Rubinstein’s rather amused frustration send Bannion to California because she feels guilty about her
with the story is evident in a letter she typed to Strauss on 3 fickleness and lack of mourning (see P. 4, paragraph 1, inc.) or
February 1955. More than a year would pass before the comic we’d have to go the whole hog and let him side with Wingate on
Oregon vs. California at Fort Hall (see P. 4, paragraph 7) which
book was issued in March 1956, and the lapse of time is in- would win Wingate’s respect for him and let Molly accept him
dicative of the struggle the scriptwriter was having with the right away. Of course that would also cut out the wedding busi-
material. Rubinstein’s letter is quoted in full because of the ness (see P. 4, paragraph 2) and perhaps the Indian attack in the
light its sheds on her personality, her relationship with Strauss, next paragraph. The wound could be admitted as well, or trans-
and the process of defining strategies for adaptation: ferred to one of the other Indian attacks.
It’s very likely that in the actual writing it’ll prove more effec-
Dear Miss Strauss, tive to have only two of those anyway — aside from the offstage
At long last I inclose a very very rough working plot outline one on Woodhull’s group — but meanwhile I’ve included all the
of The Covered Wagon. I hope the delay hasn’t inconvenienced major ones from the book. I think there will be a scene in the
you, but I suddenly had a flood of lectures on everything from Indian camp before one of them for variety and to let the Indi-
“Whitman & Neruda” to “Science Fiction & Detective Stories ans themselves say some of the things quoted from Bridger (see
Today & Yesterday”— with a detour to include Justice Douglas’ P. 3, paragraph 5).
“Almanac of Liberty.” I still have two to finish up in Philadel- Hastily,
phia this weekend but I should be able to spend most of next Annette T. Rubinstein
week getting the wagon on the road. P.S. I very stupidly haven’t made a carbon of this note, so please
I really must apologize for the abominable writing as well as keep it with the script if you like any of the possibilities I’ve sug-
the abominable typing of the inclosed, but it is a matter of send- gested for doing away with more of the love story.
ing you a first draft dictated faster than I can type or holding the ATR44
whole thing up until next week. This way you can call me Mon-
day or Tuesday if there are any radical changes indicated — if, of Although she kept the note, Strauss—stickler for accuracy that
course, you need it in a hurry. Otherwise it doesn’t matter when. she ever was — declined to accept Rubinstein’s suggestions for
I couldn’t cut out any more of the dreadful love story — you “doing away with more of the love story.” The “quicksand busi-
will notice I omitted the even more dreadful Bridger one en-
tirely — because it’s the only reason for the necessary separation ness” remains, and Bill Jackson, rather than the Indians, kills
of the two wagon trains. If you don’t care about maintaining any Sam Woodhull, true to Hough’s novel. Truncated as much as
recognizable relation to the book here, however, I could invent a the scriptwriter could make it, the love story also stands, down
better one by building up Wingate’s part and making the to the cloying reunion of the lovers Will Bannion and Molly
conflict between the two good men sharper and more consistent. Wingate: “Oh, Will! I love you! I don’t care about your past.”
We can then — we could, in any case if there’s too much inci-
Not even the champion of Paul Robeson and the Rosenbergs
dent — cut Woodhull’s quicksand business. In fact, I’d be happy
to let your conscience be my guide in this matter if you’d like to could prevail against the firm editorial hand of a self-assured
have Woodhull killed off by the Indians (see P. 2, paragraph 6, young editor who represented, perhaps, the true “dictatorship
inc.) and serve him right. Then we’d either have to let Molly of the proletariat.”
 XVII

George Evans, Reed Crandall,

and the Tradition of EC Realism
G eorge R. Evans (1920–2001) and Reed Crandall (1917–
1982) helped to reshape the style of Classics Illustrated
the late 1950s and early 1960s. Working singly, in the case of
sional [of the artists] in discussions. He was ... a very de-
termined sort of guy.”1
Evans was born in Harwood, Pennsylvania, on 5 February
Evans, or as a team, they brought the tradition of EC realism 1920. His lifelong passions for airplanes and art — to say
to full maturity in their work for the Gilberton Company. nothing of his determination — were evident early. “I have
been an aviation nut since age seven — the ‘Lindy’ thing,” he
wrote.2 (Charles Lindbergh made his celebrated nonstop flight
GEORGE R. EVANS from New York to Paris in 1927.) By the time he was 16, Evans
was drawing airplanes for pulps. Three years of service in the
No artist associated with Classics Illustrated was more Air Force followed a period of study at the Scranton Art
highly respected than George R. Evans, whose exquisitely School.3
wrought panels were unsurpassed in the history of the publi- In 1946, in the twilight of the Golden Age, Evans entered
cation. “As an illustrator,” wrote scriptwriter and editor Alfred the comic-book field, working first for Fiction House and later
Sundel, “he had no weaknesses. He seemed the most profes- for Fawcett. He resumed his studies at the Art Students League
in New York in 1949. Comics immortality
arrived in 1952, when he was hired by EC
and began contributing to such titles as
Weird Science, The Haunt of Fear, and Front-
line Combat.4
Then came the fall — the EC debacle
after Senate hearings — and Evans’s rebirth
as a Classics contributor. The artist recounted
that
My stint with CI came as a result of the killing
of the EC line by Kefauver and his politicians.
Till then I’d just kept busy with other publish-
ers, who paid a better page rate — and helpful
as the digested versions of the great stories
were, the art in [Gilberton’s] earlier series led to
the thought that they just weren’t interested in
illustration quality. When Bill Gaines ended
his books except MAD, it was time to find
other accounts (though I’d always kept other
markets going, knowing how cyclical things

George R. Evans in his pre–Gilberton days,

circa 1953 (courtesy George R. Evans).

182
 XVII. GEORGE EVANS, REED CRANDALL, AND THE TRADITION OF EC REALISM 183

tended to be). Naturally the “big” outfits were

the ones I tried — and was astonished to find
bitter resentment there over EC’s success —
then its failure. A couple of editors threw into
my face the blunt charge, “You _____s
brought on all the trouble with the ____ you
did, now there’s no way you’ll get any work
from here.” (It turned out that that was per-
sonal animosity, for those outfits did, later,
hire virtually all of the EC people [including
Evans]— and swung toward what EC had
done so well.)
Anyway, before pounding the streets for
work in the fields of mag and book illustrat-
ing, which was my ambition, there came a call
from Joe Orlando: could I help him finish up
a long script [A Tale of Two Cities, 1956] he
had taken from Classics Illustrated? I did
that — evidently the Classics people liked what
Joe turned in and offered him more work, and
he suggested I go see Mr. Blum [then the
Gilberton art director] on my own. Which I
did — and found that man to be one of the
nicest, gentlest, kindest people I have ever
met. ... I was sorry when he retired, for on
every visit we would have some talk together.
L.B. Cole succeeded Mr. Blum, and we got
on well from the first day. I hadn’t known
him, but knew his work. There was always an-
other script waiting as soon as I turned in a
finished job, right on till they erred in launch-
ing their digest-sized “slick” magazine to com-
pete with the already-successful ones which
evidently had a lock on the market.5
As for the Gilberton management, Evans
considered Bill Kanter “the friendliest of the
upper-echelon,” but “Albert Lewis had his office
which was ... one step higher than God’s[.] ...
Whatever he had to say to the staff was said
in Patton-like phrases, and if anyone had any-
thing other than ‘Yes, sir!’ to say, it was ap-
parently said through Bill. ... I am a generally
democratic type, and when I first saw him I’d
say ‘Hello.’ At first it was ignored; but refusing
to take the hint I kept doing it and finally got
a grudging response. I think at one point he George Evans, Romeo and Juliet (September 1956). One of several pages devoted
even asked, ‘How are you today?’ but that may to the balcony scene.
be a wishful flaw of memory.”6
Regarding the attraction of working for Gilberton, no- much more, the other publishers were working with seven,
torious for its low pay scale, Evans noted in a 1978 letter to eight, nine, or even ten-panel pages. And it was fun to bring to
life things I’d labored through in earlier years myself, because
Classics chronicler Michael Sawyer that 7
the story was good, despite the stilted writing.
Two factors kept some of us with them when the outer market By any estimate, the books that Evans illustrated for Gil-
picked up after a bad slump: those long scripts gave you free-
dom to disappear to wherever you longed to go and work and berton rank high among his achievements. His first Classics
vacation together. And though their page-rate was lower, they title, Romeo and Juliet, No. 134 (September 1956), displayed
stayed with four, and at most five-panel pages, where for not too the artist’s commitment to historical fidelity. As he wrote, “For
Oppostite: George Evans, Lord Jim (January 1957). A page of original art from the Conrad classic, signed by the artist (collection
of the author). Above: George Evans, The Little Savage (March 1957). Note, in this page of original art from the adaptation of
Captain Marryat’s last novel, that a narrative prompt was removed above the speech balloon in the top middle panel (collection
of the author).
186 CLASSICS Illustrated

a fact, I might be a richer man today if it weren’t my problem somely drawn Italian Renaissance costumes and architecture,
that I busted myself in research on every story I illustrated.”8 carefully observed principal characters, and an imaginatively
One of the great strengths of Evans’s output for Gilberton fluid rendering of the six-page balcony scene. The Classics Il-
was his ability to draw women who were neither Good Girl lustrated edition of Romeo and Juliet “won some sort of prize
Art specimens nor Kieferesque androgynes. Juliet may be the in Sweden, which they [the Gilberton staff ] told me about,”
finest example of the artist’s skill in this regard. In her ex- Evans recalled, “but if there were physical trophies, I never saw
changes with Romeo, she is decidedly his equal, and she shows any.”9
determination in her scenes with her nurse and Friar Laurence. The next project, Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, No. 136
For the Shakespeare adaptation, Evans included hand- ( January 1957), was in some ways the most challenging, in
part because the novel plumbed greater the-
matic depths than standard comic-book
storylines — and in part because, according
to the artist, editor Strauss found Jim’s act
of self-sacrifice incomprehensible. “Roberta
didn’t think the ending was credible, and
we debated it,” Evans said. “She dismissed
it as a grown-up boys’ book. She just didn’t
get it.”10
The title was one of the artist’s fa-
vorites “though [it] had a tight deadline and
I wish I’d had more time for the drawing.”11
(He had just completed Romeo and Juliet
and was scheduled to illustrate The Little
Savage for the next issue.) Conveying the
hero’s moral crises in comics form may have
strained the resources of the medium, but
Evans, working with a streamlined script
that dispensed with Marlow’s role as me-
diator of the narrative, nevertheless pro-
duced a stirring visual account of Jim’s re-
generation. Strong character portraits filled
the work, from the troubled Jim to the loyal
Dain Waris to the loathsome Cornelius.
Adaptations of two boys’ books fol-
lowed. The Little Savage, No. 137 (March
1957), was a variation on the Robinson Cru-
soe theme by Frederick Marryat and showed
the artist at ease with a straightforward ad-
venture yarn. Evans produced several stir-
ring action sequences, such as the boy hero’s
capture of a young seal, escape from attack-
ing sharks, and struggle against a “violently
agitated” sea.
In the Reign of Terror, No. 139 ( July
1957), the first of several G.A. Henty we-
were-there historical tales included in the
Classics Illustrated series, was another of

George Evans, In the Reign of Terror (July

1957). The young English hero rescues Cit-
izen Robespierre.
 XVII. GEORGE EVANS, REED CRANDALL, AND THE TRADITION OF EC REALISM 187

Evans’s favorites. The plot-driven novel was

well suited to standard comic-book pacing,
and the artist skillfully sustained the action and
suspense from panel to panel as the resourceful
young hero contrives to rescue Robespierre
from footpads and the aristocratic heroine and
her sister from one bloodthirsty revolutionary
after another.
Cooperating with the Theodore Roose-
velt Centennial Commission in the production
of The Rough Rider, No. 141A (December 1957),
Gilberton further established its growing rep-
utation for serious educational publications.
Evans illustrated the Special Issue, which was
described by Commission Director Hermann
Hagedorn in an introduction as “the first full
length biography of a great American in this
new and compelling medium.” The book sub-
sequently won the Thomas Alva Edison Award,
but, according to the artist, “it was strictly on
the subject matter.” Evans had inherited the
assignment, which turned into his least satis-
factory Classics effort:
It had been given to another artist who sat on the
script for an unconscionable time, then turned it
back, so it was an “emergency.” I couldn’t pencil
and ink it, so they turned it over to an inker
they knew. He was not a good inker — had a
heavy hand as if using a trowel, so all detail
stuff suffered. In addition, he appointed him-
self editor, too, and inked only what he thought
was required in the panels and erased every-
thing else. It led to a funny situation: I was
ashamed of it, yet here it won a prize, indicat-
ing it was some of my best work. Ugh.1
Over the years, Evans worked on all but
one of the remaining eleven Special Issues, no-
tably Blazing the Trails West, No. 144A ( June
1958), Crossing the Rockies, No. 147A (Decem-
ber 1958), Men, Guns and Cattle, No. 153A
(December 1959), To the Stars, No. 165A (De-
cember 1961), World War II, No. 166A (1962),
and Prehistoric World, No. 167A ( June 1962). George Evans, “The Lewis and Clark Expedition” in Blazing the Trails West (June
His “Lewis and Clark Expedition” in Blazing 1958). Sacagawea saves the day.
the Trails West is one of his liveliest efforts for
Gilberton, giving ample scope to the story of Sacagawea, while W8 (April 1959), The French Revolution, No. W14 (October
his “Kit Carson” in the same issue is an improvement on the 1959) (inked in part by Graham Ingels, who favored darker
1953 Classics Illustrated issue devoted to the same subject. If lines), Great Scientists, No. W18 (February 1960), Ghosts, No.
nothing else, Evans’s “Kit” more closely resembles the historical W24 (August 1960), For Gold and Glory, No. W32 (April
figure than the drawings by Rudy Palais. 1961), and Spies, No. W35 (August 1961). His chapter in Flight
The artist also illustrated substantial sections of most of on the World War I German “Red Knight” flying ace Baron
the issues in The World Around Us series, including Flight, No. von Richthofen was one of his favorite assignments.
188 CLASSICS Illustrated

In the Reign of Terror, another popular

work of marginal literary merit, The Cri-
sis translated well into the comics
medium, where the original’s lack of com-
plexity worked in favor of the imperatives
of adaptation and sequential art. Central
to the issue’s success were Evans’s realistic
rendering of the steely Southern heroine,
Virginia Carvel, who appears in 16 dif-
ferent period outfits, and his convincing
character sketches of Lincoln, Sherman,
and Grant.
Fortunately for Gilberton, the artist
had already turned in the boards for The
Crisis when another sort of crisis, involv-
ing deadlines, presented itself.
Albert Kanter’s son, Hal Kanter, who
had written for Bing Crosby on radio and
had directed Elvis Presley in Loving You
(1957), had been his father’s eyes on Hol-
lywood, giving Gilberton advance notice
of forthcoming films based on classic lit-
erature to enable Classics to include the
titles in the series production cycle. He
had also been instrumental in arranging
a movie tie-in with The Ten Command-
ments in 1956.
Hal Kanter scored a major coup for
Gilberton in 1958, when he facilitated an
arrangement for exclusive comic-book
rights to another Cecil B. DeMille pro-
duction, The Buccaneer, a first for the Clas-
sics Illustrated line. The Paramount script
by Jeanie Macpherson was given to vet-
eran comics artist Robert Jenney (b.
1914). A May 1958 “Coming Next” ad in
The First Men in the Moon advertised The
Buccaneer, complete with a line-drawing
mock-up cover by Alex Blum, as issue
No. 145. (See page 141.)
Then Jenney found himself unable
to complete the artwork on time. Editor
George Evans, The Crisis (July 1958). Virginia Carvel shows her style on the river. Roberta Strauss called on Evans, who had
rescued The Rough Rider under similar
During 1958, Evans produced artwork for two titles in circumstances, to rush The Buccaneer to completion. Jenney
Gilberton’s flagship Classics Illustrated line. The first was an had penciled about half of the book, and the July printing date
adaptation of The Crisis, No. 145 (July 1958), a Civil War story was looming.
by the now largely forgotten American historical novelist Win- Unfortunately for the artist, the assignment came just be-
ston Churchill (not related to the British prime minister). Like fore the “family of four plus dog” was to embark on its annual

Opposite: George Evans (and Robert Jenney), The Buccaneer (January 1959). The book that ate a vacation.
Left: George Evans, The Three Musketeers (May 1959). Right: George Evans, The Three Musketeers (May 1959). Athos in his element.
 XVII. GEORGE EVANS, REED CRANDALL, AND THE TRADITION OF EC REALISM 191

two-week vacation in Vermont, and the deadline fell during When I brought it in with Athos plastered after being locked in
the first week of the Evanses’ paid-for time: the cellar with only vin to sustain him, Roberta [Strauss Feuer-
licht] was kind of upset: “We can’t print that! You’ll have to
I begged for extra time, but, consulting her calendar, Roberta change it” she protested. She agreed that of course he would be
refused: Had to be in. So I worked on it that week, got it mailed boozed up, but (rightly, probably) in comic-book form, we
from Vermont, and had half a vacation, only to find when I shouldn’t show the hero drunk. I felt strongly enough about
went in for a new script that they had not even opened the being true to the story to refuse making any changes.4
package I’d sent. It was as hot an argument as we ever had — she
explained about shifting things around, etc. And it got me a $5 The artist had made his point and prevailed. Athos remained,
a page raise in pay....2 as the dialogue balloon put it, “dead drunk.”
Another, more significant, editorial battle was lost, how-
The Crisis was substituted in the No. 145 slot, and The Bucca-
ever. Gilberton had published four of the South Seas novels
neer was held until January 1959.
by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall and had the
In what was perhaps the ultimate vote of confidence in
rights to Falcons of France, a World War I novel about the
Evans as illustrator, Strauss gave him the choicest assignment of
Lafayette Escadrille, in which the authors had served. Evans
his association with Gilberton: redrawing issue No. 1, The Three
was born to illustrate the book — recognizing his expertise in
Musketeers. Published around May 1959, the revised Dumas
matters aeronautical, William Gaines had created Aces High
swashbuckler had symbolic significance as the first issue of the
for him at EC in 1955.5 Yet it was not to be:
line. It was also one of the most popular titles, running even-
tually to 23 printings. Roberta [Strauss Feuerlicht] evidently had the deciding vote on
The original 62-page adaptation was rescripted and it and turned thumbs down because “It was a lot of hyped-up
nonsense! People don’t really believe in all that flag-waving, peo-
trimmed to 47 pages to fit the post-1948 Classics format. A ple don’t do the crazy things [Nordhoff and Hall] wrote about.”
painted cover based on Malcolm Kildale’s 1941 interior art had ... When I assured her it was truer than any other fiction they’d
replaced the old line-drawing cover in 1956, and Evans evidently ever covered, she gave me a long look, suspecting I was needling
used it as a general reference. He transposed physical character- her. Seeing I meant it, she shrugged, “Oh well, we have others
istics, however, in an odd, if interesting, exercise in casting to do. Maybe further along....” But it was one I would have
loved doing above all others — and it would have been totally
against type, assigning Porthos’s portly physique to Aramis,
authentic, for I had a library full of reference gathered through
Aramis’s sleek figure to Athos, and Athos’s mature frame to life.6
Porthos. In the case of Aramis, a few extra pounds provided
greater potential for humor in the character development of For the next few years with Gilberton, Evans kept busy
the wavering candidate for holy orders; unfortunately, Porthos on Special Issues, The World Around Us, and collaborations with
gained in gravitas as he lost weight, and the book lost its chief fellow EC alumnus Reed Crandall on The Hunchback of Notre
source of comic relief. Dame, Oliver Twist, Julius Caesar, and In Freedom’s Cause (dis-
Notwithstanding these eccentricities, the 1959 Three Mus- cussed in the following section on Crandall). “[Reed] had re-
keteers is one of the handsomest editions published in the 30- turned to Kansas—fed up with N.Y.,” Evans recalled in a letter
year history of Classics Illustrated. It is also one of the highlights to Michael Sawyer. “Needed work — and I had some other ac-
of Evans’s considerable body of work and, in its own right, a counts, too, by then. So between Reed and me we really made
masterpiece of sequential art that fully realizes the potential of good time and had some fun.”7 The pair of accomplished
the medium. No panel is wasted; each carries narrative weight artists made an exceptional package deal.
or delineates character. For example, in one-page episodes, Evans summed up his experience with Classics Illustrated
Evans presents d’Artagnan’s initial encounters with each of the as “enjoyable.” Although the rates were far from top, he found
Three Musketeers, concisely conveying Athos’s pride, Porthos’s adequate compensation in “the treat of working on scripts of
vanity, and Aramis’s carnal inclinations. D’Artagnan’s high- substance, and, yes, dealing with bright, nice people like
spirited naivete is captured in a single panel as the impulsive Roberta and a couple of assistants in the editorial area.”8 One
Gascon volunteers to join the three men who will become his of those assistants, Helene Lecar, remembered the artist fondly:
inseparable companions in their duel with five of the Cardinal’s “George Evans in particular was a craftsman as well as an artist,
Guards. Evans also brought secondary characters to life: his who gave meticulous attention to the details in his work.” 9
Milady is an alluring temptress; his Felton an implacable fa- Years later, Lecar drew a direct connection between Evans and
natic. “his hero,” Prince Valiant’s Hal Foster, “a creative story teller
The Three Musketeers occasioned an editorial skirmish as well as a fine artist.”10
with Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, with whom the artist enjoyed The end of Classics Illustrated merely marked the begin-
a playful, bantering relationship: “We thrived on needling each ning of a new creative phase for the consummate professional
other.”3 Evans recounted that and “very determined sort of guy.” His distinguished career
192 CLASSICS Illustrated

cated strip Secret Agent Corrigan, succeeding

his friend and former EC colleague, Al
Williamson.12 He and his wife lived in Mount
Joy, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg, where he
worked on various projects, including a Sun-
day Flash Gordon series. George R. Evans died
on 22 June 2001.

REED CRANDALL
A legendary figure in comics history,
Reed Crandall collaborated with his friend
and fellow EC artist George Evans on several
of the most beautiful books published by
Gilberton. Born in 1917 in Indiana, Crandall
grew up in Kansas and received his training
in the 1930s at the Cleveland School of Art.
Among his influences were illustrators Howard
Pyle, Joseph Clement Coll, and Henry C.
Pitz. After moving to New York in 1940, he
joined the comic-book shop run by Will Eis-
ner and Jerry Iger and then drew a number of
characters for Quality, including Stormy Fos-
ter, Captain Triumph, and Doll Man.13
Crandall’s first specialty was military art,
and in 1942 he found his métier in Quality’s
“Blackhawk” series, created by Will Eisner for
Military Comics. Shifting gears and specialties
in the 1950s, he explored the realms of science
fiction, horror, and adventure at EC. Some of
his best work in this period was for the short-
lived Piracy series. When William Gaines’s
ship went down, Crandall, like the other out-
standing EC illustrators, had difficulty finding
work. Atlas (Marvel) provided some assign-
ments, and, beginning in 1960, the Catholic
Guild’s Treasure Chest gave him steady em-
ployment drawing anti–Communist comics.
At about the same time, Al Williamson
George Evans and Reed Crandall, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Fall 1960). A approached George Evans, who had established
sequence highlighting Crandall’s contributions; Evans saved the horses for his himself as one of the principal freelancers for
collaborator. Classics Illustrated. Evans recalled that
Al asked if I had enough work to share some
continued with titles for Western and DC and ghost work on
with Reed. I had, and did. We would work in whatever way
George Wunder’s daily strips for the long-running Terry and time schedules allowed. I did all the layouts — breakdowns, and
the Pirates.11 did faces pretty detailed so that likenesses were consistent. These
In the 1980s, Evans began drawing the enduring syndi- I’d send to Reed, and he’d finish the stuff. Often he had better

George Evans and Reed Crandall, Oliver Twist (Fall 1961). A page of original art featuring the famous request (collection of the
author).
194 CLASSICS Illustrated

The first Crandall and Evans collabora-

tion was on a desperately needed revision of
Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
No. 18, which had been ineptly adapted by
Evelyn Goodman and crudely drawn by
Allen Simon in the original 1944 edition. The
second time around, in the fall of 1960, with
a faithful adaptation by Alfred Sundel, was a
charm for Gilberton. Evans’s superbly ren-
dered features of Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and
Frollo were all but definitive and subse-
quently were shamelessly copied in a 1970s
comics version. Crandall’s exquisitely detailed
historical framework made the redesigned
Hunchback a handsome improvement and
one of the best books in the series.
Lighter inking and a solidly realistic
framework provided scope in Alfred Sundel’s
revised Oliver Twist, No. 23 (Fall 1961), for a
brisk, modern approach to the Dickens novel.
The new treatment was published a year after
the arrival of Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver! on
the London stage and the year before the
highly anticipated U.S. pre–Broadway na-
tional tour. An occasional hint of caricature
in the new Classics Illustrated adaptation,
memorably in the case of the master serving
gruel, suggests a distant debt to George Cruik -
shank, the novel’s first illustrator. In a de-
cisive rejection of stereotyping, Fagin is drawn
without any specific ethnic identity. Once
again, Crandall’s fully realized historical con-
text supplies a grace note. By 1969, a year
after Carol Reed’s film version of Oliver! ap-
peared, this popular edition had been printed
six times.
Rising to, or even surpassing, the level
of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was the re-
vision by Crandall and Evans of Julius Caesar,
No. 68 (1962). The artists offered incisive
character studies of Brutus (replacing Henry
George Evans and Reed Crandall, Julius Caesar (Spring 1962). The artists shift C. Kiefer’s somewhat Aryan model with an
perspective in an effort to give a static scene some life; note the Roman profiles.
introspective Roman), Cassius (who looks
lean, hungry, and sardonic), Antony (shown
references than I’d found, and some delightful stuff would come as a consummate political actor), and others. Blending classical
back. He also did better Percheron horses than I ever did.... gestures and backgrounds with Crandall’s affinity for action,
On those long adaptations, memory says I would lay out what
the pair brought Shakespeare’s relatively static tragedy dramat-
Reed was to do — usually half the book — send them off and
then go on to my half complete. 14 ically to life.

Opposite: George Evans and Reed Crandall, In Freedom’s Cause (1962/1969). A page of original art from the last collaborative
effort for Classics Illustrated by the two former EC artists (collection of the author).
196 CLASSICS Illustrated

A final project, G.A. Henty’s In Freedom’s Cause, No. 168, Crandall and Evans found themselves back in EC territory,
was intended for publication in 1962; although a British edition working in James Warren’s noncode series Creepy, Eerie, and
was issued in 1963, the title did not appear in the American Vampirella. 16 One of Crandall’s finest achievements was an
Classics Illustrated series until 1969. The tale of young Archie eight-page adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “The Squaw” for
Forbes and William Wallace elicited some striking battle Creepy.17
scenes, with intricately detailed backgrounds, from Crandall The artist’s technical proficiency fell victim to his losing
and Evans. Unfortunately, as George Evans recalled, after send- battle with alcoholism, and he eventually stopped illustrating
ing half the script to Crandall, “his section came back with altogether. He lived for a time in Pennsylvania with Al
five or six pages just as I’d sent them — undone. A brief letter Williamson but returned to Kansas, where he worked at various
said he ‘couldn’t finish them,’ with no real reason given.”15 odd jobs, including night watchman, fast-food cook, and
During their tenure with Gilberton, the two artists also chain-restaurant janitor. After suffering several strokes,
provided illustrations for Dell’s movie edition of Hercules Un- Crandall entered a Wichita nursing home, where he died of a
chained and Twilight Zone TV tie-ins (May 1961, April 1962). heart attack in 1982. He was sixty-five years old.18 In 2009,
After the Kanter family shut down the American Classics line, Crandall was named to the Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
 XVIII

Roberta the Conqueror

F or the last nine years of its existence, the driving intellectual
force behind Classics Illustrated was a scrappy, diminutive
editor named Roberta Strauss. (After her 1958 marriage to
tional,” Herb Feuerlicht recalled. “She physically couldn’t raise
her voice.”5
In response to her childhood experience, Strauss cul-
sculptor Herb Feuerlicht, she added her husband’s name, a tivated a quiet manner that was something of a signature style,
change not noted in the publication indicia until issue No. according to colleagues. It served as a reliable mood indicator;
154, in January 1960.) More than any other person, she was
responsible for raising the artistic and textual standards of the
series in the mid- to late-1950s. A perfectionist who demanded
perfection in others, Feuerlicht caused controversy and earned
respect.
In the 1960s and 1970s, she established a solid literary rep-
utation with such nonfiction works as The Desperate Act: The
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo (1968), named by
The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year;
America’s Reign of Terror: World War I, the Red Scare, and the
Palmer Raids (1971); Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism: The Hate
that Haunts America (1972); and Justice Crucified: The Story of
Sacco and Vanzetti (1977). Scrupulously researched, her work
was often polemical in tone. Justice Crucified was hailed by
critic John Leonard in the New York Times as “the most com-
prehensive and persuasive account of the case we have.”1
Feuerlicht’s 1983 book, The Fate of the Jews: A People Torn
Between Israeli Power and Jewish Ethics, provoked both bitter
attacks and impassioned defenses. “Judaism as an ideal is in-
finite,” she wrote, “Judaism as a state is finite. Judaism survived
centuries of persecution without a state; it must now learn
how to survive despite a state.”2 The book’s categorical insis-
tence that Israel was not exempt from the standards that gov-
erned the conduct of other nations cost the author several
friendships.
As her husband described her, “She was a placid person
who ran from confrontations but would stand for principle.”3
In fact, “principled” is the descriptive term most often used by
those who worked with her at Gilberton.
Born in New York on 23 November 1931, Roberta Strauss
grew up in a Lower East Side cold-water tenement where, she
later quipped, “We were so poor we had to take the garbage in
at night.”4 A cleft palate, which was later surgically corrected,
made her painfully shy as a child, a condition that she subse- Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, book in hand, in the Maine woods
quently overcame with determination. “She was not emo- (1958) (courtesy Herb Feuerlicht).

197
198 CLASSICS Illustrated

when a conversation took a distasteful turn, she simply became she married Herb Feuerlicht, a fellow folk dancing enthusiast,
quieter. On the other hand, she would be quite vocal in a sit- in 1958, she was earning $125 a week and putting in long
uation of trust or when an ethical issue was at stake. hours, from 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.13 In 1961, as Roberta Strauss
After receiving a journalism degree from Hunter College Feuerlicht, she was elevated to Editor-in-Chief and the next
in 1952, Strauss worked for a year as an associate editor for a year became Managing Editor for the brief period in which
Queens newspaper, the Glen Oaks News. In 1953, she came to Gilberton continued to issue new titles.
the attention of Gilberton’s William Kanter, who hired her as One of her most significant contributions to Classics Il-
an editorial assistant at $55 a week.6 Without a formal title or lustrated was in overseeing a massive facelift for the series
even so much as a masthead mention, Strauss quickly became through the upgrading of artwork in previously issued titles.
indispensable, reviewing artwork and scripts for accuracy and The impetus for change came from Albert and Bill Kanter and
continuity.7 She got along well with art director Alex A. Blum, Meyer Kaplan, but the implementation was often the re-
who gave her a painting of a pastoral scene and a pair of ear- sponsibility of the young workhorse. During Feuerlicht’s
rings.8 tenure as uncredited assistant or titled editor, revamped adap-
The accounts of the young editor’s attention to detail tations and upgraded interior art appeared in 28 earlier edi-
have assumed almost legendary proportions among Classics tions.14 In the same period, new painted covers were commis-
collectors. Lou Cameron’s departure from the Gilberton circle sioned to replace most of the line-drawing covers among the
of freelancers was occasioned by Strauss’s insistence that he re- first 80 titles or unsatisfactory painted covers, such as No. 103,
draw the head of the Time Traveller, after the interior art had Men Against the Sea (a stiffly composed piece by Henry C.
already been completed, to conform to the representation on Kiefer showing Captain Bligh wearing an anachronistic naval
George Wilson’s painted cover.9 She counted buttons on sol- officer’s hat) .15
diers’ uniforms from panel to panel in Graham Ingels’s Wa- Among Feuerlicht’s most important decisions was to re-
terloo. turn a substantial number of formerly discontinued titles to
Strauss insisted that Jack Sparling, working on Robin print. As a result of both inventory constraints and Gilberton’s
Hood, should maintain consistency in the number of laces on commitment to replacing line-drawing covers with painted
the jerkin, the number of scallops about the shoulder, and the covers and interior art where required, a large number of the
number of arrows in the quiver.10 Skirt folds came under first 120 titles had been dropped from the catalogue by May
scrutiny in Jack Kirby’s “Coming Next” ad for Cleopatra. For 1959. When the last reduced reorder list, which extended to
The Dark Frigate, Strauss even sent an inquiry to the National No. 150, was printed that month, 53 titles were unavailable.
Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, regarding the pro- Feuerlicht, however, had already begun what might be
cedure for 17th-century naval courts martial (see Appendix for called the Classics Illustrated Great Revival in early 1958, order-
full texts of Strauss’s queries and the Museum’s reply). ing a redrawn edition of The Man in the Iron Mask, a popular
George Evans recounted an instance of the editor’s ob- title that had been out of print since 1955. A reissue of Green
session with accuracy: Mansions appeared in January 1959, followed by Crime and
Punishment in September and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in No-
Roberta was, as she mentioned then, a “nut for folk dancing,”
vember. The floodgates opened in the first three months of
and in something I did there was a scene for a “ballo”— a Latin
American bash of a sort [for Blazing the Trails West]. Dancing 1960 with Men of Iron, The Moonstone, Typee, and Alice in Won-
was alien to me, and even how to research it and get the motions derland.
right. So I showed couples in Latin garb from the waist up. Even Other rarities returned to circulation within the next two
so, I got the hand gestures wrong, and she asked for another pic- years, including Les Miserables, Don Quixote, Two Years Before
ture. With her help, I did produce one that she accepted, the Mast, The Last Days of Pompeii, Twenty Years After, Wuther-
though she’d have preferred if the scripter had given a bigger
space for that scene. It really wasn’t key — just atmosphere. But,
ing Heights, Black Beauty, Julius Caesar, Pudd’nhead Wilson,
having interests of my own, I could understand her wish.11 The White Company, A Study in Scarlet, and The Talisman.
More reissues would come in the wake of Gilberton’s decision
Norman Nodel remarked that Feuerlicht was “a real stickler” in 1962 to stop publishing new titles, and some, such as Gul-
on questions of historical authenticity. “She cared about the liver’s Travels, were among the best-sellers of the series.
quality. She was a person of great integrity. She often had On 25 July 1960, Feuerlicht responded to an enthusiastic
definite ideas about changes that she wanted made, but she early Classics collector and later DC editor, E. Nelson Bridwell
had an open mind, and if you presented your case well, she of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who had written to suggest ad-
would accept your point of view.”12 ditional titles for inclusion in the series as well as to request
Beginning with issue No. 139, In the Reign of Terror ( July the return of No. 33, Sherlock Holmes, to print. The editor’s
1957), Strauss was listed on the masthead as editor. By the time letter bears the stamp of her personality and style:
 XVIII. ROBERTA THE CONQUEROR 199

If ever I retire, or, more likely, am assassinated in office, I think she employed to enforce it. “Roberta was very wary about new
I might recommend you as my successor. Certainly, there are employees,” Gilberton editorial staffer Helene Lecar recalled.
times you almost seem to know more about our books than I do. “The first time she sent me to the 42nd Street Library [for re-
I think you will find our Classics Illustrated titles for the next
two years as good a group as we’ve had in a while. They include search], she actually followed me and watched me working for
Faust, Taras Bulba, Tales from Sevastopol, The Aeneid and The a while (I only found out about this years later) until she de-
Saga of Burnt Njal, as well as two of the titles you suggest: Food cided I was reliable.”17 Noting that Feuerlicht took care never
of the Gods and Cleopatra. to pull rank, Lecar emphasized the collaborative working at-
I don’t believe #33 will ever come back. For many reasons, a mosphere that the editor fostered at 101 Fifth Avenue.18
number of our early titles will be dropped rather than redone.
Each of the thirty-six issues of The World Around Us bore
For many reasons also, we can never do some of the titles you
put forth. Some are not available to us in Europe as well as Feuerlicht’s name as editor. Many of the titles were directed
America (copyright laws are different over there), some are not at preadolescent boys, who responded to such subjects as the
good stories, some are not good titles. Vikings and the Conquistadors. Feuerlicht and her staff were
There usually are reasons for what we do and don’t do — in all determined to show the human cost in those tales of conquest.
of our series. To explain them all would make for too long a let- Because the depiction of gore was forbidden as editorial policy,
ter, but if you’re ever in New York I would be happy to buy you
lunch and tell you more about us.16 other ways of showing misery, visually and textually, were ex-
plored.
Equally revealing of Feuerlicht’s professional character Feuerlicht’s editorship of Classics Illustrated Special Issue
was her insistence on a focused work ethic — and the means No. 141A, The Rough Rider, brought her recognition in the
Congressional Record as a “gifted editor with a passion for ac-
curacy.”19 She also had a passion for her work. While resting
in the hospital after the birth of her son Ira in March 1962,
she called an editorial meeting in her room.20 (When Ira was
born, associate editor Helene Lecar knitted him “a sweater that
read Classics Junior in a reasonable approximation of the right
typeface.”)21
As the sole woman at Gilberton with executive responsi-
bilities, the essential distinction that Feuerlicht enjoyed was
the trust of Bill Kanter. When Gilberton terminated its juvenile
lines in 1962, Kanter assigned her the editorship of This Month,
a short-lived digest intended to replace Curtis’s defunct
Coronet. She had little regard, however, for the team that had
been brought in to run the publication, finding what she saw
as their contempt for their target middlebrow audience to be
professionally reprehensible.
The magazine shut down after six months, and its last
issue was printed but was never put on the stands.22 Feuerlicht
brought distinction to This Month, publishing fiction in English
by her longtime friend Isaac Bashevis Singer. Of the future
Nobel Prize winner, she wrote in a notebook: “I frequently
have lunch with Isaac Bashevis Singer. I bring him news of
this world, he brings me news of the next.”23
Feuerlicht’s departure from Gilberton coincided with the
demise of This Month. When it became evident that the digest
was foundering, she was instructed by the management to dis-
miss her staff. Rather than do so (and despite the fact that she
had professional issues with the magazine personnel), she resigned
as a matter of principle. The employees were subsequently ter-
minated with two weeks’ notice.24 Feuerlicht, meanwhile, moved
on to a new career as an author of acclaimed children’s books
The young editor, around the time of her marriage, August and adult nonfiction. Her research in Yugoslavia while writing
1958 (courtesy Herb Feuerlicht). The Desperate Act, for which she interviewed one of Franz Fer-
200 CLASSICS Illustrated

passionate support for political underdogs. The moral fervor of

an Old Testament prophet properly expressed the highest value
of her Judaism. “Justice, justice shalt thou pursue!” [Deuteron-
omy 16:20] was the imperative that gave her work meaning.25

If there was anything that Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht felt

almost as passionate about as social justice, it was folk-
dancing, particularly of the Balkan variety. She and her hus-
band Herb had met in the early winter of 1958 in a folk-
dancing group, and they pursued their mutual interest over
the decades, making 13 trips to Yugoslavia and other coun-
tries. Roberta collected folk costumes, and the couple made
enduring friendships in the Balkan region.26
A mugging in Barcelona, Spain, in 1982 left the lively
author with a triple fracture of the skull, 13 rib fractures,
damage to the inner ear, and impaired health for the rest of
her life. Two thugs on a motorcycle had grabbed for her
purse as she and her husband crossed a bridge. In charac-
teristic style, Feuerlicht fought back, but she was dragged
some distance face down. Following her limited recovery,
the author continued writing but was no longer able to pur-
sue her first love, folk dancing. By 1990, she had great
difficulty in walking but “kept her sense of humor and re-
This photograph was taken shortly before Feuerlicht’s departure
fused to be treated as crippled.”27 Feuerlicht was hospitalized
from Gilberton in 1962 (courtesy Herb Feuerlicht).
with pneumonia in September 1991 and died of congestive
dinand’s assassins, led Roberta and her husband Herb to a heart failure on 2 October 1991.28
deeper immersion in Balkan folk dancing. Her husband’s assessment of her work for Gilberton is
Helene Lecar eloquently summed up the central thrust seconded by most of those who were associated with her:
of Feuerlicht’s later work, from Justice Crucified to The Fate of “Roberta took a despised medium and elevated it. She insisted
the Jews: on accuracy, decency, and the treatment of characters as human
beings rather than cartoon stereotypes. She succeeded in
For Roberta, who was a non-believer strongly opposed to the
gaining respect for Classics Illustrated from other publishers
constraints of Orthodox Judaism and indifferent to its claims, her
Eastern European Jewish background was culturally significant and the educational community.”29
as a source of bedrock irony and a fatalistic pessimism —“Expect Sadly, when the New York Times ran her obituary, no
nothing, and you won’t be disappointed.” It also underlay her mention was made of her work at 101 Fifth Avenue.30
 C9

Top, left: Norman Saunders, Frankenstein (September 1958, Spring 1962 reprint). Painted cover. Top, right: Unidentified artist,
With Fire and Sword (September 1958). Painted cover. Bottom, left: Leonard B. Cole, Wild Animals I Have Known (September
1959). Painted cover. Bottom, right: Unidentified artist, The Queen’s Necklace (January 1962). Painted cover.
 C10

Left: Gerald McCann, original cover painting (gouache) for The Conspirators, published September 1960 (collection of author). Right: Gerald McCann, original cover
painting (gouache) for Tom Brown’s School Days, published March 1961 (collection of author).
Left: Norman Nodel, original cover painting for The Man Who Laughs, painted 1960, published Spring 1962 (collection of author). Right: Leonard B. Cole, original cover
painting (tempera) for The Octopus, published November 1960 (collection of author).
C11
C12

Top, left: Mort Künstler, original cover painting for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published October 1953 (courtesy Lars Teglbjaerg).
Top, right: George Wilson, original cover painting for Treasure Island, published March 1956 (courtesy Øystein Sørensen). Bottom,
left: Geoffrey Biggs, original cover painting for The Invisible Man, published November 1959 (courtesy Dr. Lawrence Chalif ).
Bottom, right: Norman Nodel, original cover painting for Faust, published August 1962 (courtesy Lars Teglbjaerg).
 C13

Top, left: Henry C. Kiefer, Shelter Through the Ages (Ruberoid Co. giveaway, 1951). Painted cover. Top, right: Peter Costanza,
Andy’s Atomic Adventures (September 1953). Line-drawing cover. Bottom, left: George Wilson, The Story of America (June 1956).
Painted cover. Bottom, right: Gray Morrow, The Illustrated Story of Magic (September 1960). Painted cover.
C14

Top, left: Unidentified artist, Crime e Castigo [Crime and Punishment] (Brazil, April 1953). Painted cover. Top, right: Unidentified
artist, The Deerslayer (Great Britain, 1959; Australian reprint). Painted cover. Bottom, left: Unidentified artist, De Gebroeders
Durie [The Master of Ballantrae] (Netherlands, n.d.). Painted cover. Bottom, right: Unidentified artist, The Aeneid (Greece, n.d.).
Painted cover.
Left: Bill Sienkiewicz, Moby Dick (February 1990). Interior page 39. Right: Peter Kuper, The Jungle (June 1991). Interior page 34.
C15
C16

Top, left: Colin Mayne, The Princess Who Saw Everything (Canada, August 2009). Painted cover (gouache). Top, right: Colin
Mayne, Nicholas Nickleby (Canada, October 2010). Painted cover (gouache). Bottom, left: Michel Plessix, The Wind in the Willows
(January 2008). Painted cover (aquarelle). Bottom, right: Rebecca Guay, Wuthering Heights (November 1997). Painted cover.
 XIX

High Tide and Greenbacks:

The Late Fifties
B y 1956, Roberta Strauss’s influence in the Gilberton ed-
itorial office was unquestioned. With the encourage-
ment of both Albert and William Kanter, the hard-working
assistant was on her way to an editorship. Her championing
of better adaptations, better artwork, and revisions of early
numbers coincided with and were partly responsible for the
boom years that Classics Illustrated enjoyed in the late 1950s.
This was the period in which former EC artists such
as Joe Orlando and George Evans made their contributions
to Classics Illustrated. Their brand of realism, in its
Gilberton house-style standardization, telegraphed the mes-
sage that the work adapted possessed something of intrinsic
merit. These artists were joined by other first-rate
illustrators who found refuge at 101 Fifth Avenue at a time
when it wasn’t always profitable to draw comic books.
Gilberton didn’t exactly pay well by industry standards, but
working for Classics meant canonical-quality subject matter
and substantial projects at a time when many other comics
publishers were in the post–Golden Age, pre–Spider-Man
decline.

MIKE SEKOWSKY AND FRANK GIACOIA

In the spring of 1956, the first redrawn and newly
adapted Classics editions since 1953’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde appeared. Roberta Strauss, whose influence vastly ex-
ceeded her still unacknowledged editorial status, selected
the first two titles with an eye toward symbolism: Herman
Melville’s Moby Dick and Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huck-
leberry Finn, mid-century rivals for designation as the Great
American Novel.
While the reliable Norman Nodel landed the tragic
Moby Dick, the supposedly lighter Huckleberry Finn, No.
19 (revised edition March 1956), went to the fast-working Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia, Huckleberry Finn (March 1956).
penciler Mike Sekowsky (d. 1989), who had supplied art Roberta Strauss insisted on investing Jim with humanity, and the artists
complied.

201
202 CLASSICS Illustrated

for Fiction House, Lev Gleason, and other publishers and who the pair seemed an ideal team for a Classics Illustrated project.
later was celebrated for his contributions to the Justice League They had recently displayed a decidedly comic bent in the
of America issues in the DC series The Brave and the Bold.1 Classics Illustrated Junior treatments of The Golden Goose, No.
Sekowsky also later illustrated The Rebel (1960–1961) for Dell. 518 (September 1955), Paul Bunyan, No. 519 (October 1955),
Assisting on the Twain title was the respected inker Frank Gi- John Ruskin’s King of the Golden River, No. 521 (December
acoia (1925–1989), an Italian-born artist best known for his 1955), and The Gallant Tailor, No. 523 (February 1956). Se-
DC collaborations (Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space) with kowsky had produced painted covers for The King of the Golden
Carmine Infantino and his work on Batman, Flash, and Green River and The Gallant Tailor; he would later supply another one,
Lantern.2 for The Magic Fountain, No. 533 (December 1956), on which
At the time, Sekowsky and Giacoia were penciling and he again collaborated with Giacoia on the interior art. Subse-
inking a Sherlock Holmes comic-strip serial (1954–1956), and quently, Sekowsky joined forces with inker Mike Peppe for
The Wizard of Oz, No. 535 (February 1957), and
Silly Willy, No. 557 (December 1958).3
The Twain adaptation restored the first person
to Huck’s narrative, and Sekowsky’s brisk, humor-
ous style served the story especially well in the por-
tions concerning the doings of the rascally Duke
and King. But Roberta Strauss’s primary concern
was to see that the humanity of Jim, Huck’s African-
American companion and mentor, was fully ac-
knowledged in the character’s portrayal.4 Sekowsky
and Giacoia complied with the editor’s instructions;
they accorded the runaway slave a measure of
dignity and some complexity, treating him not as a
comic foil but as a mature mentor. On a single page,
Jim gives Huck, who has played an irresponsible
practical joke on his friend, a moral education in
brief; Sekowsky and Giacoia reveal a range of emo-
tions in Jim’s features, from outraged disbelief
through profound disappointment to loving for-
giveness.

JACK SPARLING
Long associated with the Jacquet shop, Jack
Sparling (1916–1997) provided new illustrations for
two popular early Classics titles, Robin Hood, No. 7
(revised edition January 1957), and Mark Twain’s A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, No. 24
(revised edition September 1957). A native of Win-
nipeg, Manitoba, the artist grew up in New
Orleans, where he received training at the Arts and
Crafts Club and began his career there as a news-
paper editorial and sports cartoonist for the New
OrleansI tem-Tribune.
After moving to Washington, D.C., in 1940,
Sparling studied at the Corcoran School of Art (now
the Corcoran College of Art and Design). He drew
Jack Sparling, Robin Hood ( January 1957). Robin takes a wide- angle syndicated comic strips, including Hap Hopper,
plunge. Washington Correspondent (1941–1943) and Claire
 XIX. HIGH TIDE AND GREENBACKS 203

Voyant (1943–1948). Sparling also

produced illustrations for the educa-
tional True Comics and the rather less
educational Nyoka, The Jungle Girl.
Later, he worked for DC (Green
Lantern), Marvel (X-Men), and Dell
(Mission Impossible). In 1982, he re-
turned to newspaper strips with Buck
Rogers in the 25th Century.5
Ron Goulart has noted of Spar-
ling that his best work was charac-
terized by a “realistic brush style” and
“odd and unusual angle shots.”6 These
qualities are in evidence in Sparling’s
two Gilberton titles, where, in Robin
Hood, the quarterstaff contest between
Robin Hood and Little John culmi-
nates in Robin’s wide-panel dunking
at the hands of his stronger rival and
where, in A Connecticut Yankee, the
artist takes the viewer inside Hank’s
helmet for a close-up encounter with
a fly. A hearty joyfulness permeates
both of Sparling’s medieval romps for
Classics Illustrated.

SAM CITRON (OR

CHARLES SULTAN)
One of the major early titles to
be revamped in 1957 was Daniel
Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, No. 10. The
much improved adaptation appeared
around September of that year. Only
a tentative identification of the artist
has been made. Comics authority
Hames Ware suggests the possibility
that look-alike artists Sam Citron
and Charles Sultan, brother-in-law
of the legendary Lou Fine, may have
drawn the book in tandem or, per-
haps, singly. Both men illustrated ro-
mance comics as a team or individ-
ually in the 1950s, and both favored Jack Sparling, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (September 1957). The Boss
a detailed, realistic style.7 encounters the “medieval grace of iron clothing” (apologies to Edwin Arlington Robinson).
Whether Citron or Sultan or
both were responsible for the book, the result was a consid- ized, almost anthropological manner. Crusoe himself evolves
erable improvement over Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg’s 1943 from callow youth to experienced middle age in a most credible
version. In the 1957 edition, Defoe’s narrative was closely fol- manner. Attention is given not only to action sequences but also
lowed, and the “savages” were presented in a less sensational- to the title character’s transformation of his domain through
204 CLASSICS Illustrated

the introduction of agriculture. The

redrawn Crusoe went through nine
printings before the series ceased
publication in 1971.

STAN CAMPBELL
Castle Dangerous, No. 141 (No-
vember 1957), an account of an early
14th-century siege of an English-held
Scottish stronghold, was the last of
Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels and
the last adapted for Classics Illus-
trated. An inferior example of the
author’s fiction, in which his ima-
ginative powers frequently appeared
to fail him, the book nevertheless
translated exceptionally well into the
stripped-down comics medium, dem-
onstrating once again the principle
that lesser works had less to lose in
45-page adaptations.
Stan Campbell, a Charlton art-
ist, drew and inked Castle Dangerous.
His superbly rendered character stud-
ies of the disguised heroine, her min-
strel protector, and the “Black Doug-
las,” as well as his carefully wrought
depictions of armor, mail, and arms,
made this one of the handsomest of
the later Classics titles. The detailed
drawings bear witness both to the
artist’s skills at recreating a historical
era and to Roberta Strauss Feuer-
licht’s emphasis on period research.
Campbell also illustrated two
Juniors—The Donkey’s Tale, No. 542
(September 1957), and The Singing
Donkey, No. 550 (May 1958)—which
featured delightfully cartoonish char-
acter sketches of the “Bremen Town
Musicians” and the terrified robbers,
along with sections of two Classics Il-
lustrated Special Issues, Royal Cana-
dian Mounted Police, No. 150A ( June
1959), and The War Between the States,
No. 162A ( June 1961), and several
World Around Us issues, including the
Sam Citron and/or Charles Sultan, Robinson Crusoe (September 1957). The shipwrecked
hero begins to take charge of his situation on this page of original art (collection of the cover and the interior art for Flight,
author). No. W8 (April 1959), and interior art
 XIX. HIGH TIDE AND GREENBACKS 205

Left: Stan Campbell, Castle Dangerous (November 1957). A handsomely drawn exercise in medievalism, with traces of Batman in
the “Black Douglas.” Right: Ken Battefield, The Man in the Iron Mask (January 1958). Aramis ensnares Phillipe, the man who
would be king. Note the ominous shadow in the first panel and the imposing angle in the second.

for Marines, No. W11 (July 1959), and Famous Teens, No. W33 the first Classic Comic, Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, supply-
(May 1961). ing panels here and there. He was best-known for his work in
Black Terror and other comic-book series published by Ned
Pines.
KEN BATTEFIELD Although generally considered an illustrator of modest
abilities who churned out pages to be completed by the likes
The third part of the d’Artagnan trilogy by Alexandre of Graham Ingels and Rafael Astarita, Battefield surpassed him-
Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask, No. 54, had been missing self in The Man in the Iron Mask, spurred, perhaps in part, by
from the Classics reorder list since 1955. Baby boomers who Roberta Strauss’s exacting eye. A few characters, including the
expected solid linework and postwar realism in their comics central schemer Aramis and his accomplice Porthos, are awk-
apparently found it difficult to respond to August M. Froeh- wardly drawn. But the mid-17th-century costuming and set-
lich’s old-fashioned impressionism. Curiously enough, the re- tings are faithfully reproduced, the young Louis XIV and his
vision of Dumas’s tale of royal intrigue, issued in January 1958, fictional twin actually resemble the historical Louis XIV, and
is believed to have been assigned to an artist whose arrival at the story’s claustrophobic atmosphere of intrigue is effectively
Gilberton had predated that of Froehlich’s by six years. Ken conveyed in crowded panels, contorted forms, and striking
Battefield (d. 1967) had assisted Malcolm Kildale in 1941 with perspectives.
206 CLASSICS Illustrated

JOHN
TARTAGLIONE
A romance-comics
artist for Atlas (Marvel),
John Tartaglione (1921–
2003) might not have
seemed a logical choice
as illustrator of two red-
blooded boys’ books. Still,
his interiors for G.A.
Henty’s Won By the Sword,
No. 151 ( July 1959), and
the revision of Thomas
Hughes’s Tom Brown’s
School Days, No. 45 (March 1961), were lively exer-
cises, and the latter title in particular was an unqual-
ified success.
With their open-featured, plucky young heroes
and delicate linework, Tartaglione’s Classics exhibited
an appealing playfulness. Won By the Sword follows
the fortunes of young Hector Campbell in the
Thirty Years War and is rendered as an extended
adolescent daydream, the operative mode of most
Henty novels. The artist depicts violence in so styl-
ized a manner that even being pinned beneath a
horse on a battlefield seems of little consequence to
the indomitable principal character. (In contrast,
Norman Nodel’s illustrations for Henty’s Lion of the
North, No. 155, another story about a Scottish boy’s
adventures in the same conflict, present a darker,
less romantic view of the 17th-centuryb loodbath.)
Tom Brown’s School Days is Tartaglione’s Gilber-
ton masterpiece — a handsomely drawn, beautifully
inked depiction of life at Dr. Arnold’s Rugby and
the ongoing battle of wills between Brown, his friend
East, and the archetypal bully Flashman. (The re-
vised Classics Illustrated edition earned a footnote in
the history of popular culture for its role in preparing
baby boomers for the arrival of George Macdonald
Fraser’s “Flashman” series of witty historical novels
less than a decade later.)

Top: John Tartaglione, Won By the Sword (July 1959).

Compare with Norman Nodel’s much darker middle
panel on the page from The Lion of the North,
another G.A. Henty story set during the Thirty Years’
War. Bottom: John Tartaglione, Tom Brown’s School
Days (March 1961). Brown and East (prototypes of
Potter and Weasley) confront the bully Flashman
(ancestor of Malfoy). Note the heavily scored
linework in the top and bottom panels.
 XIX. HIGH TIDE AND GREENBACKS 207

Tartaglione’s distinctive hatch marks lend an air of an- racehorse legend Man o’ War, and he drew them obsessively
tiquity to Al Sundel’s adaptation, creating a visual and even for a couple of years. He also had a passion for dogs.14
physical texture8 for this Victorian precursor of the Harry Although Cole was an extraordinarily versatile artist, an-
Potter novels. All of the characters are presented in such life- imals remained his specialty, and his best work featured them
like, natural poses that the panels seem invested with a nearly prominently: the painted cover and interior art for Ernest
cinematic verisimilitude. The book ranks among the most per- Thompson Seton’s Wild Animals I Have Known, No. 152 (Sep-
fectly achieved issues in the Classics Illustrated catalogue. tember 1959); the painted cover for Ernest Thompson Seton’s
Most of Tartaglione’s output for Gilberton appeared in Lives of the Hunted, No. 157 ( July 1960); the painted cover for
three Special Issues and 19 World Around Us editions. An eight- Frank Norris’s The Octopus, No. 159 (November 1960) (see
page chapter on John Hunt Morgan’s Kentucky
raid in The War Between the States, a 1961 Special
Issue, was among his more memorable contri-
butions. Tartaglione later illustrated Marvel bi-
ographies of Pope John Paul II (1982) and
Mother Teresa (1984) and inked Marie Severin’s
Dragonslayer series.

LEONARD B. COLE
Leonard Brandt Cole (1918–1995) arrived
at Gilberton after a stint at St. John Publishing
and served as art director from November 1958
to January 1961, succeeding the retired Alex A.
Blum. Cole’s friend Norman Nodel told him
about the opening, and the already well-
respected artist phoned executive editor Meyer
A. Kaplan, who immediately hired him.9
Described by scriptwriter Al Sundel as a
man “of Falstaffian girth,”10 the ebullient, ami-
able Cole had illustrated Bible stories and had
been the editor of Star Comics, where he inau-
gurated School-Day Romances (subsequently re-
named Popular Teenagers).11 At Gilberton, he
presided over the assembly of a stable of talented
artists driven to Kanter’s lower-paying lines by
the implosion of Atlas and other comics pub-
lishers. McCann, Tartaglione, Norman Saun-
ders, Jack Kirby, and other Cole-era freelancers
filled the quotas for the four series in produc-
tion. In an interview toward the end of his life,
Cole confessed that he had found it difficult to
keep track of the multitude of editions in print
and subject to revision.12
The art director’s first Gilberton assign-
ment had been a painted cover and a four-page
section in an early World Around Us issue,
Horses, No. 3 (November 1958), the only
Classics-related piece he signed, and the only
work he kept for himself.13 As a teenager, Cole Leonard B. Cole, “The Pacing Mustang” in Wild Animals I Have Known (Sep-
became infatuated with horses after seeing the tember 1959). The artist’s love of horses is revealed in this tribute to a free spirit.
208 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Leonard B. Cole, Lives of the Hunted (July 1960). The artist’s second Ernest Thompson Seton cover. Right: Leonard B. Cole,
Black Beauty (U.S. edition, Fall 1960; Australian edition with different sky and lettering, 1961). The artist’s last work for Gilberton;
the subject, appropriately, was a horse.

color section); and the painted cover and partial interior art progress, and Norman Nodel and Stephen L. Addeo (who had
for the late 1960 reissue of Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, No. 60. played a similar role in The Last of the Mohicans) stepped in
The cover, showing the horse galloping through a field, is a to complete the revision. Years later, Cole insisted that he had
magnificent expression of the artist’s love for the subject and walked away from Gilberton strictly as a matter of money and
an indelible icon. the changing state of the comics business.16
Part of Cole’s editorial duties involved supplying painted The year 1961 was, in fact, unkind to Albert Kanter’s en-
covers for the Classics Illustrated Junior series, and he did so terprise, with external pressures applied by the postal
for every issue from The Magic Dish, No. 558 (February 1959), authorities and the distribution network. Internally, a war of
to The Happy Hedgehog, No. 568 (October 1960). The artist wills had been intensifying between two factions: the Old
also produced new covers for various Classics Illustrated reissues, Guard, represented by longtime editor Meyer Kaplan and his
including Green Mansions, No. 90 (second painted cover, Jan- chosen art director L.B. Cole, and the Young Turks,
uary 1959), The Moonstone, No. 30 (painted cover, March comprising Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, scriptwriter Alfred Sun-
1960), and Julius Caesar, No. 68 (painted cover, May 1960). del, and researcher Helene Lecar. Feuerlicht, Sundel, and Lecar
These were among his best efforts. shared a vision of the future direction of the publications that
Unfortunately, questions concerning Cole’s handling of gave greater emphasis to the educational content and, in view
freelancer accounts, including alleged self-dealing contrary to of Gilberton’s expanding world market, greater prominence
the work-for-hire doctrine, reputedly led to his abrupt depar- to Central and Eastern European, Latin American, and Asian
ture from Gilberton.15 The axe fell when Black Beauty was in history and literature. Once Feuerlicht gained Albert and
 XIX. HIGH TIDE AND GREENBACKS 209

in the late Fifties. He deserves to be remembered for his pos-

itive contributions — and all those wonderful animal cov-
ers.”17

NORMAN B. SAUNDERS
He never drew a book for Classics Illustrated, but Norman
B. Saunders (1907–1989) painted four of the most memorable
covers of the 1950s —A Journey to the Center of the Earth, No.
138 (May 1957), The Crisis, No. 145 ( July 1958), Frankenstein,
No. 26 (September 1958), and The Buccaneer, No. 148
( January 1959). Two of these, Journey and Frankenstein, have
become among the most iconic of Classics covers.
For the Jules Verne title, Saunders created what is
certainly one of the most striking and instantly identifiable
covers in the history of the publication. His painting, with its

Leonard B. Cole, The Moonstone (March 1960). One of the more

exotic Classics Illustrated covers.

William Kanter’s confidence, the days of Kaplan and Cole were

undoubtedly numbered, and whatever the precipitating inci-
dent might have been, the exit of the two friends and allies
was probably inevitable.
Cole went on to work as art director for Dell Comics,
which would soon face major internal changes of its own. And
at 101 Fifth Avenue, under the less-is-more influence of the
new Gilberton art director, Sidney Miller, Classics Illustrated
never quite regained its artistic bearings, while the quality of
the Junior line, which Cole had elevated, took a nosedive. Vet-
erans such as Norman Nodel, George Evans, and Gray Morrow
continued to produce outstanding work for Al Sundel’s
expertly crafted scripts, but the fallen art director’s successor
was unable to enlist new recruits of comparable talent.
Classics collector and researcher John Haufe, who be-
friended Cole, regards him as “in some ways a tragic figure.” Norman B. Saunders, The Crisis (July 1958). The artist offers a pre-
Yet, he maintains, the artist “brought so much to [Gilberton] view of his later Civil War trading-card art.
210 CLASSICS Illustrated

vivid orange background, depicts the mortal struggle between (September 1957). Later, Wilson worked on Gold Key comics
an Ichthyosaurus and a Plesiosaurus in the underground sea. covers for such series as Space Family Robinson, Dark Shadows,
The Frankenstein cover, a study in shades of icy gray and blue, Korak, Twilight Zone, and Outer Limits.
shows the monster pursued by his creator in a frozen waste- One of Roea’s first two contributions to a Gilberton pub-
land. lication was the dynamic yellow-background cover for a May
Foreshadowing the artist’s venture a couple of years later 1959 World Around Us issue devoted to the army. After pro-
into the realm of Civil War illustrations, the cover painting viding the simultaneously published cover for The Virginian,
for The Crisis was notable for the intensity of the image, which which was given a dark-green cast, the artist painted striking
portrays the moment of death in battle for a Union soldier. studies dominated by darker colors for reissued editions of
The painted cover for The Buccaneer shows Jean Lafitte (or, Twenty Years After, No. 41 (May 1960), and The Woman in
more precisely, a costumed Yul Brynner), against a vivid red White, No. 61 (May 1960). The artist employed sharp contrasts
backdrop, primed for swashbuckling. to good effect on the Wilkie Collins title.
A veteran pulp cover artist, Saunders also produced work Like Roea, the English-born Biggs started with a World
for paperbacks and other comics. In 1961, Topps hired
him to paint a series of Civil War trading cards notable
for their gory details of soldiers being impaled on bay-
onets or blown apart by cannon. Saunders stayed with
Topps until his retirement in 1981, producing a Batman
set in 1966 after achieving pop-culture apotheosis in
1962 with the card series Mars Attacks.18

GEORGE WILSON, DOUG ROEA ,

AND GEOFFREY BIGGS

Three outstanding artists who provided painted

covers for Classics Illustrated in an era otherwise dom-
inated by Gerald McCann and L.B. Cole were George
Wilson, Doug Roea, and Geoffrey Biggs (1908–1971).
Wilson’s banner year was 1956, in which he painted one
of the most iconic of Classics covers for issue No. 133,
The Time Machine. Both Roea and Biggs produced their
most evocative works for the series in 1959 — Roea’s
cover for The Virginian, No. 150, showing a pair of
gunmen facing each other on a darkened Western street,
and Biggs’s cover for The Invisible Man, No. 153, de-
picting the title character racing down a London street
with eyeglasses resting on his unseen face.
George Wilson’s involvement in the comics world
was strictly as a cover artist. His first Gilberton project
was the striking cover painting for The Prince and the
Pauper, No. 29 (September 1955). In March 1956 he
produced one of the best-known covers in the history
of the series for the refurbished Treasure Island, No. 64,
showing Long John leading Jim Hawkins on the ill-
fated hunt for Flint’s gold. (See color section.) A few
months later Wilson joined the ranks of pop-culture
immortals with his atomic-era cover painting for The
Time Machine, No. 133 ( July 1956). (See color section.)
A whimsical depiction of Frank Buck feeding an ele- George Wilson, The Prince and the Pauper (September 1955). A cover
phant added to the appeal of On Jungle Trails, No. 140 that amounted to a plot “spoiler.”
 XIX. HIGH TIDE AND GREENBACKS 211

Left: Doug Roea, The Woman in White (1960). The evocative original cover painting, which alluded to and surpassed the line-
drawing cover it replaced (collection of Øystein Sørensen). Right: Geoffrey Biggs, Wuthering Heights (May 1960). A cover that
quickly became iconic.

Around Us cover, Prehistoric Animals, No. W15 (November Central School of Art, where he met his wife, model Anna
1959). Following his success with The Invisible Man during Wagner. His realistic action scenes were well-suited to Classics
the same month, the artist depicted Cathy and Heathcliff on Illustrated and such publications as Sports Afield, Boys’ Life, and
the moors under a stunning black sky for the reissued the Saturday Evening Post. On occasion, he used his wife and
Wuthering Heights (May 1960). The artist’s dramatic brush daughter Stephanie as models. The artist maintained studios
strokes on the clouds give emphasis to the emotional turmoil at his home in Palatine Bridge, upstate New York, and in New
of the ill-fated lovers. A pair of determined Union infantrymen York City, as well, at 47th Street and Lexington Avenue. Biggs
were the focal point for Biggs’s last Gilberton cover, The War died in January 1971, at the age of sixty-two.21
Between the States, No. 162A ( June 1961).
Biggs stood at an imposing six feet, three or four inches,
with, as his daughter Stephanie Biggs wrote, “a swimmers CLASSICS RECORDED
build, broad shoulders, slim hips, long legs, high cheekbones,
white hair, black moustache, and brown eyes.”19 Born near In the fall of 1958, just in time to take advantage of the
London, England, on 6 April 1908, he emigrated with his Christmas market, Gilberton partnered with M-G-M Records’
family to the United States when he was about ten. (A brother, budget Lion label to release a 12-inch long-playing record con-
Stephen Biggs, became the art editor of Holiday magazine.)20 taining 12 adapted Classics Illustrated Junior titles read by
An admirer of N.C. Wyeth, Biggs studied at the Grand veteran radio and television game-show and variety-show host
212 CLASSICS Illustrated

Robert Q. Lewis. Titled The Wonderful World of Fairy

Tales, the album featured Pinocchio, The Pied Piper, and
The Wizard of Oz, among other Junior issues. (See illus-
tration in Chapter XXIV.) Lewis, who had scored a minor
novelty hit in 1951 with “Where’s-A Your House”22 (a
comeback to Rosemary Clooney’s chart-topping “Come
On-A My House”), also sang songs written by Hank
Sylvern for the record. (The disc was reissued with a dif-
ferent cover in the early 1970s.)
For Christmas 1959, Gilberton and M-G-M joined
forces again for another Lion LP, Space Stories and Sounds,
a compilation containing The First Men in the Moon, A
Journey to the Center of the Earth, The War of the Worlds,
and The Time Machine. The collection was narrated by
sportscaster and occasional film actor Bill Stern. A third
album, Western Playhouse: Songs and Stories of the Great
Wild West, was released for the holiday season in 1960. It
featured adaptations by Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht from
Wild Bill Hickok, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and The
Adventures of Kit Carson, as well as sections on Jim Bowie,
Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson from Blazing the Trails
West and Men, Guns and Cattle. Narrated by Bob Wilson
with Western music arranged by composer and music
critic Bill Simon, the record included such songs as “Old
Chisholm Trail,” “Goodbye, Old Paint,” and “Red River
Valley.”
Six years later, in 1966, Gilberton and Golden Rec-
ords issued four LPs in a Classics Story Teller series: Black
Beauty, The Call of the Wild, Mutiny on the Bounty, and
The Time Machine. In each case, the record was devoted
to a dramatization of a single Classics Illustrated title; a
copy of the comic book in question (absent number or price
in the open-book logo) was included in the sleeve. On the
album cover, the prospective purchaser was invited to “Hear
the Record, Read the Book.” The four 1966 Classics Story
Teller packages, as well as the 1958–1960 records, had high
production values. They demonstrated once again the
Kanter family’s commitment to their product and their
determination to enhance its profile through a variety of
means.

Top: Western Playhouse (Lion, 1960). The rarest of the

Classics Illustrated recordings that were released from 1958
to 1966. Bottom: Classics Story Teller: The Time Machine
(Golden Records, 1966). Recorded versions of certain Clas-
sics Illustrated titles were available in the Classics Story
Teller series.
 XX

Gerald McCann:
The Colors of the Sky
C onsidered one of the top five “regulars” among
the Classics freelancers of the later years,1 Gerald
McCann (b. 1916) produced some of the handsomest
painted covers in the entire run of the series. His only
rival in terms of quality was L.B. Cole. As for quantity,
McCann outpaced everyone: he supplied painted
covers or interior artwork for more than forty Classics
Illustrated, Special Issues, and World Around Us titles.
Best known as an illustrator of juvenile books,
the artist’s distinctive style, with its elongated, dry-
brushed figures, graced many works of the period, such
as Edesse Peery Smith’s award-winning Pokes of Gold
(1958), Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft’s We Were There
at the Opening of the Erie Canal (1958), and Anne
Colver’s Florence Nightingale: War Nurse (1961). Mc-
Cann also illustrated other comic books, such as the
Dell Movie Classic editions of Morgan the Pirate (No.
1227, September 1961) and El Cid (No. 1259, De-
cember 1961). Soon after Gilberton shut down its
American operations in 1962, he turned his attention
to Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and Tom Sawyer
Detective for Grosset and Dunlap’s Companion Library
series. In later years, he became celebrated in the art
world for his paintings on Western themes.
McCann was remembered by George Evans as a
“witty man” who worked well with the editorial staff
and never missed a deadline. Unlike Evans, he had
more contacts with the business end of 101 Fifth Av-
enue, about which he remarked: “If you ever have to
deal with those people in management, you’ll need
embalming fluid.”2

Gerald McCann, Off on a Comet (March 1959). The

artist’s dry-brush style made his illustrations the most
readily recognizable in the Gilberton publications of
the late 1950s and early 1960s.

213
214 CLASSICS Illustrated

The artist’s background was in pulp-fiction illustration, characters, such as Hector Servadac in Off on a Comet and the
and he brought to the Gilberton publications the dry-brush Captain in The Conspirators, appear to inhabit a vigorous mid-
and split-brush techniques associated with the genre. dle age.
McCann’s panels are painterly, marked by a broad-stroked McCann provided cover paintings for three Classics in
linework that suggests rather than details; his backgrounds and 1958: Abraham Lincoln (attributed but unsigned, January 1958),
costumes are generally sketchy, while the primary figurative The First Men in the Moon (attributed but unsigned, May 1958)
emphasis is upon plasticity of expression and gesture. Perhaps and Ben-Hur (November 1958). At year’s end the artist produced
because the artist was already in his forties when he began his a Special Issue cover painting for Crossing the Rockies (December
association with Gilberton, some of his most vividly realized 1958). In late 1958 and early 1959, he was also occupied with
interior sections of Horses, Space, and The FBI for
the newly inaugurated World Around Us series.
The artist’s first complete book for Gilber-
ton was Jules Verne’s Off on a Comet, No. 149
(March 1959). Originally titled Hector Servadac,
the novel was one of the French author’s lesser-
known “Extraordinary Voyages.” The comic-book
version, however, was destined to become a Clas-
sics Illustrated icon through reproduction of the
cover (actually, a line-drawing mock-up) on re-
order lists from 1959 to 1970. Verne’s whimsical
scientific fantasy of two rivals whose duel is post-
poned when they and other inhabitants of the
Mediterranean rim are swept into space is ren-
dered by the artist with visual economy and wit.
During the rest of 1959, McCann was occu-
pied with cover paintings for two more “Western”
Special Issues, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (June
1959) and Men, Guns and Cattle (December 1959),
and with illustrating portions of every World
Around Us edition that appeared on a monthly
basis during the year. The artist’s historical eye
served him well in such issues as Pirates, No. W7
(March 1959), The French Revolution, No. W14
(October 1959), and The Crusades, No. W16
(December 1959), for which he painted one of the
series’ most striking covers. McCann’s ability to
capture fluid movement — whether of horses or
humans — served him well during his time with
Gilberton and during his later career devoted to
the exploration of Western subject matter.
The following year brought two beautifully
rendered Classics Illustrated titles, for which the
artist provided both cover paintings and interior
art: Francis Parkman’s The Conspiracy of Pontiac,
No. 154 ( January 1960), and Alexandre Dumas’s
The Conspirators, No. 158 (September 1960),
both seamlessly adapted by Al Sundel. McCann’s
illustrations bring the two relatively obscure
works vibrantly to life. In particular, the artist’s
Gerald McCann, The Conspirators (September 1960). A Dumas title for which scenes of duels, chases, and dynastic intrigue in
the artist produced both the cover painting and the interior art. The Conspirators— supported by Helene Lecar’s
 XX. GERALD MCCANN 215

Left: Gerald McCann, The Conspiracy of Pontiac (January 1960). Note the background map that serves as the sky. Right: Gerald
McCann, The Lion of the North, original cover painting (March 1960). The sky in this original painting is pitch-black; it was
changed in the published version to dark blue (collection of Øystein Sørensen).

early-18th-century costume research — are filled with period false glory and a dramatic foreshadowing of the Swedish
flourishes and flavor. monarch’s fate.
The painted covers McCann produced are among the Perhaps the most consistently striking aspect of McCann’s
most compelling of Gilberton’s later years. Pontiac is a cover paintings is his dramatic use of color in his skies. Tom
strikingly textured composition, with its finely observed French Brown’s School Days (painting completed 14 December 1960,
and Indian foreground figures and a background map filling see color section) shows rugby players competing against a
the sky. The original gouache cover for The Conspirators (com- bright red backdrop. The frenetic action is paused just as the
pleted 16 March 1960, see color section), contrasts frenzied stalwart young hero is reaching for the ball. Where the red in
movement — horses, carriage wheels, pistol fire, billowing the Tom Brown painting heightens the viewer’s sense of the
cloak — with minutely observed costume details and a domi- spirited contest on the playing field, an altogether different
nating night sky of varying shades of deep blue. mood is established with another red-dominated background
For another cover from that year, The Lion of the North, on the cover of Typee. There, the blood-red sky and blue-gray
No. 155 (March 1960), the artist produced a dark scene of clouds intensify a life-or-death struggle with cannibals.
Gustavus Adolphus directing cannon fire. Despite the heroic A Revolutionary War naval battle is the subject of Mc-
posture of the king on horseback, the painting, with its Cann’s cover painting for The Pilot; the artist conveys the chaos
midnight-blue sky (changed from stark black in the original of the close-range combat through the shipboard fires, reflected
cover painting) and fallen soldier, seems a commentary on in the water, and the teal smoke that rises toward a violet-red
216 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Gerald McCann, Typee (March 1960). The clash of cultures beneath a blood-red sky. Right: Gerald McCann, The Food of
the Gods (January 1961). An instantly iconic cover.

sky. The colors always serve the emotional content of the paint- painter barely at home in the comics medium. Unlike his pred-
ings, and the amount of space devoted to the sky in each one ecessor, however, he was often able to leave pencil and ink be-
reminds the viewer of a universal context within which the hind on assignments. Between 1960 and 1962, McCann made
finite human action occurs. his greatest contribution to Classics Illustrated with the covers
The cover for The Food of the Gods ( January 1961), H.G. he painted for The Conspiracy of Pontiac, The Conspirators, The
Wells’s satirical scientific parable, was perhaps the most de- Lion of the North, Typee, The Man Without a Country, The
lightful of the paintings that McCann produced for Gilberton. Pilot, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Food of the Gods, Les
In the foreground is an overgrown chicken holding a boy in Miserables, Tom Brown’s School Days, and Pudd’nhead Wilson,
its beak. This time the sky is an ordinary blue; the artist’s de- as well as those he produced for Special Issues and The World
cision to keep the background “normal” serves to emphasize Around Us. If covers establish a newsstand identity, then Gerald
further the strangeness of the scene presented. Adding clouds McCann was as much the embodiment of Gilberton publica-
and darkening the sky, the editors of a later German Illustrierte tions in the early 1960s as Norman Nodel or, earlier, Henry
Klassiker edition (Die Riesen Kommen) made the child-dangling C. Kiefer and Alex A. Blum. With the delicate sureness of his
chicken appear less absurd and more ominous. brush, he elevated the Classics Illustrated cover painting to an-
Like Louis Zansky before him, McCann was obviously a other realm altogether.
 XXI

Gray Morrow:
“Real People and Real Events”
O ne of the Gilberton Company’s greatest finds, Gray
Morrow (1934–2001) signed on through the good of-
fices of a friend, Classics Illustrated contributor Angelo Tor-
res:
I was recently discharged from the army after serving in Korea
’56–’58. The comics publishing industry was in a kind of dol-
drums. My friend Angelo Torres took me around to a couple
of his clients, one being “Classics,” and I was given a script.
One thing led to another and I was soon working on a regular
basis.1
Scriptwriter Sundel recalled the artist as one who “typically
wore a tan belted raincoat” and was “on the quiet side, slim. He
may have been married but he always looked dashingly single.
He was younger than Nodel and Evans, his only peers among
the best of our comic-strip artists. He simply had great natural
talent.”2
Of his Gilberton days, Morrow recalled that
the page rate wasn’t much for the accuracy and authenticity
they expected, but it was a challenge to “do it right.” Roberta
and Len Cole were demanding but genial editors. One job I
do remember ... something about whaling [for World Around
Us issue No. W28, Whaling (December 1960)] got me in
dutch with Roberta. My research indicated that many of the
whalers were black — so that’s what I drew. She had a fit and
insisted they all be redrawn to “avoid controversy.” Also, I
must’ve been one of the first to draw in comics men with hairy
chests and nipples. In those days characters in comics didn’t
sport such indications of their genders. Women may’ve had
torpedo-shaped breasts but lacked nipples and never wore a
navel.3
“The Long Voyage,” the chapter for Whaling that caused such
a problem for the artist with editor Feuerlicht, retained a re-
spectable number of African-American whalemen and proved

Gray Morrow, “The Long Voyage” in The Illustrated Story of

Whaling (December 1960). Aiming for historical authenticity,
the artist included African-American whalers in his World
Around Us chapter.

217
 XXI. GRAY MORROW 219

to be one of the most outstanding works of the

artist’s tenure with Gilberton.
Morrow’s first pages for the publisher had ap-
peared in another World Around Us issue, No. W15,
Prehistoric Animals (November 1959), for which he
drew such creatures as the dimetrodon and ptero-
dactyl and recreated the drama of early 19th-century
fossil discoveries. He soon became a regular con-
tributor to the monthly educational series, providing
illustrations for 13 issues, including the painted cover
and interior art for Magic, No. W25 (September
1960), and sections in Great Scientists, No. W18
(February 1960). Others he worked on were The
Jungle, No. W19 (March 1960); American Presidents,
No. W21 (May 1960); Boating, No. W22 ( June
1960); Great Explorers, No. W23 (July 1960); Ghosts,
No. W24 (August 1960); The Civil War, No. W26
(October 1960); High Adventure, No. W27 (No-
vember 1960); For Gold and Glory, No. W32 (April
1961); and Famous Teens, No. W33 (May 1961).
The artist was also responsible for the “Seven
for Space” chapter devoted to the Project Mercury
astronauts in the timely Rockets, Jets and Missiles,
Special Issue No. 159A (December 1960). His draw-
ings provided a cross-section view of the space cap-
sule, offered individual portraits of the first astro-
nauts, and followed “their difficult training
program” from the centrifuge to zero-gravity flights.
“One will be chosen to orbit the earth,” announced
the text of the final panel, which displayed the
artist’s spectral rendering of the mystery astronaut.
The suborbital flight of Alan Shepard in Freedom
7 was five months away; John Glenn’s triple orbit
in Friendship 7 was 14 months in the future. Public
anticipation was building, and Gilberton was
playing its role, simultaneously educating and cap-
italizing on the historical moment.
It was Morrow’s sustained efforts in three Clas- Gray Morrow, Master of the World (July 1961). A heavily inked page with
sics Illustrated editions that reveal the qualities that a turn-of-the-century ambience.
earned the admiration of the editorial staff at 101
Fifth Avenue. The first of these, The Octopus, No. 159 (No- the tragic struggle between wheat farmers and the railroad in
vember 1960), is, along with The Conquest of Mexico and Faust, California’s San Joaquin Valley.
one of the showpieces of the Feuerlicht era. Like its compan- Either Sundel supplied Morrow with Norris’s extensive
ions, The Octopus features an intelligent adaptation by Al Sun- character descriptions or Morrow scrutinized the novel with
del, who deftly encapsulated the propagandistic fervor and particular intensity. “I did like the book,” the artist succinctly
strident symbolism of Frank Norris’s naturalistic novel about commented.4 Ultimately, the artist was responsible, and The

Opposite: Gray Morrow, The Octopus (November 1960). The fallen Annixter (second from right, bottom panel) was cut out and
redrawn by the artist on a piece of bristol board pasted to the back of this page of original art in response to the following partially
erased marginal note from Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht: “Perspective off on Annixter’s figure. Please turn him around facing other
way, where feet are now. Dead bodies normally fall forward. Put his hat in pic, too” (collection of the author).
 XXI. GRAY MORROW 221

Octopus boasts the most accurate rendering of characters of ( January 1962), Morrow worked at top speed: “[I]t was done
any issue in the Classics Illustrated line, capturing everything when I’d moved to California and I needed those checks badly
from the heroic Annixter’s “lower lip thrust out, the chin large so I was penciling and inking eight pages a day. That’s as fast
and deeply cleft” to the oily S. Behrman’s “great tremulous jowl” as I’ve ever been able to go.”7 Given the pace at which the book
and “protuberant stomach.”5 was executed, it is a remarkable performance. The ancien régime
Yet Morrow’s treatment of the work goes beyond mere period details, encompassing clothing, hair, posture, and back-
descriptive fidelity. Character is illuminated through facial ex- grounds, are presented with delicate precision. Although the
pression and physical stance, as when Annixter coolly faces a sketches of Marie Antoinette appear rather rushed and one-
drunken gun-wielding cowboy or S. Behrman realizes that he dimensional, other figures involved in the intrigue that un-
is about to be drowned in wheat. Each panel is composed cin- dermined the French throne are rendered with the complexity
ematically. The climactic confrontation between the ranchers of the characters in The Octopus, particularly the scheming
and the United States marshal and his deputies is first shown, Count Cagliostro and the hack journalist Reteau.
subjectively, at close range and then, objectively, with Olympian “In retrospect,” Morrow wrote, looking back on his as-
detachment, from above. sociation with Gilberton from the vantage point of three
The next Classics Illustrated title assigned to Morrow was decades later, “it was a pleasant account to handle, but not
Jules Verne’s Master of the World, No. 163 ( July 1961), the easy. It would have been less fun but simpler to do some su-
better-known sequel to the preceding issue, Robur the Con- perhero with no research required, but it was always interesting
queror, and a then current Vincent Price motion-picture to study and draw real people and real events and/or ‘classic’
vehicle. Tackling an adventure tale with comparatively little literature.”8
dialogue (37 panels employ thought bubbles rather than speech During his freelance involvement with Classics Illustrated,
balloons and another 35 rely only on narrative boxes), the artist Morrow was busy illustrating volumes in the Bobbs-Merrill
exploited the drama of the machinery and succeeded in making “Childhood of Famous Americans” series, to which other
the Ter ror—a combination “automobile, boat, submarine, and Gilberton artists had contributed. He continued working on
airship”— a character in its own right. He also exhibited out- the juvenile biographies after Classics new-title production
standing storytelling skills through his heavily inked, dark pan- ceased, providing artwork for Helen Albee Monsell’s Henry
els that not only established a time reference but also con- Clay: Young Kentucky Orator (1963) and Laura M. Long’s Doug-
tributed to a sense of impending doom. las MacArthur: Young Protector (1965).
Morrow’s Robur, the “master of the world” himself, Morrow became better known in the 1960s for his covers
though based for the sake of continuity on Don Perlin’s con- for such science-fiction works as Andre Norton’s Night of Masks
ception in issue No. 162, surpasses its model in monomaniacal (1965) and his black-and-white comics for Warren Publishing’s
grandeur. On the other hand, the dapper protagonist, John Creepy. He remained active through the 1990s and was ap-
Strock, may have been one of the figures Al Sundel had in proached by First Classics, Inc., with a proposal to illustrate
mind when he wrote that “Gray’s flaw, if he had one, was to an issue on wolves in a new World Around Us line. Morrow
tend to draw men who looked a bit too English and a bit too stated that he completed the book,9 but the projected series
alike from book to book, a little taller than Gray himself but folded when the revived Classics Illustrated line failed, and the
built along the same slim lines.”6 title was never published. Parkinson’s disease ended his career,
For Alexandre Dumas’s The Queen’s Necklace, No. 165 and he died on 6 November 2001.

Opposite: Gray Morrow, The Queen’s Necklace (January 1962). Character studies and period style shine in this page of original
art from a hastily illustrated Dumas adaptation (collection of the author).
 XXII

“Roberta’s Reforms”:
The Early Sixties
B y the early 1960s, Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht and
Bill Kanter had recharted the direction of
Classics Illustrated. On board were Alfred Sundel, the
gifted scriptwriter who suggested many of the later
titles, and editorial assistant Helene Lecar, who spent
hours at the New York Public Library researching
period costumes and artifacts. It was the heyday of
Norman Nodel, George Evans, Angelo Torres,
Gerald McCann, and Gray Morrow — and was
dubbed by Sundel the era of “Roberta’s Reforms.”1
Perhaps the golden year was 1960, when three
outstanding new titles —The Conspiracy of Pontiac,
The Conquest of Mexico, and The Octopus—were pub-
lished. Meanwhile, 13 books long out of print—Don
Quixote, Gulliver’s Travels, Two Years Before the Mast,
The Moonstone, Typee, Twenty Years After, Alice in
Wonderland, Wuthering Heights, Black Beauty, The
Woman in White, The Man Without a Country, Julius
Caesar, and Men of Iron —were restored to the line.
The “Great Revival” continued in 1961: Arabian Nights,
Les Miserables, The Last Days of Pompeii, Adventures of
Cellini, Tom Brown’s School Days, and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, all formerly discontinued titles, sur-
faced again, the first five in completely new editions.
Four different publications—Classics Illustrated, Clas-
sics Illustrated Special Issues, The World Around Us, and
Classics Illustrated Junior— appeared on a regular
schedule and were earning the respect of teachers
and parents, many of whom had grown up on Classic
Comics and Classics Illustrated. Better art and more
reissues had become de rigueur.

Bruno Premiani, The Conquest of Mexico (May 1960).

One of the most arresting Classics covers, painted by
the artist who also supplied the interior art.

222
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 223

MILLER’S MINIMALISM U.S. 53 (1912), that “books are not turned into periodicals by
number and sequence” and that “generally a printed publica-
At about the same time that John F. Kennedy became the tion is a book when its contents are complete in themselves,
thirty-fifth president of the United States, introducing a “New deal with a single subject, betray no need of continuation, and,
Frontier” and a new generation of national leadership, Gilberton perhaps, have an appreciable size.”7
experienced its own changing of the guard. Art director Leonard Concluding that the issues of The World Around Us that
B. Cole departed under a cloud, although Helene Lecar had been submitted “clearly are not ‘periodical publications’
suggests that “part of the reason [he] disappeared” was because within the meaning of Sections 224 and 226 of Title 39 United
“his aesthetic was precisely for the noir genre.”2 Indeed, of the States Code,” Kelly gave no quarter. He noted that “[t]he
old EC crew nurtured by Cole, only George Evans and Angelo record here discloses that the four one-page articles in the
Torres remained. eighty-page publication does not change the character of the
Even before the arrival of new art director Sidney Miller publication in any substantial way from the first ten issues
in early 1961, a change in the appearance of Classics Illustrated [which had already been deemed books] and these also must
was underway. The process accelerated under his supervision. be held to be books and not periodicals.”8
“Typefaces got bigger and went into upper and lower case, pic- Kelly’s conclusion was unambiguous: “I therefore find
tures were much less fussy, with clearer focus on the main char- that the last three issues of the publications are books and not
acters,” Lecar recalled.3 The stylistic makeover at 101 Fifth Av- periodicals and are not entitled to second-class entry. To that
enue was in keeping with the contemporary direction toward extent the Departmental Decision of February 26, 1960, is va-
minimalism in both commercial and cartoon design. It was cated and second-class entry for those three issues is hereby
the era of the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency’s “think denied.”9 The administrative ruling was later affirmed.
small” white-space ads for Volkswagen and Walt Disney’s sim- The result was the cancellation of The World Around Us
plified animation techniques in 101 Dalmatians. Miller brought series and the termination of the Classics Illustrated bimonthly
Classics Illustrated up to date. cycle. Issue No. 163 appeared in July 1961 on schedule, but
No. 164, scheduled for September, was delayed until October;
No. 165, which would have been the November title, was issued
IN RE: GILBERTON WORLD-WIDE in January 1962. With issue No. 162, Robur the Conqueror,
PUBLICATIONS, INC. Gilberton shortened the main-story length to 40 pages, added
a five-page series called “Men of Action,” and began serializing
Meanwhile, Gilberton, which had been fighting with the short stories by Guy de Maupassant and Stephen Crane. These
Post Office since 1959 to retain its second-class mailing permit, changes in series content and format were intended to persuade
lost the legal battle. In an amended decision issued on 19 April the Post Office that individual titles were periodicals rather
1960, the Post Office Department denied Gilberton World- than books, with continuing features linking separate issues.
Wide Publications’ petition for second-class mailing status for But the efforts were to no avail, and it was no longer econom-
The World Around Us.4 The administrative-law ruling killed ically feasible to offer subscriptions or new titles.
the potential for the series to survive as a subscription-based More restored titles appeared in 1962: The Man Who
publication; distribution in stores was the only possibility for Laughs, The Courtship of Miles Standish, Pudd’nhead Wilson,
the line to continue. The White Company, Knights of the Round Table, Pitcairn’s
When The World Around Us was launched in 1958, no filler Island, A Study in Scarlet, and The Talisman. Despite its now
items such as the Classics Illustrated “Pioneers of Science” articles irregular schedule, Classics Illustrated also produced in 1962
or the Classics Illustrated Junior “Animal World” feature had what the editorial staff considered their crowning achievement
been included. An unfavorable 2 November 1959 Post Office and the finest single issue—Goethe’s Faust, masterfully adapted
ruling by a hearing examiner on the first ten titles5 prompted by Al Sundel and beautifully rendered by Norman Nodel. But
Bill Kanter and Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht to add unrelated the end was already at hand.
pieces such as “The Piltdown Hoax” and “The Mystery of Stone-
henge” to the next three issues, which were then submitted as
exhibits in Gilberton’s case. A 26 February 1960 Post Office de- BRUNO PREMIANI
partmental ruling by a judicial officer favored the new format.6
But in an amended decision delivered on 19 April 1960, One of the finest Gilberton freelancers of the early 1960s,
Raymond J. Kelly, writing for the Department, vacated the Giordano Bruno Premiani loved history and experienced its
earlier determination. Kelly quoted the pronouncements of weight firsthand. The son of a Slovenian Imperial Railway em-
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in Smith v. Hitchcock, 226 ployee and an Italian mother, he was born in Trieste on 4
224 CLASSICS Illustrated

January 1907, in the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian diate connection with the Gilberton Company through art di-
empire. In 1922 he was an art student in Trieste, now a part rector Leonard B. Cole.
of Italy, when Benito Mussolini and his blackshirts seized A major project was in the works, and Bruno Premiani
power. Premiani’s antifascist views and activities earned him received the assignment. Al Sundel, an authority on the
the attention of the authorities. He left Italy and sailed to Ar- Spanish exploration and exploitation of the New World, had
gentina in 1930, where he worked for the daily newspaper scripted an adaptation of Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s Historia
Crítica and, in the 1940s, for several magazines. Premiani found Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España. The resulting
Juan Perón’s authoritarianism no more congenial than Mus- comic book, The Conquest of Mexico, No. 156 (May 1960),
solini’s, and he left Argentina in 1948 for the United States, would be a landmark issue that showed the Feuerlicht Era Clas-
where he began working on the Tomahawk series for sics Illustrated at its best. Sundel’s sophisticated abridgment of
National/DC. Around the time of Eva Perón’s death in 1952, the 16th-century narrative manages to convey in small compass
the artist returned to Argentina. In 1960, Premiani found him- the sweep of the epic eyewitness work yet never condescends
self once again in New York.10 There he established an imme- to the reader.
Researcher Helene Lecar unearthed a wealth
of material for Premiani, who made the most of it,
recreating conquistador accoutrements and Aztec
architecture with impressive authenticity. The artist
painted a dramatic cover showing a mounted con-
quistador plunging into battle. He incorporated an
Aztec pictograph on the title-page splash, and his
swiftly moving panels echo the ancient art form
throughout the 45-page abridgment. The artist’s il-
lustrations are perfectly wedded to the substantial
text, establishing the principal characters and push-
ing the action from panel to panel with a visual ex-
citement seldom matched in the series.
Although The Conquest of Mexico was Premi-
ani’s sole Classics Illustrated credit, he supplied sec-
tions for Special Issues No. 156A, The Atomic Age
( June 1960), and the unnumbered, undated United
Nations. He also provided artwork for six World
Around Us editions: The Crusades, No. W16 (De-
cember 1959); Festivals, No. W17 ( January 1960);
Great Scientists, No. W18 (February 1960); Commu-
nications, No. W20 (April 1960); Whaling, No. W28
(December 1960); and Vikings, No. W29 ( January
1961). “The Walled City,” a chapter on the Siege of
Antioch in The Crusades, features panels filled with
mail-clad Crusaders and scimitar-wielding Muslims,
all drawn with an attention to historical detail that
rivals if not surpasses The Conquest of Mexico.
Following his transitional time with Gilberton,
Premiani undertook for DC the work for which he
is best known, National/DC’s Doom Patrol,11 a series
about a trio with superhuman abilities that he and
Arnold Drake co-created and that he illustrated
from 1963 to 1968. In time, the artist returned to

Bruno Premiani, The Conquest of Mexico (May

1960). A wealth of historical detail filled the artist’s
panels.
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 225

Argentina, where he provided illustrations for

a Buenos Aires magazine. The widely traveled
Bruno Premiani died on 17 August 1984.

TONY TALLARICO
While George Evans and Reed Crandall
were occupied with The Hunchback of Notre
Dame, Gray Morrow was completing The Oc-
topus, and Norman Nodel was preparing Cleo-
patra, art director Leonard B. Cole, in his last
assignment, handed Al Sundel’s artfully edited
script for H.G. Wells’s The Food of the Gods,
No. 160 ( January 1961), to Brooklyn-born An-
thony (Tony) Tallarico (b. 1933), a former Charl-
ton artist with a distinctively light touch who
later drew television tie-ins such as Bewitched
and F-Troop for Dell.12 His major achievement
in the comics field was to create the short-lived
but historically significant Dell Western comic-
book series Lobo (1965–1966), which featured
anA frican-Americanp rotagonist.
Venturing into the realm of political satire
with a liberal perspective, Tallarico created The
Great Society Comic Book, featuring Super-LBJ,
in 1966. Over the years, the prolific artist wrote
and illustrated hundreds of children’s books,
often collaborating with his musician son, who
is also known as Tony. In the 1990s, Tallarico
decorated puzzle books and illustrated the I
Can Draw series, introducing aspiring young
artists to techniques for rendering such things
as monsters, spaceships, and animals. His best-
known series was Where Are They?
The Food of the Gods was the only Classics
Illustrated title drawn by Tallarico. The artist’s
childlike, cartoonish approach bore little re-
semblance to the EC brand of realism that had
shaped the Gilberton house style in the late
1950s. Still, Tallarico’s playful style gave visual Tony Tallarico, The Food of the Gods (January 1961). A subversively light touch
expression to the satirical thrust of Wells’s for a deeply unsettling tale.
philosophical fantasy about a race of giants
who embody the principle of the “growth that goes on forever.” appeared as an artist to be ideally suited to the folk tales and
The artist subverts the reader’s expectations with the lightly fairy tales of Classics Illustrated Junior. His style perfectly com-
sketched, whimsical figures that inhabit the first half of the plemented How Fire Came to the Indians, No. 571 (April 1961),
book. A textual shift in tone occurs midway, beginning a move- an early foray into the field of multiculturalism and, in terms
ment toward a quasi-tragic and ultimately prophetic mode, of script and art, one of the most satisfying issues in the series,
but the same caricature-like effect persists. The resulting aes- and Brightboots, No. 574 (c. October 1961), a high-spirited
thetic disjunction is intentionally jarring and eerily effective. tale of a resourceful soldier who unwittingly serves his king.
Like Lin Streeter and Peter Costanza before him, Tallarico Tallarico’s decisive simplicity enhanced both books.
226 CLASSICS Illustrated

Other fine efforts appeared in World Around Us issues No. acing Cyclops to replace Alex A. Blum’s rather contemplative
W27, High Adventure (November 1960); No. W29, The Vikings Polyphemus on the cover of The Odyssey (Spring 1969).
(January 1961); No. W30, Undersea Adventures (February 1961);
No. W33, Famous Teens (May 1961); and No. W36, Fight for
Life (October 1961). Bold linework particularly distinguished JACK KIRBY
“The Strongest of the Vikings,” a chapter in No. W29 based
on a saga about the Jomsvikings and their leader Sigvald’s rash Among the distinguished freelancers who collected
vow that led to a crushing defeat. After the Frawley organization Gilberton paychecks in the early 1960s was comics legend Jack
assumed control and began issuing second painted covers in an Kirby (1917–1994), whose influence on the medium was incal-
effort to breathe life into the expiring series, the artist was com- culable. Born Jacob Kurtzburg in New York’s Lower East Side,
missioned to paint a Fess Parker look-alike for a new edition he enrolled at the Pratt Institute at the age of fourteen.13 The
of Daniel Boone, No. 96 (Winter 1969) and a new, more men- artist worked on Popeye cartoons for the animation studios of
Max Fleischer and subsequently drew adventure and
humor comic strips for Lincoln Features. At first,
he signed his work “Jack Curtiss,” but when he
began producing another strip for a different syn-
dicate, he adopted the name “Lance Kirby.” Merging
the two pseudonyms in 1940, Jacob Kurtzburg
became forever Jack Kirby.14
In 1941, he illustrated the first issue of Captain
Marvel Adventures. That same year, he collaborated
with Timely (Marvel) editor Joe Simon to create a
comic-book icon, Captain America. Kirby and
Simon were a perfectly matched dynamic duo of the
comic-book Golden Age. They grasped the distinc-
tive narrative potential of comic books, and together
invented, among other new methods of expression,
the two-page splash illustration.15 The centerspread
splash became something of a trademark Classics Il-
lustrated convention in 1952 and 1953 in such issues
as David Balfour, Daniel Boone, and Buffalo Bill.
Moving to DC Comics in 1942, the team —
always billed as Simon and Kirby — worked on Boy
Commandos and an early incarnation of the “Sand-
man” character. A year later, both artists received their
greetings from Uncle Sam.16 After World II, the pair
produced a variety of comics for Prize, including
westerns and, in a wildly successful effort to reach a
more mature female audience, Young Romance (Sep-
tember 1947), the first “love” comic book.17
Buffetted by the mid-1950s anticomics uproar,
the collaboration dissolved in 1956. Kirby returned
to DC, where he helped to inaugurate the comic-
book Silver Age with the “Challengers of the Un-
known” series for Showcase.18 After a couple of years,
the artist was on his own again, drawing a syndicated
comic strip, Sky Masters, with Wally Wood. It ended

Jack Kirby, “Fort Sumter” in The War Between the

States (June 1961). The comics legend takes on the
Civil War.
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 227

badly, in a breach-of-contract action

filed by “Challengers” editor Jack Schiff
of DC.19 Thus, in 1961, Kirby found
himself freelancing for the Gilberton
Company.
His first assignments were for The
World Around Us, and he eventually pro-
duced artwork for six issues: Undersea
Adventures, No. W30 (February 1961);
Hunting, No. W31 (March 1961); For
Gold and Glory, No. W31 (March 1961);
Spies, No. W35 (August 1961); and Fight
for Life, No. W36 (October 1961). Of
particular interest are the strikingly con-
ceived panels Kirby drew for a section
titled “Early Hunters” in Hunting, where
dramatic perspectives enliven the edu-
cational text.
The artist also contributed to two
Classics Illustrated Special Issues: The War
Between the States, No. 162A (June 1961),
and To the Stars!, No. 165A (December
1961). Another Gilberton Civil War book
had already appeared in the World Around
Us series, but so great was centennial-year
enthusiasm for the conflict among 10- to
12-year-old boys that a Special Issue on
the subject was deemed a commercial
necessity. Kirby’s finest work for Gilber-
ton can be found in his cleanly executed
title-page splash and individual sections
for The War Between the States devoted
to the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the
Peninsula campaign, the siege of Vicks-
burg, and a Confederate attempt to ter-
rorize New York. Despite the artist’s
anachronistic importation of gray Con-
federate uniforms, the Fort Sumter chap-
ter is a particularly compelling rendering
of the war’s fateful first shots, with its
focus dramatically concentrated on the
determined defenders.20
The only actual Classics Illustrated
Jack Kirby, The Last Days of Pompeii (March 1961). The villainous Arbaces causes prob-
issue drawn by Kirby was the March 1961 lems for the hero Glaucus.
revision of No. 35, The Last Days of
Pompeii, Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s turgid tale of love among and-sandal” motion-picture epic based on the book inspired
the soon-to-be ruins. The title, Henry C. Kiefer’s first full- the unearthing of the long-buried title.
scale Gilberton assignment, had been off the reorder list since Kirby’s work on the adapted Bulwer-Lytton novel is un-
1949; the religious element, which had made the original even. Here and there, a hint of the artist’s celebrated originality
edition objectionable, was excluded from the new version, and is evident, as in the starkness of the panel showing only the
the love interest reigned supreme. A 1960 Steve Reeves “sword- villain Arbaces’ head and raised hand with dagger, the elegant
228 CLASSICS Illustrated

linearity of the depiction of Arbaces felling the hero Glaucus and Cooper Union. In the 1950s he drew horror comics at
with a single blow, the physical animation of the gladiatorial Atlas (Marvel). Later, he supplied artwork for Sick and Cracked,
contests, and the panic of the fleeing crowds as Vesuvius erupts. two Mad competitors.26 In the late 1970s and early 1980s,
However, Kirby, as he later informed Classics collector Perlin illustrated Ghost Rider. Among his other credits are The
and researcher Ron Prager, sped through the pencils for Pompeii Defenders, Werewolf by Night, and Transformers. For an edu-
in ten days.21 Veteran inker Dick Ayers, who was teamed with cational comics series about African-American historical
Kirby on many projects during the 1960s, finished the pages.22 figures, issued by Seattle’s Baylor Publishing Company in 1983,
Signs of haste are evident throughout the book, with the the artist turned his attention to the lives of Martin Luther
features of the principal characters (excepting the villain) King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
changing from panel to panel and the back-
grounds barely sketched in or nonexistent.
Perhaps the artist felt constrained by the
formalistic regularity of Gilberton’s uniform
panel design. Or it may simply have been that
Kirby was less comfortable in recreating an
ancient setting to Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht’s
specifications than he was in imagining parallel
realities. The editor demanded numerous re-
draws, prompting the artist’s later comment
that his work for Gilberton was “the worst
paying job of my entire life, including times
I worked for free.”23 Whatever the case, with
Kirby’s return to Marvel later in 1961 came
his most signal contribution to comics history.
During the next few years, he, artist Steve
Ditko, and writer-editor Stan Lee created the
superheroes that essentially reinvented the
comics industry: the Fantastic Four (1961); the
Incredible Hulk (1962); the Mighty Thor
(1962); the Amazing Spider-Man (1962); and
the X-Men (1963). The artist’s sophisticated
simplicity gave Marvel its own unique house
style and a model for future comics artists.24
Subsequently, Kirby and Lee quarreled
and parted company. The artist found himself
again at DC, where his love of fantasy came
to the fore in the creation of his own mythol-
ogy in such short-lived but influential series
as The New Gods (1971) and The Forever People
(1971).25 The brief encounter with Gilber-
ton—a creative detour—was by then a fading
memory. By the time of his death in 1994,
Kirby had become the most emulated and
revered figure in the history of comics.

DON PERLIN
A Gilberton one-timer, Don Perlin (b.
1929) studied as a teenager under Burne Hog- Don Perlin, Robur the Conqueror (May 1961). Proto-Steampunk surfaces in the
arth and subsequently at the Pratt Institute Verne adaptation.
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 229

Perlin’s sole Classics Illustrated title, Jules Verne’s Robur pact of the adaptation. Even the coloring was lackluster, em-
the Conqueror, No. 162 (May 1961), was the “prequel” to the phasizing flat reds and blues. Some sequences, however, such
better-known Master of the World, No. 163 ( July 1961), and as Bulba’s capture and execution of his son Andrey, were dra-
included some of the same characters subsequently drawn by matically effective. One can’t help wondering wistfully what Reed
Gray Morrow for that issue. It was the only time in Gilberton’s Crandall and George Evans might have done with No. 164, but
history that two connected stories were published in immediate they were contemporaneously revising Oliver Twist, far from the
sequence and was part of the Kanters’ effort to convince the steppes where the Cossacks “grew used to looking peril straight
Post Office that Classics Illustrated was a continuing periodical in the face and forgot there was such a thing as fear in the world.”
series rather than individual books issued
under a common imprint.
Robur the Conqueror is an aeronautical
variation on the plot and theme of 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea, with the nominal hero-
villain standing in for Captain Nemo and Uncle
Prudent for Professor Aronnax. The artist’s title-
page splash showing representatives of dif-
ferent cultures watching the skies sets the stage
for the appearance of Robur’s “flying appara-
tus.” His attention to Victorian period detail
makes the oddness of the Albatross, Robur’s
airborne vessel, seem even odder. Throughout
the book, Perlin’s illustrations deftly capture
the story’s mixture of whimsey and madness.

SIDNEY MILLER (?)

The first new Classics Illustrated issue to
deviate from the bimonthly publication sched-
ule, The Cossack Chief, No. 164 (October
1964), also marked the only probable contri-
bution of art director Sidney Miller to the se-
ries. (This is a tentative attribution by comics
historian Hames Ware, who has also spotted a
Milleresque four-page section in the World
Around Us issue on Fishing, No. W34 [June
1961].27) Al Sundel had adapted and retitled
Nikolai Gogol’s Taras Bulba, which he had
discovered in “a Russian bookstore that the
CIA must have been watching through binoc-
ulars from a nearby loft.”28 It was another of
the more challenging books, such as The Con-
quest of Mexico and Faust, that Roberta Strauss
Feuerlicht encouraged Sundel to add to the
Vernes, Wellses, and Hentys that were so heav-
ily represented in the later issues.
While Sundel’s script was unsparing in
conveying the brutality of the nominal hero
and his violent world, the light linework and
often indistinguishable characters attributed Sidney Miller(?), The Cossack Chief (October 1961). The new Gilberton art director
to Gilberton’s art director dissipated the im- favored a minimalist style.
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 231

CHARLES BERGER onously regular rectangles. Even so, the whimsical illustrations
have a winning appeal and are not unworthy of comparison
Dropped from the reorder list in 1952, No. 8, Arabian with the 1943 originals by Lillian Chestney.
Nights, had been the poorest selling of the first ten Classics Il-
lustrated titles. Perhaps the regular readership regarded it as
geared toward the younger audience that would be targeted DINO BATTAGLIA (?)
by Classics Illustrated Junior in 1953. In fact, one of the stories
from the 1943 Arabian Nights, Aladdin and His Lamp, was The identity of the artist who produced the revamped
published as Junior No. 516 in May 1955. Classics edition of Adventures of Cellini, No. 38 (October 1961),
By 1961, Gilberton had made considerable headway has been a subject of spirited debate. In the early 1990s,
in returning out-of-print Classics to the newsstands. Arabian Norman Nodel was named in collectors’ circles as illustrator
Nights was revived, with new adaptations of “Aladdin,” “Ali for the second edition, but the artist explicitly rejected the at-
Baba and the Forty Thieves,” and “Sinbad the Sailor.” “The tribution.30 Alex Toth was erroneously named in a European
Magic Horse,” which had been included in the original 64- website directory, despite the artist’s statement in a letter to
page edition, was omitted from the 48-page revision. The Classics Collector that he never worked for Gilberton.31
The new model performed less satisfactorily than the old, Comics authority Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., in a 2000 e-
which, even as a relatively weak performer, had gone through mail, described the mystery figure as a “very competent, even
seven printings in the ten years it was available; the 1961 version excellent, artist,” but noted that no one at that point had been
was never reprinted. A major part of the problem may have able to connect the work persuasively with any known Amer-
been the result of uncertain distribution at an uncertain time ican illustrator.27 However, in a 2003 review of the first edition
for the Gilberton Company. Arabian Nights was reissued in of this book in the Comic Book Marketplace, Paul Gravett raised
the autumn of 1961, in the wake of the Post Office fiasco, and the intriguing transatlantic possibility of Venetian-born Dino
was difficult to find in circulation. Battaglia (1932–1983), who produced a popular comic strip,
Artist Charles Berger was born and grew up in Rochester, Mark Fury (1952–53), set in Edwardian England.32
New York. He received a three-year scholarship to the Cleve- Indeed, Battaglia’s distinctive style bears more than a pass-
land Institute of Art, from which he graduated in 1943. After ing resemblance to the artwork in Cellini. The artist later il-
moving to New York City, Berger was active as a freelance il- lustrated an adaptation of Moby Dick and was drawn toward
lustrator and commercial artist.29 His delicate yet detailed style classic writers such as Rabelais, Edgar Allan Poe, and Guy de
brought him to the attention of Sidney Miller. Maupassant.33 At the time the revision of No. 38 was pub-
Berger’s first Gilberton projects were noncomics text il- lished, Gilberton had a well-established European presence,
lustrations for two “World of Story” filler items in World Around and William Kanter was already contemplating a move to En-
Us issues No. W32 (April 1961) and No. W33 (May 1961)— gland. Battaglia, meanwhile, had established connections with
“Two Merry Pranks of Till Eulenspiegel” and “The Knight of British publishers, illustrating Robin Hood for Thriller Picture
the Couchant Leopard” from Sir Walter Scott’s novel of the Library, among other projects.
Crusades, The Talisman. This combination of the whimsical Hence, a brief encounter in 1961 with Thorpe and Porter,
and the historical (not to mention the Middle Eastern touch Gilberton’s English alter ego, along with an offer to illustrate
in the Scott piece) won Berger the Arabian Nights assignment. an Italian Renaissance subject, doesn’t seem outside the bounds
In the new No. 8, the artist’s lightly inked panels were of biographical probability. Mr. Gravett’s argument in favor
intended to suggest the influence of Persian art. But the heavy- of Dino Battaglia as the exceptional artist responsible for the
handed printing process compromised the potential charm of revised Classics Illustrated No. 38 is persuasive with respect to
the finished product. It was often difficult to see the pictures both style and circumstance; one hopes that his suggestion
because the coloring was heavier than the surrounding line- will prompt further examination and discussion among
work. (The German Illustrierte Klassiker edition strikes a better comics-arts tudents.34
balance.) In its revised state, Adventures of Cellini is one of the out-
Further, the artist was working within the confining con- standing later editions published by Gilberton. Once again,
ventions of the Miller-era Gilberton page layout, and illustra- adapter Al Sundel produced a miracle of compression, infusing
tions were squeezed into four or five panels per page. Other each of the forty-five pages with the spirit of Benvenuto
than the title page, no splashes were allowed for greater scope, Cellini’s self-infatuated autobiography. The artist rose to the
and Berger was forced to confine his characters to the monot- occasion, supplying visually active panels in which the delicate

Opposite: Charles Berger, Arabian Nights (October 1961). A short-lived replacement edition.
232 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Dino Battaglia(?), Adventures of Cellini (October 1961). An attribution by Paul Gravett deserves serious consideration. Right:
Unidentified artist, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Fall 1961). Possibly the worst Classics art since the 1942 Count of Monte Cristo.

linework lends speed to the narrative, whether the hero is bat- nearly succeeded.35 In selecting the inaugural issue for the new
tling brigands in the street, contending with a storm on a lake, Classics Illustrated Study Guides, editor Madeleine Robins
or escaping from a castle tower. Backgrounds are suggested passed over the “improved” Tom Sawyer for the livelier 1948
rather than detailed, and the emphasis remains on the dramat- model.
ically rendered foreground figures throughout the book.

H.J. KIHL
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST
Illustrator of the visually appealing “Rockets Through
Efforts to connect a rather nondescript style with a par- Time” section of Rockets, Jets and Missiles, No. 159A (December
ticular artist in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, No. 50 (Fall 1960), and, from 1958 to 1961, contributor to 21 of 36 World
1961), have been to no avail. The issue was perhaps the most Around Us issues, H.J. Kihl provided artwork for only one
misguided revision in the post–L.B. Cole era. Apart from the Classics Illustrated issue, a Spring 1962 revision of No. 39, Jane
first-page splash featuring Samuel Clemens at a desk, the il- Eyre. While the revised adaptation was an improvement over
lustrations display little imagination or energy, particularly the 1947 abridgment, the new Gilberton bare-bones style was
when compared with Aldo Rubano’s eccentric pencils and inks. simply wrong for Charlotte Brontë’s gothic-tinged masterpiece.
If the effort was intended to make Mark Twain dull, the artist Harley M. Griffiths’s heavily brushed panels were replaced by
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 233

Kihl’s thin-lined drawings, spare backgrounds, and brightly panels — contribute to a more ‘orderly’ appearance, compared
lit atmosphere. The effect was strangely cheerful — a species to the 1947 adaptation, which is rather fanciful as to the shape
of upbeat moroseness. Occasionally, the scale and proportions and arrangement of panels.”36 When Jane Eyre was reprinted
of different characters sharing the same panel are simply wrong, in 1997 as a Classics Illustrated Study Guide, Kihl’s airy,
as in the one depicting Rochester’s revelation of the existence “orderly” revision was rejected in favor of Griffiths’s darker,
of his demented wife. more “fanciful” rendering. But the 1962 interpretation surfaced
Norbert Bachleitner has observed of the 1962 “remake” again when Jack Lake Productions reissued No. 39 in Novem-
that “[t]he panels are strictly rectangular and in their regular ber 2009.
distribution on the pages — mostly two rows of two or three

HELENE LECAR , RESEARCHER

AND EDITOR

A member of Roberta Strauss Feuer-

licht’s editorial team, Helene Lecar came
on board as proofreader and editorial assis-
tant. She went on to research both text
and pictorial information for artists and
to script Classics Illustrated filler items and
World Around Us issues. Eventually, in the
final months of new-title production, she
served as editor.
As a newly minted college graduate,
she arrived at 101 Fifth Avenue in response
to an ad in the New York Times.37 “We
were in a dowager building,” Lecar rem-
inisced, “just new enough to have an ele-
vator up to the sixth floor, but too old to
be air-conditioned. It was not dowdy.
There was still an elevator man, and we
had west-facing windows that we could
actually open. They were large, letting in
lots of light. On the other hand, the man-
agement of the building shut off the heat
every Friday afternoon, so by Monday the
office was frigid. It didn’t warm up prop-
erly until Wednesday, and by Friday it was
toasty. In winter, our outfits were set by
the day of the week.”38
Regarding the workspace, Lecar re-
called that “[t]he editorial section of the en-
terprise occupied one large room with par-
titions for each of us to have some private
space in which to meet with our artists
and writers. The art department, although

H.J. Kihl, Jane Eyre (Spring 1962). Trendy

minimalism strips the Brontë story of any
trace of Gothic atmosphere. (And what
happened to the perspective in the bottom
panel?)
234 CLASSICS Illustrated

smaller in square foot- 1960), “I needed to know what people on Madagascar were
age, was separate, and wearing when Vasco da Gama put into port there after
also got that bright nat- rounding the Cape of Good Hope. First I read up enough to
ural light.”39 Offices for know that there were merchants in residence who came from
Albert and William Kan- all over the Indian Ocean—Arabs, different ethnic groups from
ter and O.B. Stiskin were coastal India, spice traders from Burma, and Thailand, as well
farther back, in the inte- as people from east-coast Africa. So now I could focus on 16th-
rior space. century Arabs or Hindus and spent several hours wallowing
Lecar’s job at the through the rich collection of images detailing what Europeans
Gilberton Company was made of such people. I brought the best of these back to discuss
multifaceted from the with the artist [George Evans] and let him play.”42
beginning. “I was hired The flow of the work dictated specific assignments. As
as a proofreader, going Lecar recalled, “Once the titles were decided, by Roberta in
over the finished black conference with [Bill] Kanter, she would draw from a regular
and white storyboards stable of writers to do the scripts. In conference, the writer,
for errors, ink smudges, Roberta and Sid [Miller], and sometimes the artist as well, de-
fit of the text in the dia- cided on the main themes the [issue] would highlight, and
log balloons, and gen- how hot topics would be handled, in text and in pictures.
Helene Lecar’s graduation photo erally making myself When the draft script came in, it would be in a two-column
(1958), taken just before she began
working for Gilberton (courtesy useful,” she wrote. “The format: left side had captions and dialog for each scene, right
Helene Lecar). only person junior to side had instructions, as needed, for the artist — descriptions
me at that time was the of the characters, the action that we didn’t have space to explain
scribe, a high-school grad named Steve Addeo. It’s hard to in words, colors, time of day and other visual clues about the
imagine now what pre-computer production was like, but context of the action, especially if some background object
Leroy lettering, a dual-stylus arrangement with an alpha- were later to play an important part in the plot. Roberta (and
numeric template for one nib and an inked point for use on sometimes Al [Sundel], if he was managing that issue) would
the board, was how we inserted text into pictures and captions. then edit the text while the artist sketched each picture.”43 At
Since there were relatively few font sizes, we were counting not this point, Lecar would be invited in to provide research in-
only the number of words, but the number of characters to formation regarding costumes and scenery for the artist and
write in. It was excellent training in keeping things simple.”40 would soon be on her way to the picture collection at the 42nd
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht soon assigned the young edi- Street Library.
torial assistant to research duties farther afield. Having met In time, the research assistant assumed more editorial re-
Feuerlicht’s exacting standards in the office, Lecar was soon sponsibilities, such as script development, writing, and review-
sent out regularly on missions to the private collection at the ing completed boards, “mainly looking out for consistency,
42nd Street Library. The library, which was founded and is panel to panel and page to page, and for accurate visual tran-
still richly endowed by private money (although it now also scription of the writer’s instructions in that right-hand col-
includes a regular branch of the city’s library system), is a New umn.”44 According to Lecar, “the artists as a group were re-
York City landmark, a grand palazzo facing Fifth Avenue, markably self-reliant. Whether it was the right kind of
guarded by two dignified lions, Patience and Fortitude. frou-frous on those 18th-century French dresses in The Con-
“In those pre-internet, pre–Wikipedia days,” Lecar wrote, spirators or the proper rigging on sailing ships in Toilers of the
“the grand library, had ... a collection of graphic material or- Sea, they were able, without direction from me, to get things
ganized, not by esthetic or by photographer but by content. more or less right. And when I would ask afterwards to be sure
Other agencies such as the Bettman Archive and Brown Broth- they were working from historical sources, they could
ers were doing the same thing, but they charged by the picture. document anything I asked for. To a man they were familiar
The library was free, and the pictures circulated. You could go with all sorts of military and naval historical gear.”45
in wanting to know what Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand Lecar contributed back-of-the-book articles to Classics
looked like, or Versailles, or the particulars of royal Aztec cloth- Illustrated issues, such as “The Roman Power Struggle” for
ing, and you could take your prize home with you for a month, Cleopatra No. 161 (March 1961) and “The Sepoy Revolt” for
in special file folders.”41 Tigers and Traitor No. 166 (May 1962). Her passion, however,
When, for example, Lecar was doing groundwork for the was for the World Around Us series, for which she wrote both
World Around Us issue devoted to Great Explorers (W23, July filler items and full-scale scripts. “I can’t recall exactly how the
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 235

topics were decided for any particular issue of World Around Illustrated in public venues: “I remember serving, along with
Us, but there was undoubtedly a conversation with Roberta about Roberta, as impromptu demonstrator/sales staff for Gilberton
what should be highlighted once the original idea was assigned at a [New York] conference for teachers. The World Around
to somebody. It was all collaborative and free-wheeling—a trio Us series of non-fiction comics was a new venture at the time.
of junk minds with pieces of knowledge from all over time and It was fun to put together, and to me it was a lark to be paid
space trying to think like inquisitive twelve-year-olds to decide for researching Pirates, Vikings, the Conquistadors and so on,
what our readers might like to know.”46 until one teacher came up to me to thank us for putting out a
Reflecting on the division of labor, Lecar commented that book on Space Exploration because, she explained, ‘It’s the
“Al had his favorite subjects — the Conquest of Mexico and all only textbook our district can afford.’ That changed the rules
things pre–Columbian, Egyptian history, Japan. I went in for of the game entirely.”48
Greco-Roman antiquity, European history in general, medieval At the same educators’ conference, Lecar recalled, “[B]usi-
history, and particular topics like pre-historic times and the ness in the publications room was slow once the formal pre-
discoveries of archaeology. Roberta and I had a common sentations began. I was standing around, with nothing much
history as children of recent immigrants from Eastern Europe. to do, when two teachers cruising the scene on the way in came
We were both first-generation Americans and grew up with to a dead halt in front of the booth. One pointed and said,
stories about life in the Old Country that were, generally, ap- ‘Look, Ethel — funnies!’ They both laughed and walked on
palling. ... The short added pieces frequently fell to me, and without saying a word to me. Roberta got a kick out of that
they involved the pleasantest kind of background reading, like one, and the line became something of an in-house gag when
‘The Wonderful Earth Movie’ [for Prehistoric World, No. 167A things got unglued at the office.”49
( July 1962)].”47 Lecar stayed at Gilberton until 1962, “when the attempt
On occasion, Lecar was called upon to represent Classics to turn out a Reader’s Digest knock-off called This Month failed.
I found a new job, writing
captions for a picture en-
cyclopedia called The World
and Its People, but it was
only a stop-gap until my
husband finished his Ph.D.
We then moved to Wash-
ington, D.C., where we
lived for 22 years.”50 Later,
the family moved to Cali-
fornia, where Lecar ran a
consulting business, Words
at Work, teaching writing
in the workplace. Since re-
tiring, she has become ac-
tive in various civic affairs,
especially education reform
and community colleges.51

END OF AN ERA
Master of the World
marked the appearance of
the final design change for
Classics Illustrated. The fa-
miliar open-book device,
which had first been used
“Look, Ethel — funnies!” Classics Illustrated trade-show booth (circa 1960). The woman in the short
jacket facing right is Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht; the woman to her left with lighter-colored hair (behind on issue No. 6 in 1942 and
the woman whose back is toward the camera) is Helene Lecar (courtesy John “Buzz” Kanter). had been a standard cover
236 CLASSICS Illustrated

on Classics Illustrated Junior covers and

a logo makeover for The World Around
Us, was evident in the stylized depic-
tion of Robur’s airship, the Terror,
struck by lightning.
Why the abandonment of the
open book was viewed as an improve-
ment is a puzzle. The issue number,
squeezed into a fraction of the space
it had occupied before, was hard to
find, let alone read. The eye was ac-
customed to finding that particular
space filled, and, initially, the open
book’s absence appeared to throw the
cover’s balance off. Perhaps the open-
book device was omitted to further
distance Classics Illustrated from any
connection with the concept of
“books.” In any case, ten years had
passed since the introduction of
painted covers, and, apart from the
tablet aberrations of Nos. 83–85, the
same basic design had been in place
for a decade. A change may have been
due, but the compromise between the
original banner style and the post-
1947 reduced rectangle changed both
too much and too little. The end was
still a year away, but for some young
traditionalists it seemed already to
have arrived.
The plug was pulled in 1962, a
little more than twenty years after Al-
bert Kanter launched Classic Comics
with The Three Musketeers. “Sociolog-
ical and distribution patterns were
changing,” wrote Alfred Sundel. “Su-
permarkets were now coming into lo-
cales with the dramatic impact that
Medical Centers have today. They
were wiping out the old candy stores
where the kids hung out. Americans
were also ... now edging into affluence.
The government was soon to sponsor
Unidentified artist, Master of the World (July 1961). A “New Frontier” in cover design. the purchase of juvenile books for li-
braries. Paperback juveniles were to
emblem since issue No. 35 in 1947, disappeared, much to the appear in a year or so on new kinds of racks. The winds of
dismay of many loyal readers. In a move evocative of the Classic change were blowing that would hurt CI, and nobody in the
Comics style, the issue number and price were shifted to the front office knew how to cope with it.”52
bottom of the yellow banner. Art director Sidney Miller’s mil- In addition to the eclipse of five-and-dime stores, the ad-
itant modernist minimalism, which had already asserted itself verse decision in the postal-rate case, and the increased avail-
Unpublished Classics Illustrated reorder list (Spring 1961). The list shows five titles never published in the U.S. series; four of
them were never published anywhere (collection of John Haufe).
238 CLASSICS Illustrated

ability of cheap juvenile paperback classics such as those pub- a market study and concluded that because of declining sales,
lished by Washington Square Press (Pocket Books), Dell, the chain would no longer carry comic books. At the same
Signet, and Airmont,53 another, perhaps decisive, factor came time, Coronet, the Curtis Circulation Company’s Reader’s Digest
into play. Those children who, a few years earlier, might have competitor, went under. Noting the Woolworth report and
read comic books for entertainment were now held in thrall Gilberton’s failure to win a renewal of its second-class postage
to the unprecedented power of television. With its somewhat permit, Curtis representatives persuaded Albert Kanter to dis-
more rarefied appeal, Classics Illustrated stood to lose more continue new-title production and to publish, instead, a digest-
ground than the superheroes or other comics genres. sized Coronet replacement.54
In 1961, F.W. Woolworth, one of the principal circulation The new magazine, This Month, was edited by Roberta
vehicles for Classics Illustrated nationwide, had commissioned Strauss Feuerlicht. Unfortunately, it was barely noticed and
expired within six months of its March 1962 de-
but.55 Gilberton had better success, however, with
William Kanter’s crossword-puzzle magazine,
Merit, which lasted longer than the original Classics
Illustrated series.56
Meanwhile, the comics lines chugged on with
works in progress, the Juniors concluding in June
1962 with No. 576, The Princess Who Saw Every-
thing, and Classics Illustrated and the Special Issues
in July with No. 167, Faust, and No. 167A, Prehis-
toric World. New-title production shifted to En-
gland, where William Kanter moved to oversee the
operation. When it, too, discontinued the publi-
cation of additional titles in 1963, Al Sundel con-
tinued to write scripts for the Joint European Series
Classics, which were often illustrated by less than
satisfactory artists.57
Given the choices made for the British and
European lines and the literary tastes of Feuerlicht
and Sundel, it is likely that, had the American
series continued to issue new titles, classical Greek
and Roman and 19th-century Russian authors
would have been heavily represented, alternating
with the usual reliable “boys’ books.” Historical
works similar to The Conspiracy of Pontiac and The
Conquest of Mexico probably would have appeared
with greater frequency, especially after the loss of
The World Around Us as a nonfiction venue.
Al Sundel signed a contract in April 1961 for
the planned U.S. No. 171, The Siege of Sevastopol
by Leo Tolstoy; he completed the script in May.
Among the additional titles scheduled but never
issued were Two Little Savages by Ernest Thomp-
son Seton (scheduled No. 167), When the Sleeper
Wakes by H.G. Wells (scheduled No. 172), and
The Boy Captain by Jules Verne (scheduled No.
173). A mock-up list showing those Classics that
never arrived was printed in the spring of 1961.
Another planned title, scheduled in 1961 for
Unidentified artist, Tigers and Traitors (May 1962). The last of twelve Jules release in 1962 as No. 169, was an adaptation of
Verne titles in the series. John Dryden’s heroic-couplet version of Virgil’s
 XXII. “ROBERTA’S REFORMS” 239

Aeneid, which was released in Britain in 1963 as No. 161 and avoid adding fuel to the controversy about comic-book versions
finally published as No. 170 in the North American line by of the classics dumbing down the originals.58
Jack Lake Productions in 2007. The fate of The Aeneid was Hence, a title mentioned in 1960 as a future release and
actually linked to the continuing mid-century debate on the shown on the 1961 mock-up publication list had to wait forty-
proper role of Classics Illustrated in the larger culture. As edi- four years before being added to the American series. In 1962,
torial assistant Helene Lecar recalled: Bill Kanter took Reed Crandall’s artwork with him to England,
For the duration of my tenure with the company, every March where, perhaps, the question of “dumbing down the originals”
or April, Classics would get a couple of letters asking why we was not so heated a topic of discussion.
didn’t issue the Aeneid. There was some urgency in the tone of For the next few years Gilberton continued reprinting ex-
the letters that I didn’t understand, until Roberta explained that
isting editions and returning some retired titles — such as The
they always came from one of the posh New England private
boys’ schools..., where every kid had to take Latin, and there was Master of Ballantrae, The Gold Bug, and All Quiet on the Western
to be a final exam on Virgil. She said that she and Bill Kanter Front— to active duty on the reorder list. But it was just a
had made an editorial decision not to do the Aeneid, just to matter of going through the motions.

Gilberton Company envelope, 1963. Note the persistence of the older logo in the return address, more than 10 years after it had
been replaced on Classics Illustrated covers.
 XXIII

William E. Kanter: About a Son

T he Gilberton Company’s business and creative structure
might be considered, in symbolic terms, a triptych of
sorts, with founder Albert Kanter and editor Roberta Strauss
After the war, Bill Kanter began working for his father.
Although the Gilberton Company was very much a family
outfit involving his father and his uncles Maurice and Mike,
Feuerlicht occupying two of the panels. The third would be Bill soon came to play the central role in the day-to-day
filled by Albert Kanter’s second son, Bill, the man who shaped running of the operation. Indeed, in his role as editor in 1947–
Classics Illustrated into an international publishing phenome- 48, he may have been the chief advocate for changing the series’
non. William Ehrenreich Kanter was born on 29 May 1923 in name from Classic Comics to Classics Illustrated. Meanwhile,
Savannah, Georgia, the second child of Albert and Rose Ehren- Albert Kanter increasingly focused on promoting the product,
reich Kanter. He remained close to his brother Hal and his a niche that he perfectly filled with his well-honed natural
sister Saralea, and he was the most intimately involved of the salesman’s gifts.
siblings in the family business. “In general,” Buzz Kanter observed, “family businesses
Bill Kanter studied at Hofstra University, where he re- are very difficult, just by the nature of them. I know there was
ceived a full scholarship. As his son Buzz remarked, “He always always a great deal of pressure and high expectations for Bill.
loved learning.”1 He was part of the
university’s first graduating class; he
also enrolled in law school but never
completed the program. While
working at Hofstra as a teaching as-
sistant, Bill met his future wife,
Selma Roslyn (Penny) Lapin, when
she was on campus considering the
school. They married at the end of
the Second World War while Kan-
ter was home on leave.
During the war, he served in
the army, having moved through
Officer Candidate School as a lieu-
tenant and been promoted to the
rank of captain. Highly decorated,
Kanter was awarded a Silver Star
and two Purple Hearts.2 Bill’s war-
time service, as well as his brother
Hal’s, may have figured to some
degree in the prominence given
military subjects (including a page
devoted to decorations) in Classic
Comics filler items at that time.
(See, for example, “Medals for He- Albert L. Kanter, unidentified WOR radio host, and William Kanter (1952). Bill Kanter joins
roes” in The Deerslayer, No. 17 his father in promoting the recently published Hamlet and other Classics Illustrated titles
[January 1944].) (courtesy John “Buzz” Kanter).

240
 XXIII. WILLIAM E. KANTER 241

P.D.C. did not make the newly renamed

Classics Illustrated a truly national pres-
ence. As an astute businessman, Bill Kan-
ter grasped the potential and actively
sought a larger market.
Hence, he began doing business on
Gilberton’s behalf with the Cohen family,
owners of Hudson News Company, a
magazine wholesaler in northern New Jer-
sey and parts of New York City. Bobby
Cohen, a contemporary of Bill’s — and,
like him, the son of the owner of the family
firm — suggested that Kanter meet the
president of Curtis Circulation Com-
pany, a major distributor in an altogether
different league.
The Curtis management was im-
pressed with Classics Illustrated and of-
fered a test distribution program in Can-
ada. When the results proved positive,
with the series becoming a best-selling
line for Curtis in Canada, the Philadel-
phia-based distributor agreed to add
Gilberton to its roster of publications as
an independent national client. Classics
Illustrated was only the second publica-
tion in the network, after Esquire, that
Curtis did not own.
Helene Lecar remembered Kanter
as “a classic Type A guy” who was “very
straight, friendly and unstuffy, and a
wholehearted supporter of Roberta. His
operating business model was that the
Classics line was a magazine, not a book,
which worked well as long as he had that
class 2 mailing permit. It allowed him to
sell subscriptions, stabilizing his customer
base.”5
In the words of his son Buzz, Bill
Kanter was simultaneously a “very hands-
William Kanter (1954). Bill Kanter, the number-two man at Gilberton, was responsible
for much of the company’s day-to-day business decision-making and direction. on manager” and “man of letters” who
“enjoyed reading good literature.”6 Not
Al cherished the role of patriarch and master story teller — to surprisingly, he played a significant role in title selection for
his grandchildren and the world in general. Bill was the guy the series. In addition, wrote Buzz Kanter, “he was always
who got things done, often behind the scenes.”3 Occasionally, looking for ways to expand the line. He was concerned about
Albert Kanter, operating in an expansive mode, would “make lack of diversification.”7
claims or statements in public that Bill would then have to ex- Bill and Penny Kanter started their family in the early 1950s,
plain or correct — a chore he did not care for.”4 and their four sons—Andrew, John (Buzz), James, and Peter—
At the time Bill Kanter joined the family enterprise, were baby boomers like so many members of the Classics Il-
Gilberton publications were sold primarily to New York City lustrated constituency. That personal experience possibly fueled
retailers on a direct-from-publisher basis. An arrangement with his interest in expanding the range of Gilberton publications.
242 CLASSICS Illustrated

William Kanter, handing an award to a member of the Canadian Curtis Distribution staff, 1960s.

Once the Curtis-Gilberton connection was established, also published Mad magazine in a number of European edi-
Albert Kanter spent much of his time promoting the publications tions.9 The following year, Bill Kanter and his family moved
through radio and television interviews, as well as on publicity to England, at the dawn of the Swinging Sixties (just in time
tours, thus allowing the elder Mr. and Mrs. Kanter the oppor- for the younger Kanters to experience Beatlemania on its native
tunity to indulge their fondness for travel. “So,” Buzz Kanter ground). Kanter’s mission, as managing director of Thorpe &
commented, “Bill was responsible for pretty much all aspects Porter, was to oversee the expansion of the Joint European
of producing, printing, and distributing the products. He also Series ( JES).
managed the finances and staffing.”8 The latter duty led to his Under his guidance, new British titles were added and
most significant hiring decision when he offered a position to foreign-language titles proliferated. Among the latter were
the young Roberta Strauss in 1953. During that period, translations of Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno, Stephen
William Kanter was again listed on annual ownership, man- Crane’s The Blue Hotel, and Jack London’s Martin Eden. Kanter
agement, and circulation statements as Editor. hired Gilberton scriptwriter Al Sundel to produce such his-
In 1962, new-title production shifted from the New York torical works such as Alexander the Great, Rogers’ Rangers, and
office to the London-based affiliate Thorpe & Porter, which Custer’s Last Stand. Sundel’s adaptations for the American,
 XXIII. WILLIAM E. KANTER 243

British, and European series remain an impressive body of Frawley era no longer mentioned “Gilberton Co., Inc., Dept.
work. S.” in the address but instead simply listed the addressee as
Kanter worked closely with European colleagues such as “Classics Illustrated, Dept. S.”)
Rolf Jansen in Sweden, where much of the printing of British The Kanter publishing operation was consolidated and
and JES editions was done. The two men were contemporaries moved to William Kanter’s home in Stamford, Connecticut.
and shared a love of practical jokes. Buzz Kanter recalled an It was renamed Penny Press, after Bill’s wife Penny. The line
example: “During one trip to Sweden to meet with CI pub- consisted of crossword-puzzle magazines and books, including
lishers there, [Bill Kanter] got off the airplane wearing one of Approved Crosswords, Merit Crosswords, and, as a salute to the
those fake arrows through the head. He did not know that long-running family business, Classic Crosswords. Penny Kanter,
Rolf Jansen, also a joker, had told the local politicians that a an artist, improved the design of her namesake publications
famous American publisher was flying in. So as Bill came out Bill with his love of publishing, found himself spending more
of the airplane and on the stairs leading down to the tarmac..., time on Penny Press than on his other business activities, which
the town mayor was there with a band to welcome Bill (who he eventually sold in order to devote more time to building
was wearing the arrow through his head). Both Rolf and Bill the puzzle lines.12
thought it was hysterical; I doubt the local mayor shared the Just as he had joined his father at the Gilberton Company
humor.”10 after the war, so Bill’s sons John (Buzz) and Peter signed on
In 1969, Kanter sold Thorpe & Porter to Warner, an with the family firm in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Buzz
American publisher and distributor, and returned to the left in 1990 to launch his own publishing venture, TAM Com-
United States, where he “dabbled in what is now called invest- munications, which publishes motorcycle magazines. A couple
ment banking”11 and bought interests in a tire-retreading busi- of years later Penny Press purchased and merged with Dell
ness, a folding-furniture business, and a South American Magazines, a major competitor in the crossword-puzzle field.13
pump-manufacturing company. By this time, Patrick Frawley (It was something of an echo of Gilberton buying out Famous
had acquired control of the American parent Classics Illustrated Authors in 1951.) Peter Kanter is now president of Penny Press.
series, and the Gilberton name was no longer used in connec- Both sons carry on the legacy of their father, William E.
tion with the series. (Back-cover reorder list coupons from the Kanter, the man who made things happen.
 XXIV

Five Little Series and How

They Grew: Picture Progress;
Classics Illustrated Junior; Classics
Illustrated Special Issues;
The World Around Us; The Best
from Boys’ Life Comics
I n addition to Classics Illustrated, the Gilberton Company pub-
lished five other series for young readers. Each demonstrated
the publisher’s commitment to its Horatian goal of teaching while
PICTURE PROGRESS
In September 1953, aiming further to enhance Gilberton’s
entertaining. Only one was an unqualified commercial success. prestige and profitability, Albert Kanter launched Picture Pa-
By the fall of 1953, with more than 110 titles issued, Clas- rade, a line of comics aimed directly at schools, with a publi-
sics Illustrated stood unchallenged in its field, having van- cation cycle tied to the academic year. Eleanor Lidofsky,
quished and absorbed its sole competitor, Stories by Famous Gilberton’s public-relations director, named the series and be-
Authors. The series was winning increasing, if grudging, respect lieved passionately in its potential for reaching young readers.
from parents and teachers, and Gilberton emphasized its pur- “No one had published anything for the fourth-grade reading
pose in a 1953 promotional poster announcing that “CLAS- level on atomic energy or the United Nations,” Mrs. Lidofsky
SICS ILLUSTRATED Will Help YOU OPEN THE DOOR recalled. “I thought this would help fill in some educational
TO GOOD LITERATURE.” gaps.” She named the publication and scripted the entire first
At this point, the trademark had attained a degree of year’s cycle of issues.1
stature and success at home and abroad that enabled Albert Picture Parade focused on one topic per twenty-four-page
Kanter to trade upon the value of the logo by developing new issue. As an ad for the series in the October 1953 issue of The
lines. An Educational Series under the Classics banner had pro- Instructor explained: “In addition to the main story, each issue
duced two commercially sponsored titles in 1951 and 1953, Shel- will contain special features such as picture quizzes, vocabulary-
ter Through the Ages (Rubberoid) and The Westinghouse Story: building crossword puzzles and educational magic tricks. There
The Dreams of a Man (Westinghouse), both illustrated by Henry will be no advertising. ... As educational advisor, we have re-
C. Kiefer. But, despite their solidly instructional texts, these tained Dr. Jeanne Chall of CCNY’s Department of Education
16-page comics had been little more than one-shot glorified and co-author of the famous Dale-Chall Formula for
advertising supplements. Now Gilberton was ready to expand Predicting Readability.”2 A publisher’s letter that accompanied
its own educational mission. the September 1953 inaugural issue noted that “The selection

244
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 245

of subjects for the 1953–54 school year ... was based on the Mr. Wilson, driving home with his son and the radioactive-
recommendations of elementary school teachers from almost free Spot, sagely explains, “We have to have [the Bomb] to pro-
every state in the Union.” It seemed an auspicious beginning. tect us if we need it. I hope it will never again be used to destroy.”
The first issue was Andy’s Atomic Adventures, illustrated “I hope not,” Andy replies, going on to assure young readers
by Peter Costanza. It dealt with a subject that had become for that “This world is going to be even more wonderful when all
many postwar children a source of anxiety. In the story, the that atomic energy is really put to work.”
young hero’s dog Spot emerges uncontaminated from exposure After the fourth issue, the name of the series was changed
to a nuclear test after chasing a rabbit onto the nearby Nevada to Picture Progress, at the insistence of the publisher of the na-
proving grounds. Scriptwriter-editor Eleanor Lidofsky was as- tionally distributed Sunday supplement Parade.6 The range of
sisted on the issue’s contents by her husband, Columbia Uni- subjects covered history (Paul Revere’s Ride, The Lewis and Clark
versity nuclear physicist Leon J. Lidofsky, who also served as Expedition); science (The Story of Flight, The Discoveries of Louis
a research scientist with the Atomic Energy
Commission.3 Historian William W. Savage,
Jr., has commented on the “rather curious va-
riety of folklore” that developed in the United
States during the years following Hiroshima—
“a mythic vision of the Bomb, intended to
accommodate the thing to everyday life, to
make it an unobtrusive engine of death, so
to speak.” The comic book played its part in
sustaining the postwar myth, Savage con-
tends, by “advancing the idea of a benign
Bomb, a friendly Bomb, a Bomb that would
never hurt anybody unless we willed it —
and certainly it would never hurt us.”4
With a precarious cease-fire having
brought the Korean War to an inconclusive
conclusion as recently as July 27, 1953, and
the anti–Communist campaign of Senator
Joseph McCarthy still proceeding at ram-
ming speed, Picture Parade did its duty.
Andy’s Atomic Adventures does nothing if not
accentuate the positive. “Children were ter-
rified,” Mrs. Lidofsky said of the “duck-and-
cover” school-drill era. “The atomic bomb was
part of their world, and it wasn’t going away.
We were trying to help them understand that
nuclear energy wasn’t only a destructive
force.”5
Andy visits his quarantined pup at the
proving-grounds laboratory, where he re-
ceives an upbeat lesson in nuclear fission
(helpfully pronounced “fish-un”), complete
with a matchhead demonstration of a chain
reaction. He later learns that “Atomic energy
will light cities ... run big factories ... and run
my electric train.” In the penultimate panel,

Lou Cameron, The Man Who Discovered

America (September 1955). A Thomas Alva
Edison Award winner.
246 CLASSICS Illustrated

Pasteur); geography (The Hawaiian Islands, Alaska: The Great fall of 1955, Picture Progress abruptly came to an end, but not
Land); current events (Around the World with the U.N., 1954: before setting the pattern for the more significant Special Issues
News in Review); and entertainment (Life in the Circus, Summer and World Around Us.10
Fun). As mentioned earlier, one of the later titles, The Man
Who Discovered America, Vol. 3, No. 1 (September 1955), il-
lustrated by Lou Cameron, won the Thomas Alva Edison CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED JUNIOR
Award in 1956.
Meanwhile, Picture Progress was lauded in a November Next to Classics Illustrated, Albert Kanter’s most successful
1955 article in The Instructor by Helen Heffernan, Chief of the venture was Classics Illustrated Junior, a line geared, as the name
Bureau of Elementary Education in the California State De- suggests, to younger readers. Debuting in October 1953, the
partment of Education. Responding to critics of comic books 32-page comic books featured adaptations — or in some in-
who showed a tendency to “throw the baby out with the bath,” stances, such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, No. 508 (May
Heffernan analyzed various kinds of comics and then favorably 1954), liberal expansions — of fairy and folk tales. Where all
spotlighted the Gilberton educational series. She cited two ex- of Kanter’s other publications were issued under the Gilberton
amples of students who had been engaged by Picture Progress imprint, Classics Illustrated Junior was produced by Famous
issues. One of them, “Terry,” was reading The Time of the Cave Authors, Ltd., the former rival that was now a division of the
Man, which his teacher had dropped on his table: thriving business housed at 101 Fifth Avenue.
The mammoth elephant and the fur-clad primitive men on the An editors’ notice to readers appeared in the inaugural
cover were irresistible. Terry pored over the exciting cover and Junior edition, announcing that “[t]his is the beginning of a
then turned the page. He forgot himself, the classroom, the new and delightful series of colorful publications especially
sounds and sights outside the classroom window. He was back designed for the younger folks. ... We plan to spare no expense
thousands of years with the sabertooth and the cave bear[.] ... in presenting the very best in editorial matter and art work.
When Terry looked up, he drew a deep breath, and his teacher
knew that other books, thicker ones with more information on
Our beautiful front covers are reproductions of original paint-
the cave man, would be welcomed by Terry.7 ings especially prepared for us. Every issue will be as painstak-
ingly prepared, as carefully presented, as delightfully told as
In a caption accompanying a reproduction of a page from The this, our first issue. ... Parents will find pleasure in recapturing
Star-Spangled Banner, Heffernan noted with approval that wonderful memories while joining their children in these en-
“This series makes a point of including helps in pronunciation chanting stories of make-believe and the wealth of thrills they
and word meaning, and of using some text besides the con- hold.”
versation.”8 Ironically, the approbation appeared in print two Except for the last few months of 1954 and the first half
months after the final Picture Progress title was published. of 1955, the Juniors were issued monthly through 1958, when
Indeed, all of the recognition came too late. Despite a a bimonthly schedule was established that remained in place
subscription price of eighty cents for nine issues — a bargain until the tumultuous last half of 1961. The final Gilberton Clas-
even by Eisenhower Era standards — and a publicity campaign sics Illustrated Junior was The Princess Who Saw Everything, No.
that included back-cover Classics Illustrated ads in the spring 576 ( June 1962), but The Runaway Dumpling, No. 577 (Win-
of 1955, Picture Progress could not attract enough interest from ter 1969), was subsequently issued under Frawley ownership.
schools. The timing, undoubtedly, was unfortunate. Despite The Junior artwork emphasized visual simplicity for its
praise from Helen Heffernan and other progressive educators, kindergarten and elementary school audience; images were
the anticomics campaign was at its apex. In the eyes of many generally streamlined, though there were striking exceptions,
conservative-minded parents and teachers, a Classics version such as the books by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia or
of Swiss Family Robinson purchased at the neighborhood variety the relatively intricate illustrations by Kurt Schaffenberger11 for
store might have been preferable to a copy of The Haunt of Aladdin and His Lamp, No. 516 (May 1955). The Aladdin
Fear, but comic books were still comic books, and the classroom story, which had been included in the discontinued Classic
was no place for them. Comics No. 8, Arabian Nights, fared better in its Junior incar-
As Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht observed, years later, in a nation, remaining in print for the life of the publication. Artists
letter to Classics collector Rich Rostel of Louisville: “The series such as Peter Costanza, Lin Streeter, and Tony Tallarico, whose
was discontinued because it was ahead of its time and therefore drawings in Classics Illustrated often seemed too light or
lost money. Back in the 1950s, teachers were not willing to ac- juvenile for the context, thrived in the Juniors.
cept comic books as an educational tool. By the time they did, Alex A. Blum illustrated the first issue, Snow White and the
Picture Progress was dead.”9 So, after eighteen issues in the Seven Dwarfs, No. 501 (October 1953). His delicate linework
1953–1954 and 1954–1955 school years and two issues in the was eminently suitable for the familiar story, though he seemed
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 247

unable to invest the wicked queen

and her wizened alter ego with much
malevolence. Similarly, in Blum’s Jack
and the Beanstalk, No. 507 (April
1954), the giant looks more like a jolly
farmer than a menacing ogre; rather
than crashing into the ground, he falls
into a lake. As art director for the Jun-
ior series, Blum appeared to take pains
not to frighten young readers and ev-
idently advised his freelancers to fol-
low suit.
Managing editor Meyer A. Ka-
plan adopted the same policy for
scripts. Early issues frequently soften
the harsh or ambivalent endings of
the original fairy tales. Thus, in Little
Red Riding Hood, No. 510 (July 1954),
the wolf, who has merely locked
Grandma up in the closet, is chased
away by the woodsman and is “never
heard from again.” The trespassing
heroine of Goldilocks and the Three
Bears, No. 508 (May 1954), writes a
note of apology to her aggrieved
hosts, and all is forgiven. The little
man in Rumpelstiltskin, No. 512 (Sep-
tember 1958), stamps through the
floor upon hearing his name but is
rescued by two guards. He then goes
“back to the woods to find that tem-
per he lost so badly.”
William A. Walsh, who scripted
Mickey Mouse stories for Dell, illus-
trated more Juniors than any other
artist — indeed, he might be called
the Henry C. Kiefer of the series.
His whimsical style and light touch
in such titles as The Ugly Duckling,
No. 502 (November 1953), The Three
Little Pigs, No. 506 (March 1954),
and The Little Mermaid, No. 525
(April 1956), connected with a
younger readership than Gilberton
had previously attracted. Overall, Alex A. Blum, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (October 1953). Blum’s old-fashioned
illustrations established the Once-Upon-a-Time style of the new Classics Illustrated Junior
The Ugly Duckling, with its artful series.
page layouts and winning swan-in-
training hero, is Walsh’s strongest Junior effort. Yet his limited Certain titles, such as Pinocchio, No. 513 (November
range is apparent in some of the two dozen or so issues he drew 1954), The Dancing Princesses, No. 532 (November 1956), The
and inked, and the reputation the series has for uneven quality Chimney Sweep, No. 536 (March 1957), and The Golden Fleece,
is chiefly due to his hit-and-miss efforts. No. 544 (November 1957), show Walsh exceeding his usual
William A. Walsh, The Ugly Duckling (November 1953). Walsh became the most prolific of the Junior artists.
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 249

self-imposed limitations. The Danc-

ing Princesses contains an in-house
joke on pages 20 and 25, where the
princesses are shown greeting and
bidding good night to the princes, all
of whom have Gilberton-associated
names, including Albert (Kanter),
Maurice (Kanter), William (Kanter),
Alex (Blum), Aladar (Blum), Michael
(Kanter), and Oscar (Stiskin).
In The Golden Fleece, a retelling
of the legend of the hero Jason, the
artist was working in a more realistic
mode; he avoided the round-faced
cuteness that had afflicted another
foray into the realm of Greek myth,
The Golden Touch, No. 534 ( January
1957). Had The Golden Fleece been
expanded to 48 pages and the tragic
aspects of the story relating to Medea
been developed, the book would have
belonged on the Classics Illustrated
list. (As it happened, The Argonauts
was the last title published in the
British Classics Illustrated series.)
Peter Costanza, who illustrated
seafaring tales by Cooper, Kipling,
and Hawes for the parent publica-
tion, seemed more at ease stylistically
with the Juniors, for which he pro-
duced two exquisitely wrought titles:
Cinderella, No. 503 (December 1953),
and The Sleeping Beauty, No. 505
(February 1954). As elsewhere in the
artist’s work, great attention is devoted
to the characters’ eyes. Costanza clearly
had great fun in Cinderella endowing
the wicked stepmother and two step-
sisters with comically unpleasant
physical attributes to match their
splenetic dispositions. The awaken-
ing scene in The Sleeping Beauty was
scripted with a rather chaste climax,
in which, without the benefit of a Peter Costanza, Cinderella (December 1953). The artist brought elements of whimsy and
kiss, the slumbering princess opens satire to the best-selling Junior title.
her eyes as soon as her deliverer enters
her bedchamber. belina, No. 520 (November 1955), and The Nightingale, No.
An artist whose style was ideal for Classics Illustrated 522 ( January 1956), were painted by the artist. Although his
Junior was Dik Browne (1917–1989), best known as the creator so-called “primitivism” would have looked out of place in Clas-
of Hi and Lois and Hagar the Horrible. Many of the early Junior sics Illustrated, it added an engaging sprightliness to the covers
covers, including Puss-in-Boots, No. 511 (August 1954), Thum- and interior art for The Pied Piper, No. 504 ( January 1954),
250 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Dik Browne, The Pied Piper (January 1954). A first-rate cartoonist, Browne left his stamp on Classics Illustrated Junior.
Right: Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia, The King of the Golden River (December 1955). The pencil-and-ink team kept the
panels lively in John Ruskin’s Victorian parable.

Beauty and the Beast, No. 509 ( June 1954), and The Steadfast set standards for the series that were seldom met by other
Tin Soldier, No. 514 ( January 1955). artists.
Browne’s vibrant panels particularly enlivened The Pied Their treatment of John Ruskin’s Victorian wasteland-
Piper, based on Robert Browning’s poem; the artist’s portraits motif fairy tale, The King of the Golden River, No. 521 (De-
of the wily Piper and the venal burghers of Hamelin added a cember 1955), may be the most satisfying single issue in the
satiric dimension to the retelling. The Steadfast Tin Soldier is line, with its delightfully eccentric title character, the kind-
closer stylistically to Browne’s later comic strips and offers per- hearted young hero Gluck (in some ways a rehearsal for the
haps the finest example in the series of the artist’s elastic sim- artists’ handling of Huck Finn a few months later), and the
plicity — page after page, the artist demonstrates how much grasping, greedy older brothers, Hans and Schwartz. Through-
can be conveyed in a few decisive lines. out the book, Sekowsky and Giacoia shifted point-of-view an-
Some of the best illustrations in the Juniors came from gles for greater visual effect.
the pencil of Mike Sekowsky, whose work was inked by Frank While not as well rendered as the Sekowsky-Giacoia col-
Giacoia or at times by Mike Peppe. In The Golden Goose, No. laborations, the titles by Sekowsky and Peppe are still engaging.
518 (September 1955), Paul Bunyan, No. 519 (October 1955), Although the artists cut corners on the Yellow Brick Road and
The Gallant Tailor, No. 523 (February 1956), and The Magic drew the cowardly lion with disappointing cartoonlike features
Fountain, No. 533 (December 1956), Sekowsky and Giacoia in The Wizard of Oz, No. 535 (February 1957), they never-
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 251

theless made it clear that they were il-

lustrating L. Frank Baum’s book rather
than the 1939 MGM movie. Silly Willy,
No. 557 (December 1958), is, on the
whole, a better executed performance
of a tale from the Brothers Grimm that
in some respects is the male compan-
ion to Simple Kate, No. 549 (April
1958) (possibly illustrated by Jerry
Fasano), an earlier title with a similar
theme — that of the “holy fool” who
blunders his or her way into good for-
tune.
George Peltz’s cartoonlike draw-
ings proved appealing in such issues as
The Magic Dish, No. 558 (February
1958), with its broadfaced hero and al-
most Disneyesque supporting cast of
fish, ants, and ravens, and Hans Hum-
drum, No. 561 (August 1959), in which
the illustrator’s gifts for caricature
found expression in the features of the
freckled, chinless protagonist and the
long-nosed troll farmer he outwits. A
less successful effort was The Japanese
Lantern, No. 559 (April 1959), where
the artist attempted to fuse “oriental-
ism” and realism with oddly wooden
results. In The Salt Mountain, No. 564
(February 1960), Peltz produced a su-
perbly balanced mixture of comically
sketched characters and realistically
rendered ships, buildings, and Russian
costumes.
If Dik Browne’s covers established
a lighthearted newsstand identity for
the early Juniors, those by Leonard B.
Cole in 1959 and 1960 demonstrated
the Gilberton art director’s versatility,
issue after issue. Some of Cole’s Junior
covers, such as The Happy Hedgehog,
No. 568 (October 1960), showed the
same playfulness that he had brought
to Frisky Animals in the late 1940s and
George Peltz, Hans Humdrum (August 1959). Peltz’s elastic figures contributed to the
early 1950s. Others, including The appeal of his Junior titles.
Magic Dish, No. 558 (February 1959),
and The Enchanted Pony, No. 562 (October 1959), with their The majority of the Junior titles consisted of Märchen
lovingly rendered horses or other animals, added a touch of collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (Rumpelstiltskin), fairy
fairy-tale magic. One of Cole’s best nonanimal covers, for The tales written by Hans Christian Andersen (The Emperor’s New
Japanese Lantern, No. 559 (April 1959), was a gracefully bal- Clothes), or French and Italian folk tales adapted by Charles
anced composition tinged with the exotic. Perrault (Puss-in-Boots). The retellings, many of which were
252 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: Leonard B. Cole, The Magic Dish (February 1959).

Another of the artist’s fondly regarded horse covers. Right:
Tony Tallarico, How Fire Came to the Indians (April
1961). Tallarico’s brighter style signaled a new direction
in the Junior line.

scripted by freelancer Marion Gartler, adhered to the

three-part patterns of the originals but allowed room for char- When The Runaway Dumpling, No. 577, an adaptation of a
acter development, as in the case of the henpecked fisherman in Japanese tale by Lafcadio Hearn, appeared in 1969, no other
The Enchanted Fish, No. 539 (June 1957), or the gullible Inga edition was in print. Not until the publication in 1972 of The
in The Silly Princess, No. 565 (April 1960). Scripts became Funny Little Woman, a Caldecott Medal winner by Arlene
more sophisticated as the line expanded its range. Mosel and Blair Lent, did another retelling of the story reach
In addition to European folk and fairy tales, the Junior a contemporary audience.
series made available to young readers a wide range of stories Beginning with issue No. 509 in June 1954 and contin-
from various sources, from Greco-Roman myths (filtered uing through No. 576 in 1962, two- to five-page retellings of
through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wonder Book) such as The “Aesop’s Fables” (“The Ant and the Grasshopper”) or other short
Magic Pitcher, No. 548 (March 1958), to American folklore folk parables (“Stone Soup”) appeared as filler material. Adapt-
such as Johnny Appleseed, No. 515 (March 1955). A Native ers and artists devoted as much attention to these well-
American legend, How Fire Came to the Indians, No. 571 (April constructed Classics in miniature as they did to the title stories,
1961), illustrated in a spare, modern style by Tony Tallarico, and they produced some memorable work on a smaller scale,
was a landmark early step in multicultural storytelling for chil- as in William A. Walsh’s “The Fox and the Stork.” Rounding
dren. The tale celebrates the virtues of cooperation and com- out each issue were “The Animal World,” a feature that profiled
munity within the framework of an origins myth. such creatures as the dingo, the armadillo, and the chinchilla,
Some of the stories were unavailable in any other version. and nursery rhymes (“Sing a Song of Sixpence”) or poems by
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 253

Robert Louis Stevenson (“Windy

Nights”) or Edward Lear (“There Was
an Old Man with a Beard”).
Classics Illustrated Junior almost
rivaled the parent publication in pop-
ularity. Comics historian Hubert H.
Crawford has asserted that the series led
all children’s books, as opposed to sim-
ply comic books, in sales.12 A Decem-
ber 1960 Famous Authors ownership
statement declared an impressive av-
erage monthly circulation of 262,000.13
The two best-selling issues, Cinderella,
No. 503 (December 1953), and Paul
Bunyan, No. 519 (October 1955), were
both reprinted ten times — an indica-
tion that the series had equal appeal
to girls and boys. Only the final issue,
The Runaway Dumpling, had no
reprints, but by the time it was pub-
lished in 1969, the Frawley organiza-
tion was only two years away from
shutting the entire operation down.
One of the intriguing “what ifs”
in Gilberton lore involves an abortive
animated television series based on
Classics Illustrated Junior. In 1958, Al-
bert Kanter approached P.A.T., the
production team that would soon be-
come famous for Rocky the Flying Squir-
rel, and proposed a cartoon program
based on Junior titles. Bill Scott, Jay
Ward’s partner and the voice of Bull-
winkle, began to work up a script and
storyboard adapted from the Junior
edition of Goldilocks and the Three
Bears. The project, however, was aban-
doned, and Ward and Scott would in
short order offer their own “Fractured
Fairy Tales.”14
At about the same time, M-G-M
Records released, on its budget Lion
label, a forty-five-minute album of
The Wonderful World of Fairy Tales (Gilberton promotion, 1959). A back-cover ad (No.
songs and stories adapted from twelve 501 reprint) for an M-G-M/Lion recording of Junior stories by television and radio per-
Classics Illustrated Junior issues, in- sonality Robert Q. Lewis.
cluding Pinocchio, The Pied Piper, The
Wizard of Oz, and The Sleeping Beauty, performed by radio Classics Illustrated Junior issues were often to be found in
and television personality Robert Q. Lewis. The record, like kindergarten or elementary-school classrooms. Special-needs
the projected cartoon series, was evidence of Kanter’s faith in teachers made effective use of the series. Writing in the De-
his product and his entrepreneurial determination to seek as cember 1967 edition of The Instructor, Charlotte Stafford of
many different media outlets for it as possible. the Lincoln School in Willoughby, Ohio, praised Classics Il-
254 CLASSICS Illustrated

lustrated Junior, which she used to introduce her hearing- timing was significant—and not merely because of the seasonal
impaired students to the “fairy stories, Aesop’s fables, and nurs- factor. Classics Illustrated was putting its best foot forward at a
ery rhymes that are part of our culture.”15 She noted, in par- time when comic books were enduring sustained scrutiny and
ticular, the impact of two titles —The House in the Woods, No. attack.
543, and Jack and the Beanstalk, No. 507. Stafford’s article As further proof of its bona fides as an educational pub-
concluded with precisely the sort of endorsement that Albert lisher, Gilberton had recently added Macbeth to its list and was
Kanter had sought from the beginning: “The drawings and preparing to include Caesar’s Conquests. Having just scrapped
styles of different periods of time give children background Picture Progress, Albert Kanter was ready to produce an even
information that they could not possibly learn in such detail more emphatic demonstration of the difference between Classics
by words alone. Later, when they become proficient readers, and other comics.
they may read more complete versions. But the foundation is What better subject, then, than Jesus? How could even a
laid in the early reading years.”16 Fredric Wertham take exception? The answer, of course, was that
critics might see it, as Wertham had viewed the comic-book ver-
sions of Shakespeare, as a vulgarization or even desecration of
CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL ISSUES the source material. Anti-Semitic fundamentalists might even
object to Kanter’s credentials as publisher. Still, the potential
In December 1955, Gilberton issued a ninety-six-page for prestige and profit made the venture worth the risk.
Classics Illustrated Special Edition titled The Story of Jesus. The The concept of biblical comics, like the concept of “classic”
comics before it, was not new. In the 1940s, Max Gaines’s
seven-issue Picture Stories from the Bible had sold millions of
copies.17 Two of the New Testament numbers from the series
had been reprinted in 1945 as a 96-page Complete Life of
Christ. More recently, Atlas had published, from August 1953
to March 1954, five issues of Bible Tales for Young People,
and Famous Funnies had begun a four-issue run of Tales
from the Great Book in February 1955.
Convinced that Gilberton could improve on the for-
mula, managing editor Meyer A. Kaplan hired an African-
American author and former missionary, Lorenz Graham,
to script the Classics book. A preliminary script had been
submitted in 1953 by Eleanor Lidofsky for the Picture
Progress series, but the 1955 comic book would be more than
twice the length allowed for the now-defunct publication.
Graham’s adaptation would have pleased the most
rock-ribbed biblical literalist. Indeed, it satisfied the con-
servative Daniel A. Poling, editor of the Christian Herald
Magazine, who delivered a back-cover endorsement express-
ing his happiness “that the manuscript follows the gospel
texts in the classic King James vernacular, and that it tells
that immortal story, the greatest story ever told, without
distortion or interpretation.” Representatives of the Roman
Catholic Archbishopric of Mexico, the Canadian Council
of Churches, and the Queens Federation of Churches also
supplied testimonials. Gilberton marketed the book as “The
Classic of Classics.”
Not only was the adaptation faithful to the letter of
the Authorized Version, the illustrations, by Junior work-
horse William A. Walsh and Classics veteran Alex A. Blum,

Unidentified artist, The Story of Jesus (December 1955,

December 1958). The variant “Three Camels” cover.
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 255

are stiffly reverent in the best tradition of Sunday

School art. Perhaps some misgivings occurred
with Victor Prezio’s painted cover, showing Jesus
giving the Sermon on the Mount. It was briefly
replaced in a 1958 reprint with what collectors
call the “Three Camels” cover, a highly desirable
variant, but the original returned in the final
two printings.
In the summer of 1956, another 35-cent
Special appeared, this time and henceforth as an
Issue rather than an Edition. The Story of Amer-
ica, No. 132A ( June 1956), was simply a com-
pilation of recycled Picture Progress stories: Lou
Cameron’s award-winning “The Man Who Dis-
covered America,” Lin Streeter’s “The Birth of
America,” Peter Costanza’s “Paul Revere’s Ride,”
and Tom Hickey’s “Star Spangled Banner.”
The year ended with an Old Testament
story to balance the 1955 Story of Jesus. The Ten
Commandments, No. 135A (December 1956), il-
lustrated by Norman Nodel, was the first of two
Paramount movie tie-ins arranged with the as-
sistance of Albert Kanter’s son, Hollywood
screenwriter and director Hal Kanter. An ad for
the film gracing the inside back cover promised
that “If you have enjoyed this book you are cer-
tain to enjoy this motion picture masterpiece.”
Norman Nodel’s well-researched illustra-
tions, with their scratchboard effects and exper-
iments in shading, stood in dramatic aesthetic
contrast to the reverently inhibited panels in The
Story of Jesus. Once again, Lorenz Graham pro-
vided an unobjectionable text, based, unlike the
movie—or the competing Dell Giant Moses and
the Ten Commandments (August 1957), illus-
trated by Mike Sekowsky — on the Book of Ex-
odus.
Like The Story of Jesus, The Ten Command- George Wilson, Adventures in Science (June 1957). The Cold War looms large
ments boasted back-cover blurbs from religious in the year of Sputnik.
leaders. Daniel A. Poling returned, declaring
that “Unqualifiedly I endorse this work.” He was joined by Atomic Adventures,” “The Discoveries of Louis Pasteur,” and
spokesmen for the National Conference of Christians and Jews “From Tom-Tom to TV” (an unpublished Picture Progress issue
and, again, the Canadian Council of Churches, and a rabbi covering a subject that would be explored in greater depth in
and a Methodist minister from New York City, the latter ut- a 1960 World Around Us issue on communications). Peter
tering the rather Delphic pronouncement: “We think in pic- Costanza illustrated the first three stories and Lin Streeter the
tures and these are pictures which make us think.” last. The popularity of Adventures in Science may have been
Running a close second to The Story of Jesus in sales was due both to the Cold War appeal of its missile-launcher cover
Adventures in Science, No. 138A ( June 1957), which enjoyed a and to the book’s appearance on the threshold of the space race
total of three printings. Following the method employed in between the United States and the Soviet Union, when the very
The Story of America, the editors merely assembled four Picture word “science” was invested with talismanic properties.
Progress features, “The Story of Flight,” the redoubtable “Andy’s Gilberton’s next Special proved to be the most honored
 256
CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: George Evans, The Rough Rider (December 1957). Artist Evans received the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation National Mass Media Award “for Art Work in
The Rough Rider as ‘The Best American History Comic Book’”— a project that he regarded as a disappointment. Right: John P. Severin, “Texas and the Alamo” in
Blazing the Trails West (June 1958). Period authenticity was one of artist’s Severin’s most consistent qualities.
Joe Orlando, “The Pony Express” in Crossing the Rockies (November 1958). Pony Bob’s achievement is neatly summed up on this
page of original art (collection of the author).
258 CLASSICS Illustrated

of all the titles in the series. Published under the imprimatur (“The Oregon Trail,” “Death and the Donners,” “This Is the
of the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Commission, The Rough Place”), by George Evans (“The Gold Rush”), and by Joe Or-
Rider, No. 141A (December 1957), was a factually accurate, if lando (“The Apache Wars,” “The Overland Mail,” “Pony Ex-
hagiographic, portrait of the energetic young president, pre- press,” “Bound By Rails”). In particular, Orlando’s “Pony Ex-
senting his various incarnations as cowboy, police commis- press” presented a compelling depiction of the excitement that
sioner, soldier, governor, and hunter. The book, penciled by attended the ambitious mail-delivery mission. Most of the sto-
George Evans, received congressional approbation, a ringing ries, however, lacked much of the dramatic conflict found in
testimonial from the Director of the Centennial Commission, Blazing the Trails West, and the issue failed to attract a wide
and the now standard praise from the dependable Daniel A. readership.
Poling and other worthies, including the Director of the Pres- The final volume, Men, Guns and Cattle, No. 153A (De-
ident’s Council on Youth Fitness and the First Vice-President cember 1959), with its focus on the post–Civil War era of cattle
of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.
All four of the Special Issues published in 1958
and 1959 were devoted to an impressive trilogy
outlining the history of America’s westward move-
ment—and a related Canadian excursion. One of
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht’s most ambitious proj-
ects, the well-researched, handsomely executed se-
rial represented one of Gilberton’s finest educa-
tional efforts. The editor’s demand for accuracy
led her to engage the services of Sylvester Vigi-
lante, Bibliographer of the New York Historical
Society, as series consultant.
Blazing the Trails West, No. 144A (June 1958),
illustrated by George Evans and John Severin,
began with an overview of colonial history, re-
counted the careers of Daniel Boone and Kit Car-
son (both of whom had starred in their own Clas-
sics Illustrated issues), followed the Lewis and
Clark Expedition and the Santa Fe Trail, and con-
cluded with chapters on the Alamo and the Mex-
ican War. Although the issue of “Manifest Des-
tiny” was taken at face value (“[M]any Americans
were saying that the United States ought to in-
clude all of the Far West”), and nothing of the
debate on the Mexican conflict was reflected, the
book nevertheless offered young readers a com-
pelling account of the nation’s expansion. Sev-
erin’s work, in particular, was outstanding, with
its close attention to American and Mexican uni-
forms and period attire and a heroic style that
vividly conveyed a sense of the sweep of history.
The sequel, Crossing the Rockies, No. 147A
(December 1958), was another visually strong in-
stallment, featuring cover artwork by Gerald Mc-
Cann and interior illustrations by Norman Nodel

Everett Raymond Kinstler, “The Last Warpath”

in Men, Guns and Cattle (December 1959). The
distinguished portrait painter provides a striking
view of Geronimo.
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 259

drives, gunslingers, and Indian wars, fared somewhat better at (December 1960). Both titles contained a mixture of good and
a time when cowboy programs such as Gunsmoke and Maverick indifferent art, the best represented by Norman Nodel, Bruno
dominated prime-time television. Artistically the least unified Premiani, George Evans, and Gray Morrow. Perhaps the finest
of the Western titles, the book included a cover painting and section in either book was Premiani’s beautifully rendered
internal art by Gerald McCann and additional illustrations by nine-page historical overview of atomic theory in No. 156A,
Leonard B. Cole, George Evans, noted artist Everett Raymond extending from ancient India through the early 19th century.
Kinstler, Norman Nodel, and George Peltz (whose child- The Atomic Age enlarged upon the optimism of “Andy’s
friendly rendering of the Pecos Bill legend would have been Atomic Adventures,” looking forward to a time when, “[f ]rom
more appropriate for the Classics Illustrated Junior series in infancy to old age,” thanks to the benefits of atomic research,
which most of his work appeared). “man will live with little fear of disease. He will live more easily
An attempt at an evenhanded treatment of Native Amer- and longer.” As Norwegian Classics authority and original-art
icans was made in the script’s narration of the slaughter of the collector Øystein Sørensen observed, The Atomic Age “is a very
buffalo and the origin of the Ghost Dance; even so, Geronimo interesting period piece. Especially the last chapter, with its
was depicted as the baddest of bad guys, and the massacre at retro-futuristic optimism: Nuclear power and happy people
Wounded Knee was rendered almost in terms of
tragic necessity. The white man’s perspective pre-
vailed, and most of the book’s 96 pages dealt with
the exploits of Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid,
Bat Masterson, and the Earp brothers. A sketch
of Wild Bill’s career depicted a more complex,
ambivalent figure than the straight-shooter eu-
logized in Classics Illustrated No. 121.
Wedged in among these titles was a nod to
the Western history of the north, Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, No. 150A ( June 1959), for which
retired Mounties Superintendent J.C. Story
served as consultant. Although the intent may
have been not to slight young Canadian readers
while the Western trilogy was under way, the re-
sult was the weakest of the Special Issues— the
subject would have been more appropriate for
thes maller-scale World Around Us series.
Further, the artwork for the Mounties book
was of varying quality, with the best contribu-
tions by Graham Ingels (“Pony Soldiers”) and
Ray Ramsey (“Manhunt!”). If the former’s tame
drawings bore little resemblance to his inventive
“Ghastly” creations for EC, the latter’s style had
grown more refined since his simpler Golden Age
drawings for the 1942 Classic Comics version of
The Last of the Mohicans.
Having covered a significant portion of the
American past, editor Feuerlicht turned her at-
tention to the more current matters of science and
technology in The Atomic Age, No. 156A ( June
1960), and Rockets, Jets and Missiles, No. 159A

Gaylord Welker, The Atomic Age, original cover

painting (June 1960). The images on this cover
did little to dispel Cold War anxieties (collection
of Øystein Sørensen).
260 CLASSICS Illustrated

stone for faster flights to come as man reached for

space.” Gilberton anticipated Tom Wolfe’s enshrine-
ment of the laconic Yeager as the original exemplar
of “the right stuff ” by nearly two decades.
John Tartaglione’s “Jets Around the World”
offered sharply drafted examples of commercial
(Boeing 707, Convair 880) and military (Saab-35
Draken, MIG-21) models; his “Rocket Engines”
contained side-view diagrams of solid-fuel, liquid-
fuel, and other rockets. Somewhat ominously, the
editors surveyed the Polaris, Thor, SM-65 Atlas,
and other missiles and rockets, accurately rendered
by Gerald McCann, who also illustrated biograph-
ical sketches of rocket and jet pioneers Robert
Hutchings Goddard and Frank Whittle.
Individual planets were discussed on text pages,
and the final third of the book, illustrated by Gray
Morrow and others, centered on Project Mercury,
the seven astronauts, and the future of the space
program. John F. Kennedy had just been elected
president, and a New Frontier in space beckoned.
No issue published by Gilberton had been as timely,
but the rapid movement of events within the next
few months would make Rockets, Jets and Missiles
seem suddenly dated. A sequel would be required.
Meanwhile, the year 1961 witnessed the begin-
ning of the Civil War Centennial; marketing had
been well under way in 1960. Not until the American
Bicentennial 15 years later would there again be
such public enthusiasm for a national historical
epoch, and Gilberton took full advantage of the
spirit of the times, issuing The Civil War, No. W26,
in its World Around Us series in October 1960 and
The War Between the States (adopting the Southern
locution) as Special Issue No. 162A in June 1961.
Two artists overlapped — Sam Glanzman and
George Peltz — and so, inevitably, did some of the
subject matter. Strong showings were made in the
Special Issue in sections by Jack Kirby (“Fort
Gray Morrow, “Seven for Space” in Rockets, Jets and Missiles (December
Sumter,” “The Peninsula,” “Vicksburg,” “New
1959). A handsome primer on Project Mercury. York City”) and George Evans (“Shiloh,” “Recon-
struction”). However, some of the flatness that
everywhere!”18 The Special ended, however, on a cautionary note: seems to have coincided with Sidney Miller’s tenure
“Whether the atom is used to build up a new world, or blow up as art director crept into the sections by Glanzman (“The
the present one, is up to us.” Causes,” “Gettysburg”).
Rockets, Jets and Missiles addressed the fascination of the As history, The War Between the States was well-researched
space race and the anxieties of the Cold War. Airplane specialist and impressive in its scope. A four-page section titled “The
George Evans lavished attention on a Flying Fortress, an F-51 Causes” (marred slightly by artist Glanzman’s misplacing of
Mustang, an F-80 Shooting Star, and the experimental X-1 in the Missouri Compromise Line on a map) succinctly covered
a superbly paced introductory section on Chuck Yeager’s 1947 such topics as the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott Deci-
flight that broke the sound barrier and served as a “stepping sion, and the struggle between proslavery and abolitionist
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 261

forces in Kansas. Strategic and tactical considerations were pre- erratic, World War II, No. 166A, landed on newsstands and
sented in sections on New Orleans, the Seven Days’ Battles, drugstore racks. The recent popularity of William L. Shirer’s
Gettysburg, and Vicksburg. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (and a Landmark edition for
A structural weakness was evident in The War Between young readers), the box-office success of Judgment at Nuremberg,
the States in the extended attention devoted to the exploits of and the televised trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in
John Hunt Morgan’s raiders in Kentucky or those of Confed- Jerusalem made the subject a timely addition to the series.
erate saboteurs in New York at the expense of the more signifi- The art in World War II was uniformly superior; the three
cant battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and contributors — Angelo Torres, George Evans, and Norman
the Wilderness, which received half-page summaries
each. Still, the text dealing with Gettysburg provided
a well-proportioned ten-page account of the cam-
paign, including the behind-the-scenes conflict be-
tween Union generals, Henry Halleck and Joseph
Hooker, that led to General George Meade’s assump-
tion of command, and the disagreement between
Confederate generals, Robert E. Lee and James
Longstreet, over the third-day disaster that would
become known as “Pickett’s Charge.”
Exactly 100 years to the day after the firing on
Fort Sumter, on 12 April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri
A. Gagarin became the first person to reach outer
space and to orbit the earth. The Civil War Centen-
nial had been upstaged at its formal inception, and
attention shifted again to the space race. By the end
of 1961, two Americans had briefly entered outer
space, and a third, John H. Glenn, would soon achieve
the status of national hero with his orbital flight on
20 February 1962.
Against that backdrop, Gilberton published Spe-
cial Issue No. 165A, To the Stars! (December 1961).
Up to the minute, the book covered the recent exploits
of both Gagarin and Alan Shepard, the first American
in space. As in all other science-oriented Specials, the
script provided a historical perspective — in this in-
stance, expertly drawn, thoroughly researched sections
by Angelo Torres on the history of flight, and by
George Evans on the changing concept of Earth’s po-
sition in the universe, the evolution of the telescope,
and William Herschel’s discovery of Uranus.
A significant portion of To the Stars! abandoned
the traditional panel format of comics in favor of il-
lustrated text. Indeed, it may have been the most
straightforwardly educational of any book issued by
any of the Gilberton lines. In its comprehensive treat-
ment of the sun, the planets, and the constellations,
To the Stars! offers some indication of the direction
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht might have pursued with
the Special Issues had new-title production not ceased
Angelo Torres, “Stalingrad” in World War II (Spring 1962). Editors Feuer-
in 1962.
licht and Lecar produced a wide-ranging survey of the causes, campaigns,
At some point in the first half of 1962, when the and consequences of the Second World War, illustrated by three of the
Gilberton publication cycle had become increasingly best Classics Illustrated artists.
262 CLASSICS Illustrated

Nodel — were from the top tier of freelancers. An incisive, oc-historic World, appeared. The first fifty-seven pages of artwork
casionally eloquent script also distinguished the issue, which were by Angelo Torres, and the remaining 39 were divided
among George Evans, Norman Nodel, Jo Albistur, and Gerald
surveyed such subjects as the origins of the conflict, the fall of
Western Europe, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, McCann. Fine scripting by Al Sundel complemented the care-
the war in the Pacific, the Nazi death camps, and the Nurem- fully researched and well-wrought illustrations. The popular
bergw ar-crimest rials. title was reprinted once.
In July 1962, a final American Special Issue, No. 167A, Pre- Sixty of the book’s ninety-six pages carried no speech
balloons; instead, much of the issue offered half-
or full-page drawings (with appended pronun-
ciations) of such dinosaurs as Tyrannosaurus,
Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and
Plesiosaur, and sections on prehistoric mammals
and early man, where minimal dialogue was in-
troduced. A cleverly designed section scripted
by Helene Lecar, “The Wonderful Earth
Movie,” dramatically conveyed the concept of
geological time. The principles of evolution
were presented more thoroughly than in some
school textbooks of the era, beginning with
“The First Fishes,” continuing with “Living on
Land,” and on through “The Dawn Men” to
“Homo Sapiens.”
An unnumbered Special Issue on the United
Nations was published in 1964 to capitalize on
the New York World’s Fair, but it was not part
of the U.S. series.19 Begun by George Evans, An-
gelo Torres, and Bruno Premiani before the Gil-
berton Company’s new-title production was
ended in 1962, the book was finished by Euro-
pean artists. The English-language edition was
printed in Norway for sale at the United Na-
tions headquarters in New York.
Under the guidance of Roberta Strauss
Feuerlicht, Classics Illustrated Special Issues af-
forded young readers a wealth of educational
material that exceeded in scope anything at-
tempted before in the comics medium. The best
titles went beyond such popular noncomics se-
ries as How and Why Wonder Books and com-
pared not unfavorably with Random House’s
Landmark Books. With the series, Albert Kanter
saw his dream of using comic books as an edu-
cational medium exceed his original expecta-
tions. Yet, in a sense, the last three Specials were
no longer comic books, and that perception,
which would have been welcomed by the edi-
torial staff in 1961, ultimately served to strand
the series in a conceptual limbo between the
dime store and the classroom, where its daring
George Evans, “The Dawn Men” in Prehistoric World (July 1962). An “illumi- comprehensiveness and solid artistic merits re-
nating” account of the discovery of fire. mained, unfortunately, unsung.
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 263

THE WORLD AROUND US The World Around Us, published under the slightly dif-
ferent corporate name of Gilberton World-Wide Publications,
Similar in format to Classics Illustrated Special Issues but Inc., was a particular passion of editor Roberta Strauss Feuer-
priced a dime cheaper at twenty-five cents, The World Around licht, who adopted from the outset a user-friendly approach
Us covered a broader range of topics, from the Crusades to for the series. Where the rather imposing Story of Jesus had
fishing, from pirates to medicine, from railroads to ghosts. launched the Special Issues, the humbler Illustrated Story of
Both series represented extensions of the Picture Progress con- Dogs, No. W1 (September 1958), premiered the new line.
cept. While two Special Issues reprinted several Picture Progress Gilberton’s top artist, George Evans, drew and inked the first
titles, The World Around Us incorporated four unpublished section, “Heroic Dogs” (a throwback to the late 1940s and
Picture Progress titles — featuring new scripts and art, Through early 1950s “Dog Heroes” Classics filler articles), which con-
Time and Space: The Story of Communications, American Pres- tained, among other canine biographies, the tale of the leg-
idents, and Whaling appeared as separate issues, and Weather endary Balto. The rest of the sections were competently, if
did duty as filler material.20 uninspiringly, illustrated by Ernest H. Hart (who also painted

Left: Leonard B. Cole, The Illustrated Story of Horses

(November 1958). The horse-loving artist’s favorite (and only
signed) horse cover. Right: Graham Ingels, “Bloody Black-
beard” in The Illustrated Story of Pirates (March 1959).
Among the piratical profiles in the seventh World Around Us
issue was Graham Ingels’s chapter devoted to Edward Teach,
better known as Blackbeard.
264 CLASSICS Illustrated

the much more impressive cover), George Peltz, Lin Streeter, Classic Comics in 1945, contributed a section on Napoleon’s
and William A. Walsh. rise to power.
The unevenness of the artwork remained a constant prob- At the time, The French Revolution was the most compre-
lem for the series, as did the eclecticism that Feuerlicht envi- hensive European historical project yet undertaken by Gilber-
sioned as one of its chief merits. Dogs was followed the next ton (the American westward movement having already been
month by Indians, No. W2 (October 1958), and
then by Horses, No. W3 (November 1958), and
Railroads, No. W4 (December 1958). A timely
issue devoted to Space, No. W5 ( January 1959),
anticipated more extensive treatments of the
topic in the Special Issues. One of the most pop-
ular titles, The FBI, No. W6 (February 1959),
appeared at a time when crimefighter dramas
captured a large share of the television audience.
Pirates, No. W7 (March 1959), was an impres-
sively comprehensive historical survey of a fa-
vorite preadolescent subject, with solid sections
on Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, and Captain
Kidd. Expanding on a Picture Progress theme and
setting the stage for a future Special Issue was Flight,
No. W8 (April 1959). An armed forces miniseries
allotting one recruitment-oriented title apiece to
the United States Army, the Navy, the Marines,
the Coast Guard, and the Air Force filled the
prime enlistment months of late spring and
summer.
Then suddenly, with a single issue, the
character of The World Around Us changed dra-
matically. In October 1959, Gilberton published
No. W14, The French Revolution, an exceptionally
well-researched and well-organized work. The 80-
page book explained the three Estates of prerev-
olutionary France, discussed the economic crisis
that led to the calling of the Estates-General,
explained the Declaration of the Rights of Man,
and offered visually gripping accounts of the fall
of the Bastille, the march on Versailles, the royal
family’s abortive escape to Varennes, the attack
on the Tuileries, the trials and executions of
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the birth and
death of the Terror, and the rise of Napoleon.
Biographical sketches of Danton, Robespierre,
Saint-Just, and other leaders were provided.
The French Revolution was stronger artisti-
cally than most World Around Us titles; more
than fifty pages were illustrated by Gerald Mc-
Cann, Norman Nodel, and George Evans. DC
Superman inker George D. Klein (1915–1969)
provided a dramatic visual account of the flight George Klein, “Escape to Varennes” in The Illustrated Story of The French Rev-
to Varennes. Ann Brewster, who had worked olution (October 1959). Shifting vantage points enhance the drama of the arrest
with Robert Hayward Webb on Frankenstein for of the royal family.
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 265

addressed in the Special Issues); it demonstrated the comics

medium’s largely unacknowledged ability to address great
themes without diluting or trivializing them. Further,
the subject matter lived up to the international scope of
the series advertised in the name The World Around Us.
The book also paved the way for other complexly ren-
dered historical studies on the Crusades, the American
Civil War, and the Spanish conquest of America.
With the next title, Prehistoric Animals, No. W15
(November 1959), the series’ page count dropped from
eighty to seventy-two. Like Prehistoric World, the Special
Issue that followed it nearly three years later, most of the
issue consisted of illustrated text. Sections outlining the
origins and evolution of life on earth predominated.
Sam Glanzman’s detailed full-page renderings of di-
nosaurs were the artist’s finest contribution to any Gil-
berton publication. Gerald McCann provided artwork
for biographical sketches of William Smith, Baron Cu-
vier, and Charles Darwin, while Gray Morrow depicted
the process of fossilization and the earliest discoveries
of prehistoric “Tracks, Teeth and Bones.” In “Death of
the Dinosaur” and “Mammals, Men and Ice,” Al Wil-
liamson created characteristic fusions of landscapes and
figures for what proved to be visually the strongest sec-
tions of the book.
Attention then shifted to The Crusades, No. W16
(December 1959), an impressive overview that was as
consistently well-illustrated — by Gerald McCann, Ev-
erett Raymond Kinstler, Bruno Premiani, Edd Ashe,
and H.J. Kihl—as The French Revolution. Less successful
was a multicultural survey of Festivals, No. W17 ( Janu-
ary 1960), which, apart from sections on Christmas by
George Evans and Thanksgiving and Chanukah by
Norman Nodel, was an anthology of artistic disappoint-
ments. A who’s who of Gilberton freelancers — George
Evans, Al Williamson, John Tartaglione, Bruno Premi-
ani, Gray Morrow, Norman Nodel, and Angelo Tor-
res — contributed to the ambitious Great Scientists, No. Geoffrey Biggs, The Illustrated Story of Prehistoric Animals (November
W18 (February 1960), an edition that reached back as 1959). Dueling dinosaurs.
far as Eratosthenes and concluded with Einstein. When
the book appeared, American educators were emphasizing and Franklin D. Roosevelt. A further reduction to sixty-four
the need to strengthen and expand science courses in the na- pages occurred in the issue. Summer reading included such
tion’s schools. varied subjects as Boating, No. W22 ( June 1960), Great Ex-
Issues devoted to The Jungle, No. W19 (March 1960), and plorers, No. W23 ( July 1960), Ghosts, No. W24 (August 1960),
Communications, No. W20 (April 1960) followed. As the 1960 and Magic, No. W25 (September 1960).
presidential primary season headed toward the summer con- Ghosts was something of a departure for The World
ventions, The World Around Us capitalized on the growing in- Around Us, which, even in its lighter moments, had focused
terest in the campaigns with American Presidents, No. W21 only upon the factual and verifiable. Although some attention
(May 1960), which profiled each chief executive through Eisen- was given to research on extrasensory perception, most of the
hower, with sequential-art chapters on Washington, Jefferson, book was just plain fun. The best sections were the modern
John Quincy Adams, Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, urban myths “The Hitch-Hiker,” strikingly rendered by
266 CLASSICS Illustrated

their rain-soaked, cross-hatched panels exude

a delicious creepiness.
As publicity concerning the Civil War
Centennial mounted during the fall of 1960,
The World Around Us published a sixty-four-
page overview of the conflict. The Civil War,
as noted earlier, was later complemented by
a Special Issue No. 162A, The War Between the
States. Norman Nodel depicted a battle scene
in the cover painting, where the sword-borne
officer’s cap between the tattered Union and
Confederate flags immediately drew the
viewer into the action. Nodel also provided
interior art, along with Gerald McCann, An-
gelo Torres, George Peltz, H.J. Kihl, Sam
Glanzman, and Gray Morrow, whose “War
Drums,” an account of a Union drummer
boy’s battlefield initiation, was the best sec-
tion in the book. A substantial amount of
space was devoted to illustrated text (as op-
posed to panels), including “These Brave
Fields,” a Union lieutenant’s account of the
battle of Gettysburg, and biographical
sketches of paired “War Leaders” such as Lin-
coln and Davis, Grant and Lee, and Meade
and Jackson.
In High Adventure: The Illustrated Story
of Men Against Mountains, No. W27 (No-
vember 1960), members of a “European Ad-
visory Board” were listed for the first time
beneath the Gilberton editorial credits on the
inside front cover. As a result of the pub-
lisher’s struggles with the Post Office over the
renewal of its second-class mailing permit,
beginning with this issue, the editorial staff
turned a hefty portion of the “back of the
book” into a collection of separate and un-
related sections —“The World of Story” (a
noncomics adaptation of Mark Twain’s
“Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”); serials
(“D-Day” and “The Red Planet”); and “The
World of Science,” a continuing feature. As
Dan Malan noted, “Gilberton had been so
successful in marketing [Classics Illustrated]
as books that they were unable to convince
Bruno Premiani, “The Walled City” in The Illustrated Story of The Crusades
(December 1959). Exquisitely wrought panels in a thoughtfully nuanced account postal authorities of the periodical nature of
of a complex subject. their publications.”21 The continuing features
began in issue No. W27, High Adventure
George Evans, and “Room for the Night,” superbly drawn by (November 1960), and new serials on the Salem Witch Trials
Gray Morrow. Both Evans and Morrow understood the at- and the Spanish Armada were under way when the series ended
mospheric imperatives of the tales they were recreating, and the following year.
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 267

1961), covered frogmen, submarines, sea monsters, and sunken

treasure. Hunting, No. W31 (March 1961), which introduced
a new cover design by Sidney Miller that ran the World Around
Us banner above the cover illustration, provided a historical
perspective on “the excitement of the chase and the danger of
the unexpected,” from prehistoric times to the 20th century.
Jack Kirby’s strikingly conceived panels employed dramatic
perspectives to enliven the educational text.
The best of the later issues was For Gold and Glory, No.
W32 (April 1961), a sequel of sorts to the previous year’s Classics
Illustrated No. 156, The Conquest of Mexico. The new book,
reflecting scriptwriter Alfred Sundel’s sympathy for the sub-
jugated Indians of the Americas, covered the Spanish conquest
of the New World, with special attention devoted to Pizarro’s
destruction of the Inca empire of Peru. For Gold and Glory was
the only Gilberton comic book to feature a cover photograph.
Taken by Sundel, the image was “of a rare Zapotec urn (easily
100 pounds) that a husky [Museum of Natural History] curator
had taken out of storage for the shot.”22
Celebrating Famous Teens in issue No. W33 (May 1961),
the series simultaneously courted its target audience and ac-
knowledged its increasingly powerful role in the changing cul-
ture of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. (That same year, Mo-
town scored its first chart-topping hit, Bob Dylan released his
first album, and the Beatles recorded their first sides in Ger-
many.) In the next issue, Fishing, No. W34 ( June 1961), only
sixteen out of forty-eight pages in the lead section contained
panels with speech balloons, and the best efforts of the artists
were reserved for a portrait of Izaak Walton and sketches of
catfish, barracuda, and sturgeon. Art director Sidney Miller’s
preference for minimalism was much in evidence. Spies, No.
35 (August 1961), had a Cold War resonance and a whimsical
Norman Nodel, The Illustrated Story of The Civil War (October
1960). A popular issue that was Gilberton’s first commemora-
cover that was undoubtedly intended to look urbanely witty
tion of the Civil War Centennial. and uncompromisingly modern. The final issue, a history of
medicine titled Fight for Life, No. W36 (October 1961), was
Whaling, No. W28 (December 1960), featured some of the most poorly illustrated of the lot—not even a few lackluster
the most impressive art in the entire series, particularly “The sections by Jack Kirby could save it.
Long Voyage” by Gray Morrow. A cautionary note was Moreover, Gilberton’s best efforts couldn’t save The World
sounded at the end: “No one knows what the future of whaling Around Us. In retrospect, it seems that, with its fragmented
will be. There are signs that the whale population is getting appeal to different audiences, the series never established a
smaller. Some whalemen believe that by the year 2000, whaling clearly defined identity and never secured the necessary reader
will be at an end. But others feel that the cry ‘There she blows!’ loyalty from month to month. Indeed, in the last two issues, a
will sound for many years to come.” The underlying attitude questionnaire occupied the inside back cover, asking readers
suggested by the title —Whaling rather than Whales— makes “What made you buy this book?” and “Do you have trouble
the book a curious artifact of the years just before a major shift finding The World Around Us in stores?”
in international public consciousness occurred. The queries reflected the harsh new reality at 101 Fifth
For an issue devoted to Vikings, No. W29 ( January 1961), Avenue. The very use of the term “book” was a signal of sur-
Alfred Sundel and Helene Lecar supplied a solidly researched render in the wake of the Post Office Department’s denial of
text that featured handsomely rendered sections by Evans, Mc- Gilberton’s petition for second-class “magazine” status for The
Cann, Nodel, Torres, Glanzman, Tallarico, and Premiani. The World Around Us.23 The administrative-law ruling killed the
following month, Undersea Adventures, No. W30 (February potential for the series to survive as a subscription-based pub-
268 CLASSICS Illustrated

lication; distribution in stores was the

only possibility for the line to continue.
A subsequent appeal failed to bring
about a reversal of the administrative
order, and The World Around Us ceased
publication the next year, after having
issued some of the most outstanding
comics to appear under the Gilberton
aegis. The series more than fulfilled the
educational role that Bill Kanter and
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht envisioned
for it. But its “death-by-bureaucrat”
fate was an ominous bit of foreshadow-
ing for the parent series.
The parallel British World Illus-
trated series continued until 1963 with
new-title production, including such
issues as Day of Fury (originally a filler
item on D-Day in the U.S. series), The
Sea, Great Escapes, Northwest Passage,
The Golden Horde, The Cossacks, and
Disasters. Scripts for these books had
been prepared for The World Around Us
line, and Bill Kanter oversaw their re-
lease in Britain, extending by a couple
of years the life of what may have been
Gilberton’s most ambitious project.

THE BEST FROM BOYS’

LIFE COMICS
A short-lived Gilberton series, The
Best from Boys’ Life Comics had a mere
five-issue run. The quarterly debuted
in October 1957 and expired in Octo-
ber 1958. Each of the 96-page editions
consisted of material (none by Gilber-
ton personnel) reprinted from the offi-
cial Boy Scouts magazine, Boys’ Life,
which had introduced its own comics
section in 1952.
Among the reruns were Dik
Browne’s “Tracy Twins,” Mal Eaton’s
“Rocky Stoneaxe,” Percy K. Fitzhugh’s
“Pee Wee Harris,” Craig Flessel’s “Sto-
ries from the Bible,” Al Stenzel’s “Scouts
in Action” and “Space Conquerors,”
and Lee J. Ames’s well-illustrated “Old
George Evans, “Peru! Peru!” in For Gold and Glory (April 1961). The capture of the Inca Timer Tales of Kit Carson.” Thirty-two
ruler Atahualpa in scriptwriter Al Sundel’s ambitious history of the Conquistadors. pages of unimaginatively designed
 XXIV. FIVE LITTLE SERIES AND HOW THEY GREW 269

Left: Leonard B. Cole, The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, No. 5
(October 1958). The covers for the Boy Scouts series were the
first Cole painted for Gilberton. Right: Private First Class David
Carson receiving a copy of The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, No.
1, from Albert L. Kanter (Fall 1957). As a Boy Scout, Carson
had rescued two children during a tornado; his heroic action
was the first issue’s cover story (courtesy John Haufe).

noncomics “Special Features” added dead weight at the back tion open the doors to the world of great books. Read the
comics, and if you enjoy the stories they tell, read books, too.
of the book and boosted the cover price to a comparatively ex-
Read them, enjoy them, for in them you will find information,
pensive thirty-five cents, the cost of a Special Issue. adventure, and friendship. Books can be your life-long friends.
The handsome covers, painted in the Classics Illustrated
style, proclaimed that the books had been “Published in Co- The credo could have served for Classics Illustrated, as
operation with the Boy Scouts of America.” Respectability well. Gilberton editor Meyer A. Kaplan, who had defended
didn’t get much more respectable than that. The first three the cultural role of his publication in 1951 and now oversaw
cover paintings emphasized action and real-life heroics per- Gilberton’s end of the joint venture with the BSA, added a
formed by actual Scouts featured in the issues. The last two note expressing his “hope that boys everywhere will read, enjoy
painted covers were, though well executed by Leonard B. Cole, and benefit from the articles and stories....”
insistently wholesome examples of kitsch. Despite the noble intentions, the hybrid series had trouble
Prefacing the first issue was a message from Chief Scout finding its niche. The Boys’ Life in the title may have initially
Executive Arthur A. Schuck, who emphasized the educational attracted some Scouts, and the Classics Illustrated logo on the
purpose of the publication: front cover and familiar reorder list on the back may have sold
a few copies to budding collectors (many of whom would at-
Comics, using pictures to tell stories, have become part of our
tempt to find those issues decades later). But the former prob-
literature. They have dramatized some of the greatest classics,
including the Holy Bible. In the hands of imaginative artists and ably saw no point in paying for comics they had read long ago,
writers, they are more than just “funnies”; they are a vital way of while the latter most likely wondered what had happened to
communicating ideas.... The stories and articles in this collec- d’Artagnan and Ivanhoe.
 XXV

“Frawley’s Folly”: The Twin

Circle Era (1967–1971)
P atrick Frawley (1923–1998), like Albert Kanter, was a suc-
cessful entrepreneur. A colorful man “given,” as his New
York Times obituary put it, “to instant and excessive enthusiasms,”1
the Gilberton officer, the Classics Illustrated title that fired
Frawley’s interest in acquiring the series was A Tale of Two
Cities, “which he was reading while on the head in his yacht.”6
he owned a variety of businesses at one time or another, including As negotiations proceeded, the prospective purchaser’s
Schick, PaperMate, Technicolor — and Classics Illustrated. plan for the series evolved. He hoped to accomplish twin ob-
Born in Nicaragua, the son of an Irish father and a Franco- jectives: first, to resuscitate the fading comic-book line, and
Spanish mother, Frawley was educated in San Francisco. A high secondly, to promote the new Twin Circle publication by of-
school dropout at sixteen, he returned to Nicaragua, where he fering a free Classics Illustrated title with each weekly edition.7
learned the basics of business dealings while working with his Although associates advised him against selling, Albert
father, a self-made man. Following service with the Royal Cana- Kanter signed off on the deal in December 1967.8 The purchase
dian Air Force during World War II, Frawley married, settled price, according to Albert Kanter’s brother Mike, was
in San Francisco, became a United States citizen, and set about $500,000.9 The former owner received a five-year consultant’s
making and remaking his fortune with the companies he pur- contract, while Bernie Stiskin remained as General Manager,
chased. with Mike Kanter continuing in charge of the warehouse. 10
Under his direction, PaperMate developed the leak-proof But the main office, in effect, had shifted to the West Coast,
pen, Schick introduced the stainless-steel blade, and Techni- and Classics Illustrated was now one part of the growing en-
color pioneered a film-cartridge technology that foreshadowed terprise that would soon be known as the Frawley Corporation.
the videocassette. A devout Roman Catholic, Frawley became Dan Lyons nominally supervised the new acquisition; he was
renowned in the political arena as a staunch supporter of con- succeeded in 1969 by Gladys Briggs, a former Technicolor re-
servative candidates and organizations. The enterprise closest gional sales manager.11
to his heart was the Schick Shadel chain of alcohol-and-drug- For a two-year period, Frawley did his best to restore
treatment centers, which he founded.2 Classics Illustrated to its former prominence among juvenile
Where the Russian-born New Yorker Kanter had ex- publications. Copies were included in Twin Circle issues, but
pressed the depth of his religious feeling in his fervent support postal regulations, which prohibited the inclusion of a
of Israel, investing a substantial portion of his income in the separately sold item in a periodical, once again proved insur-
country, the Irish-born Californian Frawley put his faith in mountable.12 Twin Circle then began printing the issues serially
practice by backing Dan Lyons, a Jesuit priest and journalist, within the newspaper, reproducing 105 Classics Illustrated and
in the founding of a national Catholic weekly newspaper called Classics Illustrated Junior titles between 1968 and 1976.13
Twin Circle.3 The Curtis Circulation Company, which still distributed
In 1964, Frawley contacted Gilberton Vice-President and the books, was optimistic and in 1968 offered a plan, modeled
General Manager O.B. “Bernie” Stiskin and indicated his in- on its 1951 strategy, to enhance the shelf appeal of the series
terest in buying the rights to Classics Illustrated.4 According to and to increase profits. Frawley would commission new painted
a 1968 Curtis Circulation Company marketing brochure, the covers for certain titles (two of which, The Deerslayer and The
phone call was prompted by Frawley’s enthusiastic reading of Pioneers, retained their original 1940s line-drawing covers),
a Classics issue belonging to one of his children.5 Bernie the new covers would be printed on a heavier paper stock, and
Stisken’s recollection was somewhat less filtered. According to the publisher would raise the retail price from 15 to 25 cents.14

270
 XXV. “FRAWLEY’S FOLLY” 271

To the great delight of collectors, new

painted covers appeared on Frawley-era editions
of Moby Dick, A Tale of Two Cities, Les Miserables,
Don Quixote, Rip Van Winkle, Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
The Deerslayer, Michael Strogoff, Lorna Doone,
The Pioneers, Jane Eyre, 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea, Alice in Wonderland, Black Beauty, West-
ern Stories, Joan of Arc, The Odyssey, The Master
of Ballantrae, The Jungle Book, Daniel Boone, The
Red Badge of Courage, Hamlet, Kit Carson, Romeo
and Juliet, The First Men in the Moon, Ben-Hur,
and Off on a Comet.15 One of the reissued titles,
The Jungle Book, featured entirely new external
and interior art by Norman Nodel; it was the only
instance in the history of the series when a revised
Classics edition employed the original script.
Some of the covers, such as Nodel’s Tale of
Two Cities and Les Miserables, Albert Micale’s
Black Beauty, Edward Moritz’s Hamlet and
Romeo and Juliet, and Taylor Oughton’s Rip Van
Winkle and Ben-Hur, were striking if not always
successful conceptions. For Hamlet (Spring
1969), Moritz placed Ophelia, oddly, in the fore-
ground. Some collectors called this the “Mari-
anne Faithfull cover”; the English singer-actress
appeared in Tony Richardson’s film of the play
that year. Also debuting in 1969 was Moritz’s
balcony-scene cover for Romeo and Juliet, which
replaced the Romeo-Tybalt duel scene on the
1956 cover. This romantic image was undoubtedly
a response to the immense success of Franco Ze-
ffirelli’s youth-oriented 1968 film production.
Meanwhile, the spirit of late 1960s’ social con-
sciousness was reflected in the proud black man
who dominated the cover of Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
replacing the hunted slave on the 1954 exterior.
Others, however, such as Daniel Boone and
Kit Carson, were less potent than the covers they
Edward Moritz, Romeo and Juliet, original cover painting (1968). The artist’s
replaced. Tony Tallarico’s close-up portrait of sentimental painting emphasized the innocent hope of the balcony scene (col-
Boone bore more than a passing resemblance to lection of the author).
Fess Parker, who was enjoying great success for the
second time in his career as a coonskin-cap-wearing frontier cover of The Master of Ballantrae. The perpetrator, known only
hero. A decade after he portrayed Davy Crockett on television as “Siryk,” evidently was unacquainted with Stevenson’s dark
and in film for Walt Disney, 20th Century–Fox Television cast tale of fraternal loathing and produced what appeared to be a
the actor as Daniel Boone in an NBC series that ran for 165 epi- sunny poster for a worse-than-usual community theatre pro-
sodes from September 1964 to September 1970. If Frawley hoped duction of Brigadoon. Words fail in any attempt to describe
to capitalize on the connection, it didn’t work. The Tallarico the godawful sub-kitsch quality of the artwork, which gives
cover, introduced in 1969, was never reprinted. Edward Moritz’s every indication that what awaits the reader is a happy story
Kit Carson cover, issued at the same time, suffered the same fate. about happy people living their happy lives in happy antici-
The worst example was the dreadful portrait of a smiling pation of a happy ending. The star-crossed brothers of the
Scotsman of indefinite era, sporting a tam o’ shanter, on the novel, James and Henry Durie, deserved better.
272 CLASSICS Illustrated

Unidentified artist, In Freedom’s Cause (Winter 1969). Scheduled for release in 1962 but in fact issued after Negro Americans, the
relatively rare In Freedom’s Cause is now the most valuable Frawley Era title.
 XXV. “FRAWLEY’S FOLLY” 273

Then, too, there was the odd decision to ditch the rel-
atively recent painted cover of Off on a Comet (March 1959).
If any single cover in the history of Classics Illustrated had
attained iconic status and talismanic significance, it was the
dramatic depiction on No. 149 of a foreground figure
clutching a fragment of Earth while hurtling into space.
The unknown artist’s cover for the Jules Verne story had
appeared on every reorder list on nearly every Classics
edition issued since September 1959 — including the Fall
1968 reprinting of Off on a Comet that introduced Edward
Moritz’s rather tepid painted cover showing two balloonists
observing the planet. No editorial decision in the Frawley
years more completely symbolized the clueless ineptitude
of the people then calling the shots than this feckless aban-
donment of what almost amounted to a second trademark.
As part of the effort to rejuvenate Classics Illustrated,
Frawley briefly resumed the production of new titles in
1969. The publisher recruited Norman Nodel to illustrate
issue No. 169, Negro Americans: The Early Years (Spring
1969). The book contained brief biographies of Crispus At-
tucks, Benjamin Banneker, Phillis Wheatley, James Beck-
wourth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Daniel Hale
Williams, Booker T. Washington, George Washington
Carver, and Matthew Henson. Aimed at schools, rather
like a latter-day Picture Progress title, it did well enough at
a time of increased interest in black history to warrant a
reprinting.
In the meantime, a bit of unfinished business from
1962 presented itself in the form of the missing No. 168.
In Freedom’s Cause, with artwork by George Evans and Reed
Crandall, had been advertised as the next issue in Faust,
seven years earlier, and had already appeared in the British
and European series. The G.A. Henty title was published as
the Winter 1969 issue and bore a 1970 copyright date. Thus,
it appears that In Freedom’s Cause, No. 168, was published Norman Nodel, Negro Americans — The Early Years (May 1969).
Harriet Tubman was one of the pioneering African-Americans hon-
after Negro Americans, No. 169. It went through a single ored in the last Classics Illustrated title of the first series.
printing and is among the rarest of the later titles. (Like
other stiff-cover Frawley-era Classics, it suffers from inexact comic-book abridgment of The Three Musketeers with the
color registration on the interior pages.) hopeful “No. 1” placed next to the Classic Comics banner. In a
Printing and paper costs were rising, the market was letter written that day to Ralph Yarrish, a Gilberton sales and
shrinking, and dealers were returning shipments unopened at marketing representative, Kanter ruefully remarked that “It
Frawley’s expense. According to O.B. Stiskin, “Patrick Frawley should have been better. It could have been better.”19
16
never understood publishing or the practice of returns.” In All of the Classics Illustrated plates were stored; much of
1970, Kanter suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak or the original artwork was sold. Kanter moved on. In retirement,
to move his right side. With his friend Bernie Stiskin’s assis- he and his wife Rose traveled extensively, visiting their grand-
tance, however, he recovered to a remarkable degree. 17 Un- children, other family members, and business associates with
daunted, he returned to his office at 101 Fifth Avenue. whom he shared his passions for reading, humor, baseball,
In the meantime, Frawley had reluctantly decided to cut deep-sea fishing, the theatre, and Jewish charities.20 On 17
his losses and shut down the operation that had come to be March 1973, less than two years after the demise of his dream
known as “Frawley’s Folly.”18 The end came on 21 April 1971, child, Albert Lewis Kanter died.21
not quite a full thirty years after Albert Kanter published his
 XXVI

Classics Abroad: The Worldwide

Yellow Banner
T he shoestring operation that began in 1941 as Classic
Comics evolved during the next two decades into an in-
ternational publishing phenomenon under the corporate name
Gilberton World-Wide Publications. By 1962, when the Gil-
berton Company ended original-title production in the United
States, Classics Illustrated was well-established in more than two

Treasure Island, Australian Classics Illustrated horizontal edition No. 31 (January 1950).

274
 XXVI. CLASSICS ABROAD 275

dozen other countries, where growth con-

tinued for some time to come.1
Foreign publication had begun in the
1940s with a series in Canada. Classic Comics
had been available there as early as 1943,
when the price notation “15¢ in Canada” was
added to the cover of the U.S. edition of Rip
Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman be-
neath the circle bearing the U.S. “10¢” mark.
The phrase remained (with “and Foreign” added
in 1947) on the cover of every U.S. Classic
Comics and Classics Illustrated issue until
March 1951, when the U.S. series raised its
price to fifteen cents.1
A Canadian-produced series began
under the auspices of the Gilberton Com-
pany, Ltd., in Toronto with the publication
of Robinson Crusoe, No. 10, in April 1946. For
the most part, the titles were simply reprints
of U.S. editions, though a couple of inter-
esting variants appeared in the Canadian se-
ries: Don Quixote and The Hunchback of
Notre Dame had never been published in the
U.S. under the Classics Illustrated logo with
the original Classic Comics line-drawing cov-
ers, but both books were released in Cana-
dian editions under the new series name.
Toward the end of its run, the Cana-
dian series featured 32 filler articles, written
in the New York home office, on Canadian
subjects such as the Royal Canadian Air Force,
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (later a
Special Issue), Ontario’s Fire Rangers, and, of
course, hockey, with profiles of players, the
history of the sport, and even, in one issue,
the 1948–49 National Hockey League sched-
ule.2 After the publication of Mr. Midship-
man Easy in February 1951, at the point
when the Curtis organization was assuming
distribution duties in the U.S., the Canadian
series ceased to exist as a separate entity.
A Fera Do Mar (Moby Dick), Brazilian Edição Maravilhosa edition No. 4 (October
American editions were now available. 1948).
While the Canadian series for the most
part closely resembled the parent line, the editions produced sported redrawn variants of American artwork, a practice later
in Australia, beginning in July 1947 with Gulliver’s Travels, common in the Mexican Clásicos Ilustrados. Homegrown Aus-
were perhaps the most distinctive anywhere. For two years, tralian covers continued to appear until June 1953, when the
from 1948 to 1950, after having published regular-format issues line produced its last title, Bring ’Em Back Alive. In the
under the Classic Comics name, the Australian series adopted following month, the British publisher of Classics Illustrated
the Classics Illustrated logo and featured comic books that were began direct distribution in Australia.
printed in an oblong, horizontal format. The interiors were Classics established a presence in South America in July
black-and-white reductions of U.S. editions, while the covers 1948 when a Brazilian series, Edicão Maravilhosa, was launched
Left: The Black Tulip, British Classics Illustrated edition (1961). Right: Sail With the Devil, British Classics Illustrated edition (1962).
 XXVI. CLASSICS ABROAD 277

with a Portuguese-language edition of

The Three Musketeers. Other familiar
Gilberton titles, including Ivanhoe, Moby
Dick, and The Prince and the Pauper (fea-
turing the “horror” cover) soon followed.
In 1950, the publisher, Editora Brasil-
América Limitada, under the direction
of Adolfo Aizen, expanded its reach to
include comic-book adaptations of
works of 19th- and 20th-century Brazil-
ian literature by José de Alencar (O
Guaraní), Jorge Amado (Mar Morto),
Joaquim Manuel de Macedo (A Moren-
inha), José Lins do Rego (Cangaceiros),
Bernardo Guimarães (O Garimpeiro),
Dinah Silveira de Queiroz (A Muralha),
and other authors. Meanwhile, inter-
national Classics Illustrated titles such as
Crime and Punishment, A Study in Scar-
let, and The Time Machine continued
to appear. It was an impressive achieve-
ment, surpassing the U.S. parent line in
scope and matched only by the Greek
series.
Established in Athens in March
1951 by the Pechlivanides family (the
Greek equivalent of the Kanter and
Aizen dynasties), Klassika Eikonographi-
mena began its epic run with a transla-
tion of the Classics Illustrated edition of
Les Miserables. In time, the publisher
issued ninety sequential-art renderings
of Greek mythology, drama, and his-
tory, in addition to most of the original
U.S. and European titles. Among the
subjects treated were Perseus and An-
dromeda, Heracles, Alexander the Great,
Iphigenia, Oedipus, Antigone, Medea,
Athena, Apollo, Pericles, Lord Byron,
the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of
Thermopylae, and the Battle of Sal- Doctor No, Greek Klassika Eikonographemena edition No. 1117.
amis. In addition, the Greek publisher
introduced the Junior series in 1957; all seventy-seven U.S. be accessible to collectors and affordable. Finally, a third Greek
Juniors were published, as well as fifteen of the twenty-six Joint series of reprints appeared in 1989. The emphasis on national
European editions and eighty new Greek titles.3 culture and heritage served both the Brazilian and Greek Classics
According to Classics authority Dan Malan’s best estimate, Illustrated offspring well in terms of reader interest and loyalty.
the original Klassika Eikonographimena ended around 1970— Meanwhile, a British series was launched in October 1951.
dating is notoriously difficult to ascertain in the Greek series— The U.K. Classics line, which initially had tracked the U.S.
after the publication of 276 titles. A second weekly series, with issue-numbering sequence, abruptly changed to its own rather
270 titles (mostly reprints), ran with a couple of interruptions eccentric system in 1956 when it became a partner in the Joint
from March 1975 to November 1980. These have proved to European Series. For example, former No. 116, The Bottle Imp,
278 CLASSICS Illustrated

batable whether it was ever actually printed.

(It is possible that copyright barriers arose,
as they did in the case of the Kipling titles,
none of which appeared in the British line.)
More than twenty new painted covers
were introduced in the British series be-
tween 1958 and 1962 to replace U.S. line-
drawing or painted covers. Most striking
among these were The Deerslayer, Great
Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and The
Black Tulip. In 1962, Albert Kanter’s son
William—who had served as Classics Illus-
trated editor and business manager and was
listed with his father and uncle Maurice as
one of the owners in annual publisher’s state-
ments — moved to England, where he su-
pervised the publication of thirteen new ti-
tles that were never issued in the American
series. These included Daniel Defoe’s Sail
With the Devil (Captain Singleton) (U.K.
No. 143), Lewis Carroll’s Through the Look-
ing Glass (U.K. No. 147), Oscar Wilde’s The
Canterville Ghost (U.K. No. 150), R.M. Bal-
lantyne’s The Dog Crusoe (U.K. No. 156),
Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades
(U.K. No. 157), Leo Tolstoy’s Master and
Man (U.K. No. 159), and Virgil’s Aeneid
(U.K. No. 161). (See Appendix J for other
titles.)
The most interesting — and collect-
ible—British edition was an adaptation of
Ian Fleming’s Doctor No (U.K. No. 158A),
or, to be more precise, a treatment of the
1962 film version. Illustrated by Gilberton
stalwart Norman Nodel, the title was orig-
inally intended as a Dell Movie Classic but
was published in the U.S. in the DC Show-
case series only after all black and oriental
characters were recolored white. After ap-
Le traceur de pistes (The Pathfinder), French Classiques Illustrés edition No. 47. pearing in the British Classics Illustrated
line, the title was picked up in the Greek
became No. 45, though No. 46, Kidnapped, remained No. 46. Klassika Eikonographimena, the only other CI-related series to
Meanwhile, The Octopus (U.S. No. 159), The Food of the Gods carry it. (German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian
(U.S. No. 160), and Cleopatra (U.S. No. 161) were catalogued editions were published in those countries’ Detekiv series.)4
as Nos. 139, 139A, and 139B, respectively. Apparently it was too Gilberton World-Wide Publications also found profitable
confusing even for the U.K. publisher, Thorpe & Porter, which footholds in the Netherlands (October 1948), Mexico (De-
gave The King of the Mountains (U.S. No. 127, U.K. No. 65), cember 1951), Germany (September 1952), Norway (November
Wild Animals I Have Known (U.S. No. 152, U.K. No. 93), and 1954), and elsewhere. In 1956, the same year in which Thorpe
The Invisible Man (U.S. No. 153, U.K. No. 127) both American & Porter restructured the British Classics Illustrated line, a Joint
and British issue numbers in different printings. Lord Jim (U.S. European Series (JES) was inaugurated, with the never-reprinted
No. 136) was listed in the U.K. catalogue as No. 51, but it is de- Alice in Wonderland as issue No. 1, bearing the painted cover
 XXVI. CLASSICS ABROAD 279

that would not appear in the U.S. parent publication until censed revival of a new British line, published by Jeff and Jon
1960. The JES covered the continent and beyond, reaching Brooks’s Classic Comic Store Ltd. in cooperation with Jack
millions of readers in twenty-four countries and publishing Lake Productions of Toronto.
230 titles in thirteen languages from 1956 to 1976. Subsidiary Gilberton editorial staffer Helene Lecar recalled the tan-
series — such as Juniors, Special Issues, and The World Around gible presence of the foreign Classics operations at 101 Fifth Av-
Us— also appeared. In the course of time, and to greater or enue during the early 1960s. “The stockroom included a book-
lesser degrees, the countries involved included Sweden, Den- case holding representative samples of all the Gilberton
mark, Iceland, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, publications that had been translated into the various European
Norway, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, languages that the company had franchised. ... I used to borrow
Greece, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, Ireland (Gaelic), Canada the foreign-language Classics from the storeroom over a week-
(French), Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia, end. ... The interesting thing to me was that the words often
Spain, Morocco, and South Africa.5 ran out of the balloons. It was too costly to redo the printing
Beginning in 1956, five different countries shared in the plates to accommodate the other languages. German and Span-
business of printing JES Classics Illustrated editions (two of ish, on average, took more and/or longer words to convey mean-
which were Soviet bloc states): Denmark (1956–58); Sweden ing than our English versions. And then there was a kind of
(1959–65), generally agreed to be of the highest quality and cultural disassociation. A Journey to the Center of the Earth,
superior to the American product; Poland (1966–1970); Italy which we published in English, was, of course, written in
(1971–74, but with three editions printed in Sweden during French by Jules Verne. The book has a German hero, who
that period); Hungary (1975–76). A repackaged Star-Logo se- leads his Icelandic expedition safely up the quiescent cone of
ries ran simultaneously from 1970 to 1974, with nine countries Mt. Etna in Italy. All the polyglot conversations are mutually
participating. Various other European Classics Illustrated series understood by everyone involved, peasants as well as professors,
have appeared through subsequent decades down to the and in the version I brought home, the entire text was in Ger-
present, including a new German Illustrierte Klassiker series, man.M ind-boggling.”6
reprinted Norwegian hardcover omnibus volumes, and a li-
 XXVII

The Wilderness Years:

The Seventies and Eighties
COPYCATS AND PIRATES picted as a one-eyed, one-horned, purple people-eater; on the
cover of Frankenstein, the author’s last name was misspelled

C lassics copycats had appeared as early as 1942, when Dell

published Treasure Island and Tom Sawyer as Famous Sto-
ries. Dell tried again in the 1950s, with the Dell Junior Treasury,
“Shelly”; and on the cover of The First Men in the Moon, Jules
Verne was credited with having written H.G. Wells’s book.
True to 1970s Marvel house style, characters were crowded
featuring Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (August 1955), Gul- into cramped panels while speech balloons PUNCHED the
liver’s Travels ( January 1956), The Wizard of Oz ( July 1956), WORDS that were IMPORTANT.
and seven other titles. These issues featured artwork that rivaled During the same period, from 1977 to 1979, King
or surpassed Classics Illustrated. Other Dell literary adaptations Features published twenty-four titles in the King Classics series.1
included the irregularly issued Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli: Jungle The 32-page books were printed in Spain for American dis-
Book (August 1953, August 1954, April 1955) and single-issue tribution. Some, such as The Last of the Mohicans, Moby Dick,
editions of Black Beauty (December 1952) and Bob Son of Battle and The Black Arrow, were new versions of titles that had ap-
(November 1956). Then, of course, there was the Classics clone, peared under the Classics Illustrated banner. Three of the adap-
Fast Fiction/Stories by Famous Authors (1949–1951), which tations —Baron Munchausen, Five Weeks in a Balloon, and
Gilberton ultimately absorbed. Lawrence of Arabia— were unique to the Spanish series. If
In the 1970s, while Frawley was serializing Classics Illus- critics condemned Classics Illustrated for uniform blandness
trated titles in Twin Circle, other publishers made efforts to fill despite the variety of styles and eccentricities Gilberton fostered
the void left by the disappearance of the series. Distributor over the years, one wonders what they would have made of the
David Oliphant aimed at the educational market in 1972 with competent but uninspired content of King Classics had they
his authorized Now Age Books Illustrated, a set of twelve black- taken the trouble to compare.
and-white repackaged Classics Illustrated and Classics Illustrated If imitation was the mode in the 1970s, outright illegality
Junior editions. When sales proved disappointing, he discon- characterized the first half of the next decade. An unauthorized
tinued the line and in 1973 began producing Pendulum Classics, agent provided two publishers, Regents (1981) and the Cassette
which featured all-new black-and-white art. Some of the art- Book Company (1984), with Classics Illustrated art in violation
work, as in The Three Musketeers and The Hunchback of Notre of copyright law. Dumbed-down dialogue replaced the original
Dame, owed obvious debts to Classics Illustrated. By 1978, a speech balloons in the Cassette Book Company’s reprints of
total of seventy-two titles were in print, some of which, such The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Robinson
as Heidi, The Return of the Native, and The Turn of the Screw, Crusoe, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Two Years Before the Mast, and
had not appeared in the Gilberton publication. Treasure Island. Legal action brought an injunction in 1986.
Stan Lee recycled a dozen colorized Pendulum issues in Because the Regents product had an educational purpose,
his Marvel Classics Comics (1976–1978) before introducing Frawley allowed its continued dissemination, subject to royalty
original art and adaptations “in the Mighty Marvel Manner” payments. The Cassette Book Company, however, was ordered
as the covers (many by Gil Kane) boasted. The series ran out to destroy the six booklets and tapes it had produced.2
of steam after thirty-six issues. It appeared that the classics All of this activity was an indication that Classics
weren’t quite at home in the house that Spider-Man rebuilt. Illustrated had left a noticeable void in the comics market.
On the cover of The Odyssey, Polyphemus the Cyclops was de- Readers would have to wait until 1990 for good news. In the

280
 XXVII. THE WILDERNESS YEARS 281

Pirated Classics Illustrated editions released by the Cassette Book Company (1984). Ironically, the accompanying cassette tapes
bore copyright notices and the phrase “Copying Prohibited By Law.”

meantime, as the baby-boomer fans of the series moved paper photographer accompanying a Dallas reporter is shown
through the 1970s and into the 1980s, making the transition reading the comic book while waiting on Elvis to appear. He
from twenty-somethings to thirty-somethings, nostalgia crept then folds it and stuffs it in his jacket pocket, with the yellow
upon them, and the collecting bug bit. logo plainly visible on the camera side — an early example of
product placement.
Fast forward to 1985 and Explorers, Joe Dante’s science-
CLASSICS IN THE MOVIES fiction children’s fantasy, in which the aspiring young space
voyagers discuss a copy of The War of the Worlds (a late 1950s
Classics Illustrated issues have show up from time to time reprint, as it happens) before setting off to encounter their own
in motion pictures as period references, plot-related props, or aliens. As Tom Hanks packs up his personal effects after quit-
visual jokes. Perhaps the greatest number of instances occurred ting his oppressive job in John Patrick Shanley’s Joe Versus the
in the 1980s and early 1990s; it was as if filmmakers were dis- Volcano (1990), he holds up a vintage line-drawing-cover edi-
tinctly referencing them as relics of a bygone era. tion of Robinson Crusoe, a book that has some thematic rela-
The first cited visual reference to Classics Illustrated in a tionship to the movie’s subsequent plot development. A copy
movie occurred when director Hal Kanter, as a playful act of of The Man in the Iron Mask can be seen on a table in a scene
homage to his father, included a copy of The Gold Bug in a with the card-playing Demi Moore in Dan Aykroyd’s Nothing
couple of scenes in Elvis Presley’s Loving You (1957). A news- but Trouble (1991).
282 CLASSICS Illustrated

Classics Illustrated figured most prominently, though, in Sleepers, Barry Levinson’s 1996 film based on Lorenzo Car-
David S. Ward’s Major League (1989). Seeking to win the ap- caterra’s autobiographical novel, a reference to the “Classics Il-
proval of literate Rene Russo, ballplayer Tom Berenger is lustrated comic” version of The Count of Monte Cristo leads the
shown reading — anachronistically, given the time frame, and protagonist to a deeper acquaintance with Dumas’ tale of re-
improbably, considering the relative rarity of the issue — a venge. In the novel, the comic book has great significance for
1940s Classic Comics edition of Moby Dick. Berenger’s absorp- the young “Shakes” Carcaterra.
tion in the comic book is catching, and soon his teammates In Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary The Devil and Daniel
are gleefully tossing each other copies of the 1951 first printing Johnston (2005), a clip from a home movie made by the trou-
of Crime and Punishment and the 1968 first U.S. painted-cover bled singer-songwriter and artist as a teenager shows his col-
edition of The Deerslayer. (Collectors invariably cringe when lection of comic books, a source of early inspiration. Promi-
watching the scene.) nently displayed, if only fleetingly, is a copy of All Quiet on the
Although a copy of the comic book doesn’t appear in Western Front.
 XXVIII

Great Expectations:
First Publishing’s Graphic Novels
A fter nearly two decades of dormancy and several abortive
attempts to resurrect the line or at least exploit the logo,
including Sunn Classic made-for-television movies in the 1970s
the reprinted book, First Publishing executives concluded that
the better course would be to introduce a new line with fresh
covers and contemporary interiors.
and negotiations between Frawley and Motown, Classics Illus- The decision was also supported by Obadiah’s recognition
trated returned — with a substantial difference.1 First that “[t]imes have changed, and the reading public has changed.”3
Publishing, a new Chicago comics company with attitude, had While the original series had been aimed primarily at the ado-
quickly established itself as an industry leader with such young- lescent male comic-book fan who already had a frame of ref-
adult titles as American Flagg! (1983), Grimjack (1984), and erence thanks to a popular culture awash in film adaptations
Nexus (1985).2 Although the publisher had also issued an adap- of novels by Sir Walter Scott, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and
tation of Beowulf (1984), it was perhaps best known for its Robert Louis Stevenson, the contemporary comic-book reader
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. was often clueless about either the classics or Classics Illustrated.
In 1990, First revived Classics Illustrated, creating a new Hence, the new series targeted a visually oriented young-
logo and producing an ambitious, visually stunning collection adult audience that may have been adept at deconstructing the
of titles with completely new adaptations and artwork. Yet de- film mythos of David Lynch but was apparently incapable of
spite the participation of some of the most outstanding con- deciphering Moby Dick. Citing, in a 1990 interview, studies
temporary comics artists, the new line expired after the ap- that indicated a 20 to 25 percent illiteracy rate in the United
pearance of issue No. 27, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair ( June States and a rising average age for bookstore customers, Oba-
1991), the victim of an overabundance of corporate optimism diah saw Classics Illustrated as a means of attracting otherwise
and a changed commercial and cultural climate. reluctant readers. First Publishing consulted with various lit-
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Golden Age of eracy programs, and the books were intended to some extent
comics was a distant memory. So, too, was the era dominated for use as reading tools.4
by EC-style realism. Instead, the comics industry of the period Although the educational mission had not changed sub-
was under the spell of the “graphic novel,” which brought a stantially since Albert Kanter’s day, the odds against success
rather self-conscious sophistication to both the visual and tex- were greater. The cultural consensus that had given Classics Il-
tual elements of sequential storytelling. Encouraged by First’s lustrated a certain authority in the 1940s and 1950s had dis-
success in marketing “literary” comic books, publisher Rick solved, and comic books of whatever stripe were now fighting
Obadiah was convinced that the time was right for a return of a rearguard action in the postliterate era.
the Classics, and he approached the Frawley Corporation. Still, First Publishing was determined to fight the good
With the support of Frawley Vice-President Kathryn fight. It was, Obadiah insisted, “a major labor of love.”5 Wade
Turpin, an exclusive licensing agreement was reached with Roberts, the first editor of the resurrected series, hoped to create
First Publishing in 1988. Initially, the idea was to reprint the greater contemporary appeal by avoiding the house-style look
old Classics, and a feint was made in that direction with the that characterized Classics Illustrated in the Iger and Feuerlicht
photographic reproduction of No. 64, Treasure Island, as a pro- eras. Consequently, First Publishing contracted with artists
motional item for the Long John Silver restaurant chain in known for their highly individualized approaches. When the
connection with a TNT television film of Robert Louis Steven- first four titles appeared in February 1990, the distinctiveness
son’s adventure tale. Partly as a result of disappointing sales of of the artwork in each book was unmistakable.

283
284 CLASSICS Illustrated

Indeed, the prominence accorded each artist was among Man, No. 20 (March 1991), the artist’s distinctive style proved
the most striking features of the new series. Apart from the an ideal match for the fantastic elements of H.G. Wells’s sci-
occasional cover signature of a Henry C. Kiefer or the title- ence-fiction period piece. It was an imaginative triumph.
page splash acknowledgment of an Alex A. Blum, most of the Kyle Baker (b. 1965), a product of New York’s School of
artists who worked in the original Classics line contented them- Visual Arts, produced a superb postmodern rendering of Lewis
selves, as did Norman Nodel, with small signatures or no iden- Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass in issue No. 3. The illus-
tifying mark whatsoever. By the 1990s, however, comics artists trations showed the influence of Milton Glaser, for whom
had become not merely stars in their field but, more signifi- Baker once worked, in their clean graphic style and striking
cantly, auteurs— they were to the comic books they drew what allocation of color and space. Chapter 4, “Tweedledum and
film directors had become to the movies they made. Thus, Tweedledee,” offers a wide-panel introduction to the pair, fol-
John K. Snyder III’s name was printed as large as Robert Louis lowed by two almost full-page illustrations of “The Walrus
Stevenson’s on the cover of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, while Bill and the Carpenter,” and succeeded by smaller, packed panels
Sienkiewicz’s name was actually larger than Herman Melville’s that reflect Alice’s subjective experience of the twins’ increas-
on the cover of Moby Dick. ingly nightmarish nonsense. A later issue illustrated by Baker,
One of the most recognizable names and styles in-
augurated the new series. Issue No. 1, The Raven and
Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, spotlighted the
macabre wit of Gahan Wilson, with such poems as
“Annabel Lee” and “The Conquerer Worm” serving as
springboards for the artist’s clever variations on ghoulish
themes. Wilson later adapted The Devil’s Dictionary and
Other Works, No. 18 (February 1991), for the series and
found himself very much at home in the realm of Am-
brose Bierce’s waspish imagination.
An accomplished artist and the compiler and il-
lustrator of A Treasury of Victorian Murder (1987), Rick
Geary (born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1946) was a
logical candidate for the second title, Great Expectations.
His drawings were engaging on their own terms but less
successful in capturing the atmosphere of Dickens’s
novel than Henry C. Kiefer’s darkly oppressive 1947 il-
lustrations.
Rendered in the bubblefaced technique of 1960s
underground comics (the artist’s work has appeared in
National Lampoon, Heavy Metal, Raw, and MAD), the
bright, exaggerated panels with pink-faced, red-cheeked
characters often seemed to be working against the
darker-hued Victorian text. Still, Geary pulled off a tri-
umph in his pinched Miss Havisham, who presides over
her decaying domain in all her spidery creepiness.
The same tensions between thematic darkness and
artistic brightness are evident, though to a lesser degree,
in the artist’s treatment of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering
Heights, No. 13 (October 1990). His Heathcliff and
Cathy, however, are potent figures and a decided im-
provement on Kiefer’s 1949 Olivier-Oberon stand-ins.
In Geary’s most successful work for First, The Invisible

Rick Geary, Great Expectations (February 1990). A dis-

tinctive interpretation of the Dickens masterpiece by a
Victorian specialist.
 XXVIII. GREAT EXPECTATIONS 285

enthralled and may have served to alienate a segment of the au-

dience that might have been drawn to the revived line simply on
the strength of the White Whale’s enduring appeal. Even so, it
was one of the best-selling titles in the First series.
If Moby Dick perplexed some hesitating purchasers, John
K. Snyder III’s outstanding illustrations for Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, No. 8 (April 1990), enraged others — at least, those who
were still expecting the new Classics to resemble in some fashion
the old. A brilliant hallucinatory treatment of Robert Louis
Stevenson’s “fine bogey tale” of human duality, the artist’s work
owed an obvious debt to the German Expressionist film mas-
terpiece, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with its menacing build-
ings and distorted faces.
Snyder (b. 1961), whose comics credits included Grendel,
Grimjack, and Nexus, produced an even stronger adaptation

Kyle Baker, Through the Looking Glass (February 1990). The

artist effectively reimagined the strangeness of Lewis Carroll’s
vision in a postmodern style.

Cyrano de Bergerac, No. 21 (March 1991), captured the verve of

Edmond Rostand’s sword-and-pen-wielding hero and would-
be lover.
Among the first four titles, the one that attracted the most
attention was issue No. 4, the dark, brooding pictorial commen-
tary on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick by Bill Sienkiewicz (b.
1958). A powerful, stylized evocation of the novel rather than a
traditional sequential narrative in the manner of Louis Zansky’s
and Norman Nodel’s versions, the book was the clearest decla-
ration that the new Classics Illustrated would be nothing like the
old.
Sienkiewicz’s Moby Dick, with its challenging blend of
paintings and text, was one of the greatest artistic triumphs of
the brief First Publishing era and an extraordinary achievement Bill Sienkiewicz, Moby Dick (February 1990). Sienkiewicz’s
in its own right. Yet despite its disturbing beauty and interpretive interpretation of Melville’s epic was visually the most ambitious
genius, the demanding book baffled almost as many readers as it of all Classics Illustrated editions.
286 CLASSICS Illustrated

Left: John K. Snyder, III, The Secret Agent (February 1991). The angular anxiety of Snyder’s illustrations created a perfect match
of style and subject. Right: Dean Motter, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (May 1991). Painted cover. The artist’s treatment of
Coleridge’s “lyrical ballad” amounted to a visual tone poem. Note the spectral background figure.

of The Secret Agent, No. 19 (February 1991), Joseph Conrad’s jured a splendidly menacing atmosphere with his crowded
prescient 1907 novel about modern terrorism. Employing the panels and alternating closeups. Hamlet and his father’s ghost
same expressionistic visual vocabulary that he had used in Dr. are rendered mostly in shades of gray, accented occasionally with
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the artist effectively conveyed the moral purple or red; Ophelia is shown in white; Gertrude, Claudius,
limbo inhabited by Verloc and his fellow revolutionary con- and the court at Elsinore provide contrasting patches of color.
spirators through claustrophobic frames and recurring motifs Dean Motter’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, No. 24
such as eyes, skulls, and knives. Nowhere in the series were (May 1991), was an impressively evocative treatment of Samuel
panels more inventively stretched, compressed, and exploded. Taylor Coleridge’s parable of sin and redemption. The entire
One of the finest Classics in the new series was the sole poem was reproduced, and the artist’s paintings of ghostly
Shakespeare —Hamlet, No. 5 (March 1990). The adaptation figures and the haunted ship could be “read” as well, offering
by Steven Grant (b. 1953) improved upon Sam Willinsky’s an imaginative visual experience that enhanced the reader’s
1952 script, dispensing with connecting expository rectangles encounter with the familiar Romantic text. Motter (b. 1953)
and employing more of the play’s dialogue. Tom Mandrake was the creator and writer of the series Mister X and a collab-
(b. 1956), whose credits included Batman, Captain Marvel, orator on the graphic novel The Sacred and the Profane, and
and Swamp Thing, as well as First Publishing’s Grimjack, con- he brought a philosophical depth to his illustrations for the
 XXVIII. GREAT EXPECTATIONS 287

Ancient Mariner that transcended the comics

category.
The final title in First Publishing’s Clas-
sics catalogue, The Jungle, No. 27 ( June 1991),
adapted from Upton Sinclair’s novel of social
protest and illustrated by Peter Kuper (b. 1958),
rivaled or surpassed the books by Sienkiewicz,
Snyder, and Motter in terms of originality and
the appropriateness of the graphic design. The
artist, who had served as cofounder, coeditor,
and publisher of the political comic World War
3 Illustrated, adopted a stylized, geometrical
approach somewhat reminiscent of early 20th-
century Russian Constructivism. Kuper’s Jun-
gle represents a sophisticated union of art and
text, hammering home the author’s polemical
intent, and serves as a fitting capstone for
First’s striving for excellence in the revived se-
ries. Indeed, it stands independently as an au-
thentic work of art.
While the more experimental books gen-
erally proved the most successful artistically
among First Publishing’s Classics, some of the
more straightforward issues were also impres-
sive. Perhaps the single most charming issue in
the history of Classics Illustrated—old or new—
was Mike Ploog’s adaptation of The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer, No. 9 (May 1990). The joyously
playful illustrations show the influence of Will
Eisner, with whom the artist had worked as an
assistant before venturing into the comics and
film industries.
Ploog (b. 1940) displays a mischievous
affinity for Mark Twain’s boyhood idyll, from
the whitewashing episode to Tom and Huck’s
discovery of treasure in McDougal’s cave. The
artist’s use of caricature serves to universalize
the experience of the comic book; Tom be-
comes Everyboy, inviting reader identifica-
tion.6 An almost cinematic immediacy is pres-
ent, testimony to the sharpening of Ploog’s
narrative skills as a storyboard artist, designer, Peter Kuper, The Jungle (June 1991). The last title published in the second series,
writer, and editor for such films as The Un- and the best.
bearable Lightness of Being, Little Shop of Hor-
rors, and Melvin and Howard. mature for inclusion in the original Classics Illustrated series, The
For P. Craig Russell’s adaptation of Nathaniel Haw- Scarlet Letter had become a staple of high school reading lists
thorne’s The Scarlet Letter, No. 6 (March 1990), Jill Thompson by 1990. The only shortcoming in Thompson’s treatment of
(b. 1966) produced a beautifully textured work that made sym- the familiar story is that in some respects it suggests a latter-
bolic use of light and shading. The artist’s subtle watercolors day teenage romance movie, with Arthur Dimmesdale in par-
capture something of the characters’ spiritual isolation and an- ticular looking a bit too “buff ” for the austere 17th-century
guish against a lush colonial forest backdrop. Considered too Puritan New England setting.
288 CLASSICS Illustrated

A newcomer to comics,
children’s book illustrator Jeffrey
Busch (b. 1962) produced two
quite different yet equally delec-
table titles for First Publishing’s
Classics. His adaptation of Wash-
ington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle,
No. 11 ( July 1990), combined de-
tailed character linework and sim-
ple backgrounds in a whimsical
manner. His lush, green-dominated
Jungle Books, No. 22 (April 1991),
evoked the sense of mystery at the
heart of Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli
tales.
Another new Classics artist
with a background in children’s
book illustration, Eric Vincent
(b. 1953), was a 1984 Children’s
Choice Award winner for Clovis
Crawfish and the Orphan Zo-Zo.
In 1989, he inked Steven Grant’s
science-fiction tale, Twilight Man,
a four-part First Publishing graphic
novel. For the new Classics Illus-
trated series, Vincent delivered a
chilling rendering of Grant’s adap-
tation of The Island of Dr. Moreau
by H.G. Wells, No. 12 (August
1990). The feverish drawings were
marred only slightly by a rather ex-
cessive reliance on conventional
comic-book sound effects (“Wap!”
“Rrraaaaaaarggh!” “Blam!”), which
were rarely used in either the orig-
inal Gilberton series or the First
Publishing line. The artist also
adapted and illustrated 25 Aesop’s
Fables, No. 26 (June 1991), employ-
ing a range of period settings for
his witty retellings.
With his attention to the
most minute details of hair, cloth-
ing, and furnishings, Garry Gianni
(b. 1954) evoked the “Gibson Girl”
magazine style in his period draw-
ings for O. Henry’s The Gift of the
Magi and Other Stories, No. 15
(November 1990). The artist’s work
Eric Vincent, The Island of Dr. Moreau (August 1990). Vincent’s neo-realist style looked in the title story is tightly focused
back to the horror comics of the past. on the two principals, as attested
 XXVIII. GREAT EXPECTATIONS 289

by the substantial proportion of single “head shots.” In “A Re- ter’s gamble on the appeal of Dumas, Scott, and Cooper. Fur-
trieved Reformation,” on the other hand, Gianni offers an early ther, eight of the First Publishing titles had never appeared in
20th-century urban panorama with a splendidly realized cast the Gilberton series, while a ninth, The Rime of the Ancient
of characters. His affectionate restatement of the Gibson Mariner, had been printed in the 1960s as a part of the Joint
manner encompassed both the broad humor of “The Pimienta European Series.
Pancakes” and the treacly sentiment of “The Last Leaf,” and Projected issues included Kidnapped, Around the World
he delivered it all without affecting a knowing, ironic distance. in Eighty Days, The Last of the Mohicans, 20,000 Leagues Under
For Ivanhoe, No. 25 (May 1991), Ray
Lago (b. 1958) used watercolors to add rich-
ness and depth to Sir Walter Scott’s med-
ieval pageant. Each panel is exquisitely com-
posed, with colors and detailed or minimal
backgrounds perfectly underscoring the ac-
companying text. The artist’s characters are
remarkably contemporary in appearance
(though certainly no more so than the Troy
Donahue-like Ivanhoe on the 1957 Gilber-
ton painted cover), while the costuming, in
keeping with the historical Romanticism of
the novel, is solidly in the Romantic vein.
Lago’s neotraditionalist edition, along with
Ploog’s Tom Sawyer, became a favorite with
older collectors.7
Other titles in the First Publishing se-
ries included Dan Spiegle’s The Count of
Monte Cristo, No. 7 (April 1990), which, as
drawn by the veteran Dell artist, harkened
back to an older comics style; Ricardo Vil-
lagran’s The Call of the Wild, No. 10 ( June
1990), a visually compelling production; Jay
Geldhof ’s The Fall of the House of Usher,
No. 14 (September 1990), with its gripping
renderings of inner torment; Joe Staton’s A
Christmas Carol, No. 16 (December 1990),
a warmly nostalgic account of the Dickens
perennial; and Pat Boyette’s Treasure Island,
No. 17 (January 1991), and Robinson Crusoe,
No. 23 (April 1991), both packed with a
rough vigor, though the Stevenson pirate
saga featured a rather stocky Jim Hawkins
and exhibited a certain indifference to period
details such as the appearance of Captain
Smollett, who looked more like a relative of
the hirsute Robert Shaw in Jaws than a
proper 18th-century naval officer.
Lapses notwithstanding, the artwork
in each issue was never less than well matched
to the demands of the specific narrative. First
Publishing achieved one of its goals in
bringing classic literature in comics form Ray Lago, Ivanhoe (May 1991). Traditionalism also had its place in the Berkley/First
into the 1990s, 50 years after Albert L. Kan- line.
290 CLASSICS Illustrated

the Sea, The Red Badge of Courage, Candide, Dracula, Ad- It was apparent that the new Classics had failed to build
ventures of Huckleberry Finn, and, most ambitiously, John Mil- a cohesive audience. Market analysts have argued that First’s
ton’s Paradise Lost. But publication of the new Classics ended updated art was in some instances too radical a break with the
abruptly after the 27th issue appeared in June 1991. A year Gilberton-Frawley Classics tradition. Others contended that
later, Dark Horse Comics picked up the unpublished 20,000 the time had simply passed for a newly scripted reenactment
Leagues Under the Sea (art by Gary Gianni) and The Last of the of Albert Kanter’s dream. No matter how many pictures ac-
Mohicans (art by Jack Jackson), issuing the books in a black- company the text, the irreducible fact of a literary adaptation
and-whitef ormat. is the printed word. Perhaps First’s admirably stubborn insis-
Gianni, who retained control over his artwork, oversaw tence on the primacy of the author’s individual, idiosyncratic
the publication of a large-format edition of Twenty Thousand language (the new Classics were more faithful to the originals
Leagues Under the Sea in 2009. The muted coloring by Jim than many of the old) proved too great a cultural barrier for
and Ruth Keegan emphasized the artist’s linework, which was many readers bred on images.
shown to great advantage on the oversized pages. Gianni’s ren- A third point of view, and one to which an increasing
derings of the underwater funeral and the claiming of the number of comics historians and industry watchers seem to
South Pole by Nemo are superlative compositions that are of subscribe, is that, far from being too wedded to a concept from
among the finest illustrations of a work by Verne, whatever the another era, the First Classics arrived a decade-and-a-half too
medium. soon, before the widespread interest in graphic fiction had
In the early 1990s, Classics Illustrated found itself once taken root.9
again prey to forces over which it had no control. The entire Meanwhile, internal turmoil at First Publishing was fol-
comics industry was enduring a sluggish period, and the down- lowed by restructuring under the new corporate name, Classics
turn was reflected in the collectors’ market, always a driving International Entertainment, Inc. (CIE), spurred by the en-
factor. Comics aficionados were simply not responding to the ergetic direction of Richard S. Berger. Although attempts to
new series. It was reported that First Publishing had printed create a comic book store chain and a Classics book club col-
more than 200,000 copies of each book but had sold only lapsed, Berger remained determined,10 and by the mid-1990s,
about 50,000 per title.8 that determination paid off.
 XXIX

“Your Doorway to the Classics”:

Acclaim’s Study Guides
F ive years after the new Classics Illustrated series was termi-
nated, the original series was, to borrow a phrase from
Dickens, recalled to life. In May 1996, Acclaim
Studios supplied the most natural enhancements for the series
in such titles as Les Miserables and Treasure Island. But Twilight

Comics, a New York–based publisher, entered into

a licensing agreement with First Classics, Inc., a
CIE subsidiary, to republish the Classics properties.
The new line would be marketed as Classics
Illustrated Study Guides, and the educational thrust
would be underscored by the motto “Your Doorway
to the Classics.” Each issue would feature a back-
of-the-book essay by an authority on the author in
question or the work adapted.
Although Acclaim was authorized to reissue
any title from either of the American series, editor
Madeleine Robins discovered that the Gilberton-
Frawley editions proved more suitable for repro-
duction and recoloring in the digest-size format
adopted by the publisher than the complex page
designs of the First Publishing Classics.1 When given
a choice between the original artwork or the
Feuerlicht-era revisions, Robins tended to prefer
the older drawings, such as those by Arnold Hicks
for Oliver Twist, Rolland Livingstone for The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow, and Henry C. Kiefer for Julius
Caesar, for their strong “period” appeal.2
Unfortunately, even with the exclusive use of
the older comics, the linework in the Acclaim books
frequently suffered. Subtleties of expression in the
work of George Evans, Joe Orlando, and Norman
Nodel were lost in the heavily inked reproductions.
The computer recoloring was also erratic. VanHook

Acclaim Classics Illustrated publicity booklet (1997).

The Acclaim titles were marketed as Study Guides
and contained outstanding critical essays by rep-
utable scholars.

291
292 CLASSICS Illustrated

Four Study Guides were published each month

through May 1997; the schedule increased to six
monthly issues from June through September 1997.
During the first few months, Robins included in each
set of four one work apiece by Shakespeare, Dickens,
and Twain. In July, four of the six releases were Jules
Verne adaptations, the editor’s nod to summer reading
habits. Distribution became increasingly problematical
as the year progressed, and Acclaim returned to the
four-title cycle from October 1997 through February
1998. Another thematic grouping was packaged for
Halloween—Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Leg-
end of Sleepy Hollow, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde —
and A Christmas Carol was issued in December. Plans
for issuing collected editions of Dickens, Shakespeare,
Wells, and horror tales (similar to Gilberton’s 1949 “Gi-
ants”) were scrapped as the series foundered.
One of the benefits of editing the series, in Rob-
ins’s view, was “the opportunity to reacquaint myself
with classics that I hadn’t read in years or that I hadn’t
read at all. I doubt that I would have read a boy’s book
like Captains Courageous otherwise.” Some of the works,
she discovered, actually improved in the condensed
comic-book versions. Recalling the “punitive experi-
ence” of reading George Eliot’s Silas Marner, she con-
cluded that the Classics Illustrated treatment, with its
rapidly paced, plot-driven narrative, “made a better
book.”4 On the other hand, architectonically complex
texts, such as Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, suffered from
the reductionism inherent in the comics medium.
In such books, Robins said, the critical supple-
ments served to amplify the adaptations: “We try to
put back in what was left out.”5 For example, in his
essay on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Andrew
Jay Hoffman noted that the Classics version includes
Alexander Maleev, The Count of Monte Cristo (February 1998). Maleev only one “narrowly represented” plot line, the pawnbro-
was one of several talented young artists recruited to provide covers for
the Acclaim series. ker’s murder, and misrepresents the character of Raskol-
nikov; he probed motivations and consequences, sum-
Graphics produced dimly lit editions of The Call of the Wild marized the omitted portions of the novel, and explored such
and The Last of the Mohicans with day-for-night panels that concerns as reality and duality. Beth Nachison of Southern
obscured facial features and dark-tan narrative boxes that were Connecticut State University offered a penetrating examination
all but unreadable. of Stevenson’s Master of Ballantrae, emphasizing the neglected
The first four issues —Tom Sawyer, Romeo and Juliet, A masterpiece’s thematic relationship to the author’s better-
Tale of Two Cities, and Jane Eyre— appeared in February 1997. known Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and provided historical context
The editor restored Aldo Rubano’s 1948 artwork in the Twain in a discussion of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Vernian scholar
title, which featured analysis by Clemens biographer Andrew Howard Hendrix of National University provided an illumi-
Jay Hoffman. Robins, a Charlotte Brontë enthusiast and spe- nating discussion of A Journey to the Center of the Earth as a
cialist for whom Jane Eyre was a “totemic” work, went back to “scientific romance,” linking the novel to the myth of the
Harley Griffiths’s 1947 edition but rewrote a scene in Harry Fisher King.
Miller’s adaptation between the heroine and Rochester that, Several outstanding contemporary artists provided
she said, “reeked of 1940s’ women’s movies.”3 painted covers for the Acclaim series. Massachusetts-born and
 XXIX. “YOUR DOORWAY TO THE CLASSICS” 293

Pratt Institute–trained fantasy artist Rebecca Guay

brought an Arthur Rackham–style sensibility to her pas-
sionately romantic paintings, tinged with a hint of darker
things awaiting her subjects, for Romeo and Juliet, Jane
Eyre, and Wuthering Heights. Richard Case (b. 1964), a
prolific comics artist, contributed memorably mysterious
covers for such titles as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mac-
beth, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Before launching into his
better-known work for the Daredevil and Spider-Woman
series, Bulgarian-born Alexander Maleev (b. 1971) pro-
duced powerful images for the covers of The Jungle Book,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Last of the Mohicans,
and The Count of Monte Cristo.
In terms of publication history, perhaps the most
promising development with Acclaim was editor Robins’s
decision to commission scripts and art for previously un-
published Classics Illustrated titles. The “Original Editions”
began appearing in February 1998 and included William
Shakespeare’s Henry IV — Part One, No. SG 59 (February
1998) (art by Patrick Broderick), Frederick Douglass’s
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, No. SG61
(March 1998) (art by Jamal Igle, Ravil Lopez, and Mike
DeCarlo), and Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s The Scarlet
Pimpernel, No. SG62 (April 1998) (art by Patrick Brod-
erick and Ralph Reese).
Unlike the bold First Publishing editions, however,
the Acclaim new-title Classics featured artwork that was
not only conventional but also, with the exception of a
robust rendering of The Scarlet Pimpernel, downright dull.
Henry IV — Part One was filled with too many closeup
panels of talking heads. The artists who worked on the
Frederick Douglass autobiography produced illustrations
that were more inventively composed but that matched
Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg’s drawings in the 1942 Tale Linda Fennimore, The Scarlet Pimpernel (April 1998). “They seek
of Two Cities for historical cluelessness — the Narrative’s him here, they seek him there.” But, like the Pimpernel, the later
Acclaim editions proved to be “demmed elusive” if not impossible to
setting is the first half of the 19th century, yet most of the find. The Orczy title is the most in demand.
characters are garbed in late Victorian or even early 20th-
century attire, while an 1830s slave master is given an 18th- effectively killed comic-book dealers’ and collectors’ interest
centuryq ueue. in the series.6 Meanwhile, bookstore chains seemed uncertain
Still, Robins and her team were making an effort to turn how to categorize the odd little volumes.
the series into something more than a line of reprints. A new It was the old Classics marketing conundrum: were they
century was approaching, and Albert Kanter’s dream continued comics? magazines? books? What, after all, were they? The
to resonate. As if to bring matters full circle, Robins commis- graying early readers had never troubled themselves with such
sioned Norman Nodel to illustrate Shakespeare’s Much Ado fine distinctions. They had always known the answer —“good
About Nothing. It seemed almost too good to be true. As it stories.”
happened, it was. In their efforts to bring those good stories to a new read-
Once again, a publisher had misjudged the market, and ership, neither First Publishing nor Acclaim had considered
Acclaim suspended publication in April 1998 after issuing 62 the approach that Classics fans had long urged. The answer
titles. Unreleased were “Original Editions” of Beowulf, Shake- seemed simple, direct, and obvious. It remained for a Canadian
speare’s Henry IV — Part 2, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prej- publisher with Kanteresque dreams to show the way as a new
udice. The digest size and the emphasis on “Study Guides” had century dawned.
 XXX

Restoration: Jack Lake

Productions and Papercutz
JACK LAKE PRODUCTIONS the Friendly Ghost, Turok, and other comic books that boarded
CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED the bus with him were Classics Illustrated issues. Among his
favorites were Western-themed titles such as Buffalo Bill and

I f there is a consistent theme in Classics Illustrated history,

it’s the persistence of the view among those who have edited
and published the various incarnations of the series that they
The Adventures of Kit Carson,3 which he would later reissue.
“As a child,” Jarve recalled, “I remember the sanctuary of
my bedroom on early Sunday mornings after breakfast, when I
are engaged in something of greater moment than merely mak- could escape into my world of adventure, intrigue, and fighting
ing a consumable product. That has certainly been the case pirates, Indians, and bad guys. As the sun shone through the
with Jaak Jarve, president of Jack Lake Productions, Inc., of windows, you could hear the birds chirping outside, the din of
Toronto, Ontario. In early 2003, under license, the Canadian family movements throughout the house, and you felt safe.”4
entrepreneur relaunched Classics Illustrated Junior, making the Those childhood memories played a significant part in Jarve’s
series available in the North American market for the first time commitment to relaunch Classics Illustrated. Following his grad-
since 1971. The following year, Jarve would reintroduce the uation with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University
Classics Illustrated Special Issues; in 2005, he would republish of Toronto, he spent a number of years in managerial positions
the first of many parent-line Classics Illustrated titles. with such companies as Granada Canada, Regal Greetings and
Where the Berkley/First Publishing venture emphasized Gifts, and, most auspiciously for later developments, the Okee
new adaptations and art in a graphic-novel format and where Dokee Sticker Company, a children’s retail sticker business.
the Acclaim Study Guides offered vintage art in substantially In April 2002, Jarve’s father died. Struggling with his
reduced dimensions, Jack Lake Productions brought back dig- grief, he recalled his childhood relationship: “As I reflected on
italized renderings of the original painted-cover and interior all the memories of my father, the happy times that kept jump-
artwork that approximated the Gilberton-Frawley editions in ing out at me were the talks I had with him and the sense of
everything except for the inside front and back covers, which sanctuary when I was a child reading comics in my upstairs
contained critical introductions or author biographies. This bedroom. At that time I had young children of my own, and
approach was in part a response to requests from Classics afi- I wondered what had become of the Classics Illustrated series.
cionados who missed the familiar comfort of the traditional I was working at the Okee Dokee Sticker Company at the time
lines but who also wanted the reprints placed in a literary and as their product manager, so I had to keep abreast of all the
historical context. children’s education products on the market and was disap-
Jarve was introduced to Classics Illustrated around 1960 pointed with the quality and substance at the time. I imme-
as a child of five in his native Toronto, where a nearby candy diately started looking for the copyrights on the CI line. After
store’s newsstand racks “held many of the comics of the day.”1 six months of hunting, I discovered First Classics Inc. and its
At the age of six, his family moved to a dairy farm in Totten- president Dick Berger, who owned the CI copyright. We met
ham, Ontario. Between the ages of eight and fifteen, Jarve in Chicago in late November 2002 and signed a publishing
“traveled by Greyhound bus to Toronto on Saturdays to par- agreement.”5
ticipate in piano lessons, Scout meetings, and midday In what might have been considered by some observers a
matinees. On every trip back home, I would raid the bus ter- counterintuitive move, Jarve began his ambitious project with
minal’s comic rack.”2 Among the copies of Richie Rich, Casper a focus on the Classics Illustrated Junior line, a popular series

294
 XXX. RESTORATION 295

in its day but one with comparatively modest collector appeal. ing by Canadian artist Christina Choma. Four years later, Irish
Still, the new publisher had younger children of his own in artist Colin Mayne supplied a new cover for The Princess Who
the Junior demographic, and each issue was only thirty-two Saw Everything, while Canadian artist Wayne Downey pro-
pages in length, instead of the standard forty-eight in the duced for the same issue the first all-new Junior interior art.
mainline publication. This factor was significant because, as Further overhauls were planned in the case of some titles, such
Jarve explained, at the time there was “no original artwork as Brightboots and The Runaway Dumpling, containing early-
available to work from. I had to hire freelance artists to retrace 1960sm inimalist-stylea rtwork.
and digitally restore the comics panel by panel.”6 With sixteen Following the success of the first dozen titles, Jarve ex-
fewer pages per issue, the Juniors provided a less expensive way panded the scope of the reissues in 2004 with hardcover edi-
to test the market for the Classics Illustrated relaunch. tions of two Classics Illustrated Special Issues: The Story of Jesus
The first title to be reissued, in March 2003,
was Classics Illustrated Junior No. 570, The Pearl
Princess, based on “The Goose Girl at the Spring,”
a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Although a re-
viewer questioned the choice to set the revival in
motion with a comic book that featured rather
undistinguished artwork, Jarve was quite clear
about his decision: “The Pearl Princess was my ini-
tial title I worked on, because as a child it was my
favorite. The publisher urged all adults to reread
the fairy tales they grew up with; there are very
deep messages in them that will further enlighten
your soul. In The Pearl Princess, the main theme
is about forgiveness and understanding.”7
Indeed, the wisdom of folk tales and fairy tales
was at the heart of the Jarve’s mission, as stated on
his website: “To publish and distribute wholesome,
nurturing literature to young readers.”8 He also
sought to honor and preserve the Classics Illustrated
family of publications as “a piece of American his-
tory for future generations to enjoy.”9 This com-
mitment also led to the publisher’s inclusion of such
items of Americana as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Ap-
pleseed in early packages of reissued titles.
Beginning with artists he had known in his
capacity as product manager at the Okee Dokee
Sticker Company (and later expanding to free-
lancers he had met at trade fairs and other venues),
Jarve digitally tweaked the Juniors, brightening the
colors and sharpening the images. For the first
year’s releases, a biography of Classics Illustrated
founder Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr.,
appeared on the inside front covers. These were
replaced in subsequent issues with full-page
profiles of such authors as the Brothers Grimm,
Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, and
L. Frank Baum.
In 2005, Jarve commissioned the first cover
variant in Junior history: a restoration of the orig- Christina Choma (after a line drawing by Jack Kirby), How Fire Came to the
inal cover-design concept by Jack Kirby for No. Indians (2005). The first variant cover in the history of Classics Illustrated
571, How Fire Came to the Indians, in a new paint- Junior.
296 CLASSICS Illustrated

Distribution problems, however, plagued

the operation, with the crucial United States firm
Diamond dropping Classics Illustrated along with
other reprint series in 2006. Yet other channels
opened, and in 2007 Jack Lake resumed publi-
cation with two more reissued Special Issues: The
Story of America and The War Between the States.
At the end of the year, four mainline Classics Il-
lustrated titles were released, with introductions
by Jones that gave critical backgrounds for the
individual works and traced the histories of the
particular comic-book editions in Gilberton-
Frawley publishing history. Three of the titles —
The Three Musketeers, The Last of the Mohicans,
and Moby Dick— were among the first five num-
bers in the CI catalogue. The fourth release, The
Aeneid, had never appeared under the Gilberton
banner, though it had been published in the
British and European Classics lines. Classics Il-
lustrated historian John Haufe had lobbied for
its inclusion in the relaunched Jack Lake series;
he sent Jarve a copy of the rare British edition,
which was scanned and became the basis of the
new issue No. 170, the first new title on the
parent reorder list since 1969.
Junior titles continued to be digitalized, but
most Classics Illustrated issues through 2008 were
simply scanned. The quality of reproduction de-
pended on the condition of the comic-book
source, and, as a result, some artwork received
less than its due. Jarve, who had never been es-
pecially keen on scanning from either an aesthetic
or practical viewpoint, shifted direction with the
reissue of Classics Illustrated Special Issue No.
141A, The Rough Rider, in 2008. The award-
winning biography of Theodore Roosevelt was
the first Jack Lake edition to incorporate original
Gilberton proof pages, obtained from Canadian
Unidentified artist, Daniel Boone (October 2010). The cover, taken directly
from the 1952 painting, is representative of Jack Lake’s efforts to restore the
Classics dealer Calvin Slobodian. This circum-
original Gilberton art whenever possible. stance allowed the publisher to introduce newly
colored pages, which gave The Rough Rider as
and The Ten Commandments. The next year witnessed a flir- clean and crisp a look as the Jack Lake Juniors.
tation with perfect-binding, an innovation that was abandoned Jarve’s Classics releases for 2009 and 2010 were strikingly
in 2007 (though adopted by the British licensee). But 2005 handsome. In some instances — including All Quiet on the
was significant for Jack Lake Productions in another respect. Western Front, Daniel Boone, Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Cae-
In the early fall, partly as a response to the release of Stephen sar, and Les Miserables— original cover paintings had been
Spielberg’s film loosely based on the H.G. Wells novel, Jarve made available by a network of international collectors. Other
published a digitalized, redrawn “50th Anniversary Edition” painted covers, such as Robin Hood and The Song of Hiawatha,
of Lou Cameron’s iconic 1955 Classics Illustrated version of The were brightened and enhanced by Christina Choma. Rarities
War of the Worlds, in both softcover and hardcover formats. (Great Expectations) and even Famous Authors titles (Nicholas
Press and reader response was encouraging. Nickleby) surfaced in the catalogue. Critical response was fa-
 XXX. RESTORATION 297

vorable. Comics writer and scholar Paul Buhle praised

Jack Lake’s “old-style” effort, in which the original
editions were reprinted “just as before, as far as pos-
sible.”10
By 2010, Jarve had settled on an annual late-
summer and fall publication cycle that would feature
sixteen Classics, twelve Juniors, and the occasional Spe-
cial Issue. The publisher turned his attention in 2011
to the World Around Us series (Pirates, Crusades, Vik-
ings). In addition, he was working closely with Jeff
and Jon Brooks, whose revived British line included
study questions and enjoyed success in the educa-
tional market abroad. Renewed interest in licensing
the Classics Illustrated line appeared in Brazil, Croatia,
France, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, and
South Africa.

PAPERCUTZ CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED

Another fan of the original series, Jim Salicrup,
“first encountered Classics Illustrated in a Parkchester
soda shop in the Bronx when I was a kid.... I was to-
tally fascinated by them!”11 As editor-in-chief of Pa-
percutz, a New York–based publisher of modernized
graphic-novel editions of Nancy Drew, The Hardy
Boys, and Tales from the Crypt, he already specialized
in reviving classic franchises. What, then, could be
more classic than Classics Illustrated? Papercutz had
established a presence in school and public libraries,
which had begun attempts to appeal to younger read-
ers with the inclusion of graphic novels in their col-
lections. The addition of Classics Illustrated to the
publisher’s lineup seemed a natural step.
Mazan, Tales from the Brothers Grimm (April 2008). French artists and
So Salicrup and his partner, Papercutz publisher German tales brought critical acclaim.
Terry Nantier, approached Jaak Jarve of Jack Lake
Productions, which controlled licensing, with a proposal to in Newsweek, Malcolm Jones hailed it as “a visual masterpiece”
revive the Berkley/First Publishing line and to launch a Deluxe in which “[e]very elegant page is composed with a dual
series featuring new art in longer adaptations. Salicrup had a purpose: to enchant the eye and to further the various
connection with Rick Geary, who had adapted Great Expecta- narratives that make up the loose plot.”12 The Wind in the Wil-
tions and The Invisible Man in 1990 for Berkley/First; those lows was followed by a Deluxe edition of Tales from the Brothers
titles would become the first reprints in the regular Papercutz Grimm, another French edition. Subsequent hardcover titles
CI series. Jarve, who controlled worldwide licensing for Classics featuring illustrations by French artists included Frankenstein,
Illustrated, granted permission for the new series to proceed. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Treasure Island.
The first title, French artist Michel Plessix’s adaptation Simultaneously, Papercutz released a handsome
of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, appeared restoration of the Berkley/First Great Expectations as the initial
under the Classics Illustrated Deluxe banner in January 2008. offering in its regular Classics Illustrated line. Where the 1990–
(The “Deluxe” was a nod to the British hardcover series of the 91 series encountered resistance in some quarters, the Papercutz
1950s.) Plessix’s wistful, whimsical artwork, which had origi- Classics enjoyed an enthusiastic reception from readers, comics
nally appeared in France in 1996, attracted positive attention fans, and librarians. Rave reviews for the first Shakespeare of-
in its hardcover Papercutz English-language format. Writing fering, Hamlet, appeared in the School Library Journal and the
298 CLASSICS Illustrated

popular when they first came out, but they truly

were ahead of their time. Today libraries and
schools are much more open to the idea of
graphic novels. ... [I received] a picture of Classics
Illustrated Deluxe #3, Frankenstein, on a shelf of
recommended books at the Queens Public Li-
brary in Astoria, [New York] That probably
would never have happened twenty years ago. It’s
great to see comics getting the respect they de-
serve, and we are grateful for the support we’ve
received from librarians and educators.”14
For Salicrup and Petránek, the Papercutz
Classics Illustrated project was, from the begin-
ning, “truly a labor of love.”15 The use of artists
with a variety of distinctive styles ensured a wide
range of responses to familiar material. “It’s
always a lot of fun to see how a great mind in-
terprets a story you know very well, and to
present these comics to a new audience,”
Petránek said. “A graphic novel is only as good
as the script it comes from, and the source ma-
terial for these comics are some of the greatest
literary works in the world. I think that’s a big
reason why so many people are interested in Clas-
sics Illustrated; the stories are perennial.”16
Indeed, the return of the trademark is part
of a larger popular-culture development in the
first decade of the 21st century. From Graphic
Classics to Marvel Illustrated, significant artists
such as Michael Slack and scriptwriters such as
Roy Thomas have turned their attention to adap-
tations of literary masterpieces. Meanwhile, ed-
ucators have finally embraced the art form as a
means of reaching reluctant readers or reinforcing
advanced students. Seventy years after Classic
Comics first appeared, Albert Kanter’s mission,
Tom Mandrake, Hamlet (May 2009). New life for a series that was 20 years too often derided by those whose mindsets were
ahead of its time.
too rigid to accept a different approach to achieve
a common goal, had been adopted by artists,
Library Media Connection, which noted that it was “illustrated writers, and editors who remembered the yellow banner with
in a way to draw the student into the darkness of the play.”13 affection or who, in some cases, may never have been aware of
As Papercutz associate editor Michael Petránek observed, the man in whose shadow they stood.
“It’s a shame that the Berkley/First editions were not more
 XXXI

Classics Collected: Notes on the

Evolution of a Pastime and a Passion
F rom almost the beginning, a substantial number of kids
who read Classic Comics began collecting them. “Golden
Age” publishers of all sorts quickly learned that, by the simple
first time, as Zansky drew them.... (I see Zansky as a fast, risk-
taking, lyrical draftsman with a flair for action....)
Action was the byword in those early Classics issues. Mme.
Thenardier throwing the boulder in Les Miserables. (What was it
act of placing a number on the cover of a comic book, loyal doing in the garret?) The Horseman throwing the pumpkin at
readers would keep track and come back for more. Gilberton Ichabod’s head. (Was the Horseman really Brom Bones?) Rol-
refined the practice in 1943 by adding a list of available titles, land Livingstone, I presume!
which could be ordered by sending in a “coupon or facsimile.” I loved Lillian Chestney’s jinn in Arabian Nights and her Lilli-
Classics Illustrated historian John Haufe has observed that putians in Gulliver’s Travels, so exotic with their curls and
fingernails, all embellished with Chestney’s filigreed art panels.
young readers in the 1940s tended to be “anonymous [Classic
Oh, I know that Allen Simon’s efforts are the butt of jokes of
Comics] consumers,” as opposed to collectors.1 This does not those who are in the know and that his Hunchback and Flayed
mean that there were no true fans during that time, but the Hand are editorial nightmares, but really now! This was the pe-
systemized and obsessive gathering of “All Things CI” by in- riod when Classics stalwartly refused to take themselves too seri-
dividuals devoted to the series had not truly begun. ously, when Classics were just comic books. When Classics were,
well, charming!
The Iger Shop’s regime from 1945 to 1953 represents, for me,
a backward step, an expulsion from Eden, an increasingly self-
FANS’ NOTES : THE 1940S AND 1950S conscious period when Classics sought elevation from the status
of “comics” to “the best in the world’s finest juvenile publica-
Classics fans differ considerably in their attitudes toward tion”— the Iger era of the potted book reports. Classics had
the evolving artistic identity of the series. Those whose first gained the world but had lost its soul.1
encounters with the yellow rectangle occurred in the 1940s Another Canadian collector, whose passion for the series
tend to prefer the earlier line-drawing covers and the less reg- was ignited a decade later, was Wayne Munson of Calgary:
imented art of that era. Toronto resident Bill Briggs, the second The earliest recollection that I have of Classics takes me back to
editor of The Classics Reader, a pioneering fanzine of the 1970s age nine. My dad was a sergeant in the Royal Canadian Air Force,
and ’80s, offers the following musings: and we lived on a small radar base about 25 miles from Halifax,
Nova Scotia. The store there was not a large one but did carry a
Classics Illustrated always had, for me, a note of magic. I was good variety of comics. My friends collected the usual books—
five years old, sickly, with no brothers or sisters. Classics kept ap- Casper, Little Lulu etc.— but I had no interest in them and with
pearing magically: inside a folded evening newspaper, at the the 25-cent allowance I received weekly, I was prudent how I
foot of my bed in the morning, in a desk drawer. You get the spent my money. The first Classics Illustrated I remember seeing,
picture. around 1958, was #97, King Solomon’s Mines. The cover was spec-
It was 1948 in Atlantic Canada.... A new issue appeared every tacular and with that special yellow-and-black banner at the top,
two weeks. The covers were the first “hook”; filled with heroic I knew I had to have it. The 15-cent price was not a deterrent,
figures and lavishly coloured, they invited the reader to enter albeit an obvious strain on my budget. From then on, I bought
worlds of wonder and romance not to be found in the hum- whatever Classic was there that I didn’t have. On occasion, I would
drum of every day. buy other comics to use as trade, but only if there were no Classics I
The interiors of the Classics did not disappoint. I loved Zan- needed. I acquired many from my friends, trading 2 non–CI for
sky’s larger-than-life heroes: Captain Ahab, Robin Hood, the one Classic if the need arose. This went on for the next five years
Don of La Mancha, Pathfinder, the Sleuth of Baker Street. I until my Dad retired from the Air Force. We moved to Calgary,
have always imagined these mythic figures as I saw them for the and I was not able to hold onto my treasured Classics collection.

299
300 CLASSICS Illustrated

covers I did not recognize, but I realized, right then and there,
that this was going to become an important part of my life.
Just a couple of years ago, when I expanded my interest in
the U.S. series to include the Canadian Classics, I uncovered an-
other childhood memory of sorts while reading the uniquely
Canadian inside-cover stories, specifically one in #12, Rip Van
Winkle. On the Air Force base in Nova Scotia, I attended an el-
ementary school named “David Hornell School.” I never knew
who this person was and never really gave it much thought.
Well, when I opened #12, there on the inside front cover was
the biography of Flight Lieutenant David E. Hornell! He was
the first Canadian to win the coveted Victoria Cross for bravery
during World War II. His plane sustained damage after sinking
a German submarine over the North Atlantic and was forced
into the ocean. Some of his crew survived but he did not. The
VC was awarded posthumously. I now look back upon my days
at that school with a different set of feelings, thanks to my won-
derful Classics.2
Perhaps the most celebrated of early collectors in Clas-
sics lore was E. Nelson Bridwell (1931–1987), who was even-
tually hired as an editor at DC Comics in part because of
his reputation as a “walking encyclopedia of comics.” The
Oklahoma native was suggesting possible future titles to
Gilberton editor Meyer Kaplan as early as 1952; Kaplan sent
Bridwell an original sketch of Cyrano de Bergerac by “our # 1
artist,” Alex A. Blum, by way of thanks for his interest. In
1960, the 29-year-old enthusiast sent a detailed list of sug-
gestions to Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. (See her response in
Chapter XVIII.) Bridwell is particularly significant as the
author of the first fanzine article on Classics Illustrated, “The
Classics Illustrated Story” in the EC-oriented Squatront!
(April 1959). His analytical skills were very much in evidence
as he divided Gilberton’s history into distinct eras and offered
nuanced assessments of the artwork and scripts.3
The baby boomers who constituted the bulk of Classics
Illustrated fans — and the core constituency of adult collec-
Henry C. Kiefer, King Solomon’s Mines (July 1952). Canadian col- tors — grew up with the painted covers introduced in 1951.
lector Wayne Munson’s memorable first encounter with Classics
Illustrated; the issue shown is the childhood copy of comics-art For them, the older artwork and line-drawing covers were
authority Hames Ware (note the initials “CHW” carefully placed exotically strange variants. Some, as children, would trade
on the elephant’s foot). what proved to be more valuable older printings for the
newer, more “modern” painted-cover-replacement reprints.
Some 35 years later, I was browsing through a large antique
The most devoted Classics Illustrated readers in the late
shop in Los Angeles. On a book shelf I spotted a stack of Clas-
sics, maybe a hundred or so. It’s hard to explain the feelings that 1950s lived on a bimonthly schedule, eagerly awaiting the
came over me as I glanced through the books. Several covers in- arrival of the newest issue—or reissue—at their neighborhood
stantly summoned memories of times past, and I recalled the variety, grocery, or drug stores. Among the ranks of the faithful
circumstances of when I originally got the books. When I was was John Haufe of Kettering, Ohio, a future assistant editor
11, I had pneumonia and was in the hospital with an oxygen tent of The Classics Collector and editorial advisor to Jack Lake Pro-
around me. Mom and Dad came in and slipped a brown paper
bag under the tent. In it were The Jungle Book and Paul Bunyan.
ductions. Writing about the pleasures of collecting the series
And now, these were there, right in front of me after all these in its heyday, Haufe recalled the most exciting moments:
years. As I read through them, another emotion came over me as 1. Anticipating the Original issues as they came out between
I picked up on the “smell” coming from the pages. I got shivers, November 1953 and August 1962 — it was very exciting to see
became somewhat emotional (good thing no one was with me), the new covers. My S.S. Kresge CI spinner usually had two or
and knew what I had to do. The hundred books cost me $150, three pockets of the current issue at the top of the rack. Also
and that night I spent hours looking through them all. Many equally exciting for me was the thrill of discovering what was
 XXXI. CLASSICS COLLECTED 301

forthcoming in the series through the “Coming Next” ads. This where a secretary greeted us. There were very few people about.
feature was rather unique with CI as the other comic series were The atmosphere was low key. I explained the reason for our visit
more predictable with their themes and characters. and was surprised at how helpful and friendly the secretary was.
2. Ordering hard-to-find numbers directly from Gilberton in She directed us to a room that had one entire wall completely
New York and then receiving the copies in a large manila enve- covered with vertical rows of square receptacles or trays. Each
lope. These “scarce” Classics not found at my local Kresge’s out- tray held a stack of pristine mint Classics Illustrated comics of the
let included such issues as Nos. 40 [Mysteries], 44 [Mysteries of same title. The secretary told us to take our time and pick out as
Paris], 53 [A Christmas Carol], 66 [The Cloister and the Hearth], many comics as we wanted. I vividly remember my first pick. It
73 [The Black Tulip], 74 [Mr. Midshipman Easy], 113 [TheF orty- was a mint original of #56 Toilers of the Sea. This was a title I
FiveG uardsmen], 114 [The Red Rover], 116 [The Bottle Imp], 120 had never seen before. A lot of the comics had “10¢” on the cov-
[The Hurricane], and 129 [Davy Crockett]. ers, which really puzzled me. Up to that time every Classic I had
3. Seeing Classics away from my home
town while vacationing every summer in
the east. They could be found in the
Howard Johnson gift shops along the Penn-
sylvania/New Jersey turnpikes and promi-
nently displayed on the newsstands of New
York City.4
Multiply variations of those experi-
ences by tens of thousands, and a composite
picture of the hardcore baby-boomer
Classics Illustrated fan begins to emerge.

IN QUEST OF THE GRAIL

As children, fledgling collectors mas-
tered the reorder lists on back or inside cov-
ers and engaged in their own shorthand,
calling issues by numbers rather than titles
(“118” instead of Rob Roy) and thus getting
the jump on later collectors by several dec-
ades. The numbers recited above by John
Haufe were among the magical signifiers —
along with numbers 8, 14, 20, 21, 33, 35,
38, 43, and 56 — that quickened the pulses
of young fans. By the early 1960s, the search
for original printings of those and other is-
sues had become for Classics collectors their
very own exercise in knight errantry.
Jim McLoughlin, a native New Yorker,
was better situated than most to undertake
the quest. In June 1962, he and a friend
from Queens took a trip to the fabled “De-
partment S” of the Gilberton Company at
101 Fifth Avenue. “At first, we couldn’t find
the building,” he wrote later.
Suddenly, we both spotted the familiar yel-
low and black Classics Illustrated logo on the
wall at the entrance. It was made of a glossy
plastic and mounted just above our heads....
We took the elevator to the third floor as
the lobby directory indicated.... The eleva- Alex A. Blum, An Illustrated Library of Great Indian Stories (October 1949). A
tor doors opened directly into a hallway lucky break for young New York collector Jim McLoughlin.
302 CLASSICS Illustrated

ever seen had a “15¢” price. ... I purchased as many 10¢ titles as I the Gilberton business offices and warehouse. Most had to
could at face value.... make do with direct-to-publisher coupons or variety-store
As we paid up and got ready to leave I casually mentioned to spinner racks. And few young collectors (in the U.S., at least)
the secretary that I had not found some of the titles I really
wanted. She said, “Why don’t you visit the Gilberton warehouse were aware that thousands across the country shared their pas-
on Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn?” She wrote down the address sion for the yellow rectangle. Matters were different in Europe,
while I silently asked myself, “What warehouse in Brooklyn?” ... where the European operation fostered Classics Clubs.
Being from Queens, Brooklyn was like a foreign country to us.
We studied the subway map and found a Ralph Avenue stop but
had not the slightest idea how far from the warehouse this stop
would be. ... I remember it was quite a long walk but we found THE BIRTH OF A HOBBY
it. The warehouse was a low building of one story with a large
tarmac area for trucks, and there were plenty of them, too! The When Frawley brought the business to an end, unsold
place was really buzzing. We explained to the security guard copies of Classics Illustrated made their way to warehouses in
why we were there, and he let us right in. 1972, where young adults raced to buy as many stiff-cover
The inside of the building was immense. We were ushered copies of Ivanhoe, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and other titles as
into a room where about twenty Puerto Rican ladies were busy
sorting huge piles of Classics. Was I happy to see another wall they could afford at the 25¢ cover price. Those with greater
covered with the same type of vertical trays as the 101 Fifth Av- foresight and more disposable income went for bigger prizes.
enue office had. These trays were a goldmine. ... I immediately One man in particular, Raymond S. True of Libertyville, Illi-
found a reprint of #21 [3 Famous Mysteries] and a 10¢ LDC nois, did more than anyone to systematize the available infor-
[line-drawing cover] of #65 Ben Franklin.... All of a sudden I mation about Classics Illustrated and make possible a rational,
spotted a tray full of #38 Adventures of Cellini. I picked out a
intelligent approach to adult collecting of the “World’s Greatest
few copies for trading material. Then I saw a reprint of #8 [Ara-
bian Nights] that was in just beautiful shape. It was HRN 78 [a Juvenile Publication.”
discontinued 1950 edition]. This room was full of surprises, and Comic books in general came to be regarded as collectible
the next one was a beaut! There was a tray #11 Don Quixote, but items in the mid-to-late 1960s. In 1970, Robert M. Overstreet
this HRN 28 [i.e., 1946] reprint had Classic Comics on the issued his first Comic Book Price Guide, a publication that over
cover. The tray next to it had originals of #23 Oliver Twist with the years has come to be considered the collector’s bible. In
the same Classic Comics logo. The place was a madhouse of noise
and activity. We left, full of wonder and happiness with what we that first edition, little information was offered on Classics Il-
had seen and went back home pretty much satisfied and content. lustrated, and what was given was incomplete or obsolete. Only
A few months later we planned what would be our final trip 130 issues were shown as having been printed, and only the
to the Ralph Avenue warehouse. Summer was over and school original publisher, Elliott, was identified; both Gilberton and
had started up again. We returned to the warehouse on October Frawley were ignored. In the following year, the last of nearly
12, 1962. It was Columbus Day, and we got quite a rude shock
1,400 Classics Illustrated reprint editions rolled off the presses.
as we approached the warehouse. There were no trucks and no
people! It hadn’t occurred to us that everybody would be off be- The sheer complexity of such a figure had been completely ig-
cause of the holiday. We rapped on the door and a security guard nored in the Overstreet catalogue.
answered. At first, he wouldn’t let us enter but felt sorry for us In November 1971, collector and dealer True wrote to
after we told him how far and how long we had traveled. This Bob Overstreet, offering to provide assistance in clarifying the
time I came prepared with a list of Classics I wanted to replace listings for Classics Illustrated in the 1972 Price Guide by prepar-
with 10¢ copies. Without all the racket and noise, my friend and
I took our time and went through every tray. This time I found ing a “sample insertion.”6 Within a week, Overstreet responded,
a reprint of #43 Great Expectations [the rarest of the rare]. stating that “it would be very helpful if you could lay out a
After about an hour, the guard came by and asked if we were draft to use on Classic Comics”7 and asking for a breakdown
interested in buying some of the big comics he called “Giants” according to groups of issue numbers. Soon after this exchange,
[an extremely rare series]. For 25¢ each I purchased an Adven- in January 1972, True, assisted by his wife Doreen, published
ture and an Indian Giant. The guard could not find any Myster-
the first issue of The Classics Collectors Club Newsletter (CCCN).
ies Giants. I took one last look at the piles of Classics laying
around but found only an original of #71 [The Man Who In July 1972 he printed the third number in the fanzine series,
Laughs]. We had picked the place clean as far as we were con- which contained the first “Reprint Trail,” an ongoing study of
cerned. As we left this time, even more contented, neither of us the various editions of Classic Comics and Classics Illustrated
suspected that we would never return again. ... Shortly thereafter titles.8
our interests turned to girls and other sports. A year later, JFK It was True who devised the means of identifying the
was killed in Dallas. I was in college with all my Classics up in
the attic forgotten and unprotected.5 dates of particular editions, pegging each to the highest reorder
number (HRN) on the back-cover or interior-cover list. Now
McLoughlin’s experience was exceptional — and perhaps the HRN is the universally recognized means of establishing
unique. Few young readers had the opportunity to visit both the age of an issue, whether in the Comic Book Price Guide or
 XXXI. CLASSICS COLLECTED 303

on eBay. The identification of art-

work was another problematic area
in the early 1970s, but Arkansas-
based comics-art authority Hames
Ware, with assistance from Okla-
homan E. Nelson Bridwell, iden-
tified most of the Classics artists for
CCCN.
True’s early efforts at main-
taining a forum for Classics collec-
tors were continued by Jim Sands
of Enid, Oklahoma, in 1975 with
a new fanzine, The Classics Reader.
Sands was succeeded as editor in
1977 by Bill Briggs, who continued
producing the publication until
1980. During this period, Charles
Heffelfinger’s The Classics Hand-
book (1978) appeared; it was a sub-
stantial work that brought together
the results of the multiple strands
of research in the now-growing
field. In 1981, Jim Sands reentered
the fanzine lists with the short-
lived Classics Critique. Another
publication, The Classics Journal,
appeared in 1983 under the joint
auspices of publisher Mike Strauss,
editor Bob Dane, associate editor
Mike Sawyer, and production man-
ager Charles Heffelfinger.
Meanwhile, in 1974 Raymond
True began corresponding with
Mike Kanter, the brother of Albert
Kanter and the former Gilberton
warehouse manager. In lieu of a
pension, Kanter had received Clas-
sics Illustrated stock and original
artwork. True purchased a lot of
100 rarities at $2.50 each, includ-
The Classics Reader, No. 9 (April 1977). By the 1970s the hobby had already developed its
ing fourteen copies of the scarce own standards of scholarship (courtesy Bill Briggs).
No. 14, Westward Ho! These books,
in turn, would form the core of True’s successful rare-edition nearly 100 original cover paintings in a 1974 issue of the Comics
catalogue. In a letter dated 14 May 1974, Kanter offered for Buyer’s Guide “a major catalyst of early Classics fandom.”9
sale a substantial number of original-art covers and interiors. In 1986, the Rev. George Thomas Fisher, an Episcopal
By December, True had acquired the complete interior art for priest in Nottingham, New Hampshire, produced one of the
Crime and Punishment and painted covers and interiors for most valuable tools in the history of Classics collecting. His
The Master of Ballantrae, David Balfour, and Daniel Boone. In well-researched, self-published Classic Comics Index was a com-
the following year, True acquired more sets. At the same time, prehensive fifty-three-page listing of subjects and persons cov-
Kanter was selling artwork to Dean Blatt of New Rochelle, ered in the filler items in the Classics Illustrated series. Topics
New York. John Haufe has called Blatt’s advertisement for from “Jousting” to “Radioactive isotopes” were included. As
304 CLASSICS Illustrated

the Rev. Mr. Fisher explained, the “main purpose” of his Another major stride forward in fan-based research was
monograph was “to ‘open up’ and make available all the hidden librarian Michael Sawyer’s groundbreaking article “Albert
articles, stories, historical facts and personalities that go beyond Lewis Kanter and the Classics: The Man Behind the Gilberton
the regular book titles and content” of the 169 titles in the Clas- Company,” published, as the author tells it, “almost by fluke”
sics Illustrated series. But the author went further and also cat- in the Journal of Popular Culture in 1987.10 The article had been
alogued topics referenced in the Classics Illustrated Junior, Clas- shelved by one editor, but, in a changing of the guard, a new
sics Illustrated Special Issue, and World Around Us series. Fisher editor responded positively when Sawyer phoned to inquire
expressed his admiration for the filler articles, which were, he about the status of the piece, and it became the first substantial
wrote, “examples of fine research and composition.” The Classic study of Classics Illustrated to appear under a university’s im-
Comics Index remains an unsurpassed reference tool for both print. Sawyer’s contribution was significant in placing Albert
the collector and the serious student of the educational mission Kanter’s enterprise on the pop-culture map, at a time when
of the Gilberton Company. comic books and comics art were becoming legitimate areas
of academic interest. Later writers on the sub-
ject of Classics Illustrated used Sawyer’s article
as a foundation on which to build their own
edifices.

THE MALAN YEARS AND AFTER

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Dan
Malan of St. Louis, Missouri, reached more
than 2,000 CI aficionados in the United
States, Canada, and abroad with The Classics
Collector, a fanzine that continued the tradi-
tion of serious study established by Raymond
True. As in the earlier publications, Malan
featured interviews with Gilberton-Frawley
(and later First Publishing) personnel, spot-
lighted research on the foreign as well as do-
mestic series, and encouraged new converts
to the cause. In 1991, Malan self-published
the most significant and comprehensive work
on Classics Illustrated yet produced, The Com-
plete Guide to Classics Collectibles, revised and
reissued in 1996 as The Complete Guide to
Classics Illustrated, Vol. One. Also in 1996,
Malan self-published a second volume, deal-
ing in detail with the multitude of foreign se-
ries. The level of scholarship in The Complete
Guide to Classics Illustrated, Vol. Two, remains
unsurpassed. Shortly afterward, Malan
turned his attention to the art of Gustave
Doré, while Raymond True and Mike Nicas-
tre briefly attempted to keep The Classics Col-
lector afloat.
A sign that Classics Illustrated was gain-
ing institutional respectability came in the
The Classics Collector, No. 15 (November 1992). Dan Malan’s fanzine and assorted
“classical enterprises” brought collectors in the 1990s to a deeper understanding form of lectures and exhibits focusing on the
of the place of Classics Illustrated within the larger context of the history of illus- series. Dan Malan curated a 50th-anniversary
tration art (Bottle Imp Archives). display at San Francisco State University in
 XXXI. CLASSICS COLLECTED 305

1991 and for the Main County Library in St. Louis in

1992. Collector and dealer Bill Novick organized an
anniversary celebration at Cedar Hills School in Oak
Creek, Wisconsin, in 1991.11 The author presented items
from his collection for the Central Arkansas Library Sys-
tem in 1983, 1991, and 1992. In 2002, he spoke on
Classics Illustrated at the Library of Congress, which
sponsored a one-night exhibit of issues in its collection.
From April to June 2004, the Historic Arkansas Mu-
seum in Little Rock hosted an exhibit of vintage comics
and original art from the author’s collection. In April
2011, the Memphis Public Library staged the largest
exhibit of original Classics art to date, drawn from the
collection of Dr. William D. Falvey.
By the late 1990s, the appeal of Classics Illustrated
had broadened beyond the original “band of brothers,”
as evidenced by the growing presence of the series on
eBay and the increased respect accorded the series in
the comics and academic realms. In the first decade of
the 21st century, a group of serious international col-
lectors, including Lars Teglbjaerg of Sweden, Øystein
Sørenson of Norway, and Larry Chalif of New York,
kept the prices of original art rising in auctions through
Heritage Galleries and elsewhere. And perhaps most
significantly, the Overstreet Price Guide listings for
Classics Illustrated–related series extended to almost 20
pages, a far cry from the brief and incorrect notice that
appeared on a single page in the first edition four
decades before.

Unidentified artist, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Sep-

tember 1957). Original cover painting from the collec-
tion of Dr. Lawrence Chalif.
 XXXII

Classical Coda
N ostalgia is a seductive yet sterile trap, as I have frequently
reminded myself while working on this book. I trust that
on the whole, excepting the Introduction and this passage, I
of Classics Illustrated in the mid-century culture wars, which,
unlike those at the turn of the 21st century, were largely fought
on terrain selected by an intellectual elite promoting a
have maintained a reasonable distance from its snares and have modernist literary canon and sensibility. As Bart Beaty has in-
avoided mistaking the personal dimension of remembered en- dicated, this mandarin class, including critic Leslie Fiedler and
joyment for intimations of universal significance. poet Delmore Schwartz, insisted on a particular way to read
Sentiment is one thing, the record another. Evidence of and disparaged perceived “middlebrow” attempts at diluting
the cultural role of Classics Illustrated is plentiful: the 1,343 the proper response to Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Melville, and
printings in the United States of 169 Classics Illustrated titles Dostoevsky.1
and 432 editions of seventy-seven Juniors; the millions of In the end, though, it comes back to the individual’s ex-
copies distributed worldwide; the adoption or approval of the perience, and it’s futile to deny the appeal of anything that
series by thousands of schools; the imitations by other comics connects one to the fading Wordsworthian “visionary gleam”
publishers; the continuing efforts to revive the line; and the of childhood discovery — to that moment of revelation in the
current success of those ventures at home and abroad. spring of 1959, that epiphany in the summer of 1960. So adults
Equally important, however, is the controversial position roam the eBay categories searching for some connecting thread,
whether in the form of a Marx “Battle of the
Blue and Gray” playset or a vintage Barbie doll
or a 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers baseball card. It’s
a sad phenomenon, perhaps, the consequence
of two centuries of post–Romantic idealization
of the child or, as some might say today, the
Inner Child.
Classics authority Jim McLoughlin offers
a knowing corrective in his account of an eve-
ning spent with Mike Kanter, Albert Kanter’s
brother and Gilberton’s warehouse manager.
Unable to comprehend the strange promptings
that drive collectors, Kanter and his wife “sat
and shook their heads and laughed at the idea
of grown men running around the country
buying comic books, stationery, display racks,
and anything else associated with Classics Il-
lustrated.”2
Yet the power of the yellow rectangle ex-
tends beyond the rarefied subculture of Classics
collectors. Over the years, I’ve spoken to many
adults who recall with animated affection par-

Marie Jones and son, Washington, D.C., June

1958 (photograph by William B. Jones, Sr.).

306
 XXXII. CLASSICAL CODA 307

ticular titles — and the artwork — that continue

to carry special meaning: for a journalist, it was
Lou Cameron’s War of the Worlds; for a university
professor, August M. Froehlich’s Toilers of the Sea;
for a lawyer, Don Rico’s Moonstone; for an interior
designer, Matt Baker’s Lorna Doone; for a doctor,
Robert Hayward Webb’s Mysterious Island; for a
novelist, Rudy Palais’s Crime and Punishment; for
a U.S. Air Force colonel, Norman Nodel’s Ivan-
hoe; for a voice-over artist, Lou Cameron’s Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
For this writer, several forty-eight-page
wonders still echo. George Evans’s Three Muske-
teers, Joe Orlando’s Tale of Two Cities, Norman
Nodel’s Les Miserables, Louis Zansky’s Don
Quixote and Rudy Palais’s David Balfour taught
unforgettable lessons about courage, loyalty, sac-
rifice, humor, and holding fast to one’s ideals.
As children, we create our own mythologies
as we reinvent the world. Although I was born a
Presbyterian and confirmed an Episcopalian, the
religion of my boyhood was Classics Illustrated;
the creed of my young adulthood was the litera-
ture that the series had prepared me to embrace.
I know better now, I suppose — irony is an
inescapable element of the postmodern human
condition, and our culture has been decon-
structed nearly to death. My frame of reference
is, I hope, broader, but then the range of publi-
cations that juxtaposed Goethe and G.A. Henty,
the Brothers Grimm and Native American myth,
the sport of fishing and the lives of “famous teens”
was broad enough.
“[W]hat we have been makes us what we
are,” wrote George Eliot,3 whose pseudonym and
real name I first encountered in Classics Illustrated
No. 55 at the age of eight.
This book had a decidedly muted ending
when the first edition was published. It appeared
Joe Orlando, A Tale of Two Cities (May 1956). An enduring lesson in friendship
then that the time for treating literary master- and self-sacrifice.
pieces in a comic-book format had irretrievably
slipped away. But the recent efforts of Jaak Jarve, A decade has made a difference. It may be true, as Nick
Jeff and Jon Brooks, and Jim Salicrup, who seek to revive an Carraway insisted to Jay Gatsby, that “You can’t repeat the
art form, have coincided with the dawning of a broader un- past.”4 Still, neither can you entirely escape it. Sometimes it
derstanding of the cultural and educational role of graphic fic- catches you and bears you along in unexpected directions. As
tion. Moreover, cultural critics and art historians have begun the man said, “So we beat on, boats against the current....”5
to evaluate Classics Illustrated as a part of the larger tradition Thank you, Messrs. Kanter. Thank you, Mrs. Feuerlicht.
of 20th-century illustration art encompassing the works of Thank you all.
N.C. Wyeth, Rockwell Kent, and Lynd Ward.
This page intentionally left blank
 Chapter Notes
Introduction 10. Robert L. Beerbohm and Richard D. Corporation Law), File No. 6020, NY 4095-
Olson, Ph.D., “In the Beginning: New Dis- 60 (filed 13 May 1942).
1. Donna Richardson, “Classics Illustrated,” coveries Beyond the Platinum Age,” in Robert 31. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 3.
American Heritage ( June 1993), p. 78. M. Overstreet, The Overstreet Comic Book Price 32. Certificate of Incorporation of Gilber-
2. Anne Rice, “Giving 100%” (interview), Guide, 30th Edition (New York: Gemstone ton Company, Inc. (Pursuant to Article II of
Comics Buyers Guide # 1340 (23 July 1999), p. Publishing, Inc./HarperCollins Publishers, the Stock Corporation Law), File No. 6869,
40. Inc., 2000). NY 6869-98 (filed 25 November 1946).
3. Pete Hamill, A Drinking Life: A Memoir 11. Les Daniels, Comix: A History of Comic 33. Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Col-
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1994), Books in America (New York: Outerbridge & lectibles, Vol. I, p. 22.
p. 101. Dienstfrey, 1971), pp. 2–3. 34. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” pp. 3, 6.
4. Ibid. 12. Daniels, p. 6. 35. Ibid., pp. 3–4.
5. Mike Benton, The Comic Book in Amer- 13. Robert C. Harvey, The Art of the Comic 36. Ibid., p. 4.
ica: An Illustrated History (Dallas: Taylor Pub- Book: An Aesthetic History ( Jackson: University 37. Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Col-
lishing Company, 1993), pp. 46,48. Press of Mississippi, 1996), p. 275. lectibles, Vol. I, p. 22.
6. Nancy Mahler, Interview with author, 14. Harvey, p. 16. 38. Raymond True, Interview with author,
15 June 2000. 15. Mike Benton, The Comic Book in Amer- 23 December 2009.
7. Douglas Wolk, Reading Comics: How ica: An Illustrated History (Dallas: Taylor Pub- 39. Harvey, The Art of the Comic Book, p.
Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean lishing Company, 1993), p. 14. 16.
(Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2007), p. 16. Ibid. 40. A Tale of Two Cities would figure promi-
13. 17. See Ron Goulart, Ron Goulart’s Great nently in the 1982 film Star Trek II, The Wrath
History of Comic Books (Chicago: Contempo- of Khan, for which Harve Bennett developed
Chapter I rary Books, 1986), Chapters 1–2, 5–7; see also the story. One can’t help wondering whether
Benton, pp. 16–27. Classic Comics might have provided the initial
1. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 18. Harvey, p. 23; see Jerry Bails and Hames impetus for the inclusion of that thematic ele-
Classics Illustrated, Volume Two: Foreign Series Ware, Who’s Who of American Comic Books, ment.
and Related Collectibles (St. Louis: Malan Clas- Volume Four (Detroit: Jerry Bails, 1976), pp. 41. Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Col-
sical Enterprises, 1993, rev. 1996), pp. 8, 10. 335–340. lectibles, Vol. I, p. 22.
2. Michael Sawyer, “The Classics: The 19. Goulart, Great History, pp. 199–200. 42. Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Illus-
Forgotten Comic,” Pittsburgh Fan Forum, No. 20. Goulart, Great History, pp. 200–201. trated, Vol. II, p. 8.
35( February-March 1978), p. 5. 21. Sawyer, “The Classics,” p. 5.
3. Hal Kanter, So Far, So Funny: My Life 22. Ron Goulart, “Bobby Thatcher,” The Chapter II
in Show Business ( Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland Encyclopedia of American Comics, ed. R. Gou-
& Company, Inc., Publishers, 1999), p. 1. lart (New York, Oxford: Facts on File, 1990), 1. Ron Goulart, Ron Goulart’s Great His-
4. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter pp. 40–41. tory of Comic Books, pp. 100, 207.
and the Classics: The Man Behind the Gilber- 23. Goulart, Great History of Comic Books, 2. Jeanette Zansky, Letter to author, 16
ton Company,” Journal of Popular Culture, 20:4 pp. 56, 58, 66. June 1997.
(Spring 1987), p. 1. 24. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 2. 3. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7
5. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 25. Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Col- July 2000.
Classics Collectibles, Volume One: The U.S. Series lectibles, Vol I, p. 18. 4. See Robert C. Harvey, The Art of the
of Classics Illustrated and Related Collectibles (St. 26. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 2. Comic Book, p. 25.
Louis: Malan Classical Enterprises, 1991), p. 16. 27. Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Col- 5. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 21
6. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 2. lectibles, Vol. I, p. 22. July 1994.
7. Roger Sabin, Comics, Comix & Graphic 28. Raymond True, Interview with author, 6. Ibid.
Novels: A History of Comic Art (London: 23 December 2009. 7. Edd Ashe, Letter to Raymond S. True,
Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), pp. 12, 15. 29. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 3; 17 February 1972.
8. Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: Malan, Complete Guide to Classics Collectibles, 8. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 21
The Invisible Art (Northampton: Kitchen Sink Vol. I, p. 18. July 1994.
Press, 1993), p. 17. 30. Certificate of Amendment of Certificate 9. Bill Briggs, Letter to author (including
9. David Kunzle, Father of the Comic Strip: of Incorporation of Gilberton Corporation Re- reproduced paired panels), 30 June 2000.
Rodolphe Töpffer ( Jackson: University Press of specting Purposes, Powers and Number of Di- 10. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7
Mississippi, 2007), p. 143. rectors (Pursuant to Section 35 of the Stock July 2000.

309
310 CHAPTER NOTES

11. Martin Barker and Roger Sabin, The 14. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Hollis Rob- 19. Ibid.
Lasting of the Mohicans: History of an American bins, eds., “Introduction,” The Annotated Uncle 20. Ware, Interview with author, 23 Feb-
Myth (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, Tom’s Cabin (New York: W.W. Norton & ruary 1997.
1995), p. 151. Company, Inc., 2007), p. xvi. 21. Goulart, Great History of Comic Books,
15. Gates and Robbins, “Harriet Beecher p. 64.
Chapter III Stowe and ‘The Man That Was a Thing,’” The 22. Ware, Interview with author, 23 Feb-
Annotated Uncle Tom’s Cabin, p. xlvi. ruary 1997.
1. Jeanette Zansky, Interview with author, 23. Duin and Richardson, Comics Between
25 July 1994. Chapter V the Panels, p. 371.
2. Jeanette Zansky, Letter to author, 16 24. Ibid., at p. 370.
June 1997. 1. Mike Benton, Horror Comics: The Illus- 25. Ware, Interview with author, 23 Feb-
3. Ibid. trated History (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Com- ruary 1997.
4. Ibid. pany, 1991), p. 10. 26. Duin and Richardson, p. 38.
5. Ibid. 2. Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of 27. Jerry Iger, “Jerry Iger Talks About Matt
6. Louis Zansky, Resume for art show, 1976. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Norton Critical Edi- Baker,” in Jerry Iger’s Famous Features, Vol. I,
7. Jeanette Zansky, Letter to author, 16 tion), ed. Katherine Linehan (New York: W.W. No. 1 (San Diego: Pacific Comics, July 1984),
June 1997. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003), p. 51. p. 9.
8. Ibid. 3. Ibid., p. 17. 28. Goulart, Great History of Comic Books,
9. Jeanette Zansky, Interview with author, 4. Ron Prager, “My Friend — Jerry Iger,” p. 246.
25 July 1994. The Classics Collector, No. 14 (December 1991), 29. Lou Cameron, Letter to author, 4 No-
10. Ibid. p. 18. vember 1993; Ware, Interview with author, 23
11. Ibid. 5. Michelle Harm, Director of Exhibits, February 1997.
12. Mike Benton, Crime Comics: The Illus- Hollingworth Fine Arts, E-mail to author, 13 30. Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., E-mail to au-
trated History (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Com- May 2008. thor, 21 March 2000.
pany, 1993), p. 103. 31. Cameron, Letter to author, 4 Novem-
13. Jeanette Zansky, Interview with author, Chapter VI ber 1993.
25 July 1994. 32. Ware, Interview with author, 23 Feb-
1. Mike Benton, The Comic Book in Amer- ruary 1997.
Chapter IV ica, p. 119. 33. Ibid.
2. Ron Goulart, “Jerry Iger,” in The En-
1. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter cyclopedia of American Comics: From 1897 to the Chapter VII
and the Classics,” p. 8. Present, ed. R. Goulart (New York, Oxford:
2. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to Facts on File, 1993), p. 193. 1. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to
Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 20. 3. Stanley Wiater and Stephen R. Bissette, Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 107; Hubert H.
3. “Classic Comics Success Based on Al Comic Book Rebels (New York: Donald I. Fine, Crawford, Crawford’s Encyclopedia of Comic
Kanter’s Sound, Original Idea,” The Publishers’ Inc., 1993), p. 269. Books (Middle Village, N.Y.: Jonathan David
Distributor, Vol. I, No. 11 (May 1944), p. 3. 4. Steve Duin and Mike Richardson, Publishers, Inc., 1978), p. 145.
4. Ibid. Comics Between the Panels (Milwaukie, Ore.: 2. Eleanor Lidofsky, Interview with au-
5. Ibid. Dark Horse Comics, Inc., 1998), p. 233. thor, 1 February 2009.
6. Ibid. 5. Ron Goulart, Ron Goulart’s Great His- 3. Ibid.
7. Who’s Who in American Art: 1999–2000 tory of Comic Books, p. 210. 4. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 27
(New Providence, NJ.: Marquis/Reed Elsevier 6. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to January 1997.
Inc., 1999), p. 1365. Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 22. 5. Jerry Bails and Hames Ware, The Who’s
8. AskART artist biography (Stanley M. 7. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter Who of American Comic Books, Volume Two
Zuckerberg), http://www.askart.com/askart/ and the Classics,” p. 4. (Detroit: Jerry Bails, 1974), p. 121.
artist.aspx?artist=103237, accessed 15 Novem- 8. Robert C. Harvey, The Art of the Comic 6. Malan, p. 22.
ber 2010. Book, p. 25. 7. The Last Days of Pompeii had a curious
9. Trina Robbins and Catherine Yron- 9. Trina Robbins and Catherine Yron- history with Gilberton. The title chosen to in-
wode, Women and the Comics (Eclipse Books, wode, Women and the Comics, p. 52. troduce the Classics Illustrated name was with-
1985), p. 55. 10. Ron Prager, Interview with author, 31 drawn in 1949 after only a single printing be-
10. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 21 May 2000. cause of controversy over its explicitly religious
July 1994. 11. Goulart, Great History of Comic Books, content; the title reappeared 12 years later in a
11. “Lillian Chestney,” New York Times obit- p. 210. more successful “secularized” adaptation by Al-
uary notice, 13 August 2000. 12. Alex Toth, Letter to The Classics Collec- fred Sundel with art by comics legend Jack
12. Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle,” tor, No. 14 (December 1991), p. 6. Kirby.
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., in 13. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7 8. Raymond True, Interview with author,
History, Tales and Sketches (New York: The Li- July 2000. 7 July 2000.
brary of America, 1983), p. 770. 14. Ware, Interview with author, 7 July 9. Lidofsky, Interview with author, 1 Feb-
13. The adaptation of Stowe’s novel tied 2000. ruary 2009.
with Rip Van Winkle and Frankenstein for tenth 15. Ibid. 10. Ron Goulart, Ron Goulart’s Great History
place; the other nine Classics Illustrated leaders, 16. Robbins and Yronwode, p. 56. of Comic Books, p. 210.
in order of sales ranking, were Ivanhoe, Moby 17. Mike Benton, Horror Comics, p. 10. 11. Crawford, p. 145.
Dick, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte 18. Donald F. Glut, Frankenstein Meets the 12. Ware, Interview with author, 7 July
Cristo, Robin Hood, The Last of the Mohicans, Comics,” in The Comic-Book Book, ed. Don 2000.
A Tale of Two Cities, Robinson Crusoe, and Thompson and Dick Lupoff (New Rochelle, 13. Donna Richardson, “Classics Illustrated,”
Huckleberry Finn. N.Y.: Arlington House, 1973), p. 110. American Heritage ( June 1993), p. 83.
 CHAPTER NOTES 311

14. See M. Thomas Inge, “Edgar Allan Poe 3. Ron Prager, Interview with author, 31 Play Texts Will Be Produced in Picture Form
and the Comics Connection,” Comic Book May 2000. to Interest World’s Popular Audience,” New
Marketplace (March 2000), p. 24. 4. Michael Sawyer, “The Classics: The York Times (9 March 1950), p. 24.
15. Lars Teglbjaerg, E-mail to author, 7 Forgotten Comic,” p. 8. 3. Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the In-
June 2008. 5. Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the In- nocent, pp. 36–37.
16. A somewhat different version was orig- nocent (New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., 4. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act
inally published as an Illustrated Classics news- 1954), p 311. 2, scene i, in The Complete Works, eds. Stanley
paper serial from 28 December 1947 to 18 Jan- 6. Jerry Bails and Hames Ware, The Who’s Wells and Gary Taylor (New York: Oxford
uary 1948. Who of American Comic Books, Vol. I, p. 66. University Press, 1986), p. 682.
17. Ware, Interview with author, 7 July 7. Malan, Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 26. 5. Hubert H. Crawford, Crawford’s Ency-
2000. 8. Harley M. Griffiths, Jr., Letter to clopedia of Comic Books, p. 205.
18. Ware, Interview with author, 27 Jan- author, 30 May 1995. 6. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to
uary 1997. 9. Ibid. Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 28.
10. Ibid. 7. Eleanor Lidofsky, Interview with au-
Chapter VIII 11. Ibid. thor, 1 February 2009.
12. “Classics Illustrated Artists (Who are 8. Michael Sawyer, E-mail to author, 31
1. Jerry Bails and Hames Ware, The Who’s they, and who did what!),” http://www.ttbwrr. December 2010 (citing Mike Kanter).
Who of American Comic Books, Volume One com/ClassicsIllustrated/Classics-Illustrated- 9. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter
(Detroit: Jerry Bails, 1973), p. 15. Artists-contributions.htm, accessed 19 Novem- and the Classics: The Man Behind the Gilber-
2. Ron Goulart, Ron Goulart’s Great His- ber 2010. ton Company,” Journal of Popular Culture, 20:4
tory of Comic Books, p. 64. 13. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 12 (Spring 1987), p. 9.
3. Trina Robbins and Catherine Yron- March 1997. 10. Ibid., p. 10.
wode, Women and the Comics, p. 52. 14. Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Inno- 11. Michael Sawyer, “The Classics: The For-
4. Goulart, p. 127. cent, p. 37. gotten Comic,” Pittsburgh Fan Forum, No. 35
5. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 20 15. Madeleine Robins, Interview with au- (February-March 1978), p. 9.
February 1996. thor, 4 April 1997. 12. For further discussion of Fitch’s adapta-
6. Bill Briggs, Letter to author, 30 June 16. Malan, Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 102. tion of Stevenson’s novel, see William B. Jones,
2000. Jr., “‘Hello, Mackellar’: Classics Illustrated
7. William Wilkie Collins, The Woman in Chapter X meets The Master of Ballantrae,” Journal of
White (New York: Alfred A. Knopf/Everyman’s Stevenson Studies, Vol. 4 (Centre for Scottish
Library, 1991), p. 193. 1. The artist signed most of his work for Studies, University of Stirling, 2007), pp. 247–
8. Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, Classics Illustrated “Rudolph Palais,” but he 269.
N.C. Wyeth edition (New York: Charles Scrib- used the nickname “Rudy” on three title pages; 13. Bob Lamme, Letter to Michael Sawyer,
ner’s Sons, 1911), p. 60. in later years, he preferred the variant spelling 17 August 1977.
9. See, for a discussion of the Tourneur “Rudi.” In this book, the use of “Rudy” reflects 14. Bob Lamme, Letter to Michael Sawyer,
film and a photograph of Mason as Hawkins, the artist’s choice during the period of his as- 12 August 1977.
Scott Allen Nollen, Robert Louis Stevenson: Life, sociation with the Gilberton Company. 15. Bob Lamme, Letter to Charles Hef-
Literature and the Silver Screen (Jefferson, N.C.: 2. Jim Amash, “‘I Was So Busy, I Never felfinger, 11 October 1977.
McFarland, 1994), pp. 93–94, 96. Read the Stories’: Unique Artist Rudy Palais 16. Bob Lamme, Letter to Michael Sawyer,
10. Donna Richardson, “Classics Illus- on Living and Drawing Comics,” Alter Ego, 12 August 1977.
trated,” American Heritage, 44:3 ( June 1993), Vol. 3, No. 62 (October 2006), p. 42. 17. Bob Lamme, Letter to Michael Sawyer,
p. 84. 3. Rudolph Palais, Letter to author, 30 17 August 1977.
11. Ware, Interview with author, 20 Febru- December 1993. 18. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7
ary 1996. 4. Ibid. July 2000.
12. Rocco Versaci, This Book Contains 5. Amash, Alter Ego interview, p. 43. 19. Hames Ware, Letter to Mike Nicastre,
Graphic Language: Comics as Literature (New 6. Ibid., p. 44. March 1997.
York, London: Continuum, 2007), p. 191. 7. Palais, Letter to author. 20. Ware, Interview with author, 20 March
13. Michael P. Jensen, “The Comic Book 8. Ibid. 1997.
Shakespeare,” The Shakespeare Newsletter, 56:3, 9. Mike Benton, Crime Comics, p. 32. 21. Ware, Interview with author, 20 March
No. 270, Winter 2006-07. 10. Rudolph Palais, Interview with author, 1997.
14. Gregory Cwiklik, “A Classic Case,” The 1 November 1993. 22. Benton, The Comic Book in America, p.
Comics Journal No. 139 (December 1990), p. 11. Amash, Alter Ego interview, p. 52. 119.
30. 12. Ibid. 23. Ron Goulart, Great History of Comic
15. Ware, Interview with author, 20 Febru- 13. Palais, Letter to author. Books, p. 165.
ary 1996. 14. Ibid. 24. Marc Swayze, Interview with author, 1
16. George Evans, Letter to author, 17 Feb- 15. Ibid. June 2000.
ruary 1996. 16. Mike Benton, Horror Comics, p. 26. 25. Les Daniels, DC Comics: Sixty Years of
17. Norman Nodel, Interview with author, 17. Palais, Interview with author. the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes (Boston:
22 November 1993. 18. Palais, Letter to author. Little, Brown and Co., 1995), p. 118.
19. Palais, Interview with author. 26. Mort Künstler, Interview with author,
Chapter IX 25 March 2008.
Chapter XI 27. Biography, The Official Mort Künstler
1. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter Website, http://www.mortkunstler.com/biog
and the Classics,” p. 5. 1. Eleanor Lidofsky, Interview with author, raphy.asp; accessed 10 August 2010.
2. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 1 February 2009. 28. Künstler, Interview with author, 25
Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 93. 2. “Shakespeare Bows to ‘Comics’ Public: March 2008.
312 CHAPTER NOTES

29. Ibid. Chapter XIV 8. Nodel, Interview with author, 22 No-

30. Ibid. vember 1993.
31. Ibid. 1. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 22 9. Nodel, Letter to author, 25 July 1997.
32. Ibid. July 1994. 10. Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art
33. Biography, Mort Künstler Website. 2. Ann Evory, ed., Contemporary Authors, (Tamarac, Florida: Poorhouse Press, 1985), p.
34. Jo Polseno biography, AskART website, New Revision Series, Vol. 4 (Detroit: Gale Re- 46.
http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist search Company, 1981), p. 107. 11. [Washington Irving], The Headless Horse-
=127991, accessed 10 August 2010. 3. Ibid. man of Sleepy Hollow, retold by Cherney Berg;
35. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 31 4. Lou Cameron, Letter to author, 4 No- illustrated by Norman Nodel (Mahwah, N.J.:
March 1997. vember 1993. Educational Reading Service, 1970).
36. Ron Goulart, “Sergeant Stony Craig,” 5. Lou Cameron, Letter to author, 20 No- 12. Nodel, Interview with author, 22 No-
Encyclopedia of American Comics, p. 328. vember 1993. vember 1993.
37. Ware, Interview with author, 20 March 6. Cameron, Letter to author, 4 Novem- 13. Nodel, Interview with author, 12 May
1997. ber 1993. 1997.
38. Eleanor Lidofsky, Interview with au- 7. Cameron, Letter to author, 20 Novem- 14. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 21 Au-
thor, 1 February 2009. ber 1993. gust 1994.
39. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 15. Norman Nodel, Interview with author,
40. Ibid. 9. Mike Benton, Horror Comics, p. 37. 12 May 1997.
41. Ibid. 10. Cameron, Letter to author, 4 Novem- 16. Nodel, Interview with author, 22 No-
42. Ibid. ber 1993. vember 1993.
43. Eleanor Lidofsky, interview with au- 11. Ibid. 17. Nodel, Interview with author, 12 May
thor, 20 July 2010. 12. Ibid. 1997.
44. Ibid. 13. Cameron, Letter to author, 20 Novem- 18. Nodel, Interview with author, 22 No-
45. Ibid. ber 1993. vember 1993.
46. Eleanor Lidofsky, interview with au- 14. Dan Malan, “CI#124, War of the Worlds 19. Nodel, Letter to author, 25 July 1997.
thor, 1 February 2009. Model,” The Classics Collector, No. 17 ( January 20. Nodel, Interview with author, 22 No-
1996), p. 13. vember 1993.
Chapter XII 15. For an excellent account of the 1955 21. Nodel, Interview with author, 3 August
Crockett mania, see Paul F. Anderson, The 1997.
1. Ibid. Davy Crockett Craze (Hillside, Ill.: R & G Pro-
2. Bill Briggs, Letter to author, 30 June ductions, 1996), pp. 49–60. Chapter XVI
2000. 16. Cameron, Letter to author, 4 Novem-
3. Ibid. ber 1993. 1. Amy Kiste Nyberg, Seal of Approval: The
4. Maurice del Bourgo, Interview with Jim 17. Ibid. History of the Comics Code (Jackson: University
Sands, “M.D.B.,” in The Classics Reader, No. 18. Ibid. Press of Mississippi, 1998), p. 86.
5 (October 1975), p. 11. 19. Ibid. 2. Nyberg, p. 87.
5. Ibid., pp. 11, 12. 20. Ibid. 3. Ibid., pp. 88–89; Ron Goulart, The En-
6. Ibid., p. 12. 21. Ibid. cyclopedia of American Comics, p. 382.
7. Ibid., p. 10. 22. Cameron, Letter to author, 20 Novem- 4. Goulart, Ron Goulart’s Great History of
8. See Mike Benton, The Comic Book in ber 1993. Comic Books, p. 263.
America, pp. 49–50. 23. Lou Cameron, Letter to author, 3 May 5. Mike Benton, The Comic Book in Amer-
9. Del Bourgo, The Classics Reader, No. 5, 2010. This explicit disavowal was in direct re- ica, p. 45.
p. 10. sponse to the assertions made by George Ha- 6. Les Daniels, Comix: A History of Comic
10. Maurice del Bourgo, Interview with Jim genauer in “Cameron and the Count,” The Books in America (New York: Outerbridge &
Sands, “Maurice del Bourgo,” in The Classics Classics Reader, No. 10 (February 1978), p. 30, Dienstfrey, 1971), p. 86; Goulart, Great History
Reader, No. 4 (August 1975), p. 8. and recounted in the first edition of this book. of Comic Books, p. 266.
11. Ibid. Del Bourgo’s assertion that Kiefer The artist wished to set the record straight, and 7. Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the In-
and Blum were in the “traditional comic-book the author is pleased that the opportunity to nocent (New York: Rhinehart & Company,
mold” is certainly a minority point of view. do so is now available. Inc., 1954), illustrated insert, p. viii.
Whether they love or hate the two artists so 24. Cameron, Letter to author, 4 Novem- 8. Wertham, p. 36 (emphasis in original).
identified with Classics Illustrated, few critics ber 1993. 9. Ibid., p. 389.
would argue that they were typical of the in- 10. Robert Warshow, “Paul, the Horror
dustry. Comics, and Dr. Wertham,” Commentary,
12. Del Bourgo, The Classics Reader, No. 5, Chapter XV 17:596–604, at 601 ( June 1954).
p. 10. 11. Warshow, p. 600.
13. Del Bourgo, The Classics Reader, No. 4, 1. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep- 12. Mike Benton, Horror Comics, p. 41.
p. 8. tember 1994. 13. Minutes, State of New York Joint Leg-
2. Norman Nodel, Letter to author, 25 islative Committee to Study the Publication of
Chapter XIII July 1997. Comics (December 3–4, 1951), pp. 857–858.
3. Ibid. 14. Minutes, pp. 860–862. The central sec-
1. Henry A. Carter, “Chemistry in the 4. Ibid. tion of this quoted portion of Kaplan’s testi-
Comics: Part 2. Classic Chemistry,” Journal of 5. Ibid. mony appears in Mike Sawyer’s “Albert Lewis
Chemical Education, 66:2 (February 1989), p. 6. Nodel, Interview with author, 22 No- Kanter and the Classics,” p. 8; the author is in-
119. vember 1993. debted to Mr. Sawyer for making available a
2. Raymond True, Interview with author, 7. Nodel, Interview with author, 12 May copy of a transcript of Kaplan’s remarks in their
23 December 2009. 1997. entirety.
 CHAPTER NOTES 313

15. Report of the New York State Joint Leg- Chapter XVII 29. Duin, Richardson, p. 106; George
islative Committee to Study the Publication of Evans, Interview with author, 14 May 1997;
Comic Books (1955), quoted in Sawyer, “Albert 1. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep- Goulart, Encyclopedia of American Comics, p.
Lewis Kanter and the Classics,” p. 9. tember 1994. 84.
16. Les Daniels, Comix, p. 86. 2. George Evans, Letter to author, 17 Feb-
17. Goulart, Great History of Comic Books, ruary 1997. Chapter XVIII
p. 272. 3. Bhob Stewart, “George Evans” in The
18. David Hajdu, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Encyclopedia of American Comics, ed. Goulart, 1. John Leonard, Review of Justice
Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed p. 122. Crucified by Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht and The
America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 4. Ibid. Never-Ending Wrong by Katharine Anne Porter,
2008), p. 286. 5. Evans, Letter to author, 17 February 1997. New York Times (25 August 1977).
19. Hajdu, p. 291–292. 6. George Evans, Letter to Michael Saw- 2. Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, The Fate of
20. Les Daniels, DC Comics: Sixty Years of yer, 26 April 1978. the Jews: A People Torn Between Israeli Power
the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes (Boston, 7. Ibid. and Jewish Ethics (New York: Times Books,
New York: A Bulfinch Press Book/Little, 8. George Evans, Letter to author, 17 Feb- 1983), p. 287.
Brown and Company, 1995), pp. 150, 158, 160, ruary 1997. 3. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author,
208. 9. Ibid. 25 March 1996.
21. Steve Duin, Mike Richardson, Comics 10. George Evans, Interview with author, 4. Ibid.
Between the Panels (Milwaukie, Ore.: Dark 31 May 1997. During that interview, I told the 5. Ibid.
Horse Comics, Inc., 1998), p. 339. artist about my high-school experience with 6. Ibid.
22. Duin, Richardson, p. 340. Lord Jim, which was required reading in our 7. Dan Malan, “Roberta Strauss Feuer-
23. Ron Goulart, Encyclopedia of American Senior English Literature course. Our teacher licht,” The Classics Collector, No. 14 (December
Comics, p. 280. was well aware that a number of students relied 1991), p. 19.
24. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7 on the Classics Illustrated version rather than 8. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author,
July 2000. Conrad’s actual novel. Her exam on the book 25 March 1996.
25. George Evans, Interview with author, consisted of a single essay question designed to 9. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7
31 May 1997. catch the Classics cribbers: “Describe the July 2000.
26. For a reproduction and analysis of Or- ending of Lord Jim.” Those who had finished 10. E. Nelson Bridwell, Letter to Charles
lando’s “Landscape,” see Daniels, Comix, pp. the book were able to summarize Marlow’s Heffelfinger, 30 September 1980.
102–103, 111–114. conclusion. But those of us who had read the 11. George Evans, Letter to author, 17 Feb-
27. Duin, Richardson, Comics Between the Classics Illustrated edition simply wrote, “And ruary 1997.
Panels, p. 238. Jim fell forward, dead.” After receiving our 12. Norman Nodel, Interview with author,
28. Mike Benton, Horror Comics, p. 16. grades, we might as well have been, too. When 20 April 1997.
29. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author, George Evans heard the tale, he laughed and 13. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author,
June 1997. said, “Well, it serves ’em right! They should have 29 July 1997.
30. Duin, Richardson, p. 239. read the book! I had to!” 14. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 18,
31. George Evans, Interview with author, 11. Evans, Letter to author, 17 February 19, 23, 24, 35, 38, 39, 42, 45, 50, 52, 54, 56,
30 January 2000. 1997. 60, 63, 68, 71. No. 13 had been assigned before
32. Ibid. 12. Ibid. Feuerlicht’s association with Classics Illustrated.
33. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 15. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15,
34. Duin, Richardson, p. 239. 14. Evans, Interview with author, 31 May 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,
35. Ron Goulart, Encyclopedia of American 1997. 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 45, 46,
Comics, p. 187. 15. Evans, Letter to author, 17 February 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,
36. Les Daniels, Comix, p. 66. 1997. 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72,
37. Goulart, Encyclopedia of American 16. Stewart, “George Evans,” p. 122. 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 90, 93, 103. Nos. 11 and
Comics, p. 325. 17. Evans, Letter to author, 17 February 13 had been commissioned before Feuerlicht’s
38. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep- 1997. arrival at Gilberton.
tember 1994. 18. George Evans, Letter to Michael Saw- 16. Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, Letter to E.
39. George Evans, Interview with author, yer, 26 April 1978. Nelson Bridwell, 25 July 1960. A copy of the
31 May 1997. 19. Evans, Letter to author, 27 May 1997. letter is reproduced in Appendix T.
40. Ibid. 20. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 1 Sep- 17. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 23 July
41. Jerry DeFuccio, Letter to author, 10 No- tember 2010. 2010.
vember 1993. 21. Ibid. 18. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 23 No-
42. Comics writer and scholar Paul Buhle, 22. George Evans, Letter to author, 27 May vember 2010.
who interviewed Rubinstein for Radical Amer- 1997. 19. Malan, “Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht,” p.
ica, makes a persuasive case for the latter title 23. Stewart, “George Evans,” p. 122. 19.
as one of her projects. 24. Goulart, Encyclopedia of American Com- 20. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author,
43. Mary Boger, “The Annette T. Rubin- ics, p. 84; Duin, Richardson, p. 104. 29 July 1997.
stein Reading Room,” Brecht Forum, http:// 25. George Evans, Letter to author, 17 Feb- 21. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 30 July
brechtforum.org/annette, accessed 30 October ruary 1997. 2010.
2010. 26. Ibid. 22. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author,
44. Annette T. Rubinstein, Letter to Ro- 27. Goulart, Great History of Comic Books, 29 July 1997.
berta Strauss, 3 February 1955 (courtesy of p. 300. 23. Ibid.
John Haufe). 28. For a reproduction and analysis of 24. Ibid.
Crandall’s “The Squaw,” see Les Daniels, 25. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 23 No-
Comix, pp. 102, 107–110. vember 2010.
314 CHAPTER NOTES

26. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author, Chapter XX the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes, pp. 46,
25 March 1996. 64, 206.
27. Ibid. 1. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep- 17. Ibid, p. 106; Mike Benton, The Comic
28. Malan, “Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, p. 19. tember 1994. Book in America, p. 43.
29. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author, 2. George Evans, Interview with author, 18. Daniels, DC Comics, p. 131.
25 March 1996. 31 May 1997. 19. Mark Evanier, Kirby: King of Comics
30. “Roberta Feuerlicht, 59 Historian and (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2008), pp.
Author,” New York Times Obituary (5 October Chapter XXI 103–106.
1991), http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage. 20. The artist’s subtle visual representation
html?res=9D0CE4D81E30F936A35753C1A96 1. Gray Morrow, Letter to author, 22 July of Union resolve at Fort Sumter has been ana-
7958260, accessed 25 November 2010. 1994. lyzed at length in Joseph Witek, Comics as His-
2. Sundel, Letter to author, 17 September tory: The Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art
Chapter XIX 1994. Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar ( Jackson: Uni-
3. Morrow, Letter to author, 22 July 1994. versity Press of Mississippi, 1989), pp. 20–26.
1. See Les Daniels, DC Comics: Sixty Years 4. Ibid. 21. Ron Prager, “My Friend — Jerry Iger,”
of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes, p. 5. Frank Norris, The Octopus, in Novels The Classics Collector, No. 14 (December 1991),
126; Steve Duin and Mike Richardson, Comics and Essays (New York: The Library of America, p. 18.
Between the Panels, p. 393. 1986), pp. 596, 629. 22. Prager, Interview with author, 25 May
2. Les Daniels, DC Comics, p. 102. 6. Sundel, Letter to author, 17 September 2000.
3. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7 1994. 23. Evanier, Kirby: King of Comics, p. 109.
July 2000. 7. Morrow, Letter to author, 22 July 1994. 24. Les Daniels, Marvel: Five Decades of the
4. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author, 8. Ibid. World’s Greatest Comics (New York: Harry N.
25 March 1996. 9. Ibid. Abrams, Publishers, 1991), p. 84.
5. Ron Goulart, Encyclopedia of American 25. Daniels, DC Comics, p. 164.
Comics, p. 341. Chapter XXII 26. Jerry Bails and Hames Ware, The Who’s
6. Ibid. Who of American Comic Books, Vol. III (De-
7. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 7 1. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep- troit: Jerry Bails, 1975), p. 206.
July 2000. tember 1994. 27. Hames Ware, Interview with author, 15
8. The strong plate impressions in first- 2. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 23 July April 1997.
printing copies created a striking tactile expe- 2010. 28. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 21 Au-
rience for young readers in 1961. 3. Ibid. gust 1994.
9. Scotty Moore, “Artist, Author, & Pub- 4. In Re: Gilberton World-Wide Publica- 29. “Charles J. Berger, American,” Wind
lisher! L.B. Cole,” Interview in Comic Book tions, Inc., Amended Departmental Decision, River Studios, http://www.artworkoriginals.
Marketplace (December 1995), p. 32. Raymond J. Kelly, Judicial Officer, P.O.D. com/JAAAAAKS.htm. Accessed 27 November
10. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 21 Au- Docket No. 1/58 (19 April 1960). 2010.
gust 1994. 5. In Re: Gilberton World-Wide Publica- 30. Norman Nodel, Interview with author,
11. John Benson, “Romance Comics,” in tions, Inc., Initial Decision of Hearing Exam- 22 November 1993.
The Encyclopedia of American Comics, ed. Ron iner, William A. Duvall, P.O.D. Docket No. 31. Alex Toth, Letter to The Classics Collec-
Goulart, p. 313. 1/58 (2 November 1959). tor, No. 14 (December 1991), p. 6.
12. Scotty Moore, “Artist, Author, & Pub- 6. In Re: Gilberton World-Wide Publica- 32. Paul Gravett, Review of Classics Illus-
lisher! L.B. Cole,” p. 32. tions, Inc., Departmental Decision, Charles D. trated: A Cultural History, Paul Gravett website,
13. Ibid. Ablard, Judicial Officer, P.O.D. Docket No. http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/arti-
14. Duin and Richardson, Comics: Between 1/58 (26 February 1960). cles/article/classics_illustrated/ (posted 30 April
the Panels, p. 90. 7. In Re: Gilberton World-Wide Publica- 2006). Accessed 27 November 2010.
15. Herb Feuerlicht, Interview with author, tions, Inc., Amended Departmental Decision, 33. “Dino Battaglia,” Lambiek Comiclope-
25 March 1996. The episode greatly upset Raymond J. Kelly, Judicial Officer, P.O.D. dia, Lambiek.net, http://lambiek.net/artists/b/
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, according to her Docket No. 1/58 (19 April 1960), p. 4. battaglia_dino.htm. Accessed 27 November
husband, and also “deeply disappointed” Nor- 8. Ibid., p. 5. 2010. See also “Dino Battaglia,” DanDare.Info,
man Nodel, Cole’s close friend (Nodel, Inter- 9. Ibid., p. 6. http://www.dandare.info/artists/battaglia.htm.
view with author, 12 May 1997). 10. “Bruno Premiani,” Lambiek Comiclope- Accessed 27 November 2010.
16. Scotty Moore, “Artist, Author, & Pub- dia at Lambiek.net, http://lambiek.net/artists/ 34. In an early draft of the first edition of
lisher! L.B. Cole,” p. 32. p/premiani_bruno.htm. Accessed 26 Novem- this book, I had written that the Hungarian-
17. John Haufe, Interview with author, 5 ber 2010. born British illustrator Victor Ambrus seemed
February 2000. 11. Gerard Jones, “Doom Patrol,” in The a possibility. The artist was engaged in free-
18. Duin and Richardson, “Norm Saun- Encyclopedia of American Comics, ed. R. Gou- lance work in 1961, but I wasn’t satisfied at the
ders,” in Comics: Between the Panels, p. 386. lart, p. 108. time that the British connection could be de-
19. Stephanie Biggs, Biographical sketch of 12. Jerry Bails and Hames Ware, The Who’s fended, so I struck the passage before submit-
Geoffrey Briggs, AskART website, http://www. Who of American Comic Books, Vol. IV (De- ting the manuscript to the publisher. Battaglia
askart.com/AskART/artist.aspx?artist=28860& troit: Jerry Bails, 1976), p. 262. seems a much closer stylistic match.
redir. Accessed 30 July 2010. 13. Steve Duin and Mike Richardson, 35. For a useful comparative analysis of the
20. Ibid. Comics: Between the Panels, p. 261. 1948, 1961, and 1990 Classics Illustrated treat-
21. Ibid. 14. Ron Goulart, “Jack Kirby,” in The En- ments of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, see
22. Joel Whitburn, Joel Whitburn’s Pop cyclopedia of American Comics, ed. R. Goulart, Derek Parker Royal, “Meddling with ‘hifalut’n
Memories 1890 –1954: The History of American p. 219. foolishness’: Capturing Mark Twain in Recent
Popular Music (Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record 15. Ibid. Comics,” The Mark Twain Annual, 7:1 (Wiley
Research Inc. 1986), p. 271. 16. Les Daniels, DC Comics: Sixty Years of Online Library, first published online 22 Oc-
 CHAPTER NOTES 315

tober 2009), pp. 22–51, http://onlinelibrary. 9. Thorpe & Porter Holdings Limited was 22. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep-
wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1756-2597.2009.00016. incorporated in Britain on 20 October 1959 tember 1994.
x/pdf. Accessed 27 November 2010. and was dissolved in 1972. See certification 23. In Re: Gilberton World-Wide Publica-
36. Norbert Bachleitner, “Jane Eyre for pursuant to the Companies Acts 1948 to 1981 tions, Inc., Amended Departmental Decision,
Young Readers: Three Illustrated Adaptations,” by Assistant Registrar of Companies E.D. Raymond J. Kelly, Judicial Officer, P.O.D.
in A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and In- Blundell (22 November 1982). Docket No. 1/58 (19 April 1960).
termedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre, ed. Margarete 10. Buzz Kanter, E-mail to author, 15 Au-
Rubik and Elke Mettinger-Schartmann (Am- gust 2010. Chapter XXV
sterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007), p. 280. 11. Ibid.
37. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 10 No- 12. Ibid. 1. Robert McG. Thomas, Jr., “Patrick
vember 2010. 13. Ibid. Frawley, Jr., 75, Ex-Owner of Schick,” New
38. Ibid. York Times (Monday, 9 November 1998), p.
39. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 30 July Chapter XXIV 8B.
2010. 2. Ibid.
40. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 23 July 1. Eleanor Lidofsky, Interview with author, 3. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis and the
2010. 1 February 2009. Classics,” p. 15.
41. Ibid. 2. Advertisement (“Introducing ... Picture 4. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to
42. Ibid. Parade”), The Instructor (October 1953), p. 99. Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 36.
43. Ibid. 3. Lidofsky, Interview with author, 1 Feb- 5. Frank Walston, Classics Illustrated Field
44. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 1 Sep- ruary 2009. Manual (Philadelphia: Curtis Circulation Co.,
tember 2010. 4. William W. Savage, Jr., Comic Books 1968).
45. Ibid. and America, 1945 –1954 (Norman and Lon- 6. O.B. Stiskin, Interview with author, 8
46. Ibid. don: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), pp. August 2002.
47. Ibid. 16–17. 7. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 15;
48. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 28 June 5. Eleanor Lidofsky, Interview with au- Malan, Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 36.
2010. thor, 1 February 2009. 8. Malan, Complete Guide, p. 36.
49. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 5 De- 6. Ibid. 9. Dan Malan, The Classics Collector, No.
cember 2010. 7. Helen Heffernan, “The RIGHT Com- 17 ( January 1996); Michael Sawyer, Interview
50. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 23 July ics Can Be Classroom Tools,” The Instructor with author, 25 October 2010.
2010. (November 1955), p. 91. 10. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 16.
51. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 10 No- 8. Ibid. 11. Malan, Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 38.
vember 2010. 9. Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, Letter to 12. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 16.
52. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 21 Au- Rich Rostel, 3 September 1981. (Courtesy of 13. Malan, Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 93.
gust 1994. John Haufe.) 14. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 16.
53. The following are titles and copyright 10. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 15. A number of original alternate covers
dates for randomly selected mass-market pa- Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 81. exist—several, for instance, by Norman Nodel.
perback editions of works that had appeared 11. The identity of the Aladdin artist has These were studies that explored different
in Classics Illustrated: The Last of the Mohicans been debated vigorously over the years, but a scenes and subject matter for editorial approval
(Washington Square Press, 1957); Macbeth careful comparison of stylistic indicators in Al- and were not finished paintings.
(Dell, 1959); Gulliver’s Travels (Signet, 1960); addin and Soldiers of Fortune, No. 119 (May 16. Stiskin, Interview with author, 8 August
The Red Badge of Courage (Airmont, 1962). 1954), has led this writer to conclude, as he al- 2002.
54. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to most did before the publication of the previous 17. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 16.
ClassicsC ollectibles, Vol. I, p. 34. edition of this work, that Schaffenberger drew 18. Michael Sawyer, Interview with author,
55. Ibid. both books. 25 October 2010.
56. Michael Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter 12. Hubert H. Crawford, Crawford’s Ency- 19. Albert L. Kanter, quoted in Malan,
and the Classics: The Man Behind the Gilber- clopedia of Comic Books, p. 229. Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 38.
ton Company,” Journal of Popular Culture, 20:4 13. Malan, Complete Guide, Vol. I, p. 73. 20. Hal Kanter, Note to author, 3 January
(Spring 1987), p. 14. 14. Keith Scott, The Moose That Roared: The 2003.
57. Alfred Sundel, Letter to author, 17 Sep- Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, 21. Sawyer, “Albert Lewis Kanter,” p. 16.
tember 1994. and a Talking Moose (New York: Thomas
58. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 31 July Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2000), p. 64. Chapter XXVI
2010. 15. Charlotte Stafford, “The Deaf Can Get
Concepts from Comics,” The Instructor (De- 1. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to
Chapter XXIII cember 1967), p. 40. ClassicsI llustrated, Vol. II, p. 11.
16. Ibid. 2. Ibid., p. 12.
1. John (Buzz) Kanter, E-mail to author, 17. Ron Goulart, “M.C. Gaines,” The En- 3. Ibid., p. 42.
15 August 2010. cyclopedia of American Comics, ed. Goulart, p. 4. Ibid., p. 81.
2. Ibid. 147. 5. Ibid., p. 83.
3. Ibid. 18. Øystein Sørensen, E-mail to author, 21 6. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 30 July
4. Ibid. November 2010. 2010.
5. Helene Lecar, E-mail to author, 19 Au- 19. See, however, Dan Malan, Complete
gust 2010. Guide, Vol. I, p. 77, for an argument in favor Chapter XXVII
6. Buzz Kanter, E-mail to author, 15 Au- of a 1966 publication date. See also the United
gust 2010. Nations entry in Appendix G for a response. 1. Robert M. Overstreet, Overstreet Comic
7. Ibid. 20. Ibid., p. 79. Book Price Guide, No. 39 (York, Pa.: Gemstone
8. Ibid. 21. Ibid. Publishing, Inc., 2009), p. 689.
316 CHAPTER NOTES

2. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 2. Ibid. 5. Jim McLoughlin, “A Trip to Dept. S,
Classics Collectibles, Vol. I, p. 83. 3. Jarve, Phone interview with author, 1 or Taking the Shoe-leather Express Down
June 2010. Ralph Ave.” (typed manuscript, circa 1987).
Chapter XXVIII 4. Jarve, E-mail, 23 August 2010. 6. Raymond S. True, Letter to Robert M.
5. Ibid. Overstreet, 11 November 1971.
1. Dan Malan, “Interview: David Batt 6. Ibid. 7. Robert M. Overstreet, Letter to Ray-
[Chief Financial Officer, Frawley Group],” The 7. Ibid. mond S. True, 17 November 1971.
Classics Collector, No. 10 (February-March 8. Jack Lake Productions website, http:// 8. John Haufe, “Raiders of the Lost Art ...
1990), pp. 27–28. www.jacklakeproductions.com/file1.asp, ac- Raymond True and the Class of Classics” (typed
2. Mike Benton, The Comic Book in Amer- cessed 12 September 2010. manuscript).
ica, p. 120. 9. Jarve, E-mail, 23 August 2010. 9. Ibid.
3. Rick Obadiah, Interview with author; 10. Paul Buhle, “Political Education, Illus- 10. Michael Sawyer, Interview with author,
quoted in Bill Jones, “A Tale of Two Classics,” trated,” ZEEK: A Jewish Journal of Thought and 18 September 2010.
Spectrum, No. 126 (6–19 June 1990), p. 22. Culture (2010), http://zeek.forward.com/arti 11. Dan Malan, “Classics Displays,” The
4. Obadiah, in Jones, p. 22. cles/116478/, accessed 16 September 2010. Classics Collector, No. 14 (December 1991), p.
5. Ibid. 11. Jim Salicrup, Newsarama interview, 26 10.
6. See Scott McCloud’s discussion of the October 2007, http://forum.newsarama.com/
universalizing impulse of sequential art in Un- showthread.php?t=134346, accessed 18 Sep- Chapter XXXII
derstanding Comics, pp. 42–54. tember 2010.
7. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 12. Malcolm Jones, “Everything is Illumi- 1. See Bart Beaty, “Featuring Stories by the
ClassicsC ollectibles, Vol. I, p. 40. nated,” Newsweek (22 March 2008), http:// World’s Greatest Authors: Classics Illustrated
8. Dan Malan, “CIE Drops NCI,” The www.newsweek.com/2008/03/22/everything- and the ‘Middlebrow Problem’ in the Postwar
Classics Collector, No. 17 ( January 1996), p. 11. is-illuminated.html, accessed 25 September Era,” International Journal of Comic Art, 1:1
9. Michael Petránek, E-mail, to author, 1 2010. (Spring/Summer 1999), 122–139. Notwith-
September 2010. 13. Excerpt from Library Media Connection standing a few factual errors (dates, number of
10. Malan, “CIE Drops NCI,” p. 11. review, http://www.papercutz.com/about2. issues, and the confusing of the 1950 Famous
html, accessed 29 September 2010. Authors adaptation of Macbeth with the 1955
Chapter XXIX 14. Michael Petránek, E-mail to author, 1 Gilberton edition), Beaty’s article is a pro-
September 2010. foundly perceptive analysis of the cultural con-
1. Madeleine Robins, Interview with au- 15. Ibid. text in which Classics Illustrated contended and
thor, 4 April 1997. 16. Ibid. thrived.
2. Ibid. 2. Jim McLoughlin, Interview with au-
3. Robins, Interview with author, 23 July Chapter XXXI thor, 31 May 2000.
1997. 3. George Eliot, Middlemarch, ed. W.J.
4. Ibid. 1. Bill Briggs, Letter to author, 30 June Harvey (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,
5. Ibid. 2000. 1965), Epigraph, Chapter 70, p. 756.
6. Michael Tierney, Interview with author, 2. Wayne Munson, Letter to author, 10 4. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby,
24 December 1998. November 2010. ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli (New York: Scribner,
3. Dan Malan, The Complete Guide to 2003), Chapter VI, p. 116.
Chapter XXX Classics Collectibles, Vol. One (St. Louis: Malan 5. Ibid., Chapter IX, p. 189.
Classical Enterprises, Inc., 1991), p. 11.
1. Jaak Jarve, E-mail to author, 23 August 4. John Haufe, Letter to author, 6 June
2010. 2000.
 Appendices
Containing A. Classic Comics and Classics Illustrated; B. Classics Illustrated Giant Editions; C. Fast Fiction/Stories by Famous
Authors Illustrated; D. Classics Illlustrated Educational Series; E. Picture Parade/Picture Progress; F. Classics Illustrated Junior;
G. Classics Illustrated Special Issues; H. The Best from Boys’ Life Comics; I. The World Around Us; J. British Classics Illustrated,
First and Second Series; K. Classics Illustrated, Second Series (Berkley/First); L. Classics Illustrated, Fourth Series ( Jack Lake);
M. Classics Illustrated, Fourth Series ( Jack Lake); N. Classics Illustrated Junior, Second Series ( Jack Lake); O. Classics Illustrated
Special Issues, Second Series ( Jack Lake); P. British Classics Illustrated, Third Series; Q. Papercutz Classics Illustrated DeLuxe
Editions; R. Papercutz Classics Illustrated Editions; S. Correspondence Between Roberta Strauss and the National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, re: The Dark Frigate; T. Letter from Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht to E. Nelson Bridwell.

A. Classic Comics (Gilberton, 1941–1947) and 167], November 1967 [HRN 166], Spring 1969 [HRN 166, stiff cover,
Classics Illustrated (Gilberton, 1947–1967; 25¢], Spring 1971 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Twenty-three printings (six
CC, six CI LDC, two PC A1, nine PC A2); one Double Comics pro-
Frawley, 1967–1971) motional edition (1942).
Classic Comics Nos. 1–12 (including reprints of first interior art) 2. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Line-drawing cover by Malcolm
contained 64 pages (covers not included); Classic Comics and Clas- Kildale, first interior art by Edd Ashe, Ray Ramsey (title-page splash),
sics Illustrated Nos. 13 –25 and 27–44 contained 56 pages (covers and others; Scott biography; back-cover “Coming Next” illo by
not included; most reduced to 48 pages in 1948 –1950 reprints); Vivian Lipman. First CC LDC A1 printing December 1941 [no HRN,
Classic Comics No. 26 contained 48 pages (covers not included); 64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC A1 printings April 1943 [HRN
Classics Illustrated Nos. 45 –169 and new editions of earlier titles 10, word “Presents” deleted after “Classic Comics”]; November 1943
contained 48 pages (covers not included). LDC = line-drawing [HRN 15], April-May 1944 [HRN 18/20]; July 1944 [HRN 21]; June
cover; PC = Painted cover; A1 = first interior art; A2 = second inte- 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC A1 printing April 1947 [HRN 36];
rior art; HRN = Highest Reorder Number (last number on back- subsequent CI LDC A1 printings April-June 1949 [HRN 60],
cover or inside-cover title list; a term of art devised by Raymond S. October 1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], November
True and universally adopted for purposes of dating issues). All 1951 [HRN 89], April 1953 [HRN 106], July 1954 [HRN 121]. Painted
Classic Comics editions had line-drawing covers. Number of print- cover unattributed, second interior art by Norman Nodel; Scott bi-
ings stated at end of each entry reflects total for indicated title, with ography. First CI PC A2 printing January 1957 [HRN 136, 48 pages,
different editions reflected in parentheses. Note that certain HRN 15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 printings January 1958 [HRN 142], No-
149 reprints were actually printed in 1961 and that no evidence
vember 1959 [HRN 153], Summer-Fall 1961 [anomalous white-
exists of HRN 167 reprints issued in 1962.
background HRN 149], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], May 1964
1. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Line-drawing cover, [HRN 167], January 1965 [HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 167], Sep-
first interior art, and first adaptation by Malcolm Kildale; Dumas tember 1967 [HRN 166], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢], Winter 1969 [HRN
biography; back-cover “Coming Next” illo by Malcolm Kildale. First 169, stiff cover], Winter 1971 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Twenty-five
CC LDC A1 printing October 1941 [no HRN, 64 pages, 10¢]; sub- printings (six CC, seven CI LDC, twelve PC A2); one Walter Theatre
sequent CC LDC A1 printings April 1943 [HRN 10], November 1943 Enterprises promotional giveaway (December 1941); one Twin Circle
[HRN 15], April-May 1944 [HRN 18/20], July 1944 [HRN 21], June edition (1968).
1946 [HRN 28, left-margin matter trimmed]. First CI LDC A1 print- 3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Line-drawing
ing April 1947 [HRN 36]; subsequent CI LDC A1 printings April- cover by Ray Ramsey, first interior art by Ray Ramsey, Allen Simon,
June 1949 [HRN 60], October 1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 and Vivian Lipman; “Important Milestones in the Life of Napoleon”;
[HRN 78, 15¢], March 1952 [HRN 93], December 1953 [HRN 114]. Dumas biography; back-cover “Coming Next” illo by Ray Ramsey.
Painted cover unattributed, first interior art. First CI PC A1 printing First CC LDC A1 printing March 1942 [no HRN, 64 pages, 10¢];
September 1956 [HRN 134, 64 pages, 15¢]; second PC A1 printing subsequent CC LDC printings April 1943 [HRN 10], November 1943
March 1958 [HRN 143]. Painted cover with second interior art by [HRN 15], April-May 1944 [HRN 18/20], June 1944 [HRN 20],
George Evans; new Dumas biography. First PC A2 printing May July 1944 [HRN 21], June 1946 [HRN 28, yellow banner substituted].
1950 [HRN 150, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings First CI LDC A1 printing April 1947 [HRN 36]; subsequent CI LDC
Summer-Fall 1961 [HRN 149, an anomaly in which the new title- A1 printings April-June 1949 [HRN 60], August 1949 [HRN 62],
list format was used, showing Off on a Comet and The Time Machine May 1950 [HRN 71], September 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢], November
as icons against a white background, while the title list itself largely 1953 [HRN 113]. Painted cover unattributed, second interior art by
reverted to the 1959 CI catalogue], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], Lou Cameron; Dumas biography. First CI PC A2 printing November
April 1964 [HRN 167], January 1965 [HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 1956 [HRN 135, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 printings

317
318 APPENDIX A

March 1958 [HRN 143], November 1959 [HRN 153], March 1961 Dickens biography. First printing May 1956 [HRN 132, 48 pages,
[HRN 161], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], July 1964 [HRN 167], 15¢]; subsequent CI PC1 A2 printings September 1957 [HRN 140],
July 1965 [HRN 167], July 1966 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢], November 1958 [HRN 147], September 1959 [HRN 152], November
Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Twenty-three printings (seven 1959 [HRN 153], Summer-Fall 1961 [anomalous white-background
CC, six CI LDC A1, ten PC A2). HRN 149, see note in listing for No. 1], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN
4. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Line- 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], August 1965 [HRN 167], May 1967
drawing cover and first interior art by Ray Ramsey; Cooper biog- [HRN 166]. Second painted cover (mob storming the Bastille) by
raphy; “SACO [Sino-American Cooperative Organization] Is Socko!” Norman Nodel, second interior art. First PC2 A2 printing Fall 1968
by Georgina Campbell [added 1946]; back-cover “Coming Next” [HRN 166, 25¢]; second PC2 A2 printing Summer 1970 [HRN 169,
illo by Louis Zansky. First CC LDC printing August 1942 [no HRN, stiff cover]. Twenty-two printings (seven CC LDC A1, six CI LDC
64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC printings June 1943 [HRN 12], A1, nine PC1 A2, two PC2 A2).
November 1943 [HRN 15], June 1944 [HRN 20, yellow banner sub- 7. Robin Hood (medieval ballads and folk tales). Line-drawing
stituted], July 1944 [HRN 21], June 1946 [HRN 28]; first CI LDC cover and first interior art by Louis Zansky, inking and lettering by
printing April 1947 [HRN 36], subsequent CI LDC printings April- Fred Eng, first adaptation by Evelyn Goodman; back-cover Gift Box
June 1949 [HRN 60], October 1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 ad. First CC LDC printing December 1942 [no HRN, 64 pages,
[HRN 78, 15¢], November 1951 [HRN 89], March 1954 [HRN 117]). 10¢]; Saks-34th Christmas giveaway with Zansky wraparound cover
Painted cover unattributed, first interior art. First PC A1 printing simultaneously issued; subsequent CC LDC printings June 1943
November 1956 [HRN 135, 64 pages, 15¢]; second PC A1 printing [HRN 12]; March 1944 [HRN 18]; June 1944 [HRN 20]; October
November 1957 [HRN 141]). Painted cover with second interior art 1944 [HRN 22]; June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC printing Sep-
by John P. Severin, Leonard B. Cole, and Stephen L. Addeo; Cooper tember 1948 [HRN 51]; subsequent CI LDC printings October 1949
biography. First PC A2 printing May 1959 [HRN 150, 48 pages, [HRN 64], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], July 1952 [HRN 97],
15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 printings March 1961 [HRN 161], Spring- April 1953 [HRN 106], July 1954 [HRN 121]. Painted cover by Victor
Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], August 1965 [HRN Prezio, first interior art; one PC A1 printing November 1955 [HRN
167], August 1966 [HRN 167], 1967 [HRN 166, 25¢], Spring 1969 129]. Painted cover, second interior art by Jack Sparling, second adap-
[HRN 169, stiff cover]. Twenty-two printings six CC LDC A1, six tation (possibly by Annette T. Rubinstein), based in part on Howard
CI LDC A1, two PC A1, eight PC A2); one Sealtest promotional give- Pyle’s Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; first PC A2 printing January
away (November 1956); one Twin Circle edition (1967). 1957 [HRN 136, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 printings
5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Line-drawing cover and first March 1958 [HRN 143], November 1959 [HRN 153], October 1961
interior art by Louis Zansky, assisted by Harvey Kurtzman, lettering [HRN 164], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN
by Fred Eng, first adaptation by Louis Zansky; Melville biography; 167], May 1965 [HRN 167], July 1966 [HRN 167], December 1967
“Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [added 1943]; back- [HRN 166], Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Twenty-
cover “Coming Next” illo unattributed. First CC LDC printing Sep- three printings (six CC LDC A1, six CI LDC A1, one PC A1, ten PC
tember 1942 (two variants) [no HRN, 64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent A2); one Saks-34th promotional giveaway (December 1942); one
CC LDC printings April 1943 [HRN 10], November 1943 [HRN Robin Hood Flour promotional giveaway (December 1944).
15], April-May 1944 [HRN 18/20], June 1944 [HRN 20], July 1944 8. Arabian Nights (anonymous; based on The Thousand and One
[HRN 21], June 1946 [HRN 28, yellow banner substituted]. First CI Nights): “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”; “The Story of the Magic
LDC printing April 1947 [HRN 36], subsequent CI LDC printings Horse”; “The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor”; “Aladdin and His
April-June 1949 [HRN 60], August 1949 [HRN 62], May 1950 Magic Lamp.” Line-drawing cover and first interior art by Lillian
[HRN 71], September 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118]. Chestney (Zuckerberg), lettering by Fred Eng, first adaptation by
First painted cover (Ahab in profile, foreground) unattributed, second Evelyn Goodman; “The Tyrant of Etreus” by Evelyn Goodman;
interior art by Norman Nodel; Melville biography; first printing “Some Wonders of the Ancient World”; “Letter from a British
March 1956 [HRN 131, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC1 A2 print- Medical Worker,” added January 1944, replaced June 1944 by “Three
ings May 1957 [HRN 138], January 1959 [HRN 148], Fall 1960 Men Named Smith”; back-cover “Coming Next” illo (for Adventures
[HRN 158], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN of Sherlock Holmes) by Louis Zansky. First CC LDC printing February
167], July 1965 [HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 167], September 1967 1943 [no HRN, 64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC printings
[HRN 166]). Second painted cover (Moby Dick attacking) by Nor- January 1944 [HRN 17], June 1944 [HRN 20]; June 1946 [HRN 28,
man Nodel, second interior art. First printing Winter 1969 [HRN yellow banner substituted]. First CI LDC printing September 1948
166, stiff cover, 25¢]; second PC2 A2 printing Winter 1971 [HRN [HRN 51]; subsequent CI LDC printings October 1949 [HRN 64],
169]. Twenty-four printings (seven CC LDC A1, six CI LDC A1, nine December 1950 [HRN 78, printed in Canada, 15¢]. Arabian Nights:
PC1 A2, two PC2 A2). “Aladdin”; “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”; “Sinbad the Sailor.”
6. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Line-drawing cover Painted cover unattributed, second interior art by Charles Berger,
and first interior art by Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg, lettering by second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; “Arabian Nights [Antoine Gal-
Fred Eng, first adaptation by Evelyn Goodman; Dickens biography; land]”; “The Splendid East [Friar Odoric]”; “A Japanese Legend [The
open-book device introduced on front cover; back-cover “Coming Boy Who Drew Cats].” One CI PC A2 printing October 1961 [HRN
Next” illo by Louis Zansky. First CC LDC printing October 1942 164, 48 pages, 15¢]. Eight printings (four CC LDC A1, three CI LDC
[no HRN, 64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC printings September A1, one PC A2); one American Comics/Liberty Theatre promotional
1943 [HRN 14], March 1944 [HRN 18], June 1944 [HRN 20], June giveaway (February 1943).
1946 [HRN 28, yellow banner substituted]. First CI LDC printing 9. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Line-drawing cover and first
September 1948 [HRN 51]; subsequent CI LDC printings October interior art by Rolland H. Livingstone, lettering by Fred Eng, first
1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], November 1951 adaptation by Evelyn Goodman, yellow Classic Comics rectangle in-
[HRN 89], March 1954 [HRN 117]. First painted cover (Carton at troduced; Hugo biography; “The Bill of Rights: Our Charter of
the guillotine) unattributed, second interior art by Joe Orlando, as- Democracy” [added 1944]; “La Marseillaise”; “The Statue of Liberty:
sisted by George Evans; second adaptation by Annette T. Rubinstein; A Gift from France”; back-cover notice advertising Adventures of
 APPENDIX A 319

Sherlock Holmes, Robinson Crusoe, and Don Quixote. First CC LDC One Came Back: The true story of a lone survivor of a bomber crew”
printing March 1943 (two variants) [no HRN, first appearance of by Evelyn Goodman; “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred,
yellow banner, 64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC printings Sep- Lord Tennyson; back-cover “Coming Next” illo by Arnold L. Hicks.
tember 1943 [HRN 14], March 1944 [HRN 18], June 1944 [HRN First CC LDC printing June 1943 [HRN 11, 64 pages, 10¢];
20], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC printing September 1948 subsequent CC LDC printings November 1943 [HRN 15], June 1944
[HRN 51]; subsequent CI LDC printings May 1950 [HRN 71], Sep- [HRN 20], October 1944 [HRN 22], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI
tember 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢]. First painted cover ( Jean Valjean and LDC A1 printing April-June 1949 [HRN 60]; subsequent CI LDC
Cosette on rooftop) by Gerald McCann, second interior art by Nor- A1 printings August 1949 [HRN 62], May 1950 [HRN 71], November
man Nodel, second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Hugo biography; 1951 [HRN 89], April 1954 [HRN 118]. First painted cover (old Rip
“Crime and Punishment [18th-century French criminal procedure]”; waking) unattributed (“and The Headless Horseman” dropped from
“The Boy Who Hated Washing [Peter Cooper].” First printing March title), first interior art. First and only printing May 1956 [HRN 132].
1961 [HRN 161, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC1 A2 printings Sep- First painted cover, second interior art by Norman Nodel; Irving bi-
tember 1963 [HRN 167], December 1965 [HRN 167]. Second ography. First CI PC1 A2 printing May 1959 [HRN 150, 48 pages,
painted cover ( Jean Valjean lifting cart) by Norman Nodel, second 15¢]; subsequent PC1 A2 printings Fall 1960 [HRN 158], Spring-
interior art. First and only PC2 A2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Summer 1963 [HRN 167], December 1963 [HRN 167], April 1965
Twelve printings (five CC LDC A1, three CI LDC A1, three PC1 A2, [HRN 167], April 1966 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (young
one PC2 A2). Rip looking over shoulder) by Taylor Oughton, second interior art;
10. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Line-drawing cover and first PC2 A2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 48 pages, 25¢];
first interior art by Stanley Maxwell (Zuckerberg), adaptation by Eve- second PC2 A2 printing Summer 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Nine-
lyn Goodman; Defoe biography; Poems of the Sea: “Dover Beach” teen printings (five CC LDC A1, five CI LDC A1, one PC1 A1, six
by Matthew Arnold “Break, Break, Break” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PC1 A2, two PC2 A2).
“The Three Fishers” by Charles Kingsley; “Joan Fernandez ... Desert 13. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. First line-
Explorer”; “The Bill of Rights: Our Charter of Democracy” [added drawing cover (“horror” cover) and first interior art by Arnold L.
1944; replaced 1946 by “With Leg Shot Away — Mans Gun for 8 Hicks, first adaptation by Evelyn Goodman; Stevenson biography;
Hours”]; back-cover “Coming Next” illo by Louis Zansky. First CC “Secret Under the Sea” by Dan Kushner; back-cover “Coming Next”
LDC printing April 1943 (two front-cover color variations showing illo by Allen Simon. First CC LDC1 printing August 1943 [HRN 12,
violet or blue-gray frames) [no HRN, 64 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC 56 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC1 printings November-December
LDC printings September 1943 (two front-cover color variations 1943 [HRN 15], June1944 [HRN 20], June 1946 [HRN 28]. Second
showing violet or blue-gray frames) [HRN 14], March 1944 [HRN line-drawing cover by Henry C. Kiefer, original interior art; first CI
18], June 1944 [HRN 20], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC print- LDC2 printing April-June 1949 [HRN 60]; subsequent CI LDC2
ing September 1948 [HRN 51]; subsequent CI LDC printings printings August 1949 [HRN 62], May 1950 [HRN 71], September
October 1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], July 1952 1951 [HRN 87]. Painted cover by Mort Künstler ( Jekyll was artist’s
[HRN 97], December 1953 [HRN 114]. Painted cover unattributed, self-portrait), second interior art by Lou Cameron; Stevenson biog-
first interior art. First and only printing January 1956 [HRN 130, 64 raphy. First CI PC printing October 1953 [HRN 112, 48 pages, 15¢];
pages, 15¢]. Painted cover, second interior art by Sam Citron and/or subsequent CI PC printings November 1959 [HRN 153], March 1961
Charles Sultan; Defoe biography. First printing September 1957 [HRN 161], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], August 1964 [HRN
[HRN 140, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings November 167], November 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166], Winter 1969
1953 [HRN 153], Fall 1961 [HRN 164], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN [HRN 169]. Sixteen printings (four CC LDC1 A1, four CI LDC2 A1,
167], July 1964 [HRN 167], May 1965 [HRN 167], June 1966 [HRN eight PC A2); one Twin Circle edition (1968).
167], Fall 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢], Winter 1968 [HRN 166], Summer 14. Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley. Line-drawing cover and
1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Twenty-one printings (five CC LDC interior art by Allen Simon, adaptation by Dan Kushner; Kingsley
A1, five CI LDC A1, one PC A2, ten PC A2); one Twin Circle edition biography; “The Railway Train [I like to see it lap the miles]” by
(1968). Emily Dickinson, illustrated by Lillian Chestney; “Victory March”
11. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Line-drawing cover and by Evelyn Goodman; “The Cost of Carelessness” by David Butler,
interior art by Louis Zansky, adaptation by Samuel H. Abramson; Jr.; “Three Men Named Smith” [added July 1944, replaced June 1946
Cervantes biography; “Captain Arthur Wermuth ... Hero of Bataan” by “Speaking for America (Truman, Eisenhower, MacArthur,
by Evelyn Goodman; Poems from the American Indian: “Ojibwa Nimitz)”]; back-cover “Coming Next” illo by Rolland H. Living-
War Songs,” “Lament of a Man for His Son (Paiute),” “Song of the stone. First CC LDC printing September 1943 [HRN 13]; subsequent
Rain Chant (Navaho),” “The Bear’s Song (From the Haida)”; back- CC LDC printings November-December 1943 [HRN 15], July 1944
cover “Coming Next” illo by Rolland H. Livingstone. First CC LDC [HRN 21], June 1946 [HRN 28]. One CI LDC printing November
printing May 1943 [HRN 10, first issue to list titles, 64 pages, 10¢]; 1948 [HRN 53]. Five printings (four CC LDC, one CI LDC; no PC
subsequent CC LDC printings March 1944 [HRN 18], July 1944 edition in U.S. series).
[HRN 21], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First painted cover (Don Quixote 15. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Line-drawing
charging smiling windmill) by Mort Künstler, original interior art. cover and interior art by Rolland H. Livingstone, adaptation by
First CI PC1 printing August 1953 [HRN 110, 64 pages, 15¢]; subse- Evelyn Goodman; “Flight Over Tokyo” by Michael Sullivan; “The
quent CI PC1 printings May 1960 [HRN 156, 48 pages, 15¢], 1962 Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by
[HRN 165], January 1964 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (Don Vivian Lipman; Stowe biography; “Coming Next” illo by Lillian
Quixote in foreground) by Taylor Oughton, original interior art. Chestney. First CC LDC printing November 1943(two front-cover
First and only printing 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Ten printings (four color variations showing green or brown root) [HRN 14]; subsequent
CC LDC, five PC1, one PC2); one Canadian CI LDC edition (1947). CC LDC printings November-December 1943 (two front-cover color
12. Rip Van Winkle and The Headless Horseman by Washington variations showing green or brown root) [HRN 15], July 1944 [HRN
Irving. Line-drawing cover and first interior art by Rolland H. Liv- 21], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC printing November 1948
ingstone, first adaptation by Dan Levin; Irving biography; “...And [HRN 53]; subsequent CI LDC printings May 1950 [HRN 71], No-
320 APPENDIX A

vember 1951 [HRN 89]. First painted cover (pursuit of slave) unat- 1963 [HRN 167], October 1964 [HRN 167], April 1966 [HRN 167],
tributed, new interior lettering; first CI PC 1 A2 printing March 1954 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Eighteen
[HRN 117, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC1 printings September printings (four CC LDC1 A1, five CI LDC2 A1, two PC1 A1, seven
1955[HRN 128], March 1957 [HRN 137], September 1958 [HRN PC2 A2); one Canadian CI LDC1 A1 edition (1947).
146], January 1960 [HRN 154], March 1961 [HRN 161], Spring- 19. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens). Line-
Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], May 1965 [HRN drawing cover and first interior art by Louis Zansky, first adaptation
167], May 1967 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover unattributed, orig- by Evelyn Goodman; Twain biography; “Air Spies, Their Missions—
inal interior art. First CI PC2 printing Winter 1969; second CI PC2 Their Accomplishments” by June Slater; “Old Ironsides” by Oliver
printing Summer 1970 [HRN 169]. Nineteen printings (four CC Wendell Holmes; “A Day’s Work — Heroes All” by Steve Dale;
LDC, three CI LDC, ten PC1, two PC2); one Get-Well (Pressman “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Allen Simon. First CC LDC
Pharmacy) promotional giveaway (1958). A1 printing April 1944 (two variants) [HRN 18, 56 pages, 10¢]; sub-
16. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Line-drawing cover and sequent CC LDC printings April-May 1944 [HRN 18], October 1944
interior art by Lillian Chestney (Zuckerberg), adaptation (from Part [HRN 22], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC A1 printing April-
I, “A Voyage to Lilliput”) by Dan Kushner; “The Purple Heart” by June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC A1 printings
Technical Sergeant Hal Kanter; “I Hear America Singing” by Walt August 1949 [HRN 62], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], November
Whitman; Swift biography; “Coming Next” illo by Louis Zansky. 1951 [HRN 89], March 1954 [HRN 117]. Painted cover unattributed;
First CC LDC printing December 1943 [HRN 15, 56 pages, 10¢]; second interior art by Mike Sekowsky (pencils) and Frank Giacoia
subsequent CC LDC printings May 1944 [HRN 18/20]; October (inking); Twain biography; first CI PC A2 printing March 1956
1944 [HRN 22]; June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC printing April- [HRN 131, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 printings May 1959
June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC printings August [HRN 150], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], Spring 1962 [HRN 165], Spring-
1949 [HRN 62], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], November 1951 Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], June 1965 [HRN
[HRN 89]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior art. First CI 167], October 1965 [HRN 167], September 1967 [HRN 166], Winter
PC printing March 1960 [HRN 155, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI 1969 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢], Summer 1970 [HRN 169, stiff
PC printings 1962 [HRN 165], May 1964 [HRN 167], November cover]. Twenty-one printings (four CC LDC A1, five CI LDC A1,
1965 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, twelve PC A2).
stiff cover]. Fourteen printings (four CC LDC, four CI LDC, six 20. The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas. Line-drawing
PC); one Twin Circle edition (1968). cover and interior art by Allen Simon, adaptation by Stephen Bur-
17. The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. Line-drawing cover rows; Dumas biography; “Modern Twins in Service” by Hal Kane
and interior art by Louis Zansky, adaptation by Evelyn Goodman; [Hal Kanter]; “Things for Which We Fight” by Lieutenant General
Cooper biography; “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe; “Bombs ... Brehon Somervell; “The American’s Creed” by William Tyler Page;
and ... Sand” by Michael Sullivan; “The Lost Chutists” by Edward “The Emblem of Invasion.” First CC LDC printing June 1944 (five
Gordon; “Medals for Heroes”; “Coming Next” illo by Allen Simon. variants) [HRN 20, 56 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC printings October
First CC LDC printing January 1944 [HRN 16, 56 pages, 10¢]; sub- 1944 (white logo banner substituted) [HRN 22], June 1946 [HRN
sequent CC LDC printings March 1944 (two variants) [HRN 18], 28]. First CI LDC printing April-June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages];
October 1944 [HRN 22], June 1946 [HRN 28]. First CI LDC print- subsequent CI LDC printings August 1949 (two variants) [HRN 62],
ing April-June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC print- December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], July 1952 [HRN 97]. Seven printings
ings October 1949 [HRN 64], July 1951 [HRN 85], April 1954 [HRN (three CC LDC, four CI LDC; no PC edition in U.S. series).
118], May 1956 [HRN 132]. Painted cover by Stephen L. Addeo, orig- 21. 3 Famous Mysteries. Composite line-drawing cover by Louis
inal interior art. First CI PC printing 1968 [HRN 166, 48 pages, Zansky, Allen Simon, and Arnold L. Hicks; three stories, adaptations
25¢]; second CI PC printing Spring 1971 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. by Dan Levin: The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; art
Twelve printings (four CC LDC, six CI LDC, two PC). by Louis Zansky; The Flayed Hand by Guy de Maupassant; art by
18. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. First line- Allen Simon; The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe; art
drawing cover (“horror” cover) and first interior art by Allen Simon, by Arnold L. Hicks; Conan Doyle, Maupassant, Poe biographies;
first adaptation by Evelyn Goodman; Hugo biography; “The Story “From ‘The Kid’ to a Fighting Man” by Hal Kane [Hal Kanter];
of Staff Sergeant Schiller Cohen and His Fortress ‘Stinky!’” by Dan “Coming Next” illo by Louis Zansky. First CC LDC printing; July
Levin; “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Louis Zansky; 1944 (three variants) [HRN 21, 56 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC
“Coming Next” illo by Louis Zansky. First CC LDC1 printing March printings October 1944 [HRN 22], September 1946 [HRN 30]. First
1944 (two variants) [HRN 17, 56 pages, 10¢]; subsequent CC LDC1 CI LDC printing August 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages]; subsequent CI
printings April-May 1944 [HRN 18/20], October 1944 [HRN 22], LDC printings April 1950 [HRN 70], July 1951 [HRN 85, 15¢].
June 1946 [HRN 28]. Second line-drawing cover (Esmeralda and Painted cover unattributed, original interior art; first and only CI PC
Djali) by Henry C. Kiefer, original interior art. First CI LDC2 print- printing December 1953 [HRN 114, 15¢]. Seven printings (three CC
ing April-June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC2 LDC, three CI LDC, one PC).
printings August 1949 [HRN 62], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], 22. The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper. Line-drawing
November 1951 (two variants) [HRN 89], April 1954 [HRN 118]. cover and first interior art by Louis Zansky, adaptation by Evelyn
First painted cover (Esmeralda and Quasimodo on scaffold) unat- Goodman; Cooper biography; “Unsung Heroes of the Armed Forces”
tributed, original interior art; first CI PC1 A1 printing September by Henry Irving; “20-Year-Old Paratrooper Helps Eliminate 500
1957 [HRN 140, 48 pages, 15¢]; second CI PC1 A1 printing Sep- Germans in Normandy”; “More Ways Than One to Kill Japs”;
tember 1958 [HRN 146]. Second painted cover (Quasimodo and gar- “Coming Next” illo by Arnold L. Hicks. First CC LDC printing Oc-
goyles) by Gerald McCann, second interior art by Reed Crandall and tober 1944 (three variants) [HRN 22, 56 pages, 10¢]; second CC
George Evans, second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Hugo biography; LDC printing September 1946 [HRN 30]. First CI LDC printing
“The Wanderers [Gypsies]”; “From Osiris to O’Neill” [history of April-June 1949 [HRN 60]; subsequent CI LDC printings April 1950
theatre]. First CI PC2 printing Fall 1960 [HRN 158, 48 pages, 15¢]; [HRN 70], July 1951 [HRN 85], April 1954 [HRN 118], May 1956
subsequent CI PC2 printings Spring 1962 [HRN 165], September [HRN 132], September 1958 [HRN 146]. Painted cover by Norman
 APPENDIX A 321

Nodel; first CI PC printing November 1963 [HRN 167, 15¢]; subse- nym of Walt Anderson); Shelley biography; “Paul Revere’s Ride” by
quent CI PC printings December 1965 [HRN 167], August 1967 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; “The ‘Ghost of Corregidor’” by
[HRN 166]. Eleven printings (two CC LDC, six CI LDC, three PC). Georgina Campbell; “Coming Next” illo by Homer Fleming. First
Unpublished, unfinished second interior art by Norman Nodel, un- CC LDC printing December 1945 [HRN 26, 48 pages, 10¢]; second
published adaptation by Alfred Sundel (1962). CC LDC printing September 1946 (two variants, price indicated or
23. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Line-drawing cover and first not) [HRN 30]. First CI LDC printing April-June 1949 [HRN 60];
interior art by Arnold L. Hicks, lettering by Louis L. Goldklang, first subsequent CI LDC printings August 1949 [HRN 62], May 1950
adaptation by Georgina Campbell (first Iger Shop issue); Dickens [HRN 71], March 1951 (two variants) [HRN 82, soft or stiff covers,
biography; “The Case of the Little Duck” by Georgina Campbell; 15¢], March 1954 [HRN 117]. Painted cover by Norman B. Saunders,
“Intrepid Medal Winner”; “Coming Next” illo by Jack Hearne. First original interior art; first CI PC printing September 1958 [HRN 146,
CC LDC A1 printing July 1945 [HRN 23, 56 pages, 10¢]; second CC 15¢]; subsequent CI PC printings September 1959 [HRN 152], No-
LDC A1 printing September 1946 (two variants, with or without vember 1959 [HRN 153], January 1961 [HRN 160], Spring 1962
printers’ union cover mark) [HRN 30]. First CI LDC A1 printing [HRN 165], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN
April-June 1949 [HRN 60]; subsequent CI LDC printings August 167], June 1965 [HRN 167], October 1965 [HRN 167], September
1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages], May 1950 [HRN 71], July 1951 [HRN 1967 [HRN 166], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢], Spring 1971
85], April 1952 [HRN 94], April 1954 [HRN 118]. Painted cover un- [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Nineteen printings (two CC LDC, five CI
attributed, first interior art; January 1957 [HRN 136, 48 pages, 15¢]; LDC, twelve PC).
subsequent CI PC A1 printings May 1959 [HRN 150], Fall 1961 27. The Adventures of Marco Polo (based on The Travels of Marco
[HRN 164]. Painted cover with second interior art by Reed Crandall Polo and Donn Byrne’s Messer Marco Polo [per manuscript]). Line-
and George Evans, second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Dickens bi- drawing cover and interior art by Homer Fleming, lettering by Louis
ography; “The Pearl Robbery”; “A Leader of His People [Chaim L. Goldklang, adaptation by Emanuel Demby; biography of John
Weizmann]”; first CI PCA2 printing Fall 1961 [HRN 164, 48 pages, Greenleaf Whittier; “Barbara Frietchie” by John Greenleaf Whittier;
15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 printings Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN “Iroquois: People of the Long House”; “This Is No Joke: A plain-
167]; August 1964 [HRN 167], December 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 spoken letter from Red Skelton, one of America’s greatest comedy
[HRN 166, 25¢], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Seventeen stars”; “Coming Next” illo by Arnold L. Hicks. First CC LDC
printings (two CC LDC A1, six CI LDC A1, three PC A1, six PC A2). printing April 1946 [no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]; second CC LDC print-
24. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain ing September 1946 [HRN 30]. First CI LDC printing April 1950
(Samuel L. Clemens). Line-drawing cover and first interior art by [HRN 70, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC printings September 1951
Jack Hearne, first adaptation by Ruth A. Roche and Tom Scott; let- [HRN 87, 15¢], March 1954 [HRN 117]. Painted cover unattributed,
tering by Louis L. Goldklang; Twain biography; “Three Pals: 55, 65 original interior art; first CI PC printing January 1960 [HRN 154,
and 75”; “Coming Next” illo by Robert H. Webb. First CC LDC 15¢]; subsequent CI PC printings Spring 1962 [HRN 165], April 1964
printing September 1945 [no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]; second CC LDC [HRN 167], June 1966 [HRN 167], Spring 1969 [HRN 169, stiff
printing September 1946 [HRN 30]. First CI LDC printing April- cover, 25¢]. Ten printings (two CC LDC, three CI LDC, five PC).
June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC printings August 28. Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne. Line-drawing cover and
1949 [HRN 62], May 1950 [HRN 71], September 1951 [HRN 87], interior art by Arnold L. Hicks, adaptation by Pat Adam; Verne bi-
July 1954 [HRN 121]. Painted cover unattributed, second interior art ography; “Chaplains Courageous”; “Come On, Balto! Come On,
by Jack Sparling; Twain biography; first CI PC A2 printing Sep- Good Dog!” “Coming Next” illo by Arnold L. Hicks. First and only
tember 1957 [HRN 140, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 print- CC LDC printing June 1946 [no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]. One CI LDC
ings November 1959 [HRN 153], Fall 1961 [HRN 164], Spring- printing September 1948 [HRN 51, 48 pages]. First painted cover
Summer 1963 [HRN 167], July 1964 [HRN 167], June 1966 [HRN (Michael facing bear) unattributed, original interior art; first CI PC1
167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢], Spring 1971 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Fif- printing January 1954 [HRN 115, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC1 printings
teen printings (two CC LDC A1, five CI LDC A1, eight PC A2). March 1960 [HRN 155], November 1963 [HRN 167], July 1966
25. Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Line- [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (flogging of Marfa Strogoff ) by
drawing cover and interior art by Robert H. Webb and David Norman Nodel, original interior art. First and only CI PC2 printing
Heames, lettering by Louis L. Goldklang, adaptation by Ruth A. Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings (one CC
Roche; Dana biography (page one); “The Yarn of the ‘Nancy Bell’” LDC, one CI LDC, four PC1, one PC2).
by W.S. Gilbert; “Wild Bill’s Cloak and Dagger Outfit” by Georgina 29. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clem-
Campbell; American Rivers: “The Historic Ohio”; “Coming Next” ens). First line-drawing cover (“horror” cover) and interior art by
illo by Robert H. Webb. First CC LDC A1 printing October 1945 Arnold L. Hicks, adaptation by Scott Feldman and Jack Bass; Twain
[no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]; second CC LDC A1 printing September biography; The American Indian: “The Pequot”; “Coming Next”
1946 [HRN 30]. First CI LDC A1 printing April-June 1949 [HRN illo by Don Rico. First and only CC LDC1 printing July 1946 [no
60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC A1 printings August 1949 [HRN HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]. Second line-drawing cover (Henry VIII, Ed-
62], May 1950 [HRN 71], July 1951 [HRN 85], December 1953 ward, Tom) by Henry C. Kiefer, original interior art; first CI LDC2
[HRN 114]. Painted cover unattributed, recolored original art; Dana printing April-June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC2
biography; “Dugout to Diesel”; “Buried Treasure”; first CI PC A2 printings August 1949 [HRN 62], May 1950 [HRN 71], March 1952
printing May 1960 [HRN 156, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC A2 [HRN 93], December 1953 [HRN 114]. Painted cover by George
printings December 1963 [HRN 167], December 1965 [HRN 167], Wilson, original interior art; first CI PC printing September 1955
September 1967 [HRN 166], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, [HRN 128, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC printings May 1957 [HRN 138],
25¢]. Twelve printings (two CC LDC A1, five CI LDC A1, five PC May 1959 [HRN 150], Fall 1961 [HRN 164], Spring-Summer 1963
A2). [HRN 167], July 1964 [HRN 167], November 1965 [HRN 167], 1968
26. Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley. Line-drawing cover and in- [HRN 166, 25¢], Summer 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Fifteen print-
terior art by Robert H. Webb and Ann Brewster, lettering by Louis ings (one CC LDC1, five CI LDC2, nine PC).
L. Goldklang, adaptation by Ruth A. Roche and Tom Law (pseudo- 30. The Moonstone by William Wilkie Collins. Line-drawing cover
322 APPENDIX A

and interior art by Don Rico (replaced Allen Simon [per manu- in 1892; it included neither A Study in Scarlet (1887) nor The Hound
script]), adaptation by Dan Levin; Collins biography; American of the Baskervilles (1902). A Study in Scarlet would later appear under
Rivers: “The Delaware”; “The Fighting Cheyennes”; Dog Heroes: the Classics Illustrated logo with new script and art as CI No. 110 (Au-
“Queenie — German Shepherd”; “Coming Next” illo by Arnold L. gust 1953).
Hicks. First and only CC LDC printing September 1946 [no HRN, 34. Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. Line-drawing cover and in-
56 pages, 10¢]. First CI LDC printing April-June 1949 [HRN 60, terior art by Robert H. Webb and David Heames, adaptation by
48 pages]; second CI LDC printing April 1950 [HRN 70]. Painted Manning Stokes; Verne biography; American Indians: “The Siouan
cover by Leonard B. Cole, original interior art; first CI PC printing (Sioux) Family”; Pioneers of Science: “Charles Proteus Steinmetz,
March 1960 [HRN 155, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC printings Spring the Wizard of Electricity”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer.
1962 [HRN 165], January 1964 [HRN 167], September 1965 [HRN Last Classic Comics issue. First and only CC LDC printing February
167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Eight printings (one CC LDC, two CI 1947 [HRN 35, 56 pages, 10¢]; First CI LDC printing April-June
LDC, five CI PC). 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC printings August
31. The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson. Line-drawing 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages], May 1950 [HRN 71], December 1950
cover and interior art by Arnold L. Hicks, lettering by Louis L. Gold- [HRN 78, 15¢], February 1952 [HRN 92], March 1954 [HRN 117].
klang, adaptation by Ruth A. Roche and Tom Scott; Stevenson bi- Painted cover unattributed, original interior art; first CI PC printing
ography; Dog Heroes: “‘Blackie’: Belgian Shepherd”; Pioneers of Sci- September 1957 [HRN 140, 15¢]; subsequent CI LDC printings May
ence: “Joseph Priestley, the Father of Soda Water and Discoverer of 1960 [HRN 156], October 1963 [HRN 167], May 1964 [HRN 167],
Oxygen” (later reprinted in No. 138A); “Coming Next” illo by Matt June 1966 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Thirteen printings
Baker. First and only CC LDC printing October 1946 [HRN 30, 56 (one CC LDC, six CI LDC, six CI PC).
pages, 10¢]. First CI LDC printing September 1948 [HRN 51, 48 35. The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Line-
pages]; subsequent CI LDC printings October 1949 [HRN 64], Sep- drawing cover and first interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, first adap-
tember 1951 [HRN 87], June 1953 [HRN 108], March 1955 [HRN tation by I. Thomas; Bulwer-Lytton biography; “That Others Might
125]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior art; first CI PC Live”; “Ol’ Sea Dog Sinbad”; “Coming Next” illo by Ezra Whiteman.
printing March 1956 [HRN 131, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC printings First Classics Illustrated issue; open-book device reintroduced. First
September 1957 [HRN 140], January 1959 [HRN 148], March 1961 and only LDC printing March 1947 [HRN 35, 56 pages, 10¢].
[HRN 161], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], July 1964 [HRN 167], Painted cover unattributed, second interior art by Jack Kirby (pencils)
November 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Fourteen print- and Dick Ayers (inking); adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Bulwer-Lytton
ings (one CC LDC, five CI LDC, eight CI PC). biography; “Pyramus and Thisbe” (from The Age of Fable by Thomas
32. Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. Line-drawing Bulfinch); “A Mound of Ruins [Lisbon Earthquake of 1755].” First
cover and interior art by Matt Baker, adaptation by Ruth A. Roche; PC printing March 1961 [HRN 161, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC
Blackmore biography; Pioneers of Science: “Charles Martin Hall, printings January 1964 [HRN 167], July 1966 [HRN 167], Spring
the Schoolboy Scientist”; American Indians: “The Seminole” by John 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings (one LDC A1, four
O’Rourke; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First and only PC A2).
CC LDC A1 printing December 1946 [no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]. First 36. Typee by Herman Melville. Line-drawing cover and interior
CI LDC A1 printing November 1948 [HRN 53, 48 pages]; art by Ezra Whiteman, adaptation by Harry G. Miller (pseudonym
subsequent CI LDC A1 printings October 1949 [HRN 64], July 1951 of Harry Glickman); Melville biography; American Indians: “The
[HRN 85, 15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118]. First painted cover unattrib- Tlingit”; Pioneers of Science: “Marie Sklodowska Curie, Discoverer
uted, recolored original Matt Baker art with reversed line-drawing of Radium”; “Coming Next” illo by Rudolph Palais. First LDC print-
cover illustration replacing original first-page splash. First CI PC1 ing April 1947 [HRN 36, 56 pages, 10¢]; second LDC printing Oc-
A2 May 1957 [HRN 138, 15¢]; subsequent CI PC1 A2 printings May tober 1949 [HRN 64, 48 pages]. Painted cover by Gerald McCann,
1959 [HRN 150], Spring 1962 [HRN 165], January 1964 [HRN 167], original interior art. First PC printing March 1960 [HRN 155, 15¢];
November 1965 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover unattributed; subsequent PC printings September 1963 [HRN 167], July 1965
1957 recolored original art. First and only CI PC2 A2 printing 1968 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN 169]. Six printings (two LDC, four
[HRN 166, 25¢]. Eleven printings (one CC LDC, four CI LDC, five PC). Second interior art by Luis Dominguez, commissioned for but
CI PC1 A2, one CI PC2 A2). not issued in U.S. series (1962); published in U.K. and international
33. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. series.
Line-drawing cover by Henry C. Kiefer (first Kiefer art in series); 37. The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper. Line-drawing cover
two stories in first edition: A Study in Scarlet; page-1 splash by Henry and interior art by Rudolph Palais, adaptation by Samuel Willinsky;
C. Kiefer, remainder of interior art by Louis Zansky (deleted after Cooper biography; “Jungle Promise” by John Ladd; “What’s New
first printing); The Hound of the Baskervilles; page-20 splash by Henry About the U.N.?”; Pioneers of Science: “Thomas Alva Edison, Wizard
C. Kiefer, remainder of interior art by Louis Zansky; Conan Doyle of Menlo Park.” First LDC printing May 1947 [HRN 37, 56 pages,
biography; Pioneers of Science: “William Murdock, Father of Gas- 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings August 1949 (two variants, price in-
light”; “Still Echoing ... The Heartbeat of Lincoln”; “Ties Across the dicated or not) [HRN 62, 48 pages]; April 1950 [HRN 70], February
Sea”; “Coming Next” illo by Robert H. Webb. Delayed publication; 1952 [HRN 92, 15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118], March 1956 [HRN 131],
originally scheduled for March 1943; First and only CC LDC printing May-June 1956 [HRN 132], November 1959 [HRN 153], May 1964
January 1947 [HRN 33, 64 pages, 10¢]. First CI LDC printing No- [HRN 167], June 1966 [HRN 167]. Painted cover by Taylor Oughton,
vember 1948 [HRN 53, 48 pages]; subsequent CI LDC printings original interior art; one PC printing 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Eleven
May 1950 [HRN 71], November 1951 (two variants: one with, one printings (ten LDC, one PC).
without Kiefer’s front-cover signature) [HRN 89, 15¢]. No painted 38. Adventures of Cellini (based on the Autobiography of Benvenuto
cover in U.S. series. Four printings (one CC LDC, three CI LDC). Cellini). Line-drawing cover and first interior art by August M.
Note: Even before the deletion of A Study in Scarlet, Gilberton’s use Froehlich, first adaptation by Leslie Katz [per manuscript]; Pioneers
of the title The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was misleading. A book of Science: “Eli Whitney, Inventor of the Cotton Gin”; American
of twelve stories by Conan Doyle had been published under that title Rivers: “The Kennebec”; Dog Heroes: “Shorty the Spaniel”; “Coming
 APPENDIX A 323

Next” illo by Harley M. Griffiths. First and only LDC printing June first PC A2 printing September 1959 [HRN 152]; subsequent PC A2
1947 [no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]. Painted cover unattributed, second printings Fall 1960 [HRN 158], Spring-Summer 1962 [HRN 165],
interior art by Dino Battaglia(?), second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; December 1963 [HRN 167], April 1965 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN
Cellini biography; “Waking the Dead [Renaissance]”; “Michelan- 167], November 1967 [HRN 166], Spring 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover,
gelo.” First PC printing Fall 1961 [HRN 164, 48 pages, 15¢]; subse- 25¢]. Sixteen printings (five LDC A1, three PC A1, eight PC A2).
quent PC printings December 1963 [HRN 167], July 1966 [HRN 43. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Line-drawing cover
167], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings (one and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; Dickens biography; American
LDC A1, four PC A2). Indians: “The Navajo”; Pioneers of Science: “Albert Einstein”; “Com-
39. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Line-drawing cover and first ing Next” illo by Homer Fleming (anomaly). First LDC printing
interior art by Harley M. Griffiths, first adaptation by Harry G. Miller November 1947 [HRN 43, 56 pages, 10¢]; second LDC printing Au-
(Harry Glickman); Brontë biography; The American Indians: “The gust 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages]. Two printings (no PC edition).
Muskohegan Family, the Creek Confederacy”; “Great Heroes of the 44. Mysteries of Paris by Eugene Sue. Line-drawing cover (last
U.S. Navy.” First LDC printing July 1947 [no HRN, 56 pages, 10¢]; “horror” cover) and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by
subsequent CI LDC printings April-June 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages], Albert Avitabile; Sue biography; Pioneers of Science: “Michael Fara-
August 1949 [HRN 62], May 1950 [HRN 71], February 1952 [HRN day”; Dog Heroes: “Just a Bag of Skin and Bones”; “Coming Next”
92, 15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118]. First painted cover (Rochester and illo by Homer Fleming. First LDC printing December 1947 (two
fire) unattributed, first interior art. First PC1 A1 printing January variants) [HRN 44, 56 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings August
1958 [HRN 142, 15¢]; second PC1 A1 printing January 1960 [HRN 1949 (two variants, Gift Box ad or reorder list) [HRN 62, 48 pages];
154]. First painted cover, second interior art by H.J. Kihl, second December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢]. Three printings (no PC edition).
adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Brontë biography; “The London Fire”; 45. Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes. Line-drawing
“Suffering Humanity [Dorothea Dix].” First PC1 A2 printing Spring cover and first interior art by Homer Fleming; American Indians:
1962 [HRN 165, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 A2 printings December 1963 “The Chippewa”; Hughes biography; Great Lives: “Florence Nightin-
[HRN 167], April 1965 [HRN 167], August 1966 [HRN 167]. Second gale, ‘The Lady of the Lamp’”; Pioneers of Science: “Sir Isaac
painted cover (Rochester and Jane) by Norman Nodel, second interior Newton, Discoverer of ‘The Law of Gravitation’”; “Coming Next”
art; one PC2 A2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Thirteen printings illo by Robert H. Webb. First 48-page issue. First LDC A1 printing
(six LDC A1, two PC1 A1, four PC1 A2, one PC2 A2). January 1948 [HRN 44, 48 pages, 10¢]; second LDC A1 printing
40. Mysteries by Edgar Allan Poe. Line-drawing cover (“horror” October 1949 [HRN 64]. Painted cover by Gerald McCann, second
cover) by Henry C. Kiefer; three stories: The Pit and the Pendulum; interior art by John Tartaglione, second adaptation by Alfred Sundel;
interior art by August M. Froehlich; The Adventures of Hans Pfall; Hughes biography; “The Learned Monks [Columba and Clement]”;
interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; The Fall of the House of Usher; interior “Children of the Slums [Victorian England].” First PC A2 printing
art by Harley M. Griffiths; adaptations by Samuel Willinsky; Poe bi- March 1961 [HRN 161, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings January
ography; Pioneers of Science: “Robert Fulton, Inventor of the Steam- 1964 [HRN 167], August 1966 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢].
boat”; Great Lives: “Ludwig Van Beethoven”; American Indians: Six printings (two LDC A1, four PC A2).
“The Cherokee Nation” by John H. O’Rourke; “[Excerpt] from a 46. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Line-drawing cover
Letter Written by George Washington in 1790”; “Coming Next” illo and interior art by Robert H. Webb, adaptation by John O’Rourke;
by Robert C. Burns. First LDC printing August 1947 [HRN 40, 56 Stevenson biography; Pioneers of Science: “The Wright Brothers”;
pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings August 1949 [HRN 62, 48 Dog Heroes: “Toots, the Collie”; Great Lives: “Joan of Arc”; “Com-
pages], September 1950 [HRN 75], February 1952 [HRN 92, 15¢]. ing Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. Originally appeared as newspaper
Four printings (no PC edition). Illustrated Classic, 30 March–20 April 1947. First LDC printing April
41. Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas. First line-drawing 1948 [HRN 47, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings August
cover (“horror” cover) and interior art by Robert C. Burns, adaptation 1949 (two variants, price indicated or not) [HRN 62], December
by Harry G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Dumas biography; Pioneers 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], September 1951 [HRN 87], April 1954 [HRN
of Science: “Alexis Carrel”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. 118]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior art; first PC printing
First and only LDC1 printing September 1947 [no HRN, 56 pages, March 1956 [HRN 131, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings September
10¢]. Second line-drawing cover (Queen Anne and musketeers) by 1957 [HRN 140], May 1959 [HRN 150], Fall 1961 [HRN 164],
Henry C. Kiefer, original interior art. First LDC2 printing August Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], March 1964 [HRN 167], June
1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages]; second LDC2 printing December 1950 1965 [HRN 167], December 1965 [HRN 167], September 1967
[HRN 78, 15¢]. Painted cover by Doug Roea, original interior art; [HRN 166], Winter 1969 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢], Summer 1970
first PC printing May 1960 [HRN 156]; subsequent PC printings [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Sixteen printings (five LDC, eleven PC).
December 1963 [HRN 167], November 1966 [HRN 167], Spring 47. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Line-
1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings (one LDC1, two drawing cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; Verne biography;
LDC2, four PC). Dog Heroes: “Hero Rex”; American Indians: “The Hurons”; Pioneers
42. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. Line-drawing cover of Science: “Luther Burbank, ‘The World’s Greatest Naturalist’”;
and first interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by Elspeth “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. Originally appeared as news-
Campbell; Wyss biography; American Rivers: “The Saint Lawrence”; paper Illustrated Classic, 27 April–18 May 1947. First LDC printing
Pioneers of Science: “Charles Robert Darwin”; “Coming Next” illo May 1948 [HRN 47, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings Oc-
by Henry C. Kiefer. First LDC A1 printing October 1947 [HRN 42, tober 1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], April 1952
56 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC A1 printings August 1949 (two vari- [HRN 94], April 1954 [HRN 118]. First painted cover unattributed,
ants) [HRN 62, 48 pages], September 1950 [HRN 75], March 1952 original interior art. First PC1 printing September 1955 [HRN 128,
[HRN 93, 15¢], March 1954 [HRN 117]. Painted cover unattributed, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings June 1956 [HRN 133], September
first interior art. First PC A1 printing March 1956 [HRN 131, 15¢]; 1957 [HRN 140], January 1959 [HRN 148], May 1960 [HRN 156],
subsequent PC A1 printings March 1957 [HRN 137], November 1957 1962 [HRN 165], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], March 1964
[HRN 141]. Second interior art by Norman Nodel; Wyss biography; [HRN 167], August 1965 [HRN 167], October 1966 [HRN 167].
324 APPENDIX A

Second painted cover by Norman Nodel, original interior art; first PC2 September 1948 [HRN 51, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings
printing 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]; second PC2 printing Spring 1970 [HRN November 1951 [HRN 89, 15¢], July 1954 [HRN 121]. Painted cover
169, stiff cover]. Seventeen printings (five LDC, ten PC1, two PC2). unattributed, original interior art. First PC printing July 1957 [HRN
48. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Line-drawing cover 139, 15¢], May 1960 [HRN 156], November 1963 [HRN 167], July
and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; adaptation by George D. Lip- 1966 [HRN 167], Winter 1969 (two variants) [HRN 169, soft and
scomb; Dickens biography; Great Lives: “Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D.”; stiff covers, 25¢]. Eight printings (three LDC, five PC).
American Rivers: “The Hudson”; “Harvard’s Marshal Plan” by Nat 52. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Line-
Shane; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. Originally appeared as drawing cover and first interior art by Harley M. Griffiths, adapted
newspaper Illustrated Classic, 25 May–15 June 1947. First LDC print- by John O’Rourke; Hawthorne biography; Pioneers of Science:
ing June 1948 [HRN 47, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings “William Crawford Gorgas”; Dog Heroes: “The Spots — One to
October 1949 [HRN 64], September 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢]. Painted Four”; Famous Operas: “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi; “Coming
cover unattributed, original interior art; first PC printing July 1954 Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. Originally appeared as newspaper Il-
[HRN 121, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1956 [HRN 130], lustrated Classic, 13 September–4 October 1947. First LDC A1 print-
September 1957 [HRN 140], January 1959 [HRN 148], May 1960 ing October 1948 [HRN 53, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC A1
[HRN 156], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], April 1964 [HRN printings November 1951 [HRN 89, 15¢], July 1954 [HRN 121].
167], June 1965 [HRN 167], May 1967 [HRN 166], 1967 [HRN 166], Painted cover unattributed, second interior art by George Wood-
Spring 1969 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, bridge; Hawthorne biography. First PC A2 printing January 1958
stiff cover]. Fifteen printings (three LDC, twelve PC); one Twin [HRN 142, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings May 1960
Circle edition (1967). [HRN 156], 1962 [HRN 165], May 1964 [HRN 167], March 1966
49. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover,
Dodgson). Line-drawing cover and interior art by Alex A. Blum (first 25¢]. Ten printings (three LDC A1, seven PC A2).
Blum art in series); Carroll biography; [Dog Heroes:] “Tippy, the 53. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Line-drawing cover
Terrier” (different from No. 68); Pioneers of Science: “Galileo and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; adaptation by George D. Lip-
Galilei”; Famous Operas: “Carmen” by Georges Bizet; “Coming scomb [per title page]; unpublished adaptation by Harry G. Miller
Next” illo by Aldo Rubano. Originally appeared as newspaper Illus- (Harry Glickman) [per manuscript]; Dickens biography; Pioneers
trated Classic, 22 June–13 July 1947. First LDC printing July 1948 of Science: “Sir Henry Bessemer”; Dog Heroes: “The Hero of Niagara
[HRN 47, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings October 1949 Falls”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. Originally appeared
[HRN 64], July 1951 (two variants) [HRN 85, soft and stiff covers, as newspaper Illustrated Classic, 6–20 December 1947. First and only
15¢]. First painted cover (Alice surrounded by characters) unat- LDC printing November 1948 [HRN 53, 48 pages, 10¢]. One print-
tributed, original interior art. First PC1 printing March 1960 [HRN ing (no PC edition).
155, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings 1962 [HRN 165], March 1964 54. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas. Line-drawing
[HRN 167], June 1966 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (Mad Hat- cover by Henry C. Kiefer, first interior art by August M. Froehlich,
ter’s tea party) by Taylor Oughton, original interior art. First and adaptation by John O’Rourke; Dumas biography; Pioneers of
only PC2 printing (two variants) Fall 1968 [HRN 166, soft and stiff Science: “Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the Father of Chemistry”; Fa-
covers, 25¢]. Eight printings (three LDC, four PC1, one PC 2). mous Operas: “Thais” by Jules Massenet; Dog Heroes: “Brave”;
50. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Samuel L. “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. Originally appeared as news-
Clemens). Line-drawing cover and first interior art by Aldo Rubano; paper Illustrated Classic, 24 January–14 February 1948. First LDC
first adaptation by Harry G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Twain biog- A1 printing December 1948 [HRN 55, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent
raphy; [Dog Heroes:] “Bulldog Courage”; Pioneers of Science: LDC A1 printings March 1952 [HRN 93, 15¢], September 1953 (two
“George Westinghouse”; Famous Operas: “Madame Butterfly” by variants, old and new logo) [HRN 111]. Painted cover unattributed,
Giacomo Puccini; “Coming Next” illo by Arnold L. Hicks. Originally second interior art by Ken Battefield; Dumas biography. First PC A2
appeared as newspaper Illustrated Classic, 17 August–6 September printing January 1958 [HRN 142, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2
1947. First LDC A1 printing August-September 1948 (three variants) printings January 1960 [HRN 154], 1962 [HRN 165], May 1964
[HRN 51, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC A1 printings October [HRN 167], April 1966 [HRN 167], Winter 1969 (two variants)
1949 [HRN 64], December 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢], April 1952 [HRN [HRN 166, soft and stiff covers, 25¢]. Nine printings (three LDC
94], March 1954 [HRN 117], May 1956 [HRN 132]. Painted cover A1, six PC).
unattributed, original interior art; first PC A1 printing September 55. Silas Marner by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans). Line-drawing
1957 [HRN 140, 15¢]; second PC A1 printing May 1959 [HRN 150]. cover by Henry C. Kiefer, interior art by Arnold L. Hicks, adaptation
Second interior art unattributed; Twain biography; “A Lightning by Harry G. Miller (Harry Glickman) [per manuscript]; Eliot biog-
Pilot” (adapted from Life on the Mississippi by Samuel L. Clemens); raphy; Dog Heroes: “‘Buddy,’ the First Seeing-Eye Dog”; [Pioneers
“The Seminole Chief [Osceola].” First PC A2 printing October 1961 of Science:] “Joseph, Lord Lister, the Father of Antiseptic Surgery”;
[HRN 164, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings Spring-Summer 1963 Famous Operas: “The Barber of Seville” by Gioacchino Antonio
[HRN 167], January 1965 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN 167], De- Rossini; “Coming Next” illo by August M. Froehlich. Originally ap-
cember 1967 [HRN 166], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢], Win- peared as newspaper Illustrated Classic, 8–29 November 1947. First
ter 1971 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Fifteen printings (six LDC A1, two LDC printing January 1949 [HRN 55, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent
PC A1, seven PC A2). LDC printings September 1950 [HRN 75, “Coming Next” ad erro-
51. The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper. Line-drawing cover and neously included], July 1952 [HRN 97, 15¢]. Painted cover unattrib-
interior art by Arnold L. Hicks; Cooper biography; Pioneers of Sci- uted, original interior art. First PC printing July 1954 [HRN 121,
ence: “Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen”; Dog Heroes: “Irma, the Rare 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1956 [HRN 130], September
Rottweiler Breed”; Famous Operas: “Lohengrin, the Knight of the 1957 [HRN 140], January 1960 [HRN 154], 1962 [HRN 165], Feb-
Swan” by Richard Wagner; “Coming Next” illo by Harley M. ruary 1964 [HRN 167], June 1965 [HRN 167], May 1967 [HRN
Griffiths. Originally appeared as newspaper Illustrated Classic, 20 166], Winter 1969 (two variants) [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢]. Twelve
July–10 August 1947. First LDC printing (four variants) August- printings (three LDC, nine PC).
 APPENDIX A 325

56. The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo. Line-drawing cover printings February 1964 [HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 167]. Second
and first interior art by August M. Froehlich, adaptation by Harry painted cover (horse rearing, with rider) by Albert Micale, second
G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Hugo biography; Dog Heroes: “No interior art. First and only PC2 A2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, soft
Greater Love”; Pioneers of Science: “William Harvey, Discoverer of cpver, 25¢]. Seven printings (three LDC A1, three PC1 A2, one PC2
Blood Circulation”; Famous Operas: “Tristan und Isolde” by Richard A2).
Wagner; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. Originally appeared 61. The Woman in White by William Wilkie Collins. Line-drawing
as newspaper Illustrated Classic, 21 February–13 March 1948. First cover and interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by John O’Rourke;
and only LDC A1 printing February 1949 [HRN 55, 48 pages, 10¢]. Collins biography; Pioneers of Science: “Alexander Graham Bell, In-
Painted cover unattributed, second interior art by Angelo Torres, sec- ventor of the Telephone”; Famous Operas: “Lucia di Lammermoor”
ond adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Hugo biography; “The Flood”; by Gaetano Donizetti; Dog Heroes: “‘Duke’— Police Dog”; Great
“Sea Monsters.” First PC A2 printing Spring 1962 [HRN 165, 48 Lives: “Mary Baker Eddy”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer.
pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings March 1964 [HRN 167], First and only LDC printing (two variants) July 1949 [HRN 62, 48
October 1966 [HRN 167]. Four printings (one LDC A1, three PC pages, 10¢]. Painted cover by Doug Roea, original interior art. First
A2). PC printing May 1960 [HRN 156, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings
57. The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Line- January 1964 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, soft cover, 25¢]. Four
drawing cover and interior art by Alex A. Blum; Longfellow biogra- printings (one LDC, three PC).
phy; Great Lives: “John Flamsteed, Father of Modern Astronomy”; 62. Western Stories by Bret Harte; two stories: The Luck of Roaring
Famous Operas: “Aida” by Giuseppe Verdi; Dog Heroes: “‘Amigo,’ Camp and The Outcasts of Poker Flat. Line-drawing cover and interior
Hero of the Andes”; “Coming Next” illo by Rudolph Palais. First art by Henry C. Kiefer; Harte biography; Famous Operas: “Pagliacci”
LDC printing March 1949 [HRN 55, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent by Ruggiero Leoncavallo; Pioneers of Science: “Sir Edgeworth David,
LDC printings September 1950 [HRN 75], April 1952 [HRN 94, Discover[er] of the South Magnetic Pole”; Dog Heroes: “The Breed
15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118]. Painted cover unattributed, original in- That Knows No Fear”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First
terior art. First PC printing September 1956 [HRN 134, 15¢]; sub- LDC printing August 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent
sequent PC printings July 1957 [HRN 139], January 1960 [HRN LDC printings November 1951 [HRN 89, 15¢], July 1954 [HRN
154], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], September 1964 [HRN 167], 121]. First painted cover unattributed (author’s name misspelled
October 1965 [HRN 167], Fall 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Eleven “Hart”), original interior art. First PC1 printing March 1957 [HRN
printings (four LDC, seven PC). 137, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings September 1959 [HRN 152],
58. The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper. Line-drawing cover October 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], November 1966
and interior art by Rudolph Palais; Cooper biography; Pioneer of [HRN 167]. Second painted cover by Taylor Oughton, original in-
Science: “Hippocrates, Father of Medicine”; Dog Heroes: “Tunney, terior art. First and only PC2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, soft cover,
the Champ”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First LDC 25¢]. Nine printings (three LDC, five PC1, one PC2).
printing April 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC print- 63. The Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale. Line-
ings August 1949 (two variants) [HRN 62], December 1950 [HRN drawing cover and first interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation
78, 15¢], December 1953 [HRN 114], March 1956 [HRN 131], May- by John O’Rourke; Hale biography; Famous Operas: “Tannhauser”
June 1956 [HRN 132]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior by Richard Wagner; Pioneers of Science: “Simon Lake, Inventor of
art. First PC printing September 1958 [HRN 146, 15¢]; subsequent the First Submarine”; Dog Heroes: “‘Spot,’ the Crippled Hero”;
PC printings March 1960 [HRN 155], May 1964 [HRN 167], April “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC A1 printing Sep-
1966 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eleven tember 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages, 10¢]; second LDC A1 printing De-
printings (six LDC, five PC). cember 1950 [HRN 78, 15¢]. Painted cover by Gerald McCann; first
59. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Line-drawing cover and interior art. First and only PC A1 printing May 1960 [HRN 156, 15¢].
interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, lettering by Howard Ferguson and Second interior art by Angelo Torres and Stephen L. Addeo; adap-
Harvey McClelland [per manuscript], adaptation by Harry G. Miller tation by Alfred Sundel; Hale biography; “Burning the Philadelphia”;
(Harry Glickman); Brontë biography; Pioneers of Science: “Dmitri “A Small Case of Forgery.” First PC A2 printing 1962 [HRN 165, 48
I. Mendeleyev”; Dog Heroes: “‘Pete,’ the Peke”; Famous Operas: pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings March 1964 [HRN 167];
“The Valkyrie” by Richard Wagner; “Coming Next” illo by August August 1966 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢].
M. Froehlich. First LDC printing May 1949 [HRN 60, 48 pages, Seven printings (two LDC A1, one PC A1, four PC A2).
10¢]; second LDC printing July 1951 [HRN 85, 15¢]. Painted cover 64. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Line-drawing cover
by Geoffrey Biggs, original interior art. First PC printing May 1960 and interior art by Alex A. Blum; Stevenson biography; Pioneers of
[HRN 156, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1964 [HRN 167], Science: “John A. Roebling, Master of Modern Bridge Building”;
October 1966 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Dog Heroes: “‘Major,’ the Faithful Collie”; Famous Operas: “The
Six printings (two LDC, four PC). Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [synopsis by Kenneth
60. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Line-drawing cover and first W. Fitch]; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First LDC
interior art by August M. Froehlich; Sewell biography; Pioneers of printing October 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC
Science: “Archimedes, First Teacher of Mathematics”; Famous printings April 1951 (two variants) [HRN 82, soft and stiff covers,
Operas: “The Girl of the Golden West” by Giacomo Puccini; Dog 15¢], March 1954 [HRN 117]. Painted cover by George Wilson, orig-
Heroes: Jeep —‘Just a Plain Dog’”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. inal interior art. First PC printing March 1956 [HRN 131, 15¢]; sub-
Blum. First LDC A1 printing June 1949 [HRN 62, 48 pages, 10¢]; sequent PC printings May 1957 [HRN 138], September 1958 [HRN
subsequent LDC A1 printings August-September 1949 [HRN 62], 146], September 1960 [HRN 158], 1962 [HRN 165], Spring-Summer
July 1951 [HRN 85, 15¢]. First painted cover (horse and red sky) by 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], December 1965 [HRN 167],
Leonard B. Cole, second interior art by Leonard B. Cole, Norman October 1967 (two variants) [HRN 166], Spring 1969 [HRN 169,
Nodel, and Stephen Addeo; second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; 25¢]. Thirteen printings (three LDC, ten PC). Long John Silver’s
Sewell biography; “The Sacred Pet [cats]”; “Child Labor.” First PC1 Seafood Shoppe promotional painted-cover reissue; one printing
A2 printing Fall 1960 [HRN 158, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 A2 1989.
326 APPENDIX A

65. Benjamin Franklin (based on The Autobiography of Benjamin November 1965 [HRN 167], July 1967 [HRN 166], Spring 1969
Franklin, with additional material from other sources). Line-drawing [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Twelve printings (three LDC, nine PC
cover by Henry C. Kiefer; interior art by Iger shop (Robert Hebberd, printings).
Gustav Schrotter, and Alex A. Blum); Pioneers of Science: “Carolus 70. The Pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. Line-drawing cover and
Linnaeus, Father of Botany”; Famous Operas: “Lakme” by Leo De- interior art by Alex A. Blum; Cooper biography; Famous Operas:
libes; Dog Heroes: “‘Howdy Doody’ Saves Family of Four”; “Coming “The Merry Wives of Windsor” by Otto Nicolai [synopsis by Eleanor
Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First and only LDC printing No- Lidofsky]; Dog Heroes: “Tatters, the Gentle Protector”; Pioneers of
vember 1949 [HRN 64, 48 pages, 10¢]. Painted cover unattributed, Science: “Phidias, the World’s Greatest Sculptor”; “Coming Next”
original interior art. First PC printing March 1956 [HRN 131, 15¢]; illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC printing April 1950 [HRN 71, 48
subsequent PC printings January 1960 [HRN 154], February 1964 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings February 1952 [HRN 92,
[HRN 167], April 1966 [HRN 167], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 15¢], March 1955 [HRN 125]. Painted cover by Gerald McCann,
25¢]. Six printings (one LDC, five PC); one Ben Franklin 5-10 Store original interior art; first PC printing May 1960 [HRN 156, 15¢];
promotional giveaway (1956); one Ben Franklin Insurance Company subsequent PC printings February 1964 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN
promotional giveaway (1956). 167]. Six printings (three LDC, three PC).
66. The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade. Line-drawing 71. The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo. Line-drawing cover
cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by Leslie Katz; and first interior art by Alex A. Blum; Hugo biography; Dog Heroes:
Reade biography; Pioneers of Science: “Marchese Guglielmo Mar- “‘Pepper,’ the ‘Heart’ Dog”; Famous Operas: “Der Rosenkavalier
coni, Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy”; Dog Heroes: “The Mongrel (The Rose-Bearer)” by Richard Strauss [synopsis by Eleanor Lidof-
and the Puma”; Famous Operas: “Parsifal” by Richard Wagner; sky]; Pioneers of Science: “Johann Gutenberg, Inventor of Movable
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First and only LDC printing Type Printing”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First and
December 1949 [HRN 67, 48 pages, 10¢]. One printing (no PC edi- only LDC A1 printing May 1950 [HRN 71, 48 pages, 10¢]. Painted
tion). cover and second interior art by Norman Nodel, second adaptation
67. The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter. Line-drawing cover and by Alfred Sundel; Hugo biography; “The Kickapoo Cough Cure”;
interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by John O’Rourke; Porter “Feasts and Fairs”; first PC A2 printing Spring 1962 [HRN 165, 48
biography; Pioneers of Science: “Richard Jordan Gatling, Inventor pages, 15¢]; second PC A2 printing April 1964 [HRN 167]. Three
of the Machine Gun”; Dog Heroes: “Skippy, the Funny Looking printings (one LDC A1, two PC A2).
Dog”; Famous Operas: “Othello” by Giuseppe Verdi; “Coming Next” 72. The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman. Line-drawing cover
illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First LDC printing January 1950 [HRN 67, and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by John O’Rourke;
48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings July 1951 [HRN 85, 15¢], Parkman biography; Famous Operas: “La Boheme” by Giacomo Puc-
April 1954 [HRN 118]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior cini [synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; Pioneers of Science: “Edward
art. First PC printing January 1957 [HRN 136, 15¢]; subsequent PC Livingstone Trudeau, Isolator of the Tuberculosis Germ”; Dog
printings January 1960 [HRN 154], November 1963 [HRN 167], Au- Heroes: “‘Duke,’ the Seeing-Eye Cop”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex
gust 1965 [HRN 167]. Seven printings (three LDC, four PC). A. Blum. First LDC printing June 1950 [HRN 73, 48 pages, 10¢];
68. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Line-drawing cover subsequent LDC printings November 1951 [HRN 89, 15¢], July 1954
and first interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; Shakespeare biography; Pi- [HRN 121]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior art. First
oneers of Science: “Blaise Pascal, the Mathematical Genius”; Dog PC printing March 1956 [HRN 131, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings
Heroes: “Tippy, the Terrier” (different from No. 49); Famous Operas: September 1957 [HRN 140], May 1959 [HRN 150], Fall 1961 [HRN
“Manon” by Jules Massenet [synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; “Coming 164], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], August 1964 [HRN 167],
Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. Originally appeared as newspaper Il- October 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Eleven printings
lustrated Classic, 11 October–1 November 1947. First LDC A1 printing (three LDC, eight PC).
February 1950 [HRN 70, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC A1 print- 73. The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas. Line-drawing cover
ings July 1951 [HRN 85], June 1953 [HRN 108]. Painted cover by and interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch;
Leonard B. Cole, first interior art. First and only PC A1 printing May Dumas biography; Pioneers of Science: “Alfred Bernhard Nobel, In-
1960 [HRN 156, 15¢]. Second interior art by Reed Crandall and ventor of Dynamite”; Dog Heroes: “Tara, the Life Saver”; Famous
George Evans, second adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Shakespeare bi- Operas: “Boris Gudenof ” by Modeste Moussorgsky; “Coming Next”
ography; “The First Roman Emperor [Augustus]”; “Death of a Dic- illo by Alex A. Blum. First and only LDC printing July 1950 [HRN
tator [Mussolini].” First PC A2 printing 1962 [HRN 165, 48 pages, 75, 48 pages, 10¢]. One printing (no PC edition).
15¢]; subsequent PC A2 printings February 1964 [HRN 167], 74. Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat. Line-drawing
October 1965 [HRN 167, inside-front-cover Ballantine Tarzan cover by Alex A. Blum, interior art by Bob Lamme, adaptation by
promo], 1967 [HRN 166], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Kenneth W. Fitch; Marryat biography; Pioneers of Science: “Baron
Nine printings (three LDC A1, one PC A1, five PC A2); one Twin Gottfried Leibnitz, Inventor of the Calculating Machine”; Dog He-
Circle edition. roes: “Trixie, the Tough Shepherd”; Famous Operas: “Faust” by
69. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Line-drawing Charles Gounod; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer. First and
cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; Verne biography; Famous only LDC printing August 1950 [HRN 75, 48 pages, 10¢]. One print-
Operas: “Der Meistersinger” by Richard Wagner [synopsis by Eleanor ing (no PC edition).
Lidofsky]; Dog Heroes: “Smoky, the Quick Thinking Dog”; Pioneers 75. The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott. Line-drawing cover
of Science: “Thomas Wedgwood, Inventor of the Camera”; “Coming and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by George D. Lip-
Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC printing March 1950 [HRN scomb; Scott biography; Famous Operas: “The Flying Dutchman”
70, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings September 1951 [HRN by Richard Wagner [synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; Pioneers of Sci-
87, 15¢], March 1955 [HRN 125]. Painted cover unattributed, original ence: “Pythagoras, Discoverer of the Solar System”; Dog Heroes:
interior art. First PC printing January 1957 [HRN 136, 15¢], Sep- “‘Chubby,’ a Mongrel”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry C. Kiefer.
tember 1958 [HRN 146], September 1959 [HRN 152], Fall 1961 Originally appeared as newspaper Illustrated Classic, 27 December
[HRN 164], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], July 1964 [HRN 167], 1947–17 January 1948. First LDC printing September 1950 [HRN
 APPENDIX A 327

75, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings July 1951 [HRN 85, published between May 1957 and March 1958; the cover’s paper stock
15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118]. Painted cover unattributed, original in- resembles the grade used by Gilberton for reprints in 1957 and early
terior art. First PC printing July 1957 [HRN 139, 15¢]; subsequent 1958.
PC printings January 1960 [HRN 154], 1962 [HRN 165], April 1964 80. White Fang by Jack London. Line-drawing cover and interior
[HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN 167], Spring 1969 [HRN 169, stiff art by Alex A. Blum; adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; London bi-
cover, 25¢]. Nine printings (three LDC, six PC). ography; “History of U.S. Coins: How the phrase ‘In God We Trust’
76. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (Hawkins). Line- came to be on the coins of the United States” (photograph); Famous
drawing cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by Operas: “Die Fledermaus (The Bat)” by Johann Strauss; Pioneers of
Kenneth W. Fitch; Hope biography; Famous Operas: “Pelleas and Science: “Johannes Kepler, Discoverer of the Laws of the Motions
Melisande” by Claude Debussy; Pioneers of Science: “Roald Amund- of Planets”; last CI line-drawing cover; last 10-cent issue; line-drawing
sen, Discoverer of the South Pole”; “Dog Heroes: “‘Lady,’ a Beagle “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC printing February
Hound”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC printing 1951 [HRN 79, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings September
October 1950 [HRN 75, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢], March 1955 [HRN 125]. Painted cover unat-
July 1951 [HRN 85, 15¢], September 1953 [HRN 111]. Painted cover tributed, original interior art. First PC printing May 1956 [HRN
by George Wilson, original interior art. First PC printing September 132, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings September 1957 [HRN 140], No-
1955 [HRN 128, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings September 1959 vember 1959 [HRN 153], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], Sep-
[HRN 152], 1962 [HRN 165], April 1964 [HRN 167], September tember 1964 [HRN 167], July 1965 [HRN 167], June 1967 [HRN
1966 [HRN 167], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Nine print- 166], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eleven printings (three
ings (three LDC, six PC). LDC, eight PC).
77. The Iliad of Homer. Line-drawing cover and interior art by 81. The Odyssey of Homer. First painted cover (Cyclops with boul-
Alex A. Blum; Homer biography; Pioneers of Science: “Samuel Pier- der) by Alex A. Blum; interior art by Harley M. Griffiths (completed
pont Langley, American Astronomer and Physicist”; Famous Operas: in 1947); Homer biography; Justinian, Creator of the Roman Code
“La Gioconda” by Amilcare Ponchielli [synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; of Laws”; Dog Heroes: “Bosco, a ‘Disobedient’ Dog”; Famous
Dog Heroes: “‘Deacon,’ a St. Bernard”; “Coming Next” illo by Henry Operas: “Il Trovatore (The Troubaour)” by Giuseppe Verdi [synopsis
C. Kiefer. First LDC printing November 1950 [HRN 78, 48 pages, by Eleanor Lidofsky]; line-drawing “Coming Next” illo by Lawrence
10¢]; subsequent LDC printings September 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢], July Dresser. First CI painted-cover issue; first 15-cent issue. First PC1
1954 [HRN 121]. Painted cover unattributed, original interior art. printing March 1951 [HRN 82, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 print-
First PC printing July 1957 [HRN 139, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings ings August 1964 [HRN 167], October 1966 [HRN 167]. Second
May 1959 [HRN 150], 1962 [HRN 165], October 1963 [HRN 167], painted cover (Odysseus lashed to mast) by Tony Tallarico, original
July 1964 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. interior art. One PC2 printing Spring 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover,
Ten printings (three LDC, seven PC). 25¢]. Four printings (three PC1, one PC2).
78. Joan of Arc (biography). Line-drawing cover and interior art 82. The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson. First
by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by Samuel Willinsky; Dog Heroes: painted cover (the Master unearthed) by Alex A. Blum, interior art
“Skeeter — a Sleeper”; Pioneers of Science: Friedrich, Baron von by Lawrence Dresser, adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Stevenson
Humboldt, Discovery of the Science of Geography”; Famous Operas: biography; Pioneers of Science: “Gottlieb Daimler, Father of the
“The King’s Henchman” by Deems Taylor [synopsis by Eleanor Lid- Modern Automobile”; Dog Heroes: “Windy”; Famous Operas: “Das
ofsky]; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC printing Rheingold (The Gold of the Rhine) by Richard Wagner; “Coming
December 1950 [HRN 78, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC printings Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing April 1951 [HRN 82,
September 1951 [HRN 87, 15¢], July 1954 [HRN 121]. First painted 48 pages, 15¢]; second PC1 printing August 1964 [HRN 167]. Second
cover ( Joan in armor on horse, bearing standard) unattributed, painted cover (smiling Scotsman) by Siryk, original interior art. One
original interior art. First PC1 printing September 1955 [HRN 128, PC2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢]. Three printings (two
15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings September 1957 [HRN 140], May PC1, one PC2).
1959 [HRN 150], November 1960 [HRN 159], Spring-Summer 1963 83. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling; three stories: Mowgli’s
[HRN 167], December 1963 [HRN 167], June 1965 [HRN 167], June Brothers; The King’s Ankus; Red Dog. First painted cover (confrontation
1967 [HRN 166]. Second painted cover ( Joan and St. Michael) by between wolves and Shere Khan) by Alex A. Blum (vertical tablet
Taylor Oughton, original interior art. First and only PC2 printing with issue number and price replaces open-book device); first interior
Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Twelve printings (three art by Alex A. Blum and William Bossert; Kipling biography;
LDC, eight PC1, one PC2). Pioneers of Science: “Charles Goodyear, the Luckless Inventor of
79. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (movie tie-in). Line- Vulcanized Rubber”; Dog Heroes: “‘Chief ’: A Fire Dog”; Famous
drawing cover and interior art by Alex A. Blum; adaptation by Ken- Operas: “Siegfried” by Richard Wagner [synopsis by Eleanor Lidof-
neth W. Fitch; Rostand biography; Famous Operas: “Don Carlos” sky]; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 A1 printing
by Giuseppe Verdi; Dog Heroes: “‘Foxy,’ Hero of the Underground”; May 1951 [HRN 85, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 A1 printings
Pioneers of Science: “Friedrich Froebel, Father of the Modern August 1953 [HRN 110], March 1955 [HRN 125], September 1956
Kindergarten”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First LDC [HRN 134], January 1958 [HRN 142], May 1959 [HRN 150], No-
printing January 1951 [HRN 78, 48 pages, 10¢]; subsequent LDC vember 1960 [HRN 159], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], March
printings July 1951 [HRN 85, 15¢], April 1954 [HRN 118]. Painted 1965 [HRN 167], November 1965 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN
cover unattributed, original interior art. First PC printing 1957 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (close-up of Shere Khan on right, Mowgli
133, 15¢, see following note]; subsequent PC printings May 1960 running on left) and second interior art by Norman Nodel, same
[HRN 156], August 1964 [HRN 167]. Six printings (three LDC, script as original edition; white cobra in The King’s Ankus mistakenly
three PC). Note: Although the first painted-cover edition’s HRN is colored green. First and only PC2 A2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, 48
133, which would suggest a 1956 publication date, the column ar- pages, stiff cover, 25¢]. Twelve printings (eleven PC1 A1, one PC2 A2).
rangement, in which the first three vertical rows end with Nos. 32, 84. The Gold Bug and Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. (Gilberton
76, and 122, corresponds to lists ending in HRNs 138 to 143, manuscript files indicate issue was originally to be titled 3 Adventure
328 APPENDIX A

Thrillers; two other scripts —“The Masque of the Red Death” and num’s Buffalo Hunt”; Famous Operas: “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang
“The Black Cat”— were prepared but rejected as “too horrific.”) Amadeus Mozart [synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; “Coming Next”
Painted cover by Alex A. Blum; three stories, adaptations by John illo by Alex A. Blum. One PC1 printing December 1951 [HRN 89,
O’Rourke: The Gold Bug, art by Alex A. Blum; The Tell-Tale Heart, 48 pages, 15¢]. Second painted cover (native with bow-and-arrow)
art by Jim Wilcox; The Cask of Amontillado, art by Rudolph Palais; by Leonard B. Cole, original interior art; first PC2 printing January
Poe biography; Famous Operas: “Martha” by Friedrich Von Flotow 1959 [HRN 148]; subsequent PC2 printings 1962 [HRN 165], April
[synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; Great Lives: “Clara Barton, Founder 1964 [HRN 167], September 1966 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN
of the American Red Cross”; Pioneers of Science: “Elias Howe, In- 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Six printings (one PC1, five PC2).
ventor of the Sewing Machine”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. 91. The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Painted cover by Alex
First PC printing June 1951 [HRN 85, 48 pages, 15¢]; second printing A. Blum; interior art by Maurice del Bourgo; adaptation by Kenneth
July 1964 [HRN 167]. Two printings. W. Fitch; London biography; “The Universal Declaration of Human
85. The Sea Wolf by Jack London. Painted cover (image reversed Rights”; Stories of Early America: “Clippers to the West”; “Coming
from original cover painting) and interior art by Alex A. Blum, adap- Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing January 1952 [HRN
tation by John O’Rourke; London biography; Pioneers of Science: 92, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings October 1953 [HRN 112], March
Nicholas Copernicus, Key Man in the Study of the Solar System”; 1955 [HRN 125], September 1956 [HRN 134], March 1958 [HRN
Famous Operas: “The Tales of Hoffman” by Jacques Offenbach [syn- 143], 1962 [HRN 165], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], April 1965
opsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; Dog Heroes: “Pistol Head”; “Coming [HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 167], November 1967 [HRN 166],
Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing July 1951 [HRN 85, Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eleven printings.
48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings July 1954 [HRN 121], May 92. The Courtship of Miles Standish and Evangeline by Henry
1956 [HRN 132], November 1957 [HRN 141], March 1961 [HRN Wadsworth Longfellow. Painted cover and interior art by Alex A.
161], February 1964 [HRN 167], November 1965 [HRN 167], Fall Blum; Longfellow biography; “The Jersey Tea Party” by Wendell
1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings. Smith; American Indians: “The Apache”; Pioneers of Science: “Cyrus
86. Under Two Flags by Ouida (Marie Louise de la Ramee). McCormick, Inventor of the Reaper”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex
Painted cover by Alex A. Blum (open-book device restored); interior A. Blum. The Courtship of Miles Standish originally appeared as news-
art by Maurice del Bourgo; adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Ouida paper Illustrated Classic, 21 March 1948. First PC printing February
biography; Pioneers of Science: “Edward Jenner, Discoverer of Small 1952 [HRN 92, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings Spring-
Pox Vaccination”; Dog Heroes: “‘Brownie’: Just a Faithful Dog”; Fa- Summer 1962 [HRN 165], March 1964 [HRN 167], May 1967 [HRN
mous Operas: “Iolanthe” by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan; “Com- 166], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
ing Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing August 1951 [HRN 93. Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens). First
87, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings March 1954 [HRN 117], painted cover (Roxy and Tom in foreground, Chambers in back-
July 1957 [HRN 139], September 1960 [HRN 158], February 1964 ground) and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer; Twain biography; Stories
[HRN 167], August 1966 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff from the World of Sports: “With an Assist from Mother Nature”;
cover, 25¢]. Seven printings. Stories of Early America: “The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga”; Amer-
87. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Painted ican Presidents: “An Incident in the Life of George Washington”;
cover and interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by Samuel Will- “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. One PC1 printing March 1952
insky; Shakespeare biography; Pioneers of Science: “Robert Wilhelm [HRN 94, 48 pages, 15¢]. Second painted cover ( Judge Driscoll,
Bunsen, Inventor of the Bunsen Burner”; Dog Heroes: “The ‘M’ foreground, in duel) by Gerald McCann, original interior art. First
Dogs of the U.S. Army”; “The World of Books,” quotation from The PC2 printing Spring 1962 [HRN 165]; subsequent PC2 printings
Story of the Yale University Press Told by a Friend by Clarence Day; March 1964 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Four printings (one
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing September PC1, three PC2).
1951 [HRN 87, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings March 1961 94. David Balfour (American title of Catriona, a sequel to Kid-
[HRN 161], April 1964 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN 167], Summer napped) by Robert Louis Stevenson. Painted cover unattributed; in-
1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings. terior art by Rudolph Palais; Stevenson biography; “Stories from the
88. Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. Painted cover by Alex A. Blum, World of Sports: ‘Babe’ Ruth’s Great Moment”; “Bonnie Prince Char-
interior art by Lawrence Dresser, Gustav Schrotter, and Harry lie: The Rebellion of ’45”; Stories of Early America: “John Sutter
Daugherty; adaptation by John O’Rourke; Pyle biography; “Court- and the Gold Rush”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC
ship in Miniature”; Dog Heroes: “Just a Wandering Dog”; Pioneers printing April 1952 [HRN 94, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC
of Science: “Euclid, Father of Geometry”; “Coming Next” photo- printings May 1964 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Three print-
graphic illo. First PC printing October 1951 [HRN 89, 48 pages, ings.
15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1960 [HRN 154], January 95. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
1964 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Four printings. Painted cover unattributed, interior art by Maurice del Bourgo, adap-
89. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Interior art by tation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Remarque biography; Stories of Early
Rudolph Palais; Dostoevsky biography; “So Proudly We Hailed...” America: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”; Stories from the
[Star-Spangled Banner], art by Maurice del Bourgo; Famous Operas: World of Sports: “The Dean Brothers”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex
“Mignon” by Ambroise Thomas [synopsis by Eleanor Lidofsky]; A. Blum. First PC printing May 1952 (two variants) [HRN 96, 99,
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing November 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings October 1964 [HRN 167],
1951 [HRN 89, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings September November 1966 [HRN 167]. Three printings.
1959 [HRN 152], April 1964 [HRN 167], May 1966 [HRN 167], Fall 96. Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness by John Bakeless. First
1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings. painted cover (Boone with rifle) unattributed, interior art by Alex A.
90. Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson. First painted Blum, adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Bakeless biography (Alex A.
cover (native with blow-dart) and interior art by Alex A. Blum, adap- Blum); Stories from the World of Sports: “Old Pete’s Greatest Mo-
tation by George D. Lipscomb; Hudson biography; Pioneers of Sci- ment” [Grover Cleveland Alexander] (Alex A. Blum); American Pres-
ence: “Sir Richard Arkwright, Father of the Modern Factory”; “Bar- idents: “How Abraham Lincoln Gained National Prominence” (Alex
 APPENDIX A 329

A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing biography (Alex A. Blum); “Jean LaFitte and the Battle of New Or-
June 1952 [HRN 97, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings March leans” (Henry C. Kiefer); Great Lives: “Henry Bergh, Founder of the
1954 [HRN 117], September 1955 [HRN 128], May 1956 [HRN 132], A.S.P.C.A.” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum.
September 1956 [HRN 134], September 1960 [HRN 158], January First PC printing November 1952 [HRN 101, 48 pages, 15¢]; subse-
1964 [HRN 167], May 1965 [HRN 167], November 1966 [HRN quent PC printings April 1954 [HRN 118], November 1957 [HRN
167]. Second painted cover (Boone close-up) by Tony Tallarico, orig- 141], September 1960 [HRN 158], Spring 1963 [HRN 167],
inal interior art. One PC2 printing Winter 1969 [HRN 166, stiff November 1964 [HRN 167], April 1967 [HRN 166], Winter 1969
cover, 25¢]. Ten printings (nine PC1, one PC2). [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings.
97. King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. Painted cover 102. The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Painted
and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; cover unattributed, interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by Ken-
Rider Haggard biography; Great Lives: “Samuel Gompers”; Stories neth W. Fitch; Conan Doyle biography ; “How Much Land Does a
of Early America: “Wings of Salvation”; Stories from the World of Man Need?” (Russian folk tale); Great Lives: “Nathan Hale”;
Sports: “The ‘Iron Horse’ of Baseball”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing December
A. Blum. First PC printing July 1952 [HRN 96, 48 pages, 15¢]; sub- 1952 [HRN 101, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings Spring-
sequent PC printings April 1954 [HRN 118], March 1956 [HRN 131], Summer 1962 [HRN 165], April 1964 [HRN 167]. Three printings.
November 1957 [HRN 141], September 1960 [HRN 158], February 103. Men Against the Sea by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
1964 [HRN 167], September 1965 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN Hall. First painted cover (Bligh shaking fist at Bounty) by Henry C.
169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings. Kiefer, interior art by Rudolph Palais, adaptation by Kenneth W.
98. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. First painted Fitch; Nordhoff and Hall biographies (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early
cover (Fleming fleeing battle) unattributed, art by Gustav Schrotter America: “The Panama Canal [Colonel George Washington Goe-
(originally scheduled for publication in Famous Authors Illustrated); thals]” (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: “The Great Houdini” (Alex A.
Crane biography; 15-page illustrated filler story: An Outline History Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing Jan-
of the Civil War; art by Maurice del Bourgo; Stories of Early America: uary 1953 [HRN 104, 48 pages, 15¢]; second PC1 printing December
“Seward’s Folly”; Stories from the World of Sports: “The Wild Horse 1953 [HRN 114]. Second painted cover (crew member seizing bird)
of the Osage”; Great Lives: “George Jones, the Crusading Publisher”; unattributed, original interior art; first PC2 printing March 1956
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing August 1952 [HRN 131, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC2 printings September 1960
[HRN 98, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings April 1954 [HRN [HRN 158], Summer-Fall 1961 [anomalous white-background HRN
118], May 1956 [HRN 132], January 1958 [HRN 142], September 149], March 1964 [HRN 167]. Six printings (two PC1, four PC2).
1959 [HRN 152], March 1961 [HRN 161], Spring 1963 [HRN 167], 104. Bring ’Em Back Alive by Frank Buck [with Edward Anthony].
September 1964 [HRN 167], October 1965 [HRN 167]. Second Painted cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer, adaptation by
painted cover (Fleming with flag) by Taylor Oughton, original Kenneth W. Fitch; Buck biography (Henry C. Kiefer); Great Lives:
interior art. One PC2 printing 1968 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢]. “Mathew Brady, Photographer of the Civil War” (Alex A. Blum);
Ten printings (nine PC1, one PC2). American Presidents: “An Incident in the Life of Ulysses S. Grant”
99. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. First painted cover (Hamlet (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “A Volcano Changes the
and Father’s Ghost) and interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by Course of History (Alex A. Blum)”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A.
Samuel Willinsky; Shakespeare biography (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Blum. First PC printing February 1953 [HRN 105, 48 pages, 15¢];
Early America: “Remember the Alamo!” (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: subsequent PC printings April 1954 [HRN 118], July 1956 [HRN
“Damon and Pythias”; (Alex A. Blum) Stories from the World of 133], May 1959 [HRN 150], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], October 1963
Sports: “Christy Mathewson’s Great Series” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming [HRN 167], September 1965 [HRN 167], Winter 1969 [HRN 169,
Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing September 1952 [HRN stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings.
98, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings July 1954 [HRN 121], 105. From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne. Painted cover and
November 1957 [HRN 141], September 1960 [HRN 158], Spring interior art by Alex A. Blum; Verne biography (Alex A. Blum); Amer-
1963 [HRN 167], April 1965 [HRN 167], April 1967 [HRN 166]. ican Presidents: “An Incident in the Life of Andrew Johnson” (Alex
Second painted cover (Ophelia in foreground) by Edward Moritz, A. Blum); Great Lives: “Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth”
original interior art. One PC2 printing Spring 1969 [HRN 169, stiff (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “The Oklahoma Land
cover, 25¢]. Eight printings (seven PC1, one PC2). Run” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First
100. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman PC printing March 1953 [HRN 106, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC
Hall. Painted cover by Henry C. Kiefer, interior art by Morris printings April 1954 [HRN 118], May 1956 [HRN 132], November
Waldinger, adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Nordhoff and Hall bi- 1957 [HRN 141], September 1958 [HRN 146], May 1960 [HRN 156],
ographies (Alex A. Blum); American Presidents: “An Incident in the Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], May 1964 [HRN 167], May 1965
Life of Franklin D. Roosevelt” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early Amer- [HRN 167], October 1967 (two variants, one with inserted Grit ad)
ica: “Duel of Honor [Philip Hamilton and George Eaker]” (Alex A. [HRN 166], Summer 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢], Spring 1971
Blum); Stories from the World of Sports: “Knute Rockne” (Alex A. [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Twelve printings.
Blum); Note from the Publishers marking 100th title (inside front 106. Buffalo Bill (possibly based on An Autobiography of Buffalo
cover); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing Oc- Bill by Colonel William F. Cody). Painted cover by Mort Künstler,
tober 1952 [HRN 100, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings interior art by Maurice del Bourgo; Bad Men of the West: “William
March 1954 [HRN 117], May 1956 [HRN 132], January 1958 [HRN Quantrill” (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: “Henry Clay, the Great Com-
142], March 1960 [HRN 155], Spring 1963 [HRN 167], July 1964 promiser” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “Wreck Ashore!”
[HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 167], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC print-
cover, 25¢]. Nine printings. ing April 1953 [HRN 107, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings
101. William Tell by Frederick Schiller ( Johann Christoph April 1954 [HRN 118], May 1956 [HRN 132], January 1958 [HRN
Friedrich von Schiller). Painted cover by Henry C. Kiefer, interior 142], March 1961 [HRN 161], March 1964 [HRN 167], July 1967
art by Maurice del Bourgo, adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Schiller [HRN 166], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings.
330 APPENDIX A

107. King — of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy. Painted cover cover unattributed, interior art by Maurice del Bourgo; Dumas bi-
by Mort Künstler, interior art by Seymour Moskowitz, adaptation ography (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: “Jeb Stuart” (Alex A. Blum);
by Kenneth W. Fitch; Mundy biography (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: Stories of Early America: “The Seminole War” (Alex A. Blum);
“Balboa, Discoverer of the Pacific Ocean” (Alex. A. Blum); Stories “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum; first PC printing November
from the World of Sports: “The Miracle of 1951” (Alex A. Blum); 1953 [HRN 114 (introduction of Don Quixote reorder-list icon), 48
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing May 1953 pages, 15¢]; second PC printing July 1967 [HRN 166]. Two print-
[HRN 108, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings April 1954 [HRN ings.
118], September 1958 [HRN 146], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], Spring- 114. The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper. Painted cover by
Summer 1963 [HRN 167], October 1966 [HRN 167]. Six printings. Jo Polseno, interior art by Peter Costanza; Cooper biography (Alex
108. Knights of the Round Table (based on by Sidney Lanier’s The A. Blum); Great Lives: “Frederick Remington, Illustrator of the Old
Boy’s King Arthur or Howard Pyle’s Arthurian books, in turn based West” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “The Prospector’s
on Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur). Painted cover by Mort Decision: The Settlement of Alaska” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next”
Künstler, interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by John Cooney; illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing December 1953 [HRN 115,
Stories of Early America: “The Lost Colony [Sir Walter Raleigh]” 48 pages, 15¢]; second PC printing July 1967 [HRN 166]. Two print-
(Alex A. Blum); Our American Heritage: “The Liberty Bell” (Alex ings.
A. Blum); Stories from the World of Sports: “Baseball Comes Back” 115. How I Found Livingstone by Henry Morton Stanley. Painted
[1920 World Series] (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. cover unattributed, interior art by Salvatore A. (“Sal”) Trapani and
Blum. First PC printing June 1953 (two variants) [HRN 108 or 109, Sal Finocchiaro; Stanley biography (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives:
48 pages, 15¢], March 1954 [HRN 117], Spring-Summer 1962 [HRN “Clara Barton, Schools for All” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early
165], April 1964 [HRN 167], April 1967 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 America: “Reindeer to the Rescue” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next”
[HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Six printings. illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing January 1954 [HRN 116, 48
109. Pitcairn’s Island by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman pages, 15¢]; second PC printing January 1967 [HRN 167]. Two print-
Hall. Painted cover by Mort Künstler, interior art by Rudolph Palais, ings.
adaptation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Nordhoff and Hall biographies 116. The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson; two stories from
(Alex A. Blum); American Presidents: “The Humor of Abraham Lin- Island Nights’ Entertainments: The Bottle Imp, adaptation by Richard
coln” (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: “Johnny Appleseed” (Alex A. E. Davis; The Beach of Falesa, adaptation by Harry G. Miller (Harry
Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing July Glickman). Painted cover unattributed, interior art by Lou Cameron;
1953 [HRN 110 (introduction of Huckleberry Finn reorder-list icon), Stevenson biography (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: “Sam Houston,
48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings Spring-Summer 1962 [HRN ‘The Raven’” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “The Con-
165], March 1964 [HRN 167], June 1967 [HRN 166]. Four print- quest of the Colorado” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex
ings. A. Blum. First PC printing February 1954 [HRN 117, 48 pages, 15¢];
110. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Painted cover second PC printing January 1967 [HRN 167]. Two printings.
by Mort Künstler; two stories: A Study in Scarlet and The Adventure 117. Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling. Painted cover un-
of the Speckled Band, art by Seymour Moskowitz, adaptations by Ken- attributed, interior art by Peter Costanza, adaptation by Ira Zweifach;
neth W. Fitch; Conan Doyle biography; Our American Heritage: Kipling biography (Alex A. Blum); “Ghosts of the Sea” (Alex A.
“The Story of ‘Yankee Doodle’” (Alex A. Blum); Stories from the Blum); Stories of Early America: “Return with Valor” (Alex A. Blum);
World of Sports: “Short and Rough: The Dempsey-Firpo Fight” “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing March 1954
(Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC print- [HRN 118, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings February 1967
ing August 1953 [HRN 111, 48 pages, 15¢]; second PC printing [HRN 167], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Three print-
Spring-Summer 1962 [HRN 165]. Two printings. ings.
111. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Painted cover by Mort Kün- 118. Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott. Painted cover unattributed, in-
stler, interior art by Henry C. Kiefer (last Kiefer art in series), adap- terior art by Rudolph Palais and Walter Palais, adaptation by Harry
tation by Kenneth W. Fitch; Scott biography; Stories of Early G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Scott biography; “Hero of the Highlands
America: “Discovery of the Yellowstone” (Alex A. Blum); Great Lives: [Rob Roy]” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “Winning the
“Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders” (Alex A. Blum); “Com- Northwest Territory” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex
ing Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing September 1953 A. Blum. First PC printing April 1954 [HRN 119, 48 pages, 15¢];
[HRN 112, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings Spring-Summer second PC printing February 1967 [HRN 167]. Two printings.
1962 [HRN 165], May 1964 [HRN 167], Fall 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. 119. Soldiers of Fortune by Richard Harding Davis. Painted cover
Four printings. unattributed, interior art by Kurt Schaffenberger, adaptation by Harry
112. The Adventures of Kit Carson (biography). First painted cover G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Davis biography; Great Lives: “Law-
(Carson and Indian on horseback) by Mort Künstler, interior art by rence of Arabia” (Alex A. Blum); Stories of Early America: “The Sink-
Rudolph Palais, adaptation by Jerry Coleman [per manuscript]; ing of the Maine” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A.
Stories of Early America: “The Cardiff Giant (Alex A. Blum)”; Stories Blum. First PC printing May 1954 [HRN 120, 48 pages, 15¢]; sub-
from the World of Sports: “Harold ‘Red’ Grange, the Galloping sequent PC printings March 1967 [HRN 166], Spring 1970 [HRN
Ghost” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Three printings.
PC1 printing October 1953 [HRN 113, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent 120. The Hurricane by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.
PC1 printings November 1955 [HRN 129], November 1957 [HRN Painted cover and interior art by Lou Cameron, adaptation by Harry
141], September 1959 [HRN 152], March 1961 [HRN 161], Spring- G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Nordhoff and Hall biographies; “The
Summer 1963 [HRN 167], February 1965 [HRN 167], May 1966 Dreyfus Case”; Stories of Early America: “The Great Fire”; “Coming
[HRN 167]. Second painted cover (Carson leading wagon train) by Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing June 1954 [HRN 121,
Edward Moritz, original interior art. One PC2 printing Winter 1969 48 pages, 15¢]; second PC printing March 1967 [HRN 166]. Two
[HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢]. Nine printings. printings.
113. The Forty-Five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas. Painted 121. Wild Bill Hickok (biography). Painted cover unattributed,
 APPENDIX A 331

interior art by Salvatore A. (“Sal”) Trapani and Medio Iorio, 128. Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Painted cover unattributed,
adaptation by Ira Zweifach; Stories of Early America: “Gallant Retreat interior art by Alex A. Blum (last Blum art in series), adaptation by
[Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces]” (Alex A. Blum); Bad Men of the Lorenz Graham; Shakespeare biography (Alex A. Blum); “The Story
West: “Jesse James”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC of Great Britain, Part 2: The Roman Conquest” (Lou Cameron);
printing July 1954 [HRN 122, 48 pages, 15¢]; last monthly issue; “Banquo’s Descendant [James I]” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next”
subsequent PC printings May 1956 [HRN 132], November 1957 illo (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing September
[HRN 141], January 1960 [HRN 154], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 1955 [HRN 128, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings March
167], August 1964 [HRN 167], April 1967 [HRN 166], Winter 1969 1958 [HRN 143], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN
[HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings. 167], June 1964 [HRN 167], April 1967 [HRN 166], 1968 [HRN
122. The Mutineers by Charles Boardman Hawes. Painted cover 166], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings; one
unattributed, interior art by Peter Costanza, adaptation by Harry G. Twin Circle edition (1968).
Miller (Harry Glickman); Hawes biography (Alex A. Blum); Great 129. Davy Crockett (based on A Narrative of the Life of David
Lives: “John Paul Jones” (Alex A. Blum); “The Barbary Pirates” (Alex Crockett of the State of Tennessee by David Crockett, with additional
A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing material from other sources). Painted cover unattributed, interior art
September 1954 [HRN 123, 48 pages, 15¢]; first bimonthly issue; by Lou Cameron; “The Story of Great Britain, Part 3: Saxon
subsequent PC printings January 1957 [HRN 136], September 1958 England” (Lou Cameron); “James Bowie” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming
[HRN 146], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], November 1963 [HRN 167], Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing November 1955 [HRN
March 1965 [HRN 167], August 1967 [HRN 166]. Seven printings. 129, 48 pages, 15¢]; second PC printing September 1966 [HRN 167].
123. Fang and Claw by Frank Buck. Painted cover unattributed, Two printings.
interior art by Lin Streeter; Buck biography (Alex A. Blum); Great 130. Caesar’s Conquests (based on Commentarii de bello Gallico)
Lives: “Aesop, Teller of Animal Tales” (Alex A. Blum); “The Animal by Julius Caesar. Painted cover unattributed, interior art by Joe Or-
That Never Was: The Unicorn” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo lando and others, adaptation by Annette T. Rubinstein; Caesar bi-
by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing November 1954 [HRN 124, 48 ography (Alex A. Blum); “The Story of Great Britain, Part 4: The
pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings July 1956 [HRN 133], March Norman Conquest” (Lou Cameron); “The Roman Army” (Alex A.
1958 [HRN 143], January 1960 [HRN 154], Spring-Summer 1963 Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing Jan-
[HRN 167], September 1965 [HRN 167]. Six printings. uary 1956 [HRN 130, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings
124. The War of the Worlds by H.G. (Herbert George) Wells. January 1958 [HRN 142], September 1959 [HRN 152], Summer-
Painted cover and interior art by Lou Cameron, adaptation by Harry Fall 1961 [anomalous white background HRN 149], Spring-Summer
G. Miller (Harry Glickman); Wells biography (Alex A. Blum); “Nos- 1963 [HRN 167], October 1964 [HRN 167], April 1966 [HRN 167].
tradamus: Prophet or Impostor?” (Alex A. Blum); “The War That Seven printings.
Never Was [Orson Welles’s 1938 CBS broadcast]” (Alex A. Blum); 131. The Covered Wagon by Emerson Hough. Painted cover unat-
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing January 1955 tributed, interior art by Norman Nodel, adaptation by Annette T.
[HRN 125, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings March 1956 Rubinstein; Hough biography (Alex A. Blum); “The Story of Great
[HRN 131], November 1957 [HRN 141], January 1959 [HRN 148], Britain, Part 5: The Middle Ages” (Lou Cameron); “Jim Bridger”
May 1960 [HRN 156], 1962 [HRN 165], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC print-
167], November 1964 [HRN 167], November 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 ing March 1956 [HRN 131 (introduction of Caesar’s Conquests
[HRN 166], Summer 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eleven print- reorder-list icon), 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings March
ings. 1958 [HRN 143], September 1959 [HRN 152], Fall 1960 [HRN 158],
125. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Painted Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], November 1964 [HRN 167], April
cover unattributed, interior art by Norman Nodel (first Nodel art in 1966 [HRN 167], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight
series), adaptation by Lorenz Graham; Clark biography (Alex A. printings.
Blum); “The Colorado Gold Rush: ‘Pike’s Peak of Bust’” (Alex A. 132. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes. Painted cover
Blum); “Trial by Terror [William Lynch]” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming unattributed, interior art by Robert H. Webb and Ed Waldman,
Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing March 1955 [no HRN, adaptation by Annette T. Rubinstein; Hawes biography (Alex A.
back-cover “Picture Progress” ad, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC Blum); “The Story of Great Britain, Part 6: The Tudor Kings” (Lou
printings March 1958 [HRN 143], September 1959 [HRN 152], Cameron); “The Battle of Trafalgar” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next”
Summer-Fall 1961 [anomalous white-background HRN 149], Spring- illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing May 1956 [HRN 132, 48
Fall 1963 [HRN 167], November 1964 [HRN 167], April 1967 [HRN pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings May 1959 [HRN 150], January
166], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings. 1964 [HRN 167], May 1967 [HRN 166]. Four printings.
126. The Downfall by Emile Zola. Painted cover and interior art 133. The Time Machine by H.G. (Herbert George) Wells. Painted
by Lou Cameron; Zola biography; “Napoleon’s Return” (Alex A. cover by George Wilson, interior art by Lou Cameron, adaptation
Blum); “The Last Lesson” by Alphonse Daudet (Alex A. Blum); by Lorenz Graham; Wells biography (Alex A. Blum); “The Story of
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing May 1955 Great Britain, Part 7: The Elizabethan Age” (Lou Cameron); “Charles
[no HRN, back-cover “Picture Progress” ad, 48 pages, 15¢]; subse- Darwin” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex
quent printings August 1964 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. A. Blum. First PC printing July 1956 [HRN 132, 48 pages, 15¢]; sub-
Three printings. sequent PC printings January 1958 [HRN 142], September 1959
127. The King of the Mountains by Edmond About. Painted cover [HRN 152], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167],
unattributed, interior art by Norman Nodel; About biography (Alex June 1964 [HRN 167], March 1966 [HRN 167], December 1967
A. Blum); “The Story of Great Britain, Part 1: The Celtic Invasion” [HRN 166], Winter 1971 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Nine printings.
(Lou Cameron); “The Death of Socrates” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming 134. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. First painted cover
Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing July 1955 [HRN 128, (Romeo-Tybalt duel) unattributed, interior art by George Evans;
48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings June 1964 [HRN 167], Fall Shakespeare biography (Alex A. Blum); “The Story of Great Britain,
1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Three printings. Part 8: The Puritan Revolution” (Lou Cameron); “A Penny a Play
332 APPENDIX A

[Elizabethan Theatre]” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo (cover 1959 [HRN 152], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], July 1967 [HRN
variant) by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing September 1956 [HRN 166]. Four printings.
134, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings March 1961 [HRN 142. Abraham Lincoln (biography based on Abraham Lincoln by
161], September 1963 [HRN 167], May 1965 [HRN 167], June 1967 Benjamin P. Thomas [per 12 June 1957 letter to Roberta Strauss from
[HRN 166]. Second painted cover (balcony scene) by Edward Moritz, Professor James Shenton, Department of History, Columbia Uni-
original interior art. One PC2 printing Winter 1969 [HRN 166, stiff versity]). Painted cover by Gerald McCann (original painting contains
cover, 25¢]. Six printings (five PC1, one PC2). added layer of painted foreground “grass”), interior art by Norman
135. Waterloo by Erckmann-Chatrain (Emile Erckmann and Nodel; “Soldier, Lawyer and Justice [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.]”;
Louis-Alexandre Chatrain). Painted cover by Alex A. Blum, interior “Conspiracy [Lewis Paine and David Herold]”; “Coming Next” illo
art by Graham Ingels; Erckmann-Chatrain biographies (Alex A. (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing January 1958
Blum); “The Story of Great Britain, Part 9: The Restoration” (Lou [HRN 142, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1960
Cameron); “Retreat from Moscow” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” [HRN 154], Fall 1960 [HRN 158], October 1963 [HRN 167], July
illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing November 1956 [HRN 135, 1965 [HRN 167], November 1967 [HRN 166], Fall 1969 [HRN 169,
48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings November 1959 [HRN 153], stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings.
Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], September 1964 [HRN 167], 1968 143. Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Painted cover unattributed, interior
[HRN 166, 25¢]. Five printings. art by Joe Orlando; Kipling biography; “Buddha”; “The Abominable
136. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. Painted cover unattributed, in- Snowman”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing
terior art by George Evans; Conrad biography (Alex A. Blum); “The March 1958 [HRN 143, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings
Story of Great Britain, Part 10: The Age of Revolution” (Lou 1962 [HRN 165], November 1963 [HRN 167], August 1965 [HRN
Cameron); Great Lives: “Albert Schweitzer” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming 167], Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing January 1957 [HRN 144. The First Men in the Moon by H.G. (Herbert George) Wells.
136, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings 1962 [HRN 165], March First painted cover (sphere and lunar surface) by Gerald McCann;
1964 [HRN 167], September 1966 [HRN 167], Summer 1969 [HRN interior art by George Woodbridge, Al Williamson, Angelo Torres,
169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings. and Roy Krenkel; Wells biography; “The Mysterious Moon [lunar
137. The Little Savage by Frederick Marryat. Painted cover unat- folklore]”; “Celestial Streaks [comets]”; “Coming Next” illo (for The
tributed, interior art by George Evans; Marryat biography (Alex A. Buccaneer) by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing May 1958 [HRN
Blum); “The Story of Great Britain, Part 11: The Victorian Era” (Lou 143, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings September 1959 [HRN
Cameron); “High Diving Birds” (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” 152], November 1959 [HRN 153], March 1961 [HRN 161], Spring-
illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing March 1957 [HRN 136, 48 Summer 1963 [HRN 167], December 1965 [HRN 167]. Second
pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1959 [HRN 148], May painted cover (captives and Selenites) by Taylor Oughton, original
1956 [HRN 156], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], October 1964 interior art. First PC2 printing Fall 1968 [HRN 166, stiff cover, 25¢];
[HRN 167], August 1967 [HRN 166], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff second PC2 printing Winter 1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Eight print-
cover, 25¢]. Seven printings. ings (six PC1, two PC2).
138. A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Painted 145. The Crisis by Winston Churchill. Painted cover by Norman
cover by Norman B. Saunders, interior art by Norman Nodel; Verne B. Saunders, interior art by George Evans; “Attack at Harpers Ferry”;
biography (Alex A. Blum); “The Story of Great Britain, Part 12: Great Churchill biography; “Coming Next” illo unattributed. First PC
Britain Today” (Lou Cameron); “Cave Exploring [spelunking]” (no printing July 1958 [HRN 143, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC
illo); “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. First PC printings May 1960 [HRN 156], October 1963 [HRN 167], March
printing May 1957 [HRN 136, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC print- 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
ings September 1958 [HRN 146], May 1960 [HRN 156], Fall 1960 146. With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Painted cover
[HRN 158], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], June 1964 [HRN unattributed, interior art by George Woodbridge, adaptation by Betty
167], April 1966 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Eight printings. Jacobson; Sienkiewicz biography; “Two Polish Masters [Chopin and
139. In the Reign of Terror by G.A. (George Alfred) Henty. Painted Paderewski]”; “The Cossack Revolution”; “Coming Next” illo (cover
cover unattributed, interior art by George Evans; Henty biography variant) by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing September 1958 [HRN
(Alex A. Blum); “The Revolutionist [Maximilien Robespierre]” (Alex 143, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings May 1960 [HRN 156],
A. Blum); “Fight for Freedom [Greek War of Independence]” (Alex November 1963 [HRN 167], March 1965 [HRN 167]. Four print-
A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing ings.
July 1957 [HRN 139, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 147. Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace. First painted cover (chariot race,
1960 [HRN 154], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], July 1964 [HRN full figure) by Gerald McCann, interior art by Joe Orlando, adap-
167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Five printings. tation by Betty Jacobson; Wallace biography; “Fame or Death
140. On Jungle Trails by Frank Buck [with Ferrin Fraser]. Painted [Roman gladiators]”; “Emperor of Rome [Nero]”; “Coming Next”
cover by George Wilson, interior art by Norman Nodel; Buck biog- illo by Norman B. Saunders. First PC1 printing November 1958
raphy (Alex A. Blum); “The Wreck of the Essex” (Alex A. Blum); [HRN 147, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings September 1959
“Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. First PC [HRN 152], November 1959 [HRN 153], Fall 1960 [HRN 158],
printing September 1957 [HRN 140, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], February 1965 [HRN 167], Sep-
printings May 1959 [HRN 150], January 1961 [HRN 160], September tember 1966 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (chariot race, close-
1963 [HRN 167], September 1965 [HRN 167]. Five printings. up) by Taylor Oughton, original interior art; one PC2 printing Fall
141. Castle Dangerous by Sir Walter Scott. Painted cover unattrib- 1968 [HRN 166, soft- and stiff-cover variants, 25¢]. Eight printings
uted, interior art by Stan Campbell; Scott biography (Alex A. Blum); (seven PC1, one PC2).
“The Rebellious Scots [William Wallace, Robert Bruce, and Lord 148. The Buccaneer (movie tie-in, based on Paramount screenplay
James Douglas]” (Alex A. Blum); “Elves and Urisks” (Alex A. Blum); # 11527 by Jessie L. Lasky, Jr., and Berenice Mosk; the 1958 film was
“Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC printing November a remake of a 1938 Cecil B. DeMille motion picture based on Lyle
1957 [HRN 141, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings September Saxon’s Lafitte the Pirate, as adapted by Jeanie Macpherson). Painted
 APPENDIX A 333

cover by Norman B. Saunders, interior art by George Evans and cover by Gerald McCann, interior art by Norman Nodel; adaptation
Robert L. Jenney; “Blood and Plunder [Henry Morgan and William by Alfred Sundel; Henty biography; “Sweden on the Delaware [Peter
Kidd]”; “Sunken Treasure”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. Minuit]”; “A Storm of Stones [development of cannon]”; “Coming
First PC printing January 1959 (originally scheduled for release as Next” illo by Bruno Premiani. First PC printing March 1960 [HRN
No. 145) [HRN 148, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings October 155, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent printings January 1964 [HRN 167],
1960 [CI JR HRN 568, the only instance in which a Junior back- Fall 1967 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Three printings.
cover list was substituted in place of a regular CI HRN], Spring- 156. The Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Painted
Summer 1963 [HRN 167], September 1965 [HRN 167], Summer cover and interior art by Bruno Premiani, adaptation by Alfred
1969 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings. Sundel; Diaz biography; “Prophecy of Doom [return of Quetzal-
149. Off On a Comet by Jules Verne. First painted cover (man grip- coatl]”; “The Old World [16th-century Europe]”; “Coming Next”
ping rocky surface, black background) unattributed, interior art by illo by Norman Nodel. First PC printing May 1960 [HRN 156, 48
Gerald McCann; Verne biography; “The Dwarf and the Giant [Mer- pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1964 [HRN 167],
cury and Jupiter]”; “Heavenly Heroes [Callisto, Orion, Pleiades, Ari- August 1967 [HRN 166], Spring 1970 [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢].
adne]”; “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. First PC1 printing 157. Lives of the Hunted by Ernest Thompson Seton. Painted cover
March 1959 [HRN 149, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC1 printings by Leonard B. Cole, interior art by Norman Nodel, adaptation by
March 1960 [HRN 155], Summer-Fall 1961 [anomalous white- Alfred Sundel; Seton biography; “The Secret of the Cave [prehistoric
background HRN 149], December 1963 [HRN 167], February 1965 paintings]”; “Escape to Freedom [slave narrative]”; “Coming Next”
[HRN 167], October 1966 [HRN 167]. Second painted cover (char- illo by Gerald McCann. First PC printing July 1960 [HRN 156, 48
acters in balloon, yellow background) by Edward Moritz, original pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings February 1964 [HRN 167], Oc-
interior art. One PC2 printing Fall 1968 [HRN 166, soft cover, 25¢]. tober 1967 [HRN 166]. Three printings.
Seven printings (six PC1, one PC2). 158. The Conspirators (alternate English title for Le Chevalier
150. The Virginian by Owen Wister. Painted cover by Doug Roea, d’Harmenthal) by Alexandre Dumas. Painted cover and interior art
interior art by Norman Nodel; Wister biography; “T.R. and the by Gerald McCann, adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Dumas biography;
Thieves”; “The Capture of Geronimo”; “Coming Next” illo unat- “The Grand Monarch [Louis XIV]”; “The Fortress at Eagle’s Nest
tributed. First PC printing May 1959 [HRN 150, 48 pages, 15¢]; [The Old Man of the Mountains and the Assassins]”; “Coming Next”
subsequent PC printings Fall 1961 [HRN 164], October 1963 [HRN illo (cover variant showing additional rider) by Leonard B. Cole. First
167], December 1965 [HRN 167]. Four printings. PC printing September 1960 [HRN 156, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent
151. Won by the Sword by G.A. (George Alfred) Henty. Painted PC printings July 1964 [HRN 167], October 1967 [HRN 166]. Three
cover unattributed, interior art by John Tartaglione; Henty biog- printings.
raphy; “Wallenstein”; “The Thirty Years’ War”; “Coming Next” illo 159. The Octopus by Frank Norris. Painted cover by Leonard B.
by Leonard B. Cole. First PC printing July 1959 [HRN 150, 48 pages, Cole, interior art by Gray Morrow, adaptation by Alfred Sundel;
15¢]; subsequent PC printings Fall 1961 [HRN 164], October 1963 Norris biography; “An Earthly Paradise [early history of California]”;
[HRN 167], July 1967 [HRN 166]. Four printings. “Food for the Hungry [United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Ad-
152. Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton. ministration]”; “Coming Next” illo by Gerald McCann. First PC
Painted cover and interior art by Leonard B. Cole; Seton biography; printing November 1960 [HRN 159, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC
“Noah and His Ark”; “Bold Adventurers [Francisco Pizarro]”; “Com- printings February 1964 [HRN 167], Fall 1967 [HRN 166, 25¢].
ing Next” illo by Geoffrey Biggs. First PC printing September 1959 Three printings.
[HRN 152 (introduction of Off on a Comet reorder-list icon), 48 160. The Food of the Gods by H.G. (Herbert George) Wells. Painted
pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings Summer-Fall 1961 (three cover by Gerald McCann, interior art by Tony Tallarico, adaptation
variants) [anomalous white-background HRN 149], September 1963 by Alfred Sundel; Wells biography; “Garden of Miracles [Brookhaven
[HRN 167], August 1965 [HRN 167], Fall 1969 [HRN 169, stiff National Laboratories]”; “The War Against Machines [early Industrial
cover, 25¢]. Five printings. Revolution mob violence]”; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by
153. The Invisible Man by H.G. (Herbert George) Wells. Painted Jack Kirby. First PC printing January 1960 (two variants) [HRN 159
cover by Geoffrey Biggs, interior art by Norman Nodel, adaptation or 160, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1964 [HRN
by Alfred Sundel; Wells biography; “The Vanished Race [Etruscans]”; 167], June 1967 [HRN 166]. Three printings.
“The Strange Visitor [Lincoln and the supernatural]”; “Coming 161. Cleopatra by H. Rider Haggard. Painted cover by Poch,
Next” illo by Gerald McCann. First PC printing November 1959 interior art by Norman Nodel, adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Rider
[HRN 153, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings Summer-Fall Haggard biography; “The Roman Power Struggle [Octavius and
1961 (three variants) [anomalous white-background HRN 149], Antony]”; “The Realm of the Dead [Egyptian tombs]”; “Coming
Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167], February 1965 [HRN 167], Sep- Next” illo by Casey Jones. First PC printing March 1961 [HRN 161,
tember 1966 [HRN 167], Winter 1969 (title letters white rather than 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings January 1964 [HRN 167],
“invisible”) [HRN 169, stiff cover, 25¢], Spring 1971 (title letters August 1967 [HRN 166]. Three printings.
white rather than “invisible”) [HRN 169, stiff cover]. Seven print- 162. Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne. Painted cover by Casey
ings. Jones (final issue with number and price in open-book device);
154. The Conspiracy of Pontiac by Francis Parkman. Painted cover interior art by Don Perlin, adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Verne bi-
and interior art by Gerald McCann, adaptation by Alfred Sundel; ography; “Who Knows?” (Part I) by Guy de Maupassant; “The Bride
Parkman biography; “Driven River [1836 battle between Cheyennes Comes to Yellow Sky” (Part I) by Stephen Crane; Men of Action:
and Pawnees]”; “Sutter’s Dream [John Augustus Sutter]”; “Coming “Joshua,” art by Sidney Miller (?); “Coming Next” illo (cover variant
Next” illo by Gerald McCann. First PC printing January 1960 [HRN showing lower-right panel, p. 34, No. 162) by Don Perlin. First PC
154, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings November 1963 [HRN printing May 1961 [HRN 162, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC
167], July 1964 [HRN 167], December 1967 [HRN 166]. Four print- printings July 1964 [HRN 167], August 1967 [HRN 166]. Three
ings. printings.
155. The Lion of the North by G.A. (George Alfred) Henty. Painted 163. Master of the World by Jules Verne. Painted cover unattributed
334 APPENDIX B, APPENDIX C

(first issue with number and price in yellow rectangle); interior art Appendix B. Classics Illustrated Giant Editions
by Gray Morrow; adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Verne biography; (Gilberton, 1949)
“Who Knows?” (Part II) by Guy de Maupassant; “The Bride Comes
to Yellow Sky” (Part II) by Stephen Crane; Men of Action: “Socrates,” An Illustrated Library of Great Adventure Stories: reprints of A Tale of
art by Sidney Miller (?); “Coming Next” illo unattributed. First Two Cities (Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg); Robin Hood (Louis Zan-
PC printing July 1961 [HRN 163, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent print- sky); Arabian Nights (Lillian Chestney Zuckerberg); and Robinson
ings January 1965 [HRN 167], 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Three print- Crusoe (Stanley Maxwell Zuckerberg); line-drawing cover by
ings. Henry C. Kiefer (1949). Robinson Crusoe replaced Les Miserables,
164. The Cossack Chief (Taras Bulba) by Nikolai Gogol. Painted and a front-cover paste-down illustration of Crusoe covered a
cover unattributed, interior art by Sidney Miller, adaptation by Alfred drawing of Jean Valjean.
Sundel; Gogol biography; “Who Knows?” (Part III) by Guy de Mau- An Illustrated Library of Great Indian Stories: reprints of The Pioneers
passant; “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” (Part III) by Stephen (Rudolph Palais); The Last of the Mohicans (Ray Ramsey); The
Crane; Men of Action: “Thutmosis III”; “Coming Next” illo (cover Deerslayer (Louis Zansky); and The Pathfinder (Louis Zansky);
variant showing No. 165 title-page splash ) by Gray Morrow. First line-drawing cover by Alex A. Blum (1949).
PC printing October 1961 [HRN 164, 48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent An Illustrated Library of Great Mystery Stories: reprints of Dr. Jekyll
printings April 1965 [HRN 167], Fall 1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Three and Mr. Hyde (Arnold L. Hicks); 3 Famous Mysteries (Louis Zansky,
printings. Allen Simon, Arnold L. Hicks); The Moonstone (Don Rico); and
165. The Queen’s Necklace by Alexandre Dumas. Painted cover un- Mysteries (August M. Froehlich, Henry C. Kiefer, Harley M.
attributed, interior art by Gray Morrow, adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Griffiths); line-drawing cover by Alex A. Blum (1949).
Dumas biography; “Who Knows?” (Part IV) by Guy de Maupassant;
Two additional Giants were planned but never published; cover art
“The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” (Part IV) by Stephen Crane; Men
is extant and indicates the contents:
of Action: “Caupolican,” art by Bruno Premiani; “Coming Next”
illo unattributed. First PC printing January 1962 [HRN 164, 48 An Illustrated Library of Great Romances: reprints of Jane Eyre (Harley
pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings April 1965 [HRN 167], Fall M. Griffiths); Wuthering Heights (Henry C. Kiefer); Ivanhoe (Edd
1968 [HRN 166, 25¢]. Three printings. Ashe); and The Woman in White (Alex A. Blum); line-drawing
166. Tigers and Traitors (the second part of The Steam House, which cover by Alex A. Blum (unpublished).
also contains The Demon of Cawnpore) by Jules Verne. Painted cover An Illustrated Library of Great Sea Stories: reprints of Moby Dick (Louis
unattributed, interior art by Norman Nodel, adaptation by Alfred Zansky); Mysterious Island (Robert H. Webb); Two Years Before the
Sundel; Verne biography; “Who Knows? (Part V) by Guy de Mau- Mast (Robert H. Webb); and Kidnapped (Robert H. Webb); line-
passant; “The Sepoy Revolt”; Men of Action: “Frederick Barbarossa,” drawing cover by Alex. A. Blum (unpublished).
art by Norman Nodel; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Norman
Nodel. First PC printing May 1962 [HRN 165, 48 pages, 15¢]; sub- Appendix C. Fast Fiction/Stories by Famous
sequent PC printings February 1964 [HRN 167], November 1966 Authors Illustrated (1949–1951)
[HRN 167]. Three printings.
167. Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Cover penciled by Seaboard Publishers, Inc., changed the name of this competing line
of literary adaptations from Fast Fiction to Stories by Famous
Norman Nodel, colored by Sidney Miller; interior art by Norman
Authors Illustrated with No. 6. Issue length varied between 32
Nodel, adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Goethe biography; “Coming
and 48 pages. The series was purchased and put out of business by
Next” illo unattributed. First PC printing August 1962 [HRN 165, Gilberton Co., Inc., in 1951. The Red Badge of Courage, scheduled
48 pages, 15¢]; subsequent PC printings February 1964 [HRN 167], to appear as Famous Authors No. 14, was issued as Classics Illus-
June 1967 [HRN 166]. Three printings. trated No. 98. The Famous Authors trademark was preserved by
168. In Freedom’s Cause by G.A. (George Alfred) Henty. Painted Gilberton as the nominal publisher of the Classics Illustrated Junior
cover unattributed, interior art by Reed Crandall and George Evans, series. In October 2010, FA No. 9, Nicholas Nickleby, was reissued
adaptation by Alfred Sundel; Henty biography; no “Coming Next” as No. 171 in the Jack Lake Classics Illustrated series.
ad. First and only PC printing Winter 1969 [HRN 169 (introduction
of Last of the Mohicans reorder-list icon), stiff cover, 48 pages, 25¢]. Fast Fiction
Note: Scheduled for release in 1962; first issued in British series as 1. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy; cover and interior art
No. 160 in 1963. One printing. by Jim Lavery; adaptation by Dick Davis (October 1949); Famous
169. Negro Americans —The Early Years (biographical profiles and Authors reprint with cover by Henry C. Kiefer (1950).
sketches of Crispus Attucks, Peter Salem, Prince Hall, Prince 2. Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini; cover and interior art by
Whipple, Oliver Cromwell, Spy James, Deborah Gannett, Benjamin Henry C. Kiefer (November 1949); Famous Authors reprint with new
Banneker, Phillis Wheatley, James Beckwourth, Harriet Tubman, cover by Henry C. Kiefer (1950).
Frederick Douglass, Robert Smalls, William Carney, Martin R. De- 3. She by H. Rider Haggard; cover by Henry C. Kiefer; interior
laney, Charles H. Davis, Henry Flipper, Isaiah Dorman, Nat Love, art by Vincent Napoli; adaptation by Dick Davis (December 1949);
Daniel Hale Williams, Elijah McCoy, Garrett A. Morgan, Granville Famous Authors reprint (1950).
T. Woods, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and 4. The 39 Steps by John Buchan, cover and interior art by Jim
Matthew Henson). Painted cover and interior art by Norman Nodel, Lavery ( January 1950); Famous Authors reprint (1950).
script by Deena Weintraub; no “Coming Next” ad. First PC printing 5. Beau Geste by P.C. Wren; cover and interior art by Henry C.
May 1969 [HRN 166 (Off on a Comet reorder-list icon), stiff cover, Kiefer (March 1950); Famous Authors reprint (1950).
48 pages, 25¢]; second PC printing Spring 1969 [HRN 169 (Last of
the Mohicans reorder-list icon), stiff cover]. Two printings. Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated
Other titles planned but not published: Two Little Savages; The 6. Macbeth by William Shakespeare; cover and interior art by
Aeneid; The Siege of Sevastopol; When the Sleeper Wakes; The Boy Cap- Henry C. Kiefer; lettered by H.G. Ferguson; adapted by Dana E.
tain. Dutch (August 1950).
 APPENDIX D, APPENDIX E 335

7. The Window by Cornell Woolrich; cover and interior art by Vol. 1, No. 4. A Christmas Adventure. Art by Lin Streeter; inside-
Henry C. Kiefer; lettered by H.G. Ferguson; adapted by Dana E. back-cover coloring page by Alex A. Blum; script by Eleanor Lid-
Dutch (September 1950). ofsky. First printing December 1953 (last issue as Picture Parade)
8. Hamlet by William Shakespeare; cover and interior art by [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢]; reissued as giveaway 1969, with painted
Henry C. Kiefer; adapted by Dana E. Dutch (October 1950). cover by Norman Nodel.
9. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens; cover and interior art Vol. 1, No. 5. News in Review —1953. Art by Peter Costanza; script
by Gustav Schrotter; adapted by Dick Davis (November 1950). by Eleanor Lidofsky. First and only printing January 1954 (first
Added to Jack Lake Classics Illustrated series as No. 171 (October issue as Picture Progress) [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢].
2010). Vol. 1, No. 6. The Birth of America. Art by Lin Streeter; script by
10. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare; cover and interior Eleanor Lidofsky. First printing February 1954 [no HRN, 24 pages,
art by Henry C. Kiefer (December 1950; N.B.— the November 1950 10¢]; reprinted in Special Issue No. 132A.
date in the publication indicia was a misprint); 32 pages. Vol. 1, No. 7. The Four Seasons. Art by Lin Streeter; script by Eleanor
11. Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace; cover and interior art by Gustav Lidofsky. First and only printing March 1954 [no HRN, 24 pages,
Schrotter ( January 1951); 48 pages. 10¢].
12. La Svengali (Trilby) by George du Maurier; cover and interior Vol. 1, No. 8. Paul Revere’s Ride. Art by Peter Costanza; script by
art by Gustav Schrotter (February 1951). Eleanor Lidofsky. First printing April 1954 [no HRN, 24 pages,
13. Scaramouche: The Days Before the Terror by Rafael Sabatini; 10¢]; reprinted in Special Issue No. 132A.
cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer (March 1951). Vol. 1, No. 9. The Hawaiian Islands. Art by Lin Streeter; script by
Eleanor Lidofsky. First and only printing May 1954 [no HRN, 24
Appendix D. Classics Illustrated Educational pages, 10¢] .
Series (Gilberton, 1951–1953) Vol. 2, No. 1. The Story of Flight. Art by Peter Costanza. First printing
September 1954 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢]; reprinted in Special
Both Educational Series issues were 16 pages in length. Issue No. 138A.
1. Shelter Through the Ages. Painted cover and interior art by Henry Vol. 2, No. 2. A Vote for Crazy River (per front cover and title page);
C. Kiefer; three variant back-cover illustrations (house, doll house, The Meaning of Elections (per 1955 back-cover title list). Art by
igloo) (1951). Lin Streeter. First and only printing October 1954 [no HRN, 24
[No number] The Westinghouse Story: The Dreams of a Man. pages, 10¢].
Painted cover and interior art by Henry C. Kiefer (1953). Vol. 2, No. 3. The Discoveries of Louis Pasteur. Art by Peter Costanza.
Note: Around 1952, the old Classic Comics logo appeared on a 64- First printing November 1954 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢]; reprinted
page giveaway comics-style biography and miscellany devoted to in Special Issue No. 138A.
George Daynor (1860–1964), creator of the Palace of Depression in Vol. 2, No. 4. The Star-Spangled Banner. Art by Tom Hickey. First
Vineland, New Jersey. The self-promoting Daynor most likely pro- printing December 1954); reprinted in Special Issue No. 132A.
duced the book himself. There is no evidence to suggest that Albert Vol. 2, No. 5. 1954 — News in Review. Art by Peter Costanza. First
Kanter would have considered approving the use of the defunct series’ and only printing January 1955 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢] .
name by a notoriously eccentric publicity hound at a time when le- Vol. 2, No. 6. Alaska: “The Great Land.” Art by Lin Streeter. First
gitimate commercial licensing of the Classics Illustrated trademark and only printing February 1955 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢].
was profitably underway. Daynor’s vanity item, with its unauthorized Vol. 2, No. 7. Life in the Circus. Art by Norman Nodel. First and
appropriation of “Classic Comics Presents,” has no place whatsoever only printing March 1955 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢].
in the Classics Illustrated story. It is mentioned only because some Vol. 2, No. 8. The Time of the Cave Man. Art by Norman Nodel.
collectors persist in treating the grotesquely overvalued rarity as yet First and only printing April 1955 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢].
another Classics-related “educational” publication somehow equiva- Vol. 2, No. 9. Summer Fun. Art by Lin Streeter. First and only
lent to the Ruberoid and Westinghouse issues. printing May 1955 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢].
Vol. 3, No. 1. The Man Who Discovered America. Art by Lou
Cameron. First printing September 1955 [no HRN, 32 pages, 10¢];
Appendix E. Picture Parade/Picture Progress reprinted in Special Issue No. 132A.
(Gilberton, 1953–1955) Vol. 3, No. 2. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. Art by Norman Nodel.
First and only printing October 1955 [no HRN, 32 pages, 10¢];
Picture Parade and Picture Progress issues in Vols. 1 and 2 were
this title was the forerunner of the Special Issue section devoted to
24 pages in length; the two issues in Vol. 3 were 32 pages in length.
the Lewis and Clark Expedition in Blazing the Trails West.
Vol. 1, No. 1. Andy’s Atomic Adventures. Art by Peter Costanza; script
Titles scheduled but never published; descriptive text from Gilberton
by Eleanor Lidofsky. First printing September 1953 [no HRN, 24
promotional material:
pages, 10¢]; reprinted in Special Issue No. 138A.
Vol. 1, No. 2. Around the World with the U.N. (per title page); The Whaling. Scheduled December 1955. “The thrilling facts and history
United Nations (per 1955 back-cover title list). Art by Peter of one of the most unusual industries in the world.” Later a World
Costanza; script by Eleanor Lidofsky. First and only printing Oc- Around Us title.
tober 1953 [no HRN, 24 pages, 10¢]; this title was the forerunner 1955 —The Year in Review. Scheduled January 1956. “The most in-
of the Special Issue devoted to the United Nations. teresting and exciting stories of 1955.”
Vol. 1, No. 3. The Adventures of the Lost One (per title page); The The Great Presidents: Washington and Lincoln. Scheduled February
American Indian (per 1955 back-cover title list). Art by Peter 1956. “Interesting highlights in the lives of these great men.” Abra-
Costanza; back-cover art by Maurice del Bourgo; script by Eleanor ham Lincoln later became the subject of a Classics Illustrated bi-
Lidofsky. First and only printing November 1953 [no HRN, 24 ography; a World Around Us issue was subsequently devoted to
pages, 10¢]; this title was the forerunner of the World Around Us American Presidents.
issue devoted to American Indians. What Is Weather? Scheduled March 1956. “Some of the facts, fancies
336 APPENDIX F

and people that are part of the fascinating science we live with by Dik Browne; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum.
every day.” Fillers: “Sing a Song of Sixpence” (Alex A. Blum); “Elephants”
Building the Panama Canal. Scheduled April 1956. “The story of the (William A. Walsh). First printing January 1954 [no HRN, 15¢];
men who fought disease and nature to build one of the greatest subsequent printings February 1956 [HRN 523], May 1956 [HRN
engineering wonders of the world.” 526], November 1957 [HRN 544, coloring page introduced], De-
America’s Giants. Scheduled May 1956. “The exciting, humorous, cember 1959 [HRN 563], October 1960 [HRN 568], Spring-
much-loved tales of the folk heroes of the different parts of Amer- Summer 1963 [HRN 576], November 1966 [HRN 576, “A” and “B”
ica.” variants (indicia error “Number 571”)], Summer 1969 [HRN 576,
stiff cover, 25¢]. Nine printings.
505. The Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault/Brothers Grimm.
Appendix F. Classics Illustrated Junior Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by Peter Costanza; back-cover art
(Gilberton/Famous Authors, 1953–1967; (first and second printings) by Peter Costanza; “Coming Next” illo
Frawley, 1967–1971) by William A. Walsh. Fillers: “The Real Princess” [The Princess and
the Pea”] by Hans Christian Andersen (Peter Costanza); “Simple
All Classics Illustrated Junior issues were 32 pages in length. Addi- Simon” (Alex A. Blum); “Camel” (William A. Walsh). First printing
tional features are listed. The first 20 titles featured back-cover full- February 1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings March 1956
color line drawings, which were converted to black-and-white [HRN 524], March 1958 [HRN 548], April 1959 [HRN 559 (back
“Color This Page with Crayons” inside-back-cover pages in the sec- cover), HRN 142 (CI reorder list replaces inside-back-cover coloring
ond or third printings. The author owes a special debt of gratitude page), “Coming Next” ad erroneously reinserted], October 1960
to John Haufe for providing details of the printing histories, to [HRN 568], October 1961 [HRN 574], March 1964 [HRN 576],
Hames Ware for his assistance in identifying unsigned art, and to
October 1966 [HRN 576], Fall 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢].
Rudy Tambone for help with information on back-of-the-book
Nine printings.
items.
506. The 3 Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs. Cover and interior art by
501. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm. William A. Walsh; back-cover art (first, second, and third printings)
Cover unattributed, interior art by Alex A. Blum, adaptation by by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers:
Meyer A. Kaplan; back-cover art (first and second printings) by Alex “I Saw a Ship a-Sailing” (Alex A. Blum); “Cheeta” (William A.
A. Blum; inside-back-cover subscription ad with “Forthcoming Walsh). First printing March 1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent print-
Titles” shows cover illo for No. 502 by William A. Walsh. Fillers: ings February 1956 [HRN 523], May 1956 [HRN 526], June 1959
“The Farmer in the Dell” (Alex A. Blum); “Lion” (William A. Walsh). [HRN 560, coloring page introduced], October 1960 [HRN 568],
First printing October 1953 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings February 1962 [HRN 575], October 1964 [HRN 576], June 1967
March 1956 [HRN 524, coloring page introduced], August 1957 [HRN 576], Spring 1971 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Nine print-
[HRN 541, CI HRN 139 reorder list replaces coloring page on inside ings.
back cover], November 1958 [no HRN, back-cover ad for CI JR LP 507. Jack and the Beanstalk by William Godwin. Cover by Dik
record, CI reorder list HRN 147 replaces coloring page on inside back Browne; interior art by Alex A. Blum; back-cover art (first and second
cover], April 1960 [HRN 565, coloring page restored], October 1960 printings) by Alex A. Blum; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne.
[HRN 568], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 576], November 1964 Fillers: “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum);
[HRN 576], November 1966 [HRN 576], Spring 1969 [HRN 576, “Gorilla” (William A. Walsh). First printing April 1954 [no HRN,
stiff cover, 25¢]. Ten printings. 15¢]; subsequent printings May 1956 [HRN 526], April 1959 [HRN
502. The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover and 559, “Coming Next” ad erroneously reinserted, coloring page rein-
interior art by William A. Walsh; back-cover art (first and second troduced], October 1960 [HRN 568], February 1962 [HRN 575],
printings) by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. June 1964 [HRN 576], January 1967 [HRN 576], Summer 1969
Fillers: “The Cat and the Fiddle” (Alex A. Blum); “Polar Bear” [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings.
(William A. Walsh). First printing November 1953 [no HRN, 15¢]; 508. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Robert Southey. Cover by
subsequent printings March 1956 [HRN 524], November 1957 Dik Browne; interior art by William A. Walsh; back-cover art (first
[HRN 544 (back cover)/HRN 141 (CI reorder list on inside back and second printings) by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by
cover)], December 1959 [HRN 563, coloring page introduced], Oc- Dik Browne. Fillers: “Foreign Lands” by Robert Louis Stevenson
tober 1960 [HRN 568], February 1962 [HRN 575], October 1964 (Alex A. Blum); “Bison” (William A. Walsh). First printing May 1954
[HRN 576], December 1966 [HRN 576], Summer 1969 [HRN 576, [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings May 1956 [HRN 526], De-
stiff cover, 25¢]. Nine printings. cember 1959 [HRN 563, coloring page introduced], October 1960
503. Cinderella by Charles Perrault. Cover by Dik Browne; [HRN 568], March 1964 [HRN 576], June 1966 [HRN 576], Winter
interior art by Peter Costanza; back-cover art (first and second print- 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings.
ings) by Peter Costanza; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers: 509. Beauty and the Beast by Gianfrancesco Straparola/Charles
“Jack and Jill” (Alex A. Blum); “Giant Panda” (William A. Walsh). Perrault. Cover and interior art by Dik Browne; back-cover art (first
First printing December 1953 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings and second printings) by Dik Browne; “Coming Next” illo by Dik
March 1956 [HRN 524], August 1957 [HRN 541 (back cover)/HRN Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Dog and the Shadow” (William
139 (CI reorder list on inside back cover]; November 1958 [no HRN, A. Walsh); “Ride a Cock-Horse” (Alex A. Blum); “Hippopotamus”
back-cover ad for CI JR LP record, coloring page introduced], April (William A. Walsh). First printing June 1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; sub-
1960 [HRN 565], October 1960 [HRN 568], October 1961 [HRN sequent printings June 1956 [HRN 527], July 1958 [HRN 552, col-
574], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 576], April 1964 [HRN 576], oring page introduced], December 1959 [HRN 563], October 1960
June 1966 [HRN 576], Spring 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. [HRN 568], March 1964 [HRN 576], July 1966 [HRN 576], Sum-
Eleven printings (tied with No. 519 as the most-often reprinted title). mer 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings.
504. The Pied Piper by Robert Browning. Cover and interior art 510. Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault/Brothers Grimm.
by Dik Browne; back-cover art (first, second, and third printings) Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by William A. Walsh; back-cover
 APPENDIX F 337

art (first and second printings) by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” (William A. Walsh). First printing May 1955 [no HRN, 15¢]; sub-
illo (variants: cane added, cape different) by Dik Browne. Fillers: sequent printings September 1956 [HRN 530], December 1959
Aesop’s Fables: “The Fox and the Grapes” (William A. Walsh); “Little [HRN 563, coloring page introduced], October 1961 [HRN 574],
Bo Peep” (Alex A. Blum); “Rhinoceros” (William A. Walsh). First May 1965 [HRN 576], October 1966 [HRN 576], Spring 1969
printing July 1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings June 1956 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings.
[HRN 527], December 1959 [HRN 563, coloring page introduced], 517. The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen.
October 1961 [HRN 574], November 1964 [HRN 576], March 1967 Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by William A. Walsh; back-cover
[HRN 576], Fall 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings. art (first printing only) by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables:
511. Puss-in-Boots by Gianfrancesco Straparola/Charles Perrault. “The City Mouse and the Country Mouse” (William A. Walsh);
Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by William A. Walsh; back-cover “Peter, Peter,” “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” (Alex A. Blum); “The Swing”
art (first and second printings) by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum); “Coming Next” illo by
illo by Dik Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Fox and the Stork” Dik Browne. First printing July 1955 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent
(William A. Walsh); “There Was a Crooked Man,” “Peter Piper” printings May 1957 [HRN 538, coloring page introduced], December
(Alex A. Blum); “Platypus” (William A. Walsh); First printing August 1959 [HRN 563], October 1961 [HRN 574], January 1967 [HRN
1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings May 1956 [HRN 526], 576], Summer 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Six printings.
April 1960 [HRN 565, coloring page introduced], October 1961 518. The Golden Goose by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Dik
[HRN 574], March 1964 [HRN 576], February 1967 [HRN 576], Browne; interior art by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia; back-
Summer 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings. cover art (first printing only) by Alex A. Blum; “Coming Next” illo
512. Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Dik (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Lion
Browne; interior art by William A. Walsh; back-cover art (first and and the Mouse” (Mike Sekowsky); “Hark! Hark!,” “Humpty
second printings) by William A. Walsh; “Coming next” illo by Wil- Dumpty” (Alex A. Blum); “Rain” and “At the Seaside” by Robert
liam A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Miller, His Son, and Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum). First printing September 1955 [no
Their Donkey” (William A. Walsh); “To Market, to Market,” “Three HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings April 1960 [HRN 565, coloring
Wise Men of Gotham” (Alex A. Blum); “Giraffe” (William A. Walsh). page introduced], October 1961 [HRN 574], November 1965 [HRN
First printing September 1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings 576, color variants: title letters, middle figure turquoise or gray],
May 1956 [HRN 526], June 1959 [HRN 560, coloring page intro- Winter 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢, inside-back-cover coloring
duced], March 1961 [HRN 161 (CI reorder list only)], May 1964 page illo by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia]. Five printings.
[HRN 576], January 1967 [HRN 576], Fall 1969 [HRN 576, stiff 519. Paul Bunyan by W.B. Laughead. Cover by Dik Browne; in-
cover, 25¢]. Seven printings. terior art by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia; back-cover art (first
513. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Cover and interior art by Wil- and second printings) by Alex A. Blum; “Coming Next” illo by Dik
liam A. Walsh; back-cover art (first and second printings) by William Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Donkey and the Little Dog”
A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: (Mike Sekowsky); “Little Boy Blue” (Alex A. Blum); “Where Go the
“The Ant and the Grasshopper” (William A. Walsh); “Pirate Story” Boats” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum). First printing Oc-
by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum); “Grizzly Bear” (William tober 1955 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings June 1956 [HRN
A. Walsh). First printing November 1954 [no HRN, 15¢]; subsequent 527, coloring page introduced], May 1957 [HRN 538, CI HRN 137
printings September 1956 [HRN 530], May 1958 [HRN 550, reorder list replaces coloring page on inside back cover], December
coloring page introduced], December 1959 [HRN 563], October 1958 [HRN 557], April 1960 [HRN 565], October 1960 [HRN 568],
1960 [HRN 568], December 1963 [HRN 576], July 1965 [HRN February 1962 [HRN 575], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 576], May
576], May 1967 [HRN 576], Fall 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. 1964 [HRN 576], December 1966 [HRN 576], Fall 1969 [HRN 576,
Nine printings. stiff cover, 25¢]. Eleven printings (tied with No. 503 as the most-
514. The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover often reprinted title).
and interior art by Dik Browne; back-cover art (first and second 520. Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover by Dik
printings) by Dik Browne; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex Browne; interior art by Lin Streeter and William A. Walsh (back-
A. Blum. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Actor and the Farmer” (Alex A. ground); back-cover art (first printing only) by William A. Walsh;
Blum); “Young Night Thought” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. Fillers: Aesop’s
Blum); “Dingo” (William A. Walsh). First printing January 1955 [no Fables: “The Crow and the Pitcher” (Mike Sekowsky); “Bed in Sum-
HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings September 1956 [HRN 530], June mer” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum); “Cock Robin and
1959 [HRN 560, coloring page introduced], October 1959 [HRN 562], Jenny Wren” (Alex A. Blum). First printing November 1955 [no
October 1960 [HRN 568], April 1964 [HRN 576]. Six printings. HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings July 1958 [HRN 558], December
515. Johnny Appleseed. Cover and interior art by William A. Walsh; 1959 [HRN 563], October 1960 [HRN 568], Spring-Summer 1963
back-cover art (first and second printings) by William A. Walsh; [HRN 576], June 1964 [HRN 576], June 1967 [HRN 576], Fall
“Coming Next” illo by Kurt Schaffenberger. Fillers: “Pecos Bill” 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Eight printings.
(William A. Walsh); “If All the Seas Were One Sea” (Alex A. Blum); 521. The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin. Cover by Mike
“Kangaroo” (William A. Walsh). First printing March 1955 [no Sekowsky; interior art by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia; coloring
HRN, 15¢]; subsequent printings September 1956 [HRN 530], De- page by Mike Sekowsky; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Aesop’s
cember 1959 [HRN 563, coloring page introduced], October 1960 Fables: “The Unhappy Crow” (Mike Sekowsky); “The Land of Nod”
[HRN 568], January 1964 [HRN 576], September 1966 [HRN 576], by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum); “This Is the Way” (Alex
Spring 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven printings. A. Blum). First printing December 1955 [HRN 522, 15¢]; subsequent
516. Aladdin and His Lamp. Cover by Dik Browne; interior art printings November 1958 [HRN 556], April 1960 [HRN 565], Oc-
by Kurt Schaffenberger; back-cover art (first and second printings) tober 1961 [HRN 574], November 1965 [HRN 576], Fall 1968 [HRN
by Alex A. Blum; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings.
Fables: “The Boy and the Wolf ” (unattributed); “The Fat Man of 522. The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover and in-
Bombay,” “Wee Willie Winkie” (Alex A. Blum); “Sperm Whale” terior art by Dik Browne; coloring page by Alex A. Blum; “Coming
338 APPENDIX F

Next” illo by Mike Sekowsky. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Hare and Hickey; coloring page by Tom Hickey; “Coming Next” illo by Alex
the Tortoise” (Dik Browne); “The Moon” by Robert Louis Stevenson A. Blum (title-lettering variant). Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Two
(Alex A. Blum); “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (Alex A. Blum). First Goats” (William A. Walsh); “Three Little Kittens” (Alex A. Blum);
printing January 1956 [HRN 523, 15¢]; subsequent printings April The Animal World: “The Rabbit” (William A. Walsh). First printing
1960 [HRN 565], October 1961 [HRN 574], October 1965 [HRN July 1956 [HRN 529, “The Swineherd” credit appears on title page,
576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, issue number and price printed 15¢]; subsequent printings December 1958 [HRN 557], April 1960
in blue, 25¢]. Five printings. [HRN 565], October 1960 [HRN 568], November 1963 [HRN
523. The Gallant Tailor by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Mike 576], July 1966 [HRN 576]. Six printings.
Sekowsky; interior art by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia; coloring 529. The Magic Servants (based on “The Six Servants”) by the
page by Mike Sekowsky; “Coming Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art by William A. Walsh;
Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Fox and the Crow” (Mike Sekowsky); coloring page by William A. Walsh (previously appeared in No. 528
“Windy Nights” by Robert Louis Stevenson (Alex A. Blum); as “Coming Next” illo); “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers:
“Wouldn’t It Be Funny?,” “Jack Be Nimble” (Alex A. Blum). First Aesop’s Fables: “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” (William A. Walsh);
printing February 1956 [HRN 524, 15¢]; subsequent printings June “Froggie Went a’Courtin’” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The
1957 [HRN 539 (back cover), HRN 138 (CI reorder list replaces Tiger” (William A. Walsh) First printing August 1956 [HRN 530,
inside-back-cover coloring page)], April 1960 [HRN 565, coloring 15¢]; subsequent printings April 1959 [HRN 559], October 1960
page restored], October 1961 [HRN 574], September 1964 [HRN [HRN 568], February 1964 [HRN 576], October 1966 [HRN 576].
576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings. Five printings.
524. The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover and in- 530. The Golden Bird by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Dik
terior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; Browne; interior art by Lin Streeter; coloring page by Lin Streeter;
“Coming Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The “Coming Next” illo by Alex A. Blum (title-lettering variant). Fillers:
Raven and the Swan” (William A. Walsh); “I Saw Three Ships Come Aesop’s Fables: “The Wind and the Sun” (Lin Streeter); “London
Sailing By” (Alex A. Blum); “The Wind” by Robert Louis Stevenson Bridge” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Seal” (William
(Alex A. Blum). First printing March 1956 [HRN 524, 15¢]; subse- A. Walsh). First printing September 1956 HRN 528 (edition 1A),
quent printings July 1957 [HRN 540 (back cover), HRN 138 (CI re- HRN 531 (edition 1B), 15¢]; subsequent printings June 1959 [HRN
order list replaces inside-back-cover coloring page)], June 1959 [HRN 560], April 1961 [HRN 571], June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556],
560, coloring page restored], October 1960 [HRN 568], Spring- August 1965 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six
Summer 1963 [HRN 576], February 1967 [HRN 576]. Six printings. printings.
525. The Little Mermaid (based on “The Mermaid”) by Hans 531. Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art by
Christian Andersen. Cover and interior art by William A. Walsh; Lin Streeter; coloring page by Lin Streeter; “Coming Next” illo by
coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by Lin Dik Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Mice in Council [Belling
Streeter. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Milkmaid and Her Pail” the Cat]” (Lin Streeter); “Little Miss Muffet” (Alex A. Blum); The
(William A. Walsh); “Ding, Dong, Bell!,” “A Cat Came Fiddling” Animal World: “The Reindeer” (William A. Walsh). First printing
(Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: The Raccoon” (William A. October 1956 [HRN 532, 15¢]; subsequent printings November 1958
Walsh). First printing April 1956 [HRN 525, The Mermaid title vari- [HRN 556 (back cover), HRN 147 (CI reorder list replaces inside-
ant appears on back-cover reorder list, 15¢]; subsequent printings back-cover coloring page)], April 1960 [HRN 565, coloring page re-
February 1958 [HRN 547], December 1959 [HRN 563], April 1961 stored], April 1961 [HRN 571], July 1964 [HRN 576], February 1967
[HRN 571], December 1964 [HRN 576], January 1967 [HRN 576]. [HRN 576]. Six printings.
Six printings. 532. The Dancing Princesses (based on “The Shoes That Were
526. The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior Danced Through,” also known as “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”)
art by Lin Streeter; coloring page by Lin Streeter; “Coming Next” by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by
illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Hares and the William A. Walsh; coloring page by Mike Sekowsky; “Coming Next”
Frogs” (William A. Walsh); “Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat,” “What Are Little illo by Mike Sekowsky. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Lark and Her
Boys Made Of?” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Condor” Young Ones” (William A. Walsh); “Little Jack Horner” (Alex A.
(William A. Walsh). First printing May 1956 [HRN 526, The Mer- Blum); The Animal World: “The Porcupine” (William A. Walsh).
maid title variant remains on reorder list, 15¢]; subsequent printings First printing November 1956 [HRN 533, 15¢]; subsequent printings
May 1958 [HRN 550 (back cover), HRN 143 (CI reorder list replaces April 1959 [HRN 559], August 1960 [HRN 567], February 1962
coloring page)], December 1959 [HRN 563, coloring page restored], [HRN 575], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 576], December 1965
October 1960 [HRN 568], April 1964 [HRN 576], February 1967 [HRN 576], Winter 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Seven print-
[HRN 576]. Six printings. ings.
527. The Golden-Haired Giant (based on “The Devil with the 533. The Magic Fountain by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Mike
Three Golden Hairs”) by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior Sekowsky; interior art by Mike Sekowsky and Frank Giacoia; coloring
art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Com- page by Mike Sekowsky; “Coming Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers:
ing Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Fox and “The Straw, the Coal and the Bean” by the Brothers Grimm (Mike
the Goat” (William A. Walsh); “There Was a Maid” (Alex A. Blum); Sekowsky); “Where, O Where” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal World:
The Animal World: “The Moose” (William A. Walsh). First printing “The Squirrel” (William A. Walsh). First printing December 1956
June 1956 [HRN 528, The Little Mermaid title corrected on back- [HRN 534, 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1959 [HRN 562],
cover reorder list, 15¢]; subsequent printings June 1959 [HRN 560], June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], December 1964 [HRN 576],
October 1960 [HRN 568], January 1964 [HRN 576], June 1964 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
[HRN 576], March 1967 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 534. The Golden Touch (from A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys)
25¢]. Seven printings. by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by
528. The Penny Prince (based on “The Swineherd”) by Hans William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming
Christian Andersen. Cover by Dik Browne; interior art by Tom Next” illo by Dik Browne. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “Stone Soup”
 APPENDIX F 339

(William A. Walsh); “Mistress Mary” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal “Coming Next” illo by Stan Campbell. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The
World: “The Turtle” (William A. Walsh). First printing January 1957 Rich Man’s Guest” (William A. Walsh); “The Duck and the Kanga-
[HRN 534, 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1959 [HRN 562], roo” by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The
June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], December 1964 [HRN 576], Cougar” (William A. Walsh). First printing August 1957 [HRN 542,
1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings. 15¢]; subsequent printings August 1959 [HRN 561], June-July 1961
535. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Cover by Dik Browne; [anomalous HRN 556], September 1965 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN
interior art by Mike Sekowsky; coloring page by Mike Sekowsky; 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
“Coming Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: 542. The Donkey’s Tale, based on a traditional fable. Cover and
“The Fox and the Lion” (Mike Sekowsky); “Old Mother Hubbard” interior art by Stan Campbell; coloring page by Stan Campbell;
(Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Koala” (William A. Walsh). “Coming Next” illo by Lin Streeter (title-lettering variant). Fillers:
First printing February 1957 [HRN 534, 15¢]; subsequent printings Aesop’s Fables: “The Oak and the Reed” (Stan Campbell); “The Owl
December 1958 [HRN 557], April 1960 [HRN 565], April 1961 and the Pussycat” by Edward Lear (Stan Campbell); The Animal
[HRN 571], December 1964 [HRN 576], October 1966 [HRN 576], World: “The Flying Squirrel” (William A. Walsh). First printing Sep-
1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢], Spring 1971 [HRN 576, stiff cover, tember 1957 [HRN 543, 15¢]; subsequent printings December 1959
“wavy-green” background]. Eight printings; one Twin Circle edition. [HRN 563], October 1961 [HRN 574], October 1965 [HRN 576],
536. The Chimney Sweep by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover and Winter 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; 543. The House in the Woods by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and
“Coming Next” illo by Lin Streeter. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Fish- interior art by Lin Streeter; coloring page by Lin Streeter; “Coming
erman and the Little Fish” (William A. Walsh); “Pat-a-Cake” (Alex Next” illo by Alex A. Blum. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Treasure in
A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Beaver” (William A. Walsh). the Vineyard” (Lin Streeter); “The Broom, the Shovel, the Poker,
First printing March 1957 [HRN 534, 15¢]; subsequent printings and the Tongs” by Edward Lear (unattributed); The Animal World:
December 1959 [HRN 563], June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], “The Skunk” (William A. Walsh). First printing October 1957 [HRN
October 1961 [HRN 574], Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 576], March 544, 15¢]; subsequent printings December 1959 [HRN 563], June-
1965 [HRN 576], March 1967 [HRN 576]. Seven printings. July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], December 1964 [HRN 576], Feb-
537. The Three Fairies (from the Pentamerone) by Giambattista ruary 1967 [HRN 576]. Five printings.
Basile. Cover and interior art by Lin Streeter; coloring page by Lin 544. The Golden Fleece (from Tanglewood Tales) by Nathaniel
Streeter; “Coming Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Hawthorne. Cover by Alex A. Blum; interior art by William A.
Fables: “The Ant and the Dove” (Lin Streeter); “Rub-a-Dub-Dub” Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by
(Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Flamingo” (William A. Alex A. Blum. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Donkey and the Cricket”
Walsh). First printing April 1957 [HRN 538, 15¢]; subsequent print- (William A. Walsh); “The Daddy Long-Legs and the Fly” by Edward
ings April 1959 [HRN 559], October 1960 [HRN 568], May 1964 Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Jaguar” (William
[HRN 576], February 1967 [HRN 576]. Five printings. A. Walsh). First printing November 1957 [HRN 545, 15¢]; sub-
538. Silly Hans by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art sequent printings April 1960 [HRN 565], June-July 1961 [anomalous
by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming HRN 556], February 1962 [HRN 575], October 1964 [HRN 576],
Next” illo by Lin Streeter (title-lettering variant). Fillers: Aesop’s 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings.
Fables: “The Lion and the Dolphin” (William A. Walsh); “The North 545. The Glass Mountain, based on a Polish tale. Cover and
Wind” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Penguin” (William interior art unattributed; coloring page unattributed; “Coming Next”
A. Walsh). First printing May 1957 [HRN 539, 15¢]; subsequent illo by Alex. A. Blum. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Donkey and the
printings April 1960 [HRN 565], October 1961 [HRN 574], Sep- Salt” (unattributed); “There Was an Old Man with a Beard” by Ed-
tember 1964 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five ward Lear (unattributed); The Animal World: “The Otter” (William
printings. A. Walsh). First printing December 1957 [HRN 545, 15¢]; sub-
539. The Enchanted Fish (based on “The Fisherman and His sequent printings December 1959 [HRN 563], June-July 1961 [anom-
Wife”) by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art by Lin Streeter; alous HRN 556], February 1962 [HRN 575], December 1964 [HRN
coloring page by Lin Streeter; “Coming Next” illo by William A. 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings.
Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: The Four Oxen and the Lion” (William 546. The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Brothers Grimm. Cover
A. Walsh); “The Queen of Hearts” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal and interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A.
World: “The Armadillo” (William A. Walsh). First printing June Walsh; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Lin Streeter. Fillers:
1957 [HRN 540, 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1959 [HRN Aesop’s Fables: “The Greedy Lion” (William A. Walsh); “There Was
562], June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], October 1961 [HRN an Old Lady of France” by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The
574], August 1965 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Animal World: “The Heron” (William A. Walsh). First printing Jan-
Six printings. uary 1958 [HRN 545, 15¢]; subsequent printings April 1960 [HRN
540. The Tinder-Box by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover and in- 565], June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], September 1964 [HRN
terior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings.
“Coming Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: 547. The Wishing Table by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and
“The Lioness and Her Family”(William A. Walsh); “Hickety, interior art by Lin Streeter; coloring page by Lin Streeter; “Coming
Pickety” (Alex A. Blum); The Animal World: “The Kinkajou” (Wil- Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Two
liam A. Walsh). First printing July 1957 [HRN 541, 15¢]; subsequent Frogs” (Lin Streeter); “There Was an Old Person of Brigg” by Edward
printings April 1959 [HRN 559], August 1960 [HRN 567], June- Lear (unattributed); The Animal World: “The Aardvark” (William
July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556, printing error — darker cover], Sep- A. Walsh). First printing February 1958 [HRN 545, 15¢]; subsequent
tember 1965 [HRN 576], Winter 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. printings April 1960 [HRN 565], February 1962 [HRN 575], No-
Six printings. vember 1964 [HRN 576], March 1967 [HRN 576]. Five printings.
541. Snow White and Rose Red by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and 548. The Magic Pitcher (The Miraculous Pitcher, from A Wonder-
interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; Book for Girls and Boys) by Nathaniel Hawthorne (title-page credit).
340 APPENDIX F

Cover and interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William [HRN 575], April 1964 [HRN 576], August 1966 [HRN 576]. Six
A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Alex A. Blum. Fillers: printings.
Aesop’s Fables: “The Arab and His Camel” (William A. Walsh); 555. The Three Golden Apples (from A Wonder-Book for Girls and
“There Was an Old Man Who Said, ‘Hush!’” by Edward Lear Boys) by Nathaniel Hawthorne (title-page credit). Cover and interior
(William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Albatross” (William art by Mike Sekowsky; coloring page by Mike Sekowsky; “Coming
A. Walsh). First printing March 1958 [HRN 545, 15¢]; subsequent Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Boy
printings December 1959 [HRN 563], October 1960 [HRN 568], and the Filberts” (Mike Sekowsky); “There Was an Old Man with a
June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556], July 1964 [HRN 576], 1968 Nose” by Edward Lear (Mike Sekowsky); The Animal World: “The
[HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings. Swan” (William A. Walsh). First printing October 1958 [HRN 556,
549. Simple Kate by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1960 [HRN 568], Spring-
unattributed ( Jerry Fasano?); coloring page unattributed ( Jerry Summer 1963 [HRN 576], September 1966 [HRN 576]. Four print-
Fasano?); “Coming Next” illo by Stan Campbell. Fillers: Aesop’s Fa- ings.
bles: “The Spendthrift and the Swallow” (unattributed); “There Was 556. The Elf Mound by Hans Christian Andersen. Cover and in-
a Young Lady of Welling” by Edward Lear (unattributed); The terior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh;
Animal World: “The Alligator” (William A. Walsh). First printing “Coming Next” illo by Mike Sekowsky. Fillers: “The Shepherd Goes
April 1958 [HRN 550, 15¢]; subsequent printings December 1959 to Sea” (William A. Walsh); “There Was an Old Man in a Tree” by
[HRN 563], October 1960 [HRN 568], February 1962 [HRN 575], Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Lobster”
December 1965 [HRN 576], Spring 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, (William A. Walsh). First printing November 1958 [HRN 557, 15¢];
25¢]. Six printings. subsequent printings October 1960 [HRN 568], February 1962
550. The Singing Donkey (based on The Bremen Town Musicians) [HRN 575], March 1965 [HRN 576], Fall 1968, soft cover, 25¢].
by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art by Stan Campbell; Five printings.
coloring page by Stan Campbell; “Coming Next” illo by William A. 557. Silly Willy by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior art
Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Fortune Teller” (Stan Campbell); by Mike Sekowsky; coloring page by Mike Sekowsky; “Coming Next”
“There Was an Old Man Who Said, ‘Well!’” by Edward Lear (unat- illo by L.B. Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Donkey’s Shadow”
tributed); The Animal World: “The Caribou” (William A. Walsh). (Mike Sekowsky); “There Was an Old Man on a Hill” by Edward
First printing May 1958 [HRN 551, 15¢]; subsequent printings De- Lear (Mike Sekowsky); The Animal World: “The Ground Hog”
cember 1959 [HRN 563], October 1960 [HRN 568], April 1964 (William A. Walsh). First printing December 1958 [no HRN, LP ad
[HRN 576], Fall 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings. on back cover, stiff and soft covers, 15¢]; subsequent printings
551. The Queen Bee by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior October 1960 [HRN 568], June-July 1961 [anomalous HRN 556],
art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Com- October 1961 [HRN 574], October 1964 [HRN 576], Fall 1968
ing Next” illo by William A. Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings.
Plane Tree” (William A. Walsh); “There Was an Old Man of Kil- 558. The Magic Dish. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by George
kenny” by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: Peltz; coloring page by George Peltz; “Coming Next” illo by L.B.
“The Puma” (William A. Walsh). First printing June 1958 [HRN Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Wolf and the Kid” (George Peltz);
552, 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1960 [HRN 568], February “There Was an Old Person of Dover” by Edward Lear (George Peltz);
1962 [HRN 575], July 1965 [HRN 576], Winter 1969 [HRN 576, The Animal World: “The Chinchilla” (William A. Walsh). First
stiff cover, 25¢]. Five printings. printing February 1959 [no HRN, LP ad on back cover, soft and stiff
552. The Three Little Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and covers, 15¢]; subsequent printings June-July 1961 [HRN 556],
interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; October 1961 [HRN 574], October 1963 [HRN 576], September
“Coming Next” illo by William A Walsh. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The 1966. Five printings.
Woodcutters and the Ax” (William A. Walsh); “There Was an Old 559. The Japanese Lantern by Lafcadio Hearn. Cover by L.B. Cole;
Man of the West” by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal interior art by George Peltz; coloring page by George Peltz; “Coming
World: “The Salamander” (William A. Walsh). First printing July Next” illo by L.B. Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “Hercules and the
1958 [HRN 553, 15¢]; subsequent printings December 1959 [HRN Wagon Driver” (George Peltz); “There Was a Young Lady Whose
563], April 1961 [HRN 571], November 1963 [HRN 576], September Chin” by Edward Lear (George Peltz); The Animal World: “The
1966 [HRN 576]. Five printings. Badger” (William A. Walsh). First printing April 1959 [HRN 559,
553. King Thrushbeard by the Brothers Grimm. Cover and interior 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1961 [HRN 574], December 1964
art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Com- [HRN 576], January 1967 [HRN 576]. Four printings.
ing Next” illo by Joe Sinnott. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Man and 560. The Doll Princess. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by William
the Satyr” (William A. Walsh); “There Was an Old Man in a Boat” A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo
by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Ham- (title-lettering variant) by L.B. Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The
ster” (William A. Walsh). First printing August 1958 [HRN 554, Man and His Two Wives” (William A. Walsh); “There Was an Old
15¢]; subsequent printings October 1959 [HRN 562], August 1960 Lady of Chertsey” by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal
[HRN 567], February 1962 [HRN 575], March 1965 [HRN 576], World: “The Bat” (William A. Walsh). First printing June 1959
1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Six printings. [HRN 560, 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1961 [HRN 574],
554. The Enchanted Deer by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by December 1964 [HRN 576], April 1967 [HRN 576]. Four print-
William A. Walsh; interior art by Joe Sinnott; coloring page by Joe ings.
Sinnott; “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Mike Sekowsky. 561. Hans Humdrum, a Danish fairy tale, collected by Sven
Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Deer and the Hunters” ( Joe Sinnott); Grundtvig. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by George Peltz; coloring
“There Was a Young Lady Whose Bonnet” by Edward Lear ( Joe Sin- page by George Peltz; and “Coming Next” illo (title-lettering variant)
nott); The Animal World: “The Ostrich” (William A. Walsh). First by L.B. Cole. Fillers: “The Camel and the Pig” (George Peltz); “There
printing September 1958 [HRN 555, 15¢]; subsequent printings Feb- Was an Old Man Who Said ‘How’” by Edward Lear (George Peltz);
ruary 1959 [HRN 558], April 1960 [HRN 565], February 1962 The Animal World: “The Walrus” (William A. Walsh). First printing
 APPENDIX F 341

August 1959 [HRN 561, 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1961 569. The Three Giants (based on “The Skillful Huntsman”) by
[HRN 574], March 1965 [HRN 576], Fall 1968 [HRN 576, soft and the Brothers Grimm. Cover unattributed; interior art by George
stiff covers, 25¢]. Four printings. Peltz; coloring page by George Peltz; “Coming Next” illo unat-
562. The Enchanted Pony, a Russian fairy tale. Cover by L.B. Cole; tributed. Fillers: “The String of Carts” (George Peltz); “Spots of
interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; Greece” by Edward Lear (George Peltz); The Animal World: “The
“Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by L.B. Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fa- Ibex” (Norman Nodel). First printing December 1960 [HRN 568,
bles: “The Two Maids and the Cock” (William A. Walsh); “There issue number and price in different font and smaller point-size, 15¢];
Was a Young Lady Whose Eyes” by Edward Lear (William A. Walsh); subsequent printings February 1962 [HRN 575], February 1965
The Animal World: “The Katydid” (William A. Walsh). First [HRN 576], Fall 1968 [HRN 576, “A” and “B” cover variants, 25¢].
printing October 1959 [HRN 562, 15¢]; subsequent printings Four printings.
October 1961 [HRN 574], September 1964 [HRN 576], April 1967 570. The Pearl Princess (based on “The Goose Girl at the Spring”)
[HRN 576]. Four printings. by the Brothers Grimm. Cover unattributed; interior art unat-
563. The Wishing Well. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by tributed; coloring page “A” (from lower panel, page 17) unattributed;
William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming “Coming Next” illo (cover variant) by Jack Kirby. Fillers: “The Three
Next” illo by L.B. Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Boy Bathing” Fish” (unattributed); “There Was an Old Person of Troy” by Edward
(William A. Walsh); “There Was a Young Lady Whose Nose” by Ed- Lear (unattributed); The Animal World: “The Grebe” (unattributed).
ward Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Alpaca” First printing February 1961 [HRN 568, 15¢]; subsequent printings
(L.B. Cole). First printing December 1959 [HRN 563, 15¢]; subse- February 1962 [HRN 575], February 1965 [HRN 576, printing error:
quent printings October 1961 [HRN 574], January 1965 [HRN 576], reddish coloring on cover (absence of blue)], Winter 1969 [HRN
Spring 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, issue number and price printed 576, stiff cover, coloring page “B” (from lower left, page 19), 25¢].
in blue, 25¢]. Four printings. Four printings.
564. The Salt Mountain, a Russian fairy tale. Cover by L.B. Cole; 571. How Fire Came to the Indians, a Native American tale. Cover
interior art by George Peltz; coloring page by George Peltz; “Coming unattributed; interior art by Tony Tallarico; coloring page by Tony
Next” illo by L.B. Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Father and His Tallarico; “Coming Next” illo unattributed (possibly Sidney Miller).
Two Daughters” (George Peltz); “There Was a Young Lady of Nor- Fillers: “The Good King” (Tony Tallarico); “There Was a Young
way” by Edward Lear (George Peltz); The Animal World: “The Pel- Person in Pink” by Edward Lear (unattributed); The Animal World:
ican” (L.B. Cole). First printing February 1960 [HRN 563, 15¢]; “The Tarsier” (unattributed). First printing April 1961 [HRN 571,
subsequent printings October 1961 [HRN 574], January 1965 [HRN 15¢]; subsequent printings Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 576], No-
576], March 1967 [HRN 576]. Four printings. vember 1966 [HRN 576, “A” and “B” variants (indicia error “Number
565. The Silly Princess, a Russian fairy tale. Cover by L.B. Cole, 504”)]; Spring 1969(?) [HRN 576(?)] (existence questioned). Three
interior art by William A. Walsh; coloring page by William A. Walsh; (or four) printings.
“Coming Next” illo by L. B. Cole. Fillers: “Fortune and the Beggar” 572. The Drummer Boy by the Brothers Grimm. Cover unattrib-
(William A. Walsh); “There Was a Young Lady of Bute” by Edward uted (possibly Sidney Miller); interior art possibly by Sidney Miller;
Lear (William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Chameleon” coloring page possibly by Sidney Miller; “Coming Next” illo by
(L.B. Cole). First printing April 1960 [HRN 565, 15¢]; subsequent unidentified artist (larger-numbering variant). Fillers: Aesop’s Fables:
printings February 1962 [HRN 575], January 1965 [HRN 576], 1968 “The Hare and the Hound” (Charles Berger); “There Was an Old
[HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Four printings. Man in a Garden” by Edward Lear (unattributed); The Animal
566. Clumsy Hans (based on “Clod Hans”) by Hans Christian World: “The Road Runner” (unattributed). First printing June 1961
Andersen. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by William A. Walsh; [HRN 572, 15¢]; subsequent printings Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN
coloring page by William A. Walsh; “Coming Next” illo by L.B. 576], January 1967 [HRN 576]. Three printings.
Cole. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Mouse, the Cat and the Rooster” 573. The Crystal Ball by the Brothers Grimm. Cover by Pat
(William A. Walsh); “The Table and the Chair” by Edward Lear Prichard (?); interior art by Sidney Miller (?); coloring page by Sidney
(William A. Walsh); The Animal World: “The Prairie Dog” (L.B. Miller (?); “Coming Next” illo unattributed (title-lettering variant).
Cole). First printing June 1960 [HRN 566, 15¢]; subsequent printings Fillers: “The Fish and the Cat” (unattributed); “There Was an Old
February 1962 [HRN 575], January 1965 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN Person of Wilts” by Edward Lear (unattributed); The Animal World:
576, soft cover, 25¢]. Four printings. “The Mastodon” (H.J. Kihl). First printing August 1961 [HRN 573,
567. The Bearskin Soldier (based on “Bearskin”) by the Brothers 15¢]; subsequent printings October 1963 [HRN 576], August 1966
Grimm. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by George Peltz; coloring page [HRN 576]. Three printings.
by George Peltz; “Coming Next” illo by L.B. Cole. Fillers: “The Red- 574. Brightboots. Cover unattributed; interior art by Tony Tal-
Bud Tree” (George Peltz); “There Was a Young Lady of Russia” by Ed- larico; coloring page by Tony Tallarico; “Coming Next” illo unat-
ward Lear (George Peltz); The Animal World: “The Swordfish” (L.B. tributed (cover variants: title size; fence not included in published
Cole). First printing August 1960 [HRN 567, 15¢]; subsequent print- version). Fillers: “The Shepherd’s Bride” (Tony Tallarico); “There
ings February 1962 [HRN 575], February 1965 [HRN 576], May Was an Old Man of Dee-side” by Edward Lear (Erhard); The Animal
1967 [HRN 576], 1968 [HRN 576, soft cover, 25¢]. Five printings. World: “The Sloth” (unattributed). First printing October 1961
568. The Happy Hedgehog (based on “Hans My Hedgehog”) by [HRN 574, 15¢]; subsequent printings November 1964 [HRN 576,
the Brothers Grimm. Cover by L.B. Cole; interior art by George cover variant: blues missing, white background], 1968 [HRN 576,
Peltz; coloring page by George Peltz; “Coming Next” illo (cover vari- soft cover, large point-size for number and price on white strip, 25¢].
ant) unattributed. Fillers: Aesop’s Fables: “The Mouse, the Frog, and Three printings.
the Hawk” (L.B. Cole); “There Was an Old Man of the Dee” by Ed- 575. The Fearless Prince by the Brothers Grimm. Cover unattrib-
ward Lear (George Peltz); The Animal World: “The Buffalo” ( Jay uted; interior art by “Boris”; coloring page (adapted from p. 12, No.
Disbrow). First printing October 1960 [HRN 568, 15¢]; subsequent 575) by “Boris”; “Coming Next” illo by Pat Prichard. Fillers: “The
printings February 1962 [HRN 575], February 1965 [HRN 576], Nail” (Erhard); “There Was an Old Person of Dean” by Edward Lear
May 1967 [HRN 576]. Four printings. (Erhard); The Animal World: “The Panglion” (unattributed). First
342 APPENDIX G

printing February 1962 [HRN 575, 15¢]; subsequent printings Feb- November 1955. Fillers: Great Lives: “Amelia Earhart”; Pioneers of
ruary 1964 [HRN 576], November 1966 [HRN 576]. Three print- Science: “Joseph Priestley” (first appeared in Classic Comics No. 31).
ings. First printing June (March) 1957 [HRN 137, inside-front-cover ed-
576. The Princess Who Saw Everything by the Brothers Grimm. itors’ note; 96 pages, 35¢]; subsequent printings June (March) 1959
Cover and interior art by Pat Prichard; coloring page by Pat Prichard [HRN 149], December (October) 1961 [anomalous HRN 149]. Three
(with figure added to panel found on p. 6, No. 576); “Coming Next” printings.
illo (amalgam of top panel, p. 19, No. 577, and top right panel, p. 141A. The Rough Rider, Painted cover unattributed; interior art
25, No. 577) by Pat Prichard. Fillers: “The Unhappy Cow” (Erhard); by George Evans (pencils). Fillers: “This He Believed...”; “Theodore
“There Was an Old Man in a Tree” by Edward Lear (unattributed); Roosevelt” by Hermann Hagedorn. First and only printing December
The Animal World: “The Hummingbird” (unattributed). First print- (October) 1957 [HRN 141, inside-front-cover letter from Hermann
ing June 1962 [HRN 576, 15¢]; subsequent printings December 1963 Hagedorn, Director, Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Commission;
[HRN 576], March 1967 [HRN 576]. Three printings. inside-back-cover commendations; 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing.
577. The Runaway Dumpling based on a Japanese folktale, told 144A. Blazing the Trails West. Painted cover by George Wilson;
by Lafcadio Hearn. Cover and interior art by Pat Prichard; coloring page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “Daniel Boone” (George
page by Pat Prichard; no “Coming Next” ad. No fillers. First and Evans); “The Lewis and Clark Expedition” (George Evans); “The
only printing Winter 1969 [HRN 576, stiff cover, 25¢]. One print- Santa Fe Trail” (George Evans); “Fur and Mountains” (George Evans);
ing. “Kit Carson” (George Evans); “Texas and the Alamo” ( John P. Sev-
erin); “The Mexican War” ( John P. Severin); Fillers: “End of an Em-
pire”; “Frontier Fun.” First and only printing June (March) 1958
Appendix G. Classics Illustrated Special Issues [HRN 143, 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing.
(Gilberton, 1955–1964) 147A. Crossing the Rockies. Cover by Gerald McCann; page-one
splash by Norman Nodel. Chapters: “The Oregon Trail” (Norman
The Special Issues were, with the exception of the unnumbered Nodel); “Death and the Donners” (Norman Nodel); “‘This Is the
United Nations edition, 96 pages in length; the cover price was 35
Place’” (Norman Nodel); “The Gold Rush” (George Evans); “The
cents, with the exceptions of the United Nations issue and a Story
Apache Wars” ( Joe Orlando); “The Overland Mail” ( Joe Orlando):
of Jesus reprint. Bill Briggs and John Haufe argue persuasively that
all Special Issues bearing a December publication date were in fact “Pony Express” ( Joe Orlando); “Bound by Rails” ( Joe Orlando);
released in October, while those with a June publication date were Fillers: “Meanwhile, Back in the East...”; “The Magic Wire.” First
actually issued in March. and only printing December (October) 1958 [HRN 146, 96 pages,
35¢]. One printing.
129A. The Story of Jesus. First painted cover (“Jesus on the Moun- 150A. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Painted cover by Gerald
tain”) by Victor Prezio, interior art by William A. Walsh and Alex McCann; page-one splash by L.B. Cole. Chapters: “March to Fort
A. Blum, adaptation by Lorenz Graham. Chapters: “Birth and Boy- Whoop-Up” (Sam Glanzman); “Pony Soldiers” (Graham Ingels);
hood of Jesus”; “Preparation for Life’s Work”; “The Galilean Min- “Indians and Outlaws” (Sid Check); “Unrest and Rebellion” (Kirner);
istry”; “Jesus at Jerusalem”; “Betrayal, Trial and Crucifixion”; “Res- “Patrolling the Prairies” (Sam Becker); “The Gold Rush” (unattrib-
urrection.” First PC1 printing December (October) 1955 [no HRN, uted); “Into the Far North” (Norman Nodel); “The Modern
back-cover commendations, inside-back-cover note from “The Pub- Mountie” (Stan Campbell); Manhunt!” (Ray Ramsey); “Molding a
lishers”; 96 pages, 35¢]. Second painted cover (“Three Camels”) Mountie (Norman Nodel); Fillers: “Mountie Museum”; “Heroic Res-
unattributed; original interior art. First and only PC 2 printing De- cues.” First and only printing June (March) 1959 [HRN 149, 96
cember (August-October) 1958 [No HRN, back-cover commen- pages, 35¢). One printing.
dations with F. Orozco substituted for E.A. Love]. Second PC 1 print- 153A. Men, Guns and Cattle. Painted cover by Gerald McCann;
ing March 1961 [HRN 161, 35¢]; third PC1 printing 1968 [HRN 166, page-one splash by L.B. Cole. Chapters: “Horns and Hoofs” (George
50¢]. Four printings (three PC1, one PC2). Evans); “Iron Fisted Marshal” (George Evans); “The Chisholm Trail”
132A. The Story of America. Painted cover by George Wilson. (George Evans); “The Lincoln County War” (Gerald McCann);
Chapters: “The Man Who Discovered America” (Lou Cameron); “Dodge City Lawman” (Gerald McCann); “The Last War” (Everett
“The Birth of America” (Lin Streeter); “Paul Revere’s Ride” (Peter Raymond Kinstler); “The West’s Wildest Town” (Norman Nodel);
Costanza); “The Star-Spangled Banner” (Tom Hickey); all sections “The Death of Tombstone” (Everett Raymond Kinstler); “Koo-
originally appeared in Picture Parade/Picture Progress series. First and hoppers and Cactus Cats” (George Peltz); “The Closing Frontier”
only printing June (March) 1956 [HRN 132, inside-front-covere d- (Gerald McCann); Fillers: “Guns and Gunfighters”; “Git Along Little
itors’ note; 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing. Dogies.” First and only printing December (October) 1959 [HRN
135A. The Ten Commandments. Painted cover and interior art by 152, 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing.
Norman Nodel, adaptation by Lorenz Graham. Chapters: “Oppres- 156A. The Atomic Age. Painted cover by Gaylord Welker; page-
sion in Egypt”; “Early Life of Moses”; “God Calls Moses”; “The one splash by Norman Nodel. Chapters: “Adventure North” (Norman
Plagues”; “Exodus”; “The Commandments”; “The Tabernacle.” First Nodel); “The Smallest Particle” (Bruno Premiani); “Inside the Atom”
and only printing December (October) 1956 [no HRN, back-cover (Edd Ashe); “The Atomic Furnace” (Gerald McCann); “The Magic
commendations, inside-back-cover promotion for Paramount film Mineral” (Sam Glanzman); “How to Build a Radiation Detector”
production of The Ten Commandments, 96 pages, 35¢]. One print- (George Evans); “Alpha, Beta and Gamma” (Everett Raymond Kin-
ing. stler); “Atoms for Power” (George Evans); “The Radioscope” (Sam
138A. Adventures in Science. Painted cover by George Wilson. Glanzman); “Atoms and Industry” ( John Tartaglione); “Atoms and
Chapters: “The Story of Flight” (Peter Costanza); “Andy’s Atomic Agriculture” (Gerald McCann); “Atoms and Medicine” (Angelo Tor-
Adventures” (Peter Costanza); “The Discoveries of Louis Pasteur” res); “The Healing Rays” (Gerald McCann); “The Atom Tomorrow”
(Peter Costanza); “From Tom-Tom to TV” (Lin Streeter); all sections (Bruno Premiani); Fillers: “The Ages of Energy”; “The Search for
originally appeared in Picture Parade/Picture Progress series except for Uranium.” First and only printing June (March) 1960 [HRN 154,
“From Tom-Tom to TV,” which was scheduled for publication in 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing.
 APPENDIX H 343

159A. Rockets, Jets and Missiles. Painted cover by Allen Simon; Evans); “Guadalcanal” (George Evans); “Tarawa”(George Evans);
page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “Flight of the X-1” “War Leaders” I (Angelo Torres); “Stalingrad” (Angelo Torres); “War
(George Evans); “Space Talk” I (Sam Glanzman); “The Moon” Leaders” II (Angelo Torres); “Lidice and Warsaw” (Norman Nodel);
(Gerald McCann); “The Jet Is Born” (Gerald McCann); “Space Talk” “The Death Camps” (Norman Nodel); “North Africa” (Norman
II (Sam Glanzman); “Mercury” ( John Tartaglione); “Jet Engines” Nodel); “War Leaders” III (Angelo Torres); “The Italian Campaign”
( John Tartaglione); “Jets Around the World” ( John Tartaglione); (Norman Nodel); “Blockbusters and Buzz Bombs” (George Evans);
“Space Talk” III (Sam Glanzman); “Venus” ( John Tartaglione); “The Normandy Invasion” (George Evans); “The Battle of the Bulge”
“Rockets Through Time” (H.J. Kihl); “Space Talk” IV (Sam Glanz- (Norman Nodel); “Victory in Europe” (Norman Nodel); “War Lead-
man); “Mars” (Gerald McCann); “The Wizard of Worcester” (Gerald ers” IV (Angelo Torres); “Leyte Gulf ” (Angelo Torres); “The Main-
McCann); “Space Talk” V (Sam Glanzman); “Jupiter” (Gerald Mc- land War” (Angelo Torres); War Leaders” V (Angelo Torres); “Iwo
Cann); “Rocket Engines” ( John Tartaglione); “Don’t Do It Yourself ” Jima and Okinawa” (Angelo Torres); “Victory in the Pacific” (Angelo
(Jack Abel); “Space Talk” VI (Sam Glanzman); “Saturn” (Gerald Mc- Torres); “Crimes Against Humanity” (Angelo Torres). First and only
Cann); “Rockets and Missiles Around the World” (Gerald McCann); printing Spring 1962 [HRN 165, 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing.
“Artifical Moons” (Sam Glanzman); “Space Talk” VII (Sam Glanz- 167A. Prehistoric World. Painted cover unattributed; page-one
man); “Uranus” ( John Tartaglione); “Seven for Space” (Gray splash by Angelo Torres. Chapters: “In Search of the Past” (Angelo
Morrow); “Space Talk” VIII (Sam Glanzman); “Neptune” ( John Torres); “Survival of the Fittest” (Angelo Torres); “The Wonderful
Tartaglione); “Off into Orbit” (Gray Morrow); “Space Talk” IX (Sam Earth Movie” (Angelo Torres); “The First Fishes” (Angelo Torres);
Glanzman); “Pluto” (Gerald McCann); “Doorway to Tomorrow” “Living on Land” (Angelo Torres); “The Dinosaurs” (Angelo Torres);
(Sam Glanzman); Fillers: “Stones from Space”; “Other Worlds.” First “A Missing Link” (Angelo Torres); “Mammals, Bones and Stones”
and only printing December (October) 1960 [HRN 156, 96 pages, (Angelo Torres); “The Treasure of Flaming Cliffs” (Angelo Torres);
35¢]. One printing. “End of an Era” (Angelo Torres); “The Age of the Mammals” (Angelo
162A. The War Between the States. Painted cover by Geoffrey Biggs; Torres); “Prehistoric Man” (Angelo Torres); “The Bulls of Altamira”
page-one splash by Jack Kirby. Chapters: “April, 1861: Fort Sumter” (Angelo Torres); “The Dawn Men” (George Evans); “Neanderthal
( Jack Kirby); “The Causes” (Sam Glanzman); “July, 1861: Bull Run” Man” (George Evans); “Homo Sapiens” (Norman Nodel); “Cro-
(Till Goodan); “Battle Report” I (George Peltz); “April, 1862: Shiloh” Magnon Man” (George Evans); “The Reindeer Age” ( Jo Albistur);
(George Evans); “April, 1862: New Orleans” (Edd Ashe); “April–July, “The Races of Man” (Jo Albistur); “The Early Farmers” (Jo Albistur);
1862: The Peninsula” ( Jack Kirby); “July, 1862: Kentucky” ( John “The Long Journeys: Into America, into Africa” (Gerald McCann);
Tartaglione); “Battle Report” II (Till Goodan); “June, 1863: Brandy “The Long Journeys: The Mixing of Peoples, Across the Pacific”
Station” (George Peltz); “June–July, 1863: Gettysburg” (Sam Glanz- (Norman Nodel); “The Stone Builders” (Norman Nodel); “The Fue-
man); “April–July, 1863: Vicksburg” ( Jack Kirby); “September–No- gian Experiment” (Norman Nodel); “Primitives Today” (Norman
vember, 1863: Chattanooga” (Edd Ashe); “Battle Report” III (George Nodel). First printing July 1962 [HRN 165, 96 pages, 35¢]; second
Peltz); “May–September, 1864: Georgia” (Till Goodan); “October, printing Spring-Summer 1963 [HRN 167]. Two printings.
1864: The Atlantic” (Stan Campbell); “November, 1864: New York [No number] The United Nations. Painted cover unattributed;
City” ( Jack Kirby); “April, 1865: Appomattox Court House” (Till page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “The Clinic at Solo”
Goodan); “Final Report” (Till Goodan); “Reconstruction” (George (George Evans); “United for Peace” (George Evans); “The Troubled
Evans); Fillers: The Exile’s Dream”; “The Peasants’ Revolt.” First and Congo” (George Evans); “Peace—Through Education, Science, Cul-
only printing June (March) 1961 [HRN 161, 96 pages, 35¢]. One ture” (George Evans); “Freedom from Hunger” (George Evans); “Spe-
printing. cial Agencies” (George Evans); “The Health Army” (George Evans);
165A. To the Stars! Painted cover by Norman Nodel; page-one “The Key” (George Evans, text/illos); “A New Life” (Angelo Torres);
splash by Angelo Torres. Chapters: “Man in the Skies” (Angelo “The Technical Expert” (Angelo Torres, text/illos); “A Light Is Set”
Torres); “Earth in Space” (George Evans): “The Magic Eye” (George (Angelo Torres); “A Home for Premadasa” (Angelo Torres); “Shoes
Evans); “The Giant of Palomar” (George Evans); “A Simple Telescope for François” (George Evans, text/illos); “The Pajama Safari” (George
( Jack Kirby); “Lines and Signals” ( Jack Kirby); “Viewing the Spec- Evans); “The Elders of Shewaki” (George Evans); “All the World’s
trum” ( Jack Kirby); “Our Neighbor —The Moon” (Sam Glanzman); Children” (Bruno Premiani); Untitled end page (Bruno Premiani,
“The Copper Moon” (Sam Glanzman); “The Inner Planets” ( Jo Al- text/illos); Introduction (inside front cover) by Hernane Tavares de
bistur); “The Giants” ( Jo Albistur); “The Georgian Planet” (George Sá; “Red More About the United Nations” (inside back cover). Not
Evans); “Uranus” ( Jo Albistur); “Neptune” ( Jo Albistur); “Planet part of U.S. series; English edition printed in Norway for sale at
X”( Jo Albistur); “Pluto” ( Jo Albistur”); “Are There Other Planets?” United Nations headquarters. First and only printing 1964, per pub-
( Jo Albistur); “Fiery Streaks and Tails” (Sam Glanzman); “Figures lication indicia (Dan Malan argues, based on the inclusion of the zip
in the Sky” (Sam Glanzman); “Star Facts” (Sam Glanzman); “Our code for 101 Fifth Avenue, that the publication date was actually 1966,
Nearest Star” (Sam Glanzman); “The Disappearing Sun” (Norman when Gilberton added 10003 to its back-cover reorder lists; never-
Nodel); “Light Years” (Norman Nodel); “The Universe” (Norman theless, zip codes were introduced in 1963, and the United Nations
Nodel); “The Universe and Life” (Norman Nodel); Fillers: “The Swiss cover stock is consistent with 1964 CI reprints rather than the slicker
Patent Clerk”; “Days and Years.” First and only printing December 1966 examples) [HRN 167/HRN 576 (unique combined CI and CI
(October) 1961 [HRN 163, 96 pages, 35¢]. One printing. JR back-cover reorder lists), 64 pages, 50¢]. One printing.
166A. World War II. Painted cover unattributed; page-one splash
by Angelo Torres. Chapters: “Blitzkrieg” (Angelo Torres); “The Appendix H. The Best from Boys’ Life Comics
Fuehrer” (Angelo Torres); “War on the High Seas” (Angelo Torres); (Gilberton, 1957–1958)
“Il Duce” (Angelo Torres); “The Conquest of Western Europe”
(George Evans); “The Battle of Britain” (Norman Nodel); and Wolf The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, Number 1 (tornado cover depicting
Packs” (Norman Nodel); “The Resistance” (George Evans); “The David Carson, Troop 25, Worcester, Massachusetts); “Meet Your
Eastern Front” (Norman Nodel); “The Big Three” (Angelo Torres); Friends” (message from Arthur A. Schuck, Chief Scout Executive,
“War in the Pacific” (Norman Nodel); “The Doolittle Raid” (George Boy Scouts of America, inside front cover); Note from the Editors
344 APPENDIX I

of Classics Illustrated (inside back cover); Reprinted material: “Pee Wallace, Paul Dremann, Troop 70, Salt Lake City, Utah]” (Alsten
Wee Harris” (Percy K. Fitzhugh); “Space Conquerors!” (Al Stenzel); (Al Stenzel)]; “Kam of the ‘Ancient Ones’” ( Joe King); “Special
“Rockets and Jets” (Al Stenzel); “David and Goliath” (Creig Features: Fiction; Sports; Hobbies; How-to-Make.” One printing
Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Action [David Carson, Troop April 1958 [HRN 143, 96 pages, 35¢].
25, Worcester, Massachusetts]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Think and The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, Number 4 (canoeing cover by Leonard
Grin” (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); “Old Timer Tales of B. Cole). Reprinted material: “Pee Wee Harris” (Percy K. Fitzhugh);
Kit Carson” (Lee Ames); “10 Safety Commandments That “Space Conquerors!” (Al Stenzel); “Stories from the Bible: The
Everyone Handling a Rifle Should Know” (Al Stenzel); “Scouts in Wise Servant” (Creig Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Action
Action [Scott Raymond Ewing, Explorer Squadron 18, Nampa, [Aaron Tokunaga, Post 140, Wailuku, Hawaii]” (Alsten [Al Sten-
Idaho]” (Stan Pashko and John Sink); “The Good Samaritan” (Irv- zel]); “Think and Grin” (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); “Kit
ing Novick); “How to Make It: Pony Express Mail Holder” (un- Carson Tales” (Lee Ames); “Stories from the Bible: Joseph and His
attributed); “Puzzles and Tricks” (unattributed); “How to Make Brothers” (Creig Flessel); “Johnny Appleseed” (unattributed); “Fun
It: Apple Indians and Pilgrims” (unattributed); “Pine Cone in the Water” (Dik Browne); “Boating Hints” (Dik Browne); “Here
Turkey” (unattributed); “How to Develop Film” (Al Stenzel); Are Three Good Water Sports” (unattributed); “How to Make It:
“How to Print Pictures” (Al Stenzel); “Rocky Stoneaxe” (Mal A Life Buoy” (unattributed); “Rocky Stoneaxe” (Mal Eaton); “A
Eaton); “Think and Grin” (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); True Story of Scouts in Action [Joseph Higgins, Troop 89, Wood-
“Faith of His Fathers [Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, USS Dorch- burne, New York]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Think and Grin” (var-
ester]”; “The Tracy Twins, Dicky + Nicky” (Dik Browne); “A True ious)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); “The Tracy Twins, Dicky +
Story of Scouts in Action [Ronald Kubisiak, Troop 97, Stevens Nicky” (Dik Browne); “Stories from the Bible: Joseph in Egypt”
Point, Wisconsin]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Kam of the ‘Ancient (Creig Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Action [John Tracy,
Ones’” ( Joe King); “Special Features: Fiction; Sports; Hobbies; Troop 45, Fair Lawn, New Jersey]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Kam of
How-to-Make.” One printing October 1957 [HRN 141, 96 pages, the ‘Ancient Ones’” ( Joe King); “Special Features: Fiction; Sports;
35¢]. Hobbies; How-to-Make.” One printing July 1958 [HRN 143, 96
The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, Number 2 (rescue cover by Leonard pages, 35¢].
B. Cole depicting James Kinney, Troop 115, Barberton, Ohio). The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, Number 5 (hiking cover by Leonard
Reprinted material: “Pee Wee Harris” (Percy K. Fitzhugh); “Space B. Cole). “Reprinted material: Pee Wee Harris” (Percy K. Fitzhugh);
Conquerors!” (Al Stenzel); “How to Make It: Puppet Shows” (un- “Space Conquerors!” (Al Stenzel); “How to Make It: Have a Nut
attributed); “Stories from the Bible: The Beginning” (Creig Zoo at Your Harvest Fair” and “Skill Games” (Dik Browne); “Sto-
Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Action [James Kinney, Troop ries from the Bible: David in the Cave of Adullam” (Creig Flessel);
115, Barberton, Ohio]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Think and Grin” “A True Story of Scouts in Action [Brookner Brady, Jr., Air
(various)/Millicent (Clyde Lamb)”; “Tales of Kit Carson: Caught Explorer 31, Monterey, California]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Think
in a Buffalo Stampede” (Lee Ames); “How to Make It: Carnival and Grin” (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); “Frontier Tales:
Capers” (Dik Browne); “A True Story of Scouts in Action [Parker Across the Great Divide [Lewis and Clark]” (Lee Ames); “Frontier
Edward Stratt, Pack 305, Coral Gables, Florida]” (Alsten [Al Sten- Tales [First Great Cattle Drive] (Lee Ames); “Frontier Tales [Cliff
zel]); Stories from the Bible: The Warning [Noah]” (Creig Flessel); Dwellers of Mesa Verde]” (Lee Ames); “Stories from the Bible:
“How to Enjoy Winter Camping” (Al Stenzel); “How to Make It: Moses” (Creig Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Action [Donnie
Wizard of Oz Costumes” (Al Stenzel); “Rocky Stoneaxe” (Mal McFarland, Troop 17, Claue, Texas]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “The
Eaton); “Think and Grin” (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); Man Who Sent the First Christmas Card” (Dik Browne); “Un-
“Stories from the Bible: The Deluge [Noah]” (Creig Flessel); “The derground Sunshine [Coal, Oil]” (Al Stenzel); “Rocky Stoneaxe”
Tracy Twins, Dicky + Nicky” (Dik Browne); “A True Story of (Mal Eaton); “The Red Feather” ( Joe King); “Think and Grin”
Scouts in Action [George W. Kingston, Troop 710, Detroit, Michi- (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); “The Tracy Twins, Dicky +
gan]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Kam of the ‘Ancient Ones’” ( Joe Nicky” (Dik Browne); “Stories from the Bible: The Exodus” (Creig
King); “Special Features: Fiction; Sports; Hobbies; How-to- Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Action [Houston (‘Sonny’)
Make.” One printing January 1958 [HRN 142, 96 pages, 35¢]. Sansome, Sea Explorer Ship 194, Columbus, Georgia]” (Alsten [Al
The Best from Boys’ Life Comics, Number 3 (space cover by Leonard Stenzel]); “Peter Zenger and the Fight for Freedom of the Press”
B. Cole). Reprinted material: “Space Conquerors!” (Al Stenzel); (Lee Ames); “Kam of the ‘Ancient Ones’” (Joe King); “Special Fea-
“Heroes of Legend: Daedalus and Icarus” (unattributed); “Pee Wee tures” section (no introductory page). One printing October 1958
Harris” (Percy K. Fitzhugh); “Stories from the Bible: The Sower [HRN 147, 96 pages, 35¢].
and other Parables” (Creig Flessel); “A True Story of Scouts in Ac-
tion [Robert Wyant, Troop 10, Albert Lea, Minnesota]” (Alsten
[Al Stenzel]); “How to Make It: A Cigar Box Mississippi River
Appendix I. The World Around Us (Gilberton,
Show Boat” (unattributed); “How to Make It: The Eddy Bow 1958–1961)
Kite” (unattributed); “Think and Grin” (various)/”Millicent”
(Clyde Lamb); “Old Timer Tales of Kit Carson” (Lee Ames); “Sto- The first 14 issues contained 80 pages; the length decreased to 72
pages in W15, and there was a final reduction to 64 pages in W21.
ries from the Bible: The Tower of Babel” (Creig Flessel); “A True
No World Around Us issue was reprinted. The cover price was 25
Story of Scouts in Action [John Francis Sapik, Troop 5, Superior,
cents.
Wisconsin]” (Alsten [Al Stenzel]); “Rocky Stoneaxe” (Mal Eaton);
“The Tracy Twins, Dicky + Nicky” (Dik Browne); “From ‘Town W1. The Illustrated Story of Dogs. Painted cover and page-one
Ball’ to the ‘Majors’ [Abner Doubleday]” (Al Stenzel); “Think and splash by Ernest H. Hart. Chapters: Heroic Dogs: “Moustache,”
Grin” (various)/”Millicent” (Clyde Lamb); “The Tracy Twins, “Balto,” “Bob of Carmel” (George Evans); “How the Dog Began”
Dicky + Nicky” (Dik Browne); “Stories from the Bible: Samson” (Ernest H. Hart); Dogs of War: “Chips,” “Andy,” “Peefka,” “Sandy,”
(Creig Flessel); “A True Story of Scouting in Action [Scoutmaster “Bruce” (Ernest H. Hart); “Canine Clippings” (George Peltz);
Valois A. Zarr, Scouts Dennis McSharry, Steve Durrant, Mike “Breeds” (unattributed); “Dog Diagram” (Ernest H. Hart); Dogs of
 APPENDIX I 345

Peace: “The Far Frontiers,” “Dog Paratroopers” (Lin Streeter); “Guide (copied from Howard Pyle); page-one splash by Gerald McCann.
to the Blind”(Ernest H. Hart); “Their Human Friends [Diamond/Sir Chapters: “The Buccaneer Chief [Henry Morgan]” (Gerald McCann);
Isaac Newton, Bounce/Alexander Pope, Maida/Sir Walter Scott, “The World’s Greatest Treasure [William Phips]” ( Jay Disbrow);
British commanding officer’s dog/George Washington]” (George “The First Buccaneers [Pierre Le Grand]” (Ann Brewster); “The Pirate
Peltz); “Their Animal Friends [mongrel pup/lion, Princess/piglets, Who Couldn’t Swim [Batholomew Portuguese]” ( John Forte);
Ginger/chicks, Noble/robins]” (George Peltz); You and Your Dog: “Robin Hood of the Sea [Red Legs Greaves]” (Ernest H. Hart); “The
“Care,” “Training,” “Tricks” (William A. Walsh); “How Would Your Amateur Pirate [Francis Drake]” (unattributed); “Pirate Patter” (H.J.
Dog Rate You?” (Ernest H. Hart). One printing September 1958 Kihl); “Marooned [Alexander Selkirk]” (Sam Glanzman); “The
[HRN 146, 80 pages, 25¢]. World’s Greatest Pirate [Madame Ching]” (Stan Campbell); “A-
W2. The Illustrated Story of Indians. Painted cover by Gerald Mc- Robbing Upon the Salt Sea” (Norman Nodel); “Caesar’s Revenge”
Cann; page-one splash by Sam Glanzman. Chapters: “Buffalo Hunt” (Ann Brewster); “Bloody Blackbeard” (Graham Ingels); “Captain
(Sam Glanzman); “The White Buffalo” ( John Forte); “Play the Kidd” (H.J. Kihl); “Pirate and Patriot [Jean Lafitte]” ( John Tarta-
Chunkey Game,” “First in America” (George Tukell); “Chief Joseph” glione); “The Last Pirates” (H.J. Kihl); “Are You in Ship Shape?”
(Till Goodan); “Test of Friendship” (Alfonso Green); “Make an (Gerald McCann); “Buried Treasure” (Gerald McCann). One printing
Indian Bonnet” (H.J. Kihl); “Sequoya” ( John Tartaglione); “Sign March 1959 [HRN 149, 80 pages, 25¢].
Talk” (Ann Brewster); “First Among the Indians [Hiawatha, Samoset, W8. The Illustrated Story of Flight. Painted cover by Stan Camp-
Chief John Logan, Sacagawea, Charles Curtis, Jim Thorpe, Will bell; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “Blizzard Rescue”
Rogers, Chief Bender, Maria Tallchief ]” (Sid Check). One printing ( John Tartaglione); “Wings of Myth,” “Wings of Man,” “Leonardo’s
October 1958 [HRN 146, 80 pages, 25¢]. Dream of Flight” (H.J. Kihl); “First in the Sky [Montgolfier
W3. The Illustrated Story of Horses. Painted cover by Leonard B. Brothers]” (Graham Ingels); “From Gliders to Gasoline” (Ann Brew-
Cole; page-one splash by John Forte. Chapters: “The Indian and His ster); “The Great Almost [Samuel Pierpont Langley]” (Gerald Mc-
Horse” (Gerald McCann); “Mustang!” (Sam Glanzman); “The Cow- Cann); “The First to Fly [Wright Brothers]” (Stan Campbell); “What
boy and His Horse” (Gerald McCann); “Know Your Oats,” “Horse Makes an Airplane Fly?” (H.J. Kihl); “Pioneer Pilots” (Ann Brewster);
Diagram” (E.H. Hart); “Horses in War [includes “The Charge of the “A New Weapon” (Sam Becker); “The Red Knight of Germany
Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson]” ( John Forte); “Horses in [Baron Manfred von Richthofen]” (George Evans); “Between the
Sport” (Ernest H. Hart); “Harness Racing,” “Heroic Horsemen” Wars [Richard E. Byrd, Charles Lindbergh, etc.]” (Stan Campbell);
(Gerald McCann); “Stories and Legends” (Leonard B. Cole); “You “A Deadly Weapon” (Sam Glanzman); “Brick Wall in the Sky
and Your Horse” ( John Forte); “Riding Through the Looking Glass [Charles Yeager]” ( John Tartaglione); “Flight of the Future” (Stan
[text by Lewis Carroll]” (H.J. Kihl); “Yesterday and Today” (Ann Campbell). One printing April 1959 [HRN 149, 80 pages, 25¢].
Brewster); “Parades” etc. (Gerald McCann). One printing November W9. The Illustrated Story of the Army. Painted cover by Doug Roea;
1958 [HRN 146, 80 pages, 25¢]. page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “Follow Old Minick”
W4. The Illustrated Story of Railroads. Painted cover unattributed; ( John Tartaglione); “Here Comes Yankee Doodle” (Ann Brewster);
page-one splash by Leonard B. Cole. Chapters: “A Weapon of War “Frontier Forts” (Graham Ingels); “The Corps of Cadets” (George
[Herman Haupt]” (Marvin Stein); “Birth of the Locomotive” Klein); “Two Too Many” (Edd Ashe); “Rifles and Arrows” (Sam
(Kirner); “A Very Merry Ride” (unattributed); “A Steel Driving Man Glanzman); “Custer’s Last Stand” (Gerald McCann); “Northern
[John Henry]” (Norman Nodel); “Stopped by Wind [air brake]” Raiders” (Edward Moritz); “The Army in War: The War of 1812”
(Leonard B. Cole and others); “The Way West” (Sam Becker); “High- (Ann Brewster); “The Army in War: The Mexican War” (Ray Ram-
ball!” (Leonard B. Cole); “Casey’s Last Ride [John Luther (Casey) sey); “The Army in War: The Civil War” ( Joe Orlando); “The Army
Jones]” (George Klein); “Today and Tomorrow” ( John Tartaglione). in War: The Spanish-American War” (Stephen L. Addeo); “The
One printing December 1958 [HRN 146, 80 pages, 25¢]. Army in War: World War I” ( Jay Disbrow); “The Army in War:
W5. The Illustrated Story of Space. Painted cover by Gay Welker; World War II” (Norman Nodel); “The Army in War: The Korean
page-one splash by Marvin Stein. Chapters: “Training for Space” War” (Norman Nodel); “The Army in Peace” (Gerald McCann);
(Marvin Stein); “Rocket Around the Moon” ( John Tartaglione); “Scooter Burke’s Peak”(Sam Glanzman). One printing May 1959
“What Is Space?” (Sam Glanzman); “Birth of the Rocket” (Gerald [HRN 149, 80 pages, 25¢].
McCann); “Man-Made Moons” (Ernest H. Hart); “Countdown!” W10. The Illustrated Story of the Navy. Painted cover by Gay
(Graham Ingels); “Assignment Space Station” (Sam Glanzman); Welker; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “The First
“Planet Patter [Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto, Hero” (Gerald McCann); “The First Fleet” (H.J. Kihl); “They Shall
Neptune],” “Life on Other Planets?” (H.J. Kihl). One printing Fight Today” (Gerald McCann); “A Bet Is Paid” (Everett Raymond
January 1959 [HRN 147, 80 pages, 25¢]. Kinstler); “Learning to Lead” (Jay Disbrow); “Fighting Words” (Ger-
W6. The Illustrated Story of the FBI. Painted cover unattributed; ald McCann); “The Navy in War: An Impossible Task” (Everett Ray-
page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “The FBI in War: mond Kinstler); “The Navy in War: Battle After Breakfast” (Ann
Spies on the Beach” (George Evans); “The FBI in War: Double Brewster); “The Navy in War: The Unseen Enemy” (Everett Ray-
Agents” (Graham Ingels); “The FBI in War: The Doll Woman” (Ann mond Kinstler); “The Navy in War: Full Speed Ahead!,” “The Navy
Brewster); “The FBI in War: The Spy Scientists” ( Jim Infantino); in War: The Wonderful Blunder” (Sam Glanzman); “Cheese-Box
“How It Began”(Gerald McCann); “G-Men” (H.J. Kihl); “The FBI on a Barrelhead” (H.J. Kihl); “The Navy in Peace” (George Klein);
in Peace: Planes Over Paradise” (Ann Brewster); “The FBI in Peace: “The Fleet Below” (Gerald McCann); “The Good Old Days” (George
Wanted” (Ray Ramsey); “The FBI in Peace: Playing Many Parts” Peltz); “Mission to Mindanao” (Sam Glanzman). One printing June
( John Tartaglione); “Solved by Science” (George Klein); “Telltale 1959 [HRN 149, 80 pages, 25¢].
Fingerprints” ( Jay Disbrow); “If You Join” (Ray Ramsey); “Make- W11. The Illustrated Story of the Marines. Painted cover by Frank
Believe Cases” (Ray Ramsey); “To Catch a Thief ” (Stan Campbell); X. Doyle; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “The Shores
“You’re an Agent” ( Jay Disbrow). One printing February 1959 [HRN of Tripoli” (Gerald McCann); “Fighting Leathernecks,” “The Halls
149, 80 pages, 25¢]. of Montezuma” (Everett Raymond Kinstler); “The Marines Have
W7. The Illustrated Story of Pirates. Painted by Norman B. Saunders Landed” ( Joe Orlando); “Six Outposts to Charlemagne” (Graham
346 APPENDIX I

Ingels); “Devil Dogs” (George Woodbridge); “Becoming a Marine” McCann); “The Red Lion” (Everett Raymond Kinstler); “The Walled
( John Tartaglione); “Peacetime Firemen” (Stan Campbell); “Circle City [Antioch]” (Bruno Premiani); “The Holy Lance” (Edd Ashe);
of Death” (Sidney Check); “Rocks, Sand and Bullets” (Sam Glanz- “Defeat” (Gerald McCann); “Richard the Lion-Hearted” (H.J. Kihl);
man); Fillers: “The Terrible Tiger”; “A Gentle Hand [Florence “Jerusalem, Jerusalem”: “The Sack of Constantinople,” “The Chil-
Nightingale]”; “The Piltdown Hoax”; “The Floating Laboratory.” dren’s Crusade,” “The Last Crusades” (Bruno Premiani); Fillers:
One printing July 1959 [HRN 150, 80 pages, 25¢]. “Dante’s Lesson”; “Faithful Unto Death [Mary Dyer]”; “Search for
W12. The Illustrated Story of the Coast Guard. Painted cover un- a Home [Jewish homeland]”; “Art and Inspiration [Byzantine, Ro-
attributed; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “Four Last manesque, Gothic].” One printing December 1959 [HRN 152, 72
Words,” “Revenues and Rescues” (Edd Ashe); “Send for Black Maria” pages, 25¢].
(George Peltz); “Cutters at War” (Stan Campbell); “The Matchbox W17. The Illustrated Story of Festivals. Painted cover unattributed;
Fleet” (Kirner); “Training for Duty” (Ann Brewster); “Sea Patrol” page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “A Visit from St.
(Graham Ingels); “Mayday!” ( John Tartaglione); “Six Subs in Twelve Nicholas” (George Evans); “A Child Is Born: The Presepe” (Bruno
Hours” (Edd Ashe); “The Long March” (Sam Glanzman); Fillers: Premiani); “A Child Is Born: The Posadas” (William A. Walsh);
“The Gallant Mare [Dick Turpin and Black Bess]”; “The Mystery of “Christmas Long Ago: Myrtle and Mistletoe” (H.J. Kihl); “Christmas
Stonehenge”; “The Fatal Fever”; “First Around the World [Magel- Long Ago: Christmas in America” (Alex A. Blum); “Christmas Long
lan].” One printing August 1959 [HRN 150, 80 pages, 25¢]. Ago: Feasting and Firing” (George Peltz); “The New Year” ( John
W13. The Illustrated Story of the Air Force. Painted cover unattrib- Tartaglione); “The Earth Unlocks: The Death of Winter,” “The Earth
uted; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “We Need the Unlocks: Easter” (Bruno Premiani); “The Earth Unlocks: “Preparing
Ship!” (Sam Glanzman); “The Air Force Is Born” (Gerald McCann); Papaquis, Watch Me Tap This Easter Egg” (H.J. Kihl); “The Earth
“Seek Out the Enemy” (Edd Ashe); “Brave Men Must Die” (H.J. Unlocks: Merry May Day” (George Peltz); “Summer Is a-Comin’
Kihl); “Between Two Wars” (Norman Nodel); “Victory in the Air” In” (Edd Ashe); “Harvest Home” (Norman Nodel); “Festivals of Free-
(Gerald McCann); “A Separate Service” (Ann Brewster); “Fourteen dom: July 4, 1776, ‘To the Bastille!’” (H.J. Kihl); “Festivals of
to One” (George Klein); “SAC, TAC and ADC” (H.J. Kihl); “End Freedom: Buzkashi Races” (George Peltz); “Festivals of Freedom: A
of an Ace” (Sam Glanzman); Fillers: “The White Whale”; “Henry’s Great Miracle” (Norman Nodel); “A Grab-Bag of Festivals” ( John
Six Wives”; “The Blizzard of ’88”; “Frontier Heroines [Molly Pitcher, Tartaglione); Fillers: “The Ancient Games [Olympics]”; “Washing-
Betty Zane].” One printing September 1959 [HRN 150, 80 pages, ton’s Vision”; “A Leprechaun I Spied”; “The Wrath of Juno [The
25¢]. Aeneid].” One printing January 1960 [HRN 152, 72 pages, 25¢].
W14. The Illustrated Story of the French Revolution. Painted cover W18. The Illustrated Story of Great Scientists. Painted cover by Nor-
unattributed; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “To the man Nodel; page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “The Earth
Bastille!,” “Seeds of the Revolution,” “Fanning the Flames” (Gerald Is Round” (George Evans); “Famous Geographers [Unknown Chinese
McCann); “The Tennis Court Oath” (Everett Raymond Kinstler); inventor of compass, Marco Polo, Mercator, Byrd]” (George Evans);
“The End of Feudalism” (Everett Raymond Kinstler); “The Rights “Fun with Geography” (Stephen L. Addeo); “The Body Is Charted”
of Man” (George Klein); “Escape to Varennes” (George Klein); “To (Edd Ashe); “Famous Physiologists [Herophilus, Harvey, Virchow,
Arms, to Arms, Ye Brave! [La Marseillaise],” “Death of a King” (Nor- Pavlov]” (Edd Ashe); “The Earth Moves” (Al Williamson); “Famous
man Nodel); “The Enemy at the Gate,” “The Committee of Public Astronomers [Thales, Copernicus, Kepler, Tombaugh]” (Al
Safety [Georges Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, Jean-Paul Williamson); “Fun with Astronomy” (Stephen L. Addeo); “Nature
Marat, Louis de Saint-Just, Jacques Hébert],” “The Reign of Terror,” Has Laws” (John Tartaglione); “Famous Mathematicians [Euclid, Al-
“Death of a Queen” (George Evans, inked by Graham Ingels); “The Khwarizimi, LaPlace, Mach]” ( John Tartaglione); “Fun with Math-
End of Terror” (H.J. Kihl); “The Mystery of the Dauphin” (Norman ematics” (Stephen L. Addeo); “The Earth’s Secrets” (Bruno Premiani);
Nodel); “The Rise of Napoleon” (Ann Brewster); “Liberty! Equality! “Famous Geologists [Buffon, Smith, Murchison, Ewing]” (Bruno
Fraternity!” (Norman Nodel); Fillers: “The Death of Byron [Lord Premiani); “Fun with Geology” (Stephen L. Addeo); “Germs Cause
Byron in Greece]”; “Inca Gold [Francisco Pizarro and Atahualpa]”; Disease” (Gray Morrow); “Famous Biologists [Leeuwenhoek, Dar-
“He Followed the River [La Salle]”; “The First Hypnotist [Franz win, Mendel, Fleming]” (Gray Morrow); “Fun with Biology”
Anton Mesmer].” One printing October 1959 [HRN 150, 80 pages, (Stephen L. Addeo); “The Ways of Mankind” (Sam Glanzman); “Fa-
25¢]. mous Anthropologists [Blumenbach, Galton, Boas, Mead] (Sam
W15. The Illustrated Story of Prehistoric Animals. Painted cover by Glanzman); “Fun with Anthropology” (Stephen L. Addeo); “The
Geoffrey Biggs; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “The Magic Element” (Norman Nodel); “Famous Chemists [Paracelsus,
Fish That Never Died [Coelacanth]” (Gerald McCann); “Birth of a Priestley, Lavoisier]” (Norman Nodel); “Fun with Chemistry”
Planet,” “Life Begins” (Stephen L. Addeo); “Backbones, Lungs and (Stephen L. Addeo); “The Inner Man” (Angelo Torres); “Famous Psy-
Shells: Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles” (Gray Morrow); “Giants in the chologists [Locke, James, Munsterberg, Adler]” (Angelo Torres); “Fun
Earth [dinosaurs]” (Sam Glanzman); “Tracks, Teeth and Bones [fos- with Psychology” (Stephen L. Addeo); “The Atom Splits” (H.J. Kihl);
sils]” (Gray Morrow); “Fixing Fossils” (Stephen L. Addeo); “Death “Famous Physicists [Gilbert, Marconi, Goddard, Yukawa]” (Stephen
of the Dinosaur,” “Mammals, Men and Ice” (Al Williamson); “Icebox L. Addeo); “Fun with Physics” (Stephen L. Addeo); Fillers: “House
in Siberia [mammoth]” (George Peltz); “Science, Strata and Species of Hope [Jane Addams and Hull House]”; “Water for Springfield
[William Smith, Baron Cuvier, Charles Darwin]” (Gerald McCann); [Sugar Creek]”; “Ten Thousand Muskets [Eli Whitney]”; “Classroom
“Living Fossils” (Till Goodan); Fillers: “Forbidden Land [Tibet]”; to an Age [medieval schools].” One printing February 1960 [HRN
“The Smallest Continent [Australia]”; “For the Honor of Our 154, 72 pages, 25¢].
Country [Captain Robert Scott]”; “The Schoolboy and the Scientists W19. The Illustrated Story of the Jungle. Painted cover, page-one
[Fred Schatzman].” One printing November 1959 [HRN 152, 72 splash, and page two by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “The Explorer
pages, 25¢]. [David Livingstone]” (Sid Check); “A Spear for Buth Mwon” ( John
W16. The Illustrated Story of the Crusades. Painted cover by Gerald Tartaglione); “The Lion and the Fox [Nuer folktale (Sudan)]” (George
McCann; page-one splash by Gerald McCann. Chapters: “The Cross Peltz); “Jungle Riddles” (George Peltz); “African Wildlife [Lion, Croc-
Bearers” (Gerald McCann); “The Road to War [St. Gilles]” (Gerald odile, Buffalo, Leopard, Secretary Bird, Hyena, Elephant, Hippopota-
 APPENDIX I 347

mus, Rhinoceros, Gorilla, Python, Giraffe, Impala, Zebra, Gnu]” Bering, Parry] (H.J. Kihl); “To the North Pole [Robert Edwin Peary]”
(Sam Glanzman); “The Hunter” (Gray Morrow); “The Missionary” (Gray Morrow); “Famous Explorers [Fuchs, Heyerdahl, Herzog]”
(Gray Morrow); “Asian and North Australian Wildlife” (Sam Glanz- (H.J. Kihl); “The Roof of the World [Mount Everest]” (Gerald Mc-
man); “The Scientist [Richard Spruce]” (Gerald McCann); “Central Cann); Fillers: “A Storm of Peace”; “Emmeline [Pankhurst] Went
and South American Wildlife” (Gerald McCann); “Today and To- Marching [women’s suffrage]”; “The Mine of Death [Lost Dutch-
morrow” (Gerald McCann); Fillers: “Island of Mystery [Easter Is- man’s Mine]”; “The Duel [Hamilton and Burr].” One printing July
land]”; “Age of Iron [Nama Hottentot and Wioto cultures]”; “Insect 1960 [HRN 156, 64 pages, 25¢].
Giants”; “The Impossible Canal [Panama Canal].” One printing W24. The Illustrated Story of Ghosts. Painted cover by Norman
March 1960 [HRN 154, 72 pages, 25¢]. Nodel; page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “The Hitch-
W20. Through Time and Space: The Illustrated Story of Commu- Hiker” (George Evans); “Room for the Night” (Gray Morrow); “The
nications. Painted cover unattributed; page-one splash by Gerald Mc- Ghost of Gold Gulch” ( Jack Abel); “Ghosts That Make a Racket
Cann. Chapters: “The First Words” (Gerald McCann); “Signs and [Poltergeist]” (Gray Morrow); “The House of Flying Objects” (Wil-
Sounds” (Gerald McCann); “Signals and Speed [Pheidippides]” liam A. Walsh); “The Talking Mongoose” (H.J. Kihl); “The Mummy’s
(Bruno Premiani); “Mounted Messengers [Marco Polo]” (George Foot” by Théophile Gautier (George Peltz); “The Sixth Sense [ex-
Peltz); “The Art of Printing” ( John Tartaglione); “A Moving Stream trasensory perception]” ( John Tartaglione); “The Scientific Search”
[electricity]” (H.J. Kihl); “Words Over Wires [Samuel Morse]” (Norman Nodel); “A Question of Ghosts” (Gray Morrow); Fillers:
(Gerald McCann); “Linking Two Worlds [Cyrus Field and Sir Charles “The Chinese Sage [Confucius]”; “Olga’s Revenge”; “The Mysterious
Bright]” (Angelo Torres); “Talking by Telegraph [Alexander Graham Lake [mirage]”; “The Yellow Star.” One printing August 1960 [HRN
Bell]” (George Evans); “Words Without Wires [Guglielmo Marconi]” 155, 64 pages, 25¢].
(Ann Brewster); “The Electronic Ear” (Sam Glanzman); “The Elec- W25. The Illustrated Story of Magic. Painted cover by Gray Mor-
tronic Eye” (H.J. Kihl); “Today and Tomorrow” (Edd Ashe); Fillers: row; page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “The Wizard of
“The Liberty to Know [Peter Wentworth, John Milton, John Peter France [Robert-Houdin]” (George Evans); “The First Magicians”
Zenger]”; “Death of an Age [Copernicus]”; “The Artist Who Did (George Peltz); “The Cursed Trick” (Ann Brewster); “The Great Hou-
Not Starve [El Greco]”; “The Clue to Life [vitamins].” One printing dini” (Norman Nodel); “The Most Marvelous Trick in the World
April 1960 [HRN 154, 72 pages, 25¢]. [Indian Rope Trick]” (George Peltz); “Witches, Magic and Medicine”
W21. The Illustrated Story of American Presidents. Painted cover ( John Tartaglione); “The Truth Will Out” (Gray Morrow); “What’s
by Harry Myers; page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: “The Magic About It?” (George Evans); Fillers: “Secrets of the Pharaohs”;
Founding Fathers” (George Evans); “First in Peace [Washington]” “The Beheading Game [Cuchulainn]”; “The Mysterious Traveler
(George Evans); “Mansion in the Mud [John Adams]” (Norman [Paracelsus]”; “A Man of Sense [Omar Khayyam].” One printing
Nodel); “Is This the Fourth? [Jefferson]” (Edd Ashe); “Madison and September 1960 [HRN 155, 64 pages, 25¢].
Monroe” (H.J. Kihl); “Old Man Eloquent [John Quincy Adams]” W26. The Illustrated Story of the Civil War. Painted cover by Nor-
(Gerald McCann); “Old Hickory [Jackson]” (Gray Morrow); “Before man Nodel; page-one splash by Gray Morrow. Chapters: “Before the
the Great War [Van Buren through Buchanan]” (H.J. Kihl); “The Storm” (Gray Morrow); “The Storm Breaks [Fort Sumter],” “War
Nation’s Wounds [Lincoln]” (Norman Nodel); “From Johnson to Leaders [Lincoln, Davis]” (H.J. Kihl); “The General Who Fought
McKinley” (H.J. Kihl); “The Rough Rider [Theodore Roosevelt]” [Ulysses S. Grant]” (Angelo Torres); “The Great Train Chase” (George
(Gerald McCann); “From Boom to Bust [Taft through Hoover]” Peltz); “Flames on the Sea [Raphael Semmes]” (Sam Glanzman);
(H.J. Kihl); “The Nation Asks for Action [Franklin Delano Roo- “The Iron Ships [Monitor and Merrimac]” (George Peltz); “War
sevelt]”(Norman Nodel); “The Atomic Age [Truman, Eisenhower]” Leaders [Grant, Lee, Farragut]”; “War Drums [Harry M. Kieffer]”
(Gerald McCann); “Electing the President” (George Peltz); Fillers: (Gray Morrow); “These Brave Fields [Gettysburg]” (Sam Glanzman);
“The Asphalt Trap [La Brea]”; “March Across the Alps [Hannibal]”; “The Men in Uniform” (George Peltz); “War Leaders [Pickett,
“Buried City [Mycenae]”; “The Unlucky Submarine [C.S.S. Meade, Jackson]” (H.J. Kihl); “The Gray Ghost [John Singleton
Hunley].” One printing May 1960 [HRN 155, 64 pages, 25¢]. Mosby]” (Sam Glanzman); “The People at Home” (George Peltz);
W22. The Illustrated Story of Boating. Painted cover by Gerald “War Leaders [Kearny, Stuart, Sherman]” (H.J. Kihl); “The Final
McCann; page-one splash by Norman Nodel. Chapters: “Race Against Days” (Gerald McCann); “An April Day [assassination of Lincoln]”
Time” (Norman Nodel); “Boat Talk” (H.J. Kihl); “Boats for Sport” (George Peltz); “The Aftermath [Reconstruction]” (Norman Nodel);
(Gerald McCann); “From Trunk to Outboard” (Edd Ashe); “From Fillers: “Restless Conspirator [Joseph Mazzini]”; “Trial of the Century
Kayak to KuDru” ( John Tartaglione); “Racing Sails [America’s Cup]” [Nuremberg]”; “The Ghost Dance”; “The Prophet from Hoboken
(Gerald McCann); “Ski Tips” (George Peltz); “Course Contest” (H.J. [John Stevens]” (October 1960). One printing October 1960 [HRN
Kihl); “Wrecks and Rescues” (Gray Morrow); “The Open Boat” by 156, 64 pages, 25¢].
Stephen Crane (Norman Nodel); “A Safe Voyage” (Sam Glanzman); W27. High Adventure: The Illustrated Story of Men Against Moun-
“Till Next Season” (H.J. Kihl); Fillers: “The Flying Windmill [heli- tains. Painted cover unattributed; page-one splash by George Evans.
copter]”; “Revolution in Electricity [Nikola Tesla]”; “The Enchanted Chapters: “The Highest Mountain [John Hunt, Edmund Hillary,
Isles [Galapagos Islands]”; “When the Earth Was Flat.” One printing Tenzing Norkey]” (George Evans); “How Mountains Are Made”
June 1960 [HRN 156, 64 pages, 25¢]. (Tony Tallarico); “Men of the Mountains [Abyssinians, Tibetans,
W23. The Illustrated Story of Great Explorers. Painted cover by Incas]” (Tony Tallarico); “Conquering the Barriers” (Gerald Mc-
Gerald McCann; page-one splash by George Evans. Chapters: Cann); “In Seas and Space” (Sam Glanzman); “The Home of the
“Passage to the Indies [Vasco da Gama]” (George Evans); “The Land Gods” (Gray Morrow); “The Fiery Mound” (Gray Morrow); “The
of El Dorado [Francisco de Orellana]” (Gray Morrow); “Famous Ex- Father of Mountaineering [Horace Benedict de Saussure]” (George
plorers [Eric the Red, Columbus, Magellan]” (H.J. Kihl); “The Mys- Peltz); “Fun and Danger” (Gerald McCann); “The Mysterious Foot-
terious Continent [James Cook]” (Gerald McCann); “Famous Ex- prints [“Abominable Snowman”]” (Sam Glanzman); Fillers: The
plorers [Scott, Amundsen, Byrd]” (H.J. Kihl); “The Great Wilderness World of Story: “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
[Alexander Mackenzie]” ( John Tartaglione); “The Pathmarker [John by Samuel L. Clemens (George Peltz); Serials: “D-Day, Part 1: The
Charles Fremont]” (George Evans); “Famous Explorers [Cartier, Key to Victory” (George Evans); “The Red Planet, Part 1: The True
348 APPENDIX I

Orbit” (Gray Morrow); The World of Science: “How Grass Holds W32. For Gold and Glory. Cover photo (Zapotec funerary urn)
Water” (Stephen L. Addeo) (November 1960). One printing Novem- by Alfred Sundel; page-one splash by Gray Morrow. Chapters: “The
ber 1960 [HRN 156, 64 pages, 25¢]. Golden Shore [Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba]” (Gray Morrow);
W28. The Illustrated Story of Whaling. Painted cover unattributed; “The Aztecs” (George Tukell); “The Great City” by Bernal Diaz del
page-one splash by Gray Morrow. Chapters: “The Long Voyage” Castillo (Aztec pictographs); “The Mayas” ( Jack Kirby); “Omens of
(Gray Morrow); “Whale Facts: Sperm Whale” (Sam Glanzman); Evil [Pedro de Alvarado]” ( Jack Kirby); “The Incas” ( Jack Kirby);
“Whale Lore [whale as a mammal]” (Norman Nodel); “The Great “Peru! Peru! [Francisco Pizarro]” (George Evans); “The Long Journey
Hunt” (Gerald McCann); “Whale Facts: Arctic Right Whale” (Sam [Alvar Cabeza de Vaca]” (Sam Glanzman); “The Seven Cities of Gold
Glanzman); “Yankee Whaling” (Angelo Torres); “Whale Lore: Gam- [Francisco Vazquez de Coronado]” (Maxwell Elkan); “The Golden
ming, Scrimshaw, Nantucket Sleigh Ride” (Norman Nodel); “Stove Man [El Dorado]” (Gray Morrow); “The Glory [other discoveries
by a Whale [Essex]” (Bruno Premiani); “Whale Facts: Northern and conquests: Magellan, Mendoza, de Soto, etc.]” (Gray Morrow);
Bottle-Nosed Dolphin, Killer Whale, Blackfish” (Sam Glanzman); Fillers: “Two Merry Pranks of Till Eulenspiegel” (Charles Berger);
“Whale Lore: Spouting, Sounding” (Norman Nodel); “Whale Facts: Serials: “D-Day, Part 6: Beachhead” (George Evans); “Desert
Blue Whale” (Sam Glanzman); “Captain Larsen’s Ship” (Bruno Pre- Treasure, Part 2: Unraveling the Mystery” (Norman Nodel); The
miani); “Whale Facts: Finback Whale, Sei Whale, Common Por- World of Science: “A Balancing Act” (Jack Kirby). One printing April
poise” (Sam Glanzman); “Whale Lore [accounts of men swallowed 1961 [HRN 161, 64 pages, 25¢].
by whales]” (Norman Nodel); “Whaling Today” (Gray Morrow); W33. Famous Teens. Painted cover by Geggan; page-one splash
Fillers: The World of Story: “An Episode of War” by Stephen Crane by Angelo Torres. Chapters: “Victory at Orleans [Joan of Arc]” (Till
(H.J. Kihl); Serials: “D-Day, Part 2: Target Normandy” (George Goodan); “Teens as Rulers [Charles XII, Prince Edward, Victoria]”
Evans); “The Red Planet, Part 2: Mars Is a World” (Angelo Torres); (Norman Nodel); “Mr. Farragut, Sir!” (Angelo Torres); “Teens in
The World of Science: “Jets in the Bathtub” (Gray Morrow). One War [Anne Frank, Marquis de Montcalm, Horatio Nelson] (Angelo
printing December 1960 [HRN 156, 64 pages, 25¢]. Torres); “The Young Engineer [John Ericsson]” (Stan Campbell);
W29. The Vikings. Painted cover by Gerald McCann; page-one “Teens in Science [Perry Klein, Raphael Soifer, Tycho Brahe, Blaise
splash by George Evans. Chapters: “The Dragon Ships” (George Pascal, Eli Whitney, Karl Friedrich Gauss, William Henry Perkin]”
Evans); “The Home Shores” (Norman Nodel); “The Longship” (Ger- (Angelo Torres); “The Boy Mozart” (Gray Morrow); “Teens in the
ald McCann); “Rivers of Blood [Ragnar Lodbrok]” (Gray Morrow); Arts [Pliny the Younger, John Singleton Copley, Franz Schubert,
“The Viking Gods” (Norman Nodel); “The Uneasy Throne [En- Sarah Bernhardt, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Gian-Carlo Menotti,
gland]” (Angelo Torres); “The Colonists: Ireland, Northern Isles, Ice- Yehudi Menuhin, Margot Fonteyn]” (Tony Tallarico); “Olympic
land, Russia, Normandy, Greenland” (Sam Glanzman); “The Champion [Bob Mathias]” (Maxwell Elkan); “Teens in Sports [Babe
Strongest of Vikings” (Tony Tallarico); “The Far Shores” (Bruno Pre- Didrikson, Murray Rose]” (Angelo Torres); Fillers: “The Knight of
miani); “End of an Age” (George Evans); Fillers: The World of Story: the Couchant Leopard” (from The Talisman) by Sir Walter Scott
“The Convicts and the Eagle” (from The House of the Dead) by Fyodor (Charles Berger); Serials: “The Battle of Tours, Part 1: The Threat
Dostoevsky (Norman Nodel); Serials: “D-Day, Part 3: The Decision” from the East” (George Evans); “Desert Treasure, Part 3: Fortress of
George Evans); “The Red Planet, Part 3: The Martian Canals” Faith” (Norman Nodel); The World of Science: “Getting a Lift” (un-
(Angelo Torres); The World of Science: “What the Weather Will Be” attributed). One printing May 1961 [HRN 161, 64 pages, 25¢].
(Sam Glanzman). One printing January 1961 [HRN 159, 64 pages, W34. Fishing. Painted cover unattributed; page-one splash by Jo
25¢]. Albistur. Chapters: “The Salmon of Miramichi” (Jo Albistur); “Hook,
W30. Undersea Adventures. Painted cover by Jay Scott Pike; page- Line and Sinker” (Sam Glanzman); “Gills and Grunts” (Sam Glanz-
one splash by Jack Kirby. Chapters: “The Frogmen” (Angelo Torres); man); “Lungs and Lures” (Sam Glanzman); “Angler’s Angles” (Sam
“Mines Below [Lionel Crabb]” (Angelo Torres); “Underwater Con- Glanzman); “Salt-Water Game Fish [barracuda, bluefish, marlin,
quest” (Sam Glanzman); “Sea Monsters — False and True” (unattrib- sailfish, swordfish, tarpon]” (Sam Glanzman); “The Compleat Ang-
uted); “Sunken Treasure” (Lou Morales); “Skin Diving” (Tony Tal- ler” (excerpts) by Sir Izaak Walton (first page by Angelo Torres, re-
larico); “In Magellan’s Wake [Triton]” (Sam Glanzman); “Seven Miles mainder by Pat Pritchard); “Fresh-Water Game Fish [bass, common
Down” (Stan Campbell); Fillers: The World of Story: “The Duel” eel, muskellunge, roach, trout, walleyed pike]” (Sam Glanzman); “A
by Guy de Maupassant (unattributed); Serials: “D-Day, Part 4: Night Share for Awang” (Sidney Miller?); “From Drags to Kites” (Sam
Drop” (George Evans); “The Red Planet, Part 4: A Trip to Mars” Glanzman); “Fish for Food [cod, haddock, halibut, herring, men-
(Angelo Torres); The World of Science: “Blue Skies” ( Jack Kirby). haden, salmon, sardine, sturgeon, tuna]” (Sam Glanzman); “The Se-
One printing February 1961 [HRN 159, 64 pages, 25¢]. cret Fleet” (Sidney Miller); “Know the Law” ( Jo Albistur); “A Home
W31. Hunting. Painted cover unattributed; page-one splash by Aquarium” ( Jo Albistur); Fillers: The World of Story: “The Cham-
Jack Kirby. Chapters: “The Rogue Elephant” (Till Goodan); “Early pion of Rum Alley” (from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets) by Stephen
Hunters” (Jack Kirby); “Mythical Monsters [chimera]” (Pete Morisi); Crane (unattributed); Serials: “The Battle of Tours, Part 2: The
“Mythical Monsters [unicorn, basilisk]” (George Peltz); “From Falcon Franks Fight Back” (George Evans); “Desert Treasure, Part 4: The
to Fox” (Stan Campbell); “Wanton Killing” (Sam Glanzman); “An Fate of Qumran” (Norman Nodel); The World of Science: “Upside
End to Slaughter” ( Jack Kirby); “The Trapped Trapper [Evert Sten- Down and Inside Out” (Sidney Miller). One printing June 1961, last
mark]” (Sam Glanzman); “Bringing Them Back Alive” (Till monthly issue [HRN 161, 64 pages, 25¢].
Goodan); “Malay Tiger” (Luis Dominguez); “Hunting Today” (un- W35. Spies. Mixed-media cover unattributed; page-one splash by
attributed); “Dogs and Guns” (H.J. Kihl); “A New Way to Hunt” Norman Nodel. Chapters: “Most Conspicuous Courage [Noor Khan]”
(Sam Glanzman); Fillers: The World of Story: “Two Tales of Baron (George Evans); “From Moses to Madrid” (Norman Nodel); “The
Munchausen” by Rudolf Erich Raspe (unattributed); Serials: “D- Conspirators [Allan Pinkerton]” (Edd Ashe); “The Spy Who Was a
Day, Part 5: The Landing” (George Evans); “Desert Treasure, Part 1: Traitor [Alfred Redl]” ( Jo Albistur); “The Master Saboteur [Franz
The Dead Sea Scrolls” (Norman Nodel); The World of Science: “A von Rintelen]” (George Evans); “Sky Spies” ( Jack Kirby); “The Busi-
Puff of Steam” (Pete Morisi). One printing March 1961 [HRN 161, ness of Spying” ( Jack Kirby); “Famous Spies [Chevalier d’Eon de
64 pages, 25¢]. Beaumont, Nathan Hale, John André, Sir Robert Baden-Powell,
 APPENDIX J 349

Eugene Azeff, Mata Hari, Thomas E. Lawrence, Cicero] (Jo Albistur); painted-cover edition; cover features “newer” logo, different lettering,
“Tricks of the Trade” ( Jack Kirby); “Codes and Ciphers” (unattrib- and different coloring (1957). Three printings.
uted); Fillers: The World of Story: “The Death of Captain Cook” by 9. Caesar’s Conquests by Julius Caesar. Identical to U.S. No. 130
Captain King (unattributed); Serials: “The Battle of Tours, Part 3: (1957). Three printings.
The Moslems Retreat” (George Evans); “Witches in Salem, Part 1: 10. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Two editions: (1) identical
The First Accusations” (unattributed); The World of Science: “Float- to U.S. No. 10 line-drawing cover edition (1952); (2) identical to
ing in the Air” (Sidney Miller). One printing August 1961 [HRN U.S. No. 10 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1957).
W36, 64 pages, 25¢]. Six printings.
W36. Fight for Life. Painted cover unattributed; page-one splash 11. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Identical to U.S. No. 133
by Jo Albistur. Chapters: “The Field Surgeon [Ambroise Paré]” ( Jo (1956). Two printings.
Albistur); “The Ancient Heritage” ( Jo Albistur); “The Middle Ages” 12. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes. Identical to
( Jo Albistur); “The Great Awakening” (Tony Tallarico); “The Black U.S. No. 132 (1956). Five printings (second printing erroneously
Death” (from A Journal of the Plague Year) by Daniel Defoe (unat- numbered 132).
tributed); “Ending Epidemics” ( Jo Albistur); “The Germ Fighters 13. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Identical to U.S.
[Pasteur, Koch, Semmelweiss, Lister]” (Tony Tallarico); “Triumph No. 134 (1957). [An earlier No. 13, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with two
Over Pain” (unattributed); “The Native Cure” (unattributed); editions (first,1952, identical to 1949 U.S. No. 13 line-drawing cover;
“Quacks and Quackery” ( Jack Kirby); “The Branches of Medicine” second, 1955, with 1953 painted cover but original interior art) were
( Jack Kirby); “The Pure Substance” ( Jack Kirby); “The War on In- replaced in 1957 by the Shakespeare title.] Two printings.
sects” ( Jack Kirby); “Machines of Modern Medicine” (Tony Tal- *14. Westward Ho! By Charles Kingsley. Two editions: (1) identical
larico); “Aid from the Atom” (Tony Tallarico); “The Challenge of to U.S. No. 14 line-drawing cover edition (1952); (2) identical interior
Space” ( Jack Kirby); Fillers: “The Gift of the Plow” (from The Age of art, with new painted cover by unidentified artist (1960). Four print-
Fable) by Thomas Bulfinch (Sidney Miller?); Serials: “The Armada, ings.
Part 1: The Sea Powers” (Norman Nodel); “Witches in Salem, Part 15. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Three editions:
2: The Suspicion Spreads” (unattributed); The World of Science: (1) identical to U.S. No. 15 line-drawing cover edition (1953); (2)
“The Weight of Air” (Sidney Miller). One printing October 1961 hardcover British DeLuxe new painted-cover edition (1954); (3) iden-
[HRN W36, 64 pages, 25¢]. tical to U.S. No. 15 first painted-cover edition (1957). Five printings.
*16. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Two editions: (1) identical
to U.S. No. 16 line-drawing cover edition (November 1951); (2) cover
Appendix J. British Classics Illustrated, similar to U.S. No. 16 painted-cover edition, but redrawn with dif-
First and Second Series (Thorpe & Porter, ferent coloring and title lettering (1960). Three printings.
1951–1963) *17. The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. Two editions: (1)
identical to U.S. line-drawing cover (March 1952); (2) new British
With the exceptions of Nos. 60, 95, 109, 120, 127, 135, 138, 142, painted cover (1959). Five printings.
151, 152, 153, 154, and 163, as many as four variants occurred in 18. Waterloo by Erckmann-Chatrain. Identical to U.S. No. 135
one or more printings of each title. For a more detailed account of (1957). [*An earlier No. 18, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with two
the publication history of each title, see Dan Malan’s Complete editions (first, 1953, identical to second U.S. No. 18 line-drawing
Guide to Classics Illustrated, Vol. 2. Note that several painted cover; the second, 1954, a hardcover British DeLuxe new painted-cover
covers and new interiors were published in Britain before they edition), was replaced by the Erckmann-Chatrain title. Two printings.
appeared in the U.S. An asterisk (*) indicates either a title or a
19. The Covered Wagon by Emerson Hough. Identical to U.S. No.
painted cover not included in the U.S. series.
131 (1957). Seven printings.
1. Huckleberry Finn by Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain). 20. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Identical to U.S. No. 2 painted-
Identical to U.S. No. 19 painted-cover revised edition (1956). Four cover edition (1957). Three printings.
printings. 21. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to
2. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. U.S. No. 3 painted-cover edition (1957). Two printings.
No. 47 first painted-cover edition. [An earlier No. 2, Ivanhoe by Sir *22. The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper. Two editions: (1)
Walter Scott (1952), identical to U.S. No. 2 line-drawing cover edi- identical to U.S. No. 22 line-drawing-cover edition (February 1952);
tion, was replaced in 1956 by the Verne title.] Four printings. (2) new British painted cover (1960). Six printings.
3. The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. No. 34 *23. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Three editions: (1) identical
painted-covere dition( 1956). Four printings. to U.S. No. 23 line-drawing-cover edition (1955); (2) identical to
4. Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Identical to U.S. No. 128 U.S. No. 23 painted-cover edition with first interior art (1959); (3)
(1956). Three printings. reversed painted-cover image with second interior art (1961). Four
5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Identical to U.S. No. 5 printings.
painted-covere dition( 1956). Six printings. 24. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne. Identical
6. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Two editions: (1) iden- to U.S. No. 138 except for British spelling of “Centre” in title (1957).
tical to U.S. No. 6 line-drawing cover edition (1952); (2) identical Two printings.
to U.S. No. 6 painted-cover edition except for black rather than red 25. Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana. Two edi-
title lettering (1957). Four printings. tions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 25 line-drawing-cover edition (1952);
7. Robin Hood [by Howard Pyle]. Three editions: (1) identical to (2) identical to U.S. No. 25 painted-cover edition (1961). Four print-
U.S. No. 7 line-drawing cover edition (1952); (2) identical to U.S. ings.
No. 7 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1957); (3) 26. The Little Savage by Frederick Marryat. Identical to U.S. No.
painted cover with first interior art (1959, anomaly). Seven print- 137 (1957). Three printings.
ings. 27. The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper. Identical to U.S. No. 51
8. The Odyssey by Homer. Interior identical to U.S. No. 81 first painted-covere dition( 1957). Four printings.
350 APPENDIX J

28. The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott. Identical to U.S. 48. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Identical to U.S. No
No. 75 painted-cover edition (1957). Two printings. 48 painted-cover edition (1954). Five printings.
29. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. Identical to U.S. 49. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Two editions: (1) iden-
No. 29 painted-cover edition (1956). Three printings. tical to U.S. No. 49 line-drawing-cover edition (first title published
30. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. in British series October 1951); (2) prototype of U.S. No. 49 painted-
Identical to U.S. No. 24 painted-cover edition (1958). Four print- cover edition (1956). Five printings.
ings. 50. Castle Dangerous by Sir Walter Scott. Identical to U.S. No.
31. The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson. Two editions: 141 (1958). Four printings.
(1) identical to U.S. No. 31 line-drawing-cover edition (1956); (2) 51. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. Included on British reorder lists
identical to U.S. No. 31 painted-cover edition (1959). Three print- and published in the Joint European Series as No. 67 (1958) but not
ings. believed to exist as a British Classics Illustrated title; copyright
32. Lorna Doone by Richard D. Blackmore. Two editions: (1) iden- questions may have been at issue.
tical to U.S. No. 32 line-drawing-cover edition (1956); (2) identical 52. The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells. Identical to U.S.
to U.S. No. 32 first painted-cover edition (1959). Four printings. No. 144 except for superimposed title box (1958). Three printings.
33. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Two editions: *53. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Two editions: (1) iden-
(1) identical to U.S. No. 50 painted-cover edition with first interior tical to U.S. No. 53 line-drawing-cover edition (1955); (2) new
art (1958); (2) identical to U.S. No. 50 painted-cover edition with British painted cover (1960). Three printings.
second interior art (1961). Four printings. 54. With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Identical to U.S.
34. The Sea Wolf by Jack London. Identical to U.S. No. 85 except No. 146 (1959). Two printings.
for title lettering and open-book device (1957). Four printings. 55. Silas Marner by George Eliot. Identical to U.S. No. 55
35. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Two editions: (1) identical to painted-covere dition( 1958). Three printings.
U.S. No. 39 first painted-cover edition with first interior art (1958); 56. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Two editions:
(2) identical to U.S. No. 39 first painted-cover and second interior- (1) identical to U.S. No. 18 first painted-cover edition (1959); (2)
art edition (1961). Four printings. identical to U.S. No. 18 second painted-cover edition (1960). Two
36. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to printings.
U.S. No. 54 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1957). *56A. The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas. Two editions:
Four printings. (1) identical to U.S. No. 20 line-drawing-cover edition (1959); (2)
*37. The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper. Two editions: (1) new British painted cover (1960). Three printings.
identical to U.S. No. 37 line-drawing-cover edition (1952); (2) new 57. The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Two
British painted cover (1959). Three printings. editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 57 line-drawing-cover edition
38. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iden- (1954); (2) identical to U.S. No. 57 painted-cover edition (1959).
tical to U.S. No. 52 painted-cover edition with second interior art Four printings.
(1958). Three printings. 58. The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper. Two editions: (1) iden-
39. The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter. Identical to U.S. No. 67 tical to U.S. No. 58 line-drawing-cover edition (March 1952); (2)
painted-covere dition( 1958). Four printings. identical to U.S. No. 58 painted-cover edition (1957). Four print-
40. Benjamin Franklin (based on Autobiography and other sources). ings.
Identical to U.S. No. 65 painted-cover edition (1958). [An earlier 59. Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace. Identical to U.S. No. 147 first
No. 40, Mysteries (1952), was replaced by the Franklin title and was painted-covere dition( 1959). Three printings.
never reprinted.] Four printings. 60. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Two editions: (1) identical to
41. The Pilot by James Fenimore Cooper. Two editions: (1) U.S. line-drawing-cover edition (November 1951); (2) identical to
identical to U.S. No. 70 line-drawing-cover edition (1957); (2) iden- U.S. No. 60 first painted-cover edition (1960). Two printings.
tical to U.S. No. 70 painted-cover edition except for new title box 61. The Buccaneer. Identical to U.S. No. 148 (1959). Two print-
superimposed on original lettering (1961). Four printings. ings.
42. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. Three editions: (1) 62. Western Stories by Bret Harte. Identical to U.S. No. 62 first
identical to U.S. No. 42 line-drawing-cover edition (1953); (2) iden- painted-covere dition( 1959). Three printings.
tical to U.S. No. 42 painted-cover edition with first interior art 63. Off on a Comet by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. No. 149 first
(1957); (3) identical to No. 42 U.S. painted-cover edition with second painted-covere dition( 1959). Two printings.
interior art (1960). Seven printings. 64. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Two editions: (1)
43. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Iden- identical to U.S. No. 64 line-drawing-cover edition ( January 1952);
tical to U.S. No. 87, with one background-color variant (1958). Three (2) identical to U.S. No. 64 painted-cover edition (1956). Four print-
printings. ings.
44. Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain. Two editions: (1) identical 65. The King of the Mountains by Edmond About. Two editions:
to U.S. No. 93 first painted-cover edition (1958); (2) identical to (1) identical to U.S. No. 127, erroneous “No. 127” (1959); (2) identical
U.S. No. 93 second painted-cover edition except for new title box to U.S. No. 127 except for black rather than red title lettering (1959).
superimposed on original lettering (1961). Two printings. Three printings.
45. The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson. Identical to U.S. 66. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Identical
No 116 except for color variation in upper background and title let- to U.S. No. 4 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1959).
tering (1958). Four printings. Three printings.
46. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. Two editions: (1) iden- 67. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to U.S.
tical to U.S. No. 46 line-drawing-cover edition (1955); (2) identical No. 1 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1959). One
to U.S. No. 46 painted-cover edition (1958). Five printings. printing.
47. In the Reign of Terror by G.A. Henty. Identical to U.S. No. 68. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Three editions: (1) iden-
139 (1958). Three printings. tical to U.S. No. 68 line-drawing-cover edition (October 1951); (2)
 APPENDIX J 351

identical to U.S. painted-cover edition with second interior art (1960); (1) identical to U.S. No. 89 (1953); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe
(3) identical to U.S. painted-cover edition with first interior art (1961; new painted-cover edition (1954). Five printings.
note reversed order on interior art; a variant printing with second 90. Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson. Two editions: (1) identical
interior art was simultaneously issued). Three printings. to U.S. No. 90 first painted-cover edition (1956); (2) identical to
69. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Two editions: U.S. No. 90 second painted-cover edition (1961). Two printings.
(1) identical to U.S. No. 69 line-drawing-cover edition (1956); (2) 91. The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Identical to U.S. No.
identical to U.S. No. 69 painted-cover edition (1957). Five print- 91 (1955). Five printings.
ings. 92. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Identical to U.S. No. 9 first
70. The Virginian by Owen Wister. Identical to U.S. No. 150 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1960). One printing.
(1959). Two printings. 93. Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton.
*71. The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo. Two editions: (1) Two editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 152, with “No. 152” erron-
identical to U.S. No. 71 line-drawing-cover edition (1956); (2) eously printed as issue number (1960); (2) identical to U.S. No. 152,
reversed painted-cover edition with second interior art (1961). Two with corrected British title number (1960). Two printings.
printings. 94. David Balfour by Robert Louis Stevenson. Identical to U.S.
72. The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman. Two editions: (1) iden- No. 94 (1956). Three printings.
tical to U.S. No. 72 line-drawing-cover edition (1954); (2) identical 95. The Crisis by Winston Churchill. Identical to U.S. No. 145
to U.S. No. 72 painted-cover edition (1957). Four printings. (1960). One printing.
*73. The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas. Two editions: (1) iden- 96. Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness by John Bakeless. Iden-
tical to U.S. No. 73 line-drawing-cover edition (1954); (2) new tical to U.S. No. 96 first painted-cover edition (1954). Five printings.
British painted cover (1958). Four printings. 97. King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. Identical to U.S.
*74. Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat. Two editions: No. 97 (1953). Eight printings (most-often reprinted British title).
(1) identical to U.S. line-drawing cover edition (1952); (2) new British 98. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Identical to
painted cover (1961). Three printings. U.S. No. 98 first painted-cover edition (1955). Four printings.
75. On Jungle Trails by Frank Buck. Identical to U.S. No. 140 99. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Identical to U.S. No. 99
(1959). Two printings. first painted-cover edition (1956). Three printings.
76. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. Identical to U.S. No. 100. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
12 first painted-cover edition with second interior art (1959). Three Hall. Identical to U.S. No. 100 (1955). Four printings.
printings. 101. William Tell by Frederick Schiller. Identical to U.S. No. 101
*77. The Iliad by Homer. Four editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. (1953). Four printings.
77 line-drawing-cover edition (January 1952); (2) new British painted 102. The Moonstone by William Wilkie Collins. Identical to U.S.
cover (1956); (3) identical to U.S. No. 77 painted-cover edition painted-covere dition( 1960). One printing.
(1959); (4) reversion to British painted cover. Four printings. 103. Men Against the Sea by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
*78. Joan of Arc. Three editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 78 line- Hall. Two editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 103 first painted-cover
drawing-cover edition (1953); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe new edition (1955); (2) identical to U.S. No. 103 second painted-cover
painted-cover edition (1954); (3) identical to U.S. No. 78 first edition (1958). Four printings.
painted-covere dition( 1956). Six printings. 104. Bring ’Em Back Alive by Frank Buck. Two editions: (1)
79. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. Identical to U.S. No. identical to U.S. No. 104 (1953); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe new
79l ine-drawing-covere dition( 1956). One printing. painted-covere dition( 1954). Five printings.
80. White Fang by Jack London. Identical to U.S. No. 80 painted- 105. From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S.
cover-edition( 1956). Five printings. No. 105 (1955). Three printings.
81. The Adventures of Marco Polo. Identical to U.S. No. 27 106. Buffalo Bill. Two editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 106 (1953);
painted-cover edition with title-lettering variant (1960). Two print- (2) hardcover British DeLuxe new painted-cover edition (1954).
ings. Seven printings.
*82. The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson. Three 107. King-of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy. Two editions: (1)
editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 82 first painted-cover edition identical to U.S. No. 107 (1954); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe new
(1953); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe new painted-cover edition painted-covere dition( 1954). Six printings.
(midnight duel) (1954); (3) new British painted cover (pirates 108. Knights of the Round Table. Two editions: (1) identical to U.S.
boarding ship) (1960). Seven printings. No. 108 (1953); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe new painted-cover edi-
83. Won by the Sword by G.A. Henty. Identical to U.S. No. 151 tion (1954). Six printings.
(1959). Two printings. 109. Pitcairn’s Island by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
*84. The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe. Two editions: (1) identical Hall. Identical to U.S. No. 109 (1959). Two printings.
to U.S. No. 84 (1959); (2) new British cover by Mick Anglo with 110. Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. No. 28 first
new interior art (1962). painted-covere dition( 1960). Two printings.
85. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Identical 111. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Identical to U.S. No. 111
to U.S. No. 13 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1960). (1954). Five printings (fifth printing erroneously numbered 16).
One printing. 112. The Adventures of Kit Carson. Two editions: (1) identical to
86. Under Two Flags by Ouida. Identical to U.S. No. 86 (1954). U.S. first painted-cover edition (1953); (2) hardcover British DeLuxe
Three printings. new painted-cover edition (1954). Seven printings.
87. Abraham Lincoln. Identical to U.S. No 142 (1960). One print- 113. The Forty-Five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to
ing. U.S. No. 113 (1956). Two printings (orange border on second print-
88. Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. Identical to U.S. No. 88 (1954). ing).
Three printings. 114. The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper. Identical to U.S.
*89. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Two editions: No. 114 (1954). Six printings.
352 APPENDIX J

115. How I Found Livingstone by Sir Henry Morton Stanley. Iden- 140. Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. No.
tical to U.S. No. 115 (1954). Six printings. 162 (1961). One printing.
116. Typee by Herman Melville. Two editions: (1) identical to U.S. 141. Master of the World by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. No. 163
painted-cover edition with first interior art (1960); (2) identical to (1961). One printing.
U.S. painted cover with title-lettering variant and new interior art 142. The Cossack Chief by Nikolai Gogol. Identical to U.S. No.
by Luis Dominguez (1961). Two printings. 164 (1961). One printing.
117. Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to U.S. No. *143. Sail with the Devil: Captain Singleton’s Adventures by Daniel
41 painted-covere dition( 1961). One printing. Defoe. Interior art by Norman Light. Not included in U.S. series
118. Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott. Identical to U.S. No. 118 (1955). (1962). One printing.
Four printings. 144. The Queen’s Necklace by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to U.S.
119. Soldiers of Fortune by Richard Harding Davis. Identical to No. 165 except for title-lettering variant (1962). One printing.
U.S. No. 119 (1956). Four printings. 145. Tigers and Traitors by Jules Verne. Identical to U.S. No. 166
120. The Hurricane by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. (1962). One printing.
Identical to U.S. No. 120 (1954). Five printings. *146. Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph E. Raspe.
121. Wild Bill Hickok. Identical to U.S. No. 121 (1955). Six print- Cover and interior art by Denis Gifford. Not included in U.S. series
ings. (1962). One printing.
122. The Mutineers by Charles Boardman Hawes. Identical to U.S. *147. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Cover and in-
No. 122 (1956). Three printings. terior art by Jennifer Robertson. Not included in U.S. series (1962).
123. Fang and Claw by Frank Buck. Identical to U.S. No. 123 One printing.
(1955). Five printings. *148. Nights of Terror by William Wilkie Collins and Charles
124. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Identical to U.S. No. Dickens. Interior art by Mick Anglo. Not included in U.S. series
124 (1955). Three printings. (1962). One printing.
125. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Identical *149. The Gorilla Hunters by Robert M. Ballantyne. Not included
to U.S. No. 125 (1956). Three printings. in U.S. series (1962). One printing.
126. The Downfall by Emile Zola. Identical to No. U.S. No. 126 *150. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. Interior art by Mick
(1956). Three printings. Anglo. Not included in U.S. series (1962). One printing.
127. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Two editions: (1) identical 151. Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes. Identical to U.S.
to U.S. No. 153, with “No. 153” erroneously printed as title number No. 45 painted-cover edition with second interior art and title variant
(1960); (2) same U.S. painted cover, with image brightened and orig- “Schooldays” rather than “School Days” (1962). One printing.
inal “invisible” title lettering replaced with yellow rectangle and black 152. Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo. Identical to U.S. No. 56
lettering (1960). Two printings. painted-cover edition with second interior art but reversed cover
128. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Identical to U.S. No. 59 image (1962). One printing.
painted-covere dition( 1960). Two printings. 153. The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Identical
129. Davy Crockett. Identical to U.S. No. 129 (1956). Three print- to U.S. No. 35 painted-cover edition with second interior art (1962).
ings. One printing.
130. The Woman in White by William Wilkie Collins. Identical 154. Arabian Nights. Identical to U.S. painted-cover edition with
to U.S. No. 61 painted-covere dition( 1961). Two printings. second interior art but reversed cover image (1962). One printing.
131. The Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale. Two 155. Adventures of Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini. Identical to U.S.
editions: (1) identical to U.S. No. 63 painted-cover edition with first No. 38 except for title-lettering variant (1962). One printing.
interior art (1961); (2) identical to U.S. No. 63 painted-cover edition *156. The Dog Crusoe by Robert M. Ballantyne. Interior art by
with second interior art (1961). Two printings. Norman Light. Not included in U.S. series (1962). One printing.
132. The Conspiracy of Pontiac by Francis Parkman. Identical to *157. The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. Not included
U.S. No. 154 (1960). Two printings. in U.S. series (1962). One printing.
133. The Lion of the North by G.A. Henty. Identical to U.S. No. *158A. Doctor No by Ian Fleming. Interior art by Norman Nodel.
155 (1960). Two printings. Not included in U.S. series (1963). One printing.
134. The Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Identical *159. Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy. Not included in U.S. series
to U.S. No. 156 (1960). Three printings. (1963). One printing.
135. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. New British painted 160. In Freedom’s Cause by G.A. Henty. Prototype of U.S. No. 168
cover with U.S. No. 43 interior art (1961). Two printings. (1963; preceded U.S. edition by six years). One printing.
136. Lives of the Hunted by Ernest Thompson Seton. Identical to *161. The Aeneid by Virgil (based on the 1697 translation by John
U.S. No. 157 (1961). One printing. Dryden). Pencils attributed to Reed Crandall. Not included in U.S.
137. The Conspirators by Alexandre Dumas. Identical to U.S. No. series (1963). One printing. Added in 2007 to Jack Lake Productions
158 (1961). One printing. revived North American series as No. 170.
138. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Identical to U.S. No. *162. Saga of the North by Pierre Loti. Interior art by Tomas Porto.
11 first painted-cover edition with title-lettering variant (1961). One Not included in U.S. series (1963). One printing.
printing. *163. The Argonauts by Appolonius of Rhodes. Not included in
139. The Octopus by Frank Norris. Identical to U.S. No. 159 (1961). U.S. series (1963). One printing.
One printing.
139A. The Food of the Gods by H.G. Wells. Identical to U.S. No.
160 with darker sky on cover (1961). One printing (erroneously num-
bered 139).
139B. Cleopatra by H. Rider Haggard. Identical to U.S. No. 161
(1961). One printing.
 APPENDIX K, APPENDIX L 353

Appendix K. Classics Illustrated, Second Series 18. The Devil’s Dictionary and Other Works by Ambrose Bierce;
(Berkley Publishing Group/First Publishing, Contents: “The Devil’s Dictionary,” “The Boarded Window,” “Dead,”
and “An Imperfect Conflagration”; adapted and illustrated by Gahan
1990–1991; Classics International Entertain- Wilson. First and only printing February 1991.
ment, 1994) 19. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad; adapted and illustrated by
John K. Snyder, III; lettered by Paul Fricke. First and only printing
All editions were 48 pages in length; author biographies were in - February 1991.
cluded. Issues 1 through 17 were priced at $3.75 U.S./$4.75 Can- 20. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells; adapted and illustrated by
ada; issues 18 through 27 were increased to $3.95 U.S./$4.95 Rick Geary. First and only printing March 1991.
Canada. All first printings were by Berkley/First; all second printings
21. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand; adapted by Peter
were by Classics International Entertainment (CIE).
David; illustrated and lettered by Kyle Baker. First and only printing
1. The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe; illustrated by March 1991.
Gahan Wilson. First and only printing February 1990. 22. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; cover by Bill Wray; adapted
2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; adapted and illustrated by Sam Wray; illustrated by Pat Boyette; lettered by Gary Fields.
by Rick Geary. First and only printing February 1990. First and only printing April 1991.
3. Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll; adapted and il- 23. The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling; adapted and illustrated
lustrated by Kyle Baker. First and only printing February 1990. by Jeffrey Busch; lettered by Willie Schubert. First and only printing
4. Moby Dick by Herman Melville; adapted and illustrated by April 1991.
Bill Sienkiewicz. First and only printing February 1990. 24. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge;
5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare; adapted by Steven Grant; adapted and illustrated by Dean Motter; lettered by Willie Schubert.
illustrated by Tom Mandrake; lettered by Gary Fields. First and only First and only printing May 1991.
printing March 1990. 25. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott; adapted by Mark Wayne Harris;
6. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne; adapted by P. illustrated by Ray Lago; lettered by Willie Schubert. First and only
Craig Russell; illustrated by Jill Thompson; lettered by Bill Pearson. printing May 1991.
First printing March 1990; second printing (retro CI logo) 1994. 26. Aesop’s Fables; adapted and illustrated by Eric Vincent; lettered
7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas; cover by Pat by Patrick Owsley. First printing June 1991; second printing (retro
Boyette; adapted by Steven Grant; illustrated by Dan Spiegle; colored CI logo) 1994.
by Les Dorscheid; lettered by Carrie Spiegle. First April 1990; second 27. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair; adapted by Peter Kuper and
printing (retro CI logo) 1994. Emily Russell; illustrated by Peter Kuper; lettered by Willie Schubert.
8. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; adapted First and only printing June 1991.
and illustrated by John K. Snyder, III; lettered by Paul Fricke. First
and only printing April 1990.
9. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain; adapted and
Appendix L. Classics Illustrated, Third Series,
illustrated by Michael Ploog; lettered by Willie Schubert. First print- Study Guides (Acclaim Books, 1997–1998)
ing May 1990; second printing (retro CI logo) 1994.
An asterisk (*) indicates a title new to Classics Illustrated.
10. The Call of the Wild by Jack London; adapted by Charles
Dixon; illustrated by Ricardo Villagran; lettered by Gary Fields. First [SG1.] The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain; digest
printing June 1990; second printing (retro CI logo) 1994. reissue of 1948 edition; essay by Andrew Jay Hoffman (February
11. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving; adapted and illustrated 1997).
by Jeffrey Busch; lettered by Willie Schubert. First and only printing [SG2.] Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare; cover by Rebecca
July 1990. Guay; digest reissue of 1956 edition; essay by Susan Shwartz (February
12. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells; cover by Jeffrey K. 1997).
Potter; adapted by Steven Grant; illustrated by Eric Vincent; lettered [SG3.] A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; cover by Enrique
by Ken Bruzenak; colored by Steve Oliff and Olyoptics. First and Alcatena; digest reissue of 1956 edition; essay by Stuart Christie (Feb-
only printing August 1990. ruary 1997).
13. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë; adapted and illustrated [SG4.] Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë; cover by Rebecca Guay;
by Rick Geary. First and only printing October [sic] 1990. digest reissue of 1947 edition; essay by David Hoover (February 1997).
14. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe; adapted by [SG5.] Hamlet by William Shakespeare; digest reissue of 1952
P. Craig Russell; illustrated by Jay Geldhof; lettered by Willie Schu- edition; essay by Debra Doyle (March 1997).
bert; colored by Steve Oliff and Olyoptics. First and only printing [SG6.] The Odyssey by Homer; cover by Enrique Alcatena; digest
September [sic] 1990. reissue of 1951 edition; essay by Maurice A. Randall (March 1997).
15. The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories by O. Henry; Contents: [SG7.] Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; digest reissue of 1956
“The Gift of the Magi,” “The Pimienta Pancakes,” “A Retrieved Ref- edition; essay by Andrew Jay Hoffman (March 1997).
ormation,” “The Cop and the Anthem,” “The Voice of the City,” [SG8.] Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky; cover by
and “The Last Leaf ”; adapted and illustrated by Gary Gianni. First Dennis Calero; digest reissue of 1951 edition; essay by Andrew Jay
and only printing November 1990. Hoffman (March 1997).
16. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; cover by Gary Gianni; [SG9.] A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare;
adapted and illustrated by Joe Staton; lettered by Willie Schubert; cover by Richard Case; digest reissue of 1951 edition; essay by Bruce
colored by Les Dorscheid. First printing December 1990; second Glassco (April 1997).
printing (retro CI logo) 1994. [SG10.] Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; cover by Chuck
17. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson; adapted and illus- Wotjkiewicz; digest reissue of 1947 edition; essay by Michael Doylen
trated by Pat Boyette. First printing January 1991; second printing (April 1997).
(retro CI logo) 1994. [SG11.] The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain; cover by Bo
354 APPENDIX L

Hampton; digest reissue of 1946 edition; essay by Andrew Jay Hoff- [SG33.] Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain; cover by Clem
man (April 1997). Robins; digest reissue of 1952 edition; essay by Andrew Jay Hoffman
[SG12.] Moby Dick by Herman Melville; cover by Chuck (August 1997).
Wotjkiewicz; digest reissue of 1942 edition; essay by Debra Doyle [SG34.] The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling; cover by Alex
(April 1997). Maleev; digest reissue of 1951 edition; essay by Gregory Feeley (August
[SG13.] Macbeth by William Shakespeare; cover by Richard Case; 1997).
digest reissue of 1955 edition; essay by Karen Karbiener (May 1997). [SG35.] Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad; cover by Dennis Calero; di-
[SG14.] Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens; digest reissue of 1945 gest reissue of 1957 edition; essay by John Barnes (September 1997).
edition; essay by Deborah Condon (May 1997). [SG36.] The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo; cover by
[SG15.] A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Alexander Maleev; digest reissue of 1960 edition; essay by Howard
Twain; cover by Bo Hampton; digest reissue of 1957 edition; essay Hendrix (September 1997).
by Andrew Jay Hoffman (May 1997). [SG37.] The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane; cover by
[SG16.] Les Miserables by Victor Hugo; cover by Alexander John Paul Leon; digest reissue of 1952 edition; essay by Julie Bleha
Maleev; digest reissue of 1961 edition; essay by Sherwood Smith (May (September 1997).
1997). [SG38.] The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne;
[SG17.] Stories by Poe (“The Adventure of Hans Pfall”; “The Tell- cover by Chuck Wotjkiewicz; digest reissue of 1958 edition; essay by
Tale Heart”; “The Cask of Amontillado”) by Edgar Allan Poe; cover Joshua Miller (September 1997).
by Jen Marrus; digest reissue of excerpts from 1947 and 1951 editions; [SG39.] Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; cover by Scott Hamp-
essay by Gregory Feeley ( June 1997). ton; digest reissue of 1957 edition; essay by June Foley (September
[SG18.] The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas; cover by John 1997).
Paul Leon; digest reissue of 1959 edition; essay by Sherwood Smith [SG40.] The Call of the Wild by Jack London; cover by Leonardo
( June 1997). Manco; digest reissue of 1952 edition; essay by Joshua Miller (Sep-
[SG19.] Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand; cover by Richard tember 1997).
Case; digest reissue of 1951 edition; essay by Sherwood Smith ( June [SG41.] Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; cover by Jordan Raskin;
1997). digest reissue of 1945 edition; essay by Debra Doyle (October 1997).
[SG20.] Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe; cover by [SG42.] The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells; cover by Tony Harris;
Rebecca Guay; digest reissue of 1943 edition; essay by Karen Kar- digest reissue of 1959 edition; essay by Beth Nachison (October 1997).
biener ( June 1997). [SG43.] The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving; cover
[SG21.] Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson; cover by by Bo Hampton; digest reissue of 1943 edition; essay by Debra Doyle
Tommy Lee Edwards; digest reissue of 1949 edition; essay by Trevor (October 1997).
Pickering ( June 1997). [SG44.] Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; cover
[SG22.] Typee by Herman Melville; cover by Clem Robins; digest by Tony Harris; digest reissue of 1953 edition; essay by Andrew Jay
reissue of 1947 edition; essay by Debra Doyle ( June 1997). Hoffman (October 1997).
[SG23.] 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne; cover by [SG45.] Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling; cover by Chuck
John Paul Leon; digest reissue of 1948 edition; essay by Beth Nachison Wotjkiewicz; digest reissue of 1954 edition; essay by Debra Doyle
( July 1997). (November 1997).
[SG24.] The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne; cover by Richard [SG46.] The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson; cover
Case; digest reissue of 1947 edition; essay by Beth Nachison ( July by Enrique Alcatena; digest reissue of 1951 edition; essay by Beth
1997). Nachison (November 1997).
[SG25.] A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne; cover [SG47.] Silas Marner by George Eliot; cover by Scott Hampton;
by Lou Harrison; digest reissue of 1957 edition; essay by Howard digest reissue of 1949 edition; essay by Andrew Jay Hoffman (No-
Hendrix ( July 1997). vember 1997).
[SG26.] From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne; cover by Jim [SG48.] Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë; cover by Rebecca
Calafiore; digest reissue of 1953 edition; essay by Gregory Freeley Guay; digest reissue of 1949 edition; essay by Abigail Burnham Bloom
( July 1997). (November 1997).
[SG27.] Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift; cover by Bo Hamp- [SG49.] Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes; cover by Tommy
ton; digest reissue of 1943 edition; essay by Gregory Feeley (July 1997). Lee Edwards; digest reissue of 1943 edition; essay by Gregory Feeley
[SG28.] Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott; cover by Bo Hampton; digest (December 1997).
reissue of 1957 edition; essay by Susan Schwartz ( July 1997). [SG50.] A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; cover by Doug
[SG29.] More Stories by Poe (“The Pit and the Pendulum”; “The Tropea-Wheatley; digest reissue of 1948 edition; essay by Debra
Murders in the Rue Morgue”; “The Fall of the House of Usher”; Doyle (December 1997).
“The Raven”) by Edgar Allan Poe; cover by Jen Marrus; digest reissue [SG51.] The Iliad by Homer; cover by Enrique Alcatena; digest
of excerpts from 1944, 1947, and 1990 editions; essay by Gregory reissue of 1950 edition; essay by Maurice A. Randall (December
Feeley (August 1997). 1997).
[SG30.] The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas; cover [SG52.] The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper;
by Jay Geldof; digest reissue of 1958 edition; essay by Beth Nachison cover by Alexander Maleev; digest reissue of 1959 edition; essay by
(August 1997). June Foley (December 1997).
[SG31.] Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare; cover by Lou Har- [SG53.] Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson; cover by Scott
rison; digest reissue of 1950 edition; essay by Julie Bleha (August Hampton; digest reissue of 1948 edition; essay by Andrew Jay Hoff-
1997). man ( January 1998).
[SG32.] David Copperfield by Charles Dickens; cover by Gene [SG54.] The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas; cover
Ha; digest reissue of 1948 edition; essay by Emily Woudenberg (Au- by Alexander Maleev; digest reissue of 1956 edition; essay by Susan
gust 1997). Shwartz ( January 1998).
 APPENDIX M 355

[SG55.] Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne; cover by *Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare; scheduled but
Lou Harrison; digest reissue of 1950 edition; essay by Beth Nachison not published.
( January 1998). *Emma by Jane Austen; scheduled but not published.
[SG56.] All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque; The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins; scheduled but not published.
cover by Tommy Lee Edwards; digest reissue of 1952 edition; essay *The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; scheduled but not published.
by A.J. Scopino, Jr. ( January 1998). *Othello by William Shakespeare; scheduled but not published.
[SG57.] Kim by Rudyard Kipling; cover by Vince Evans; digest *Dracula by Bram Stoker; scheduled but not published.
reissue of 1958 edition; essay by Debra Doyle (February 1998).
[SG58.] Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; cover by Ray Appendix M. Classics Illustrated, Fourth Series,
Lago; digest reissue of 1962 edition; essay by Debra Doyle (February
1998).
(Jack Lake Productions, Inc., 2005– )
[SG59.] *Henry IV — Part 1 by William Shakespeare; original Ac- 1. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Reissue of 1959
claim edition; cover by George Pratt; interior art by Patrick Broderick; CI PC, A2 (George Evans) edition (scanned). Introduction by
adaptation by Gregory Feeley; essay by Susan Shwartz (February William B. Jones, Jr. First printing December 2007 [HRN 170, 48
1998). pages, $9.99].
[SG60.] The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells; cover by Clem 3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Reissue of
Robins; digest reissue of 1955 edition; essay by Joshua Miller 1956 PC, A2 (Lou Cameron) edition. New digitalized artwork: cover
(February 1998). by Christina Choma; interior art recoloring by Ali Morbi. Introduc-
[SG61.] *Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick tion by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2010 [HRN 171,
Douglass; original Acclaim edition; cover by Steven Musgrave; 48 pages, $9.99].
interior art by Jamal Igle, Ravil Lopez, and Mike DeCarlo; lettering 4. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Reissue
by Jade Moede; adaptation by Len Wein and Christine Vallada; essay of 1959 PC, A2 John P. Severin, Stephen L. Addeo) edition (scanned).
by Joshua Miller (March 1998). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing December 2007
[SG62.] *The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy; [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
original Acclaim edition; cover by Linda Fennimore; interior art by 5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Reissue of 1956 PC1, A2
Patrick Broderick and Ralph Reese; coloring by Colorpillar; lettering (Norman Nodel) edition (scanned). Introduction by William B.
by Jade Moede; adaptation by Madeleine Robins; essay by Beth Jones, Jr. First printing December 2007 [HRN 171, 48 pages, $9.99].
Nachison (April 1998). 6. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Reissue of 1956 PC1,
A2 ( Joe Orlando) edition (scanned). Introduction by William B.
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper; scheduled (March 1998) Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
but not issued. 7. Robin Hood [based on Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; scheduled (March 1998) but of Robin Hood and other sources]. Reissue of 1957 PC (Victor Prezio),
not issued. A2 ( Jack Sparling) edition. New digitalized artwork: cover by
Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas; scheduled (March 1998) but Christina Choma; interior art recoloring by Bruce Downey. Intro-
not issued. duction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2009 [HRN
*Henry IV — Part 2 by William Shakespeare; scheduled (April 1998) 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
but not issued. 9. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Reissue of 1961 PC1 (Gerald
David Balfour by Robert Louis Stevenson; scheduled (April 1998) McCann), A2 (Norman Nodel) edition. Original cover painting re-
but not issued. produced; interior art recoloring by Shane Kirshenblatt. Introduction
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; scheduled (May 1998) but not by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2009 [HRN 170, 48
issued. pages, $9.99].
The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells; scheduled (May 1998) but 16. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Reissue of 1960 PC,
not issued. original interior art (Lillian Chestney) edition (scanned). Introduction
*Henry V by William Shakespeare; scheduled ( June 1998) but not by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 170, 48 pages,
issued. $9.99].
White Fang by Jack London; scheduled ( June 1998) but not issued. 18. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Reissue of
*Beowulf; scheduled ( July 1998) but not issued. 1960 PC2 (Gerald McCann), A2 (George Evans, Reed Crandall) edi-
The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark; scheduled ( July tion. Original cover painting reproduced; interior art recoloring by
1998) but not issued. Bruce Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing
Mutiny on the Bounty by Nordhoff and Hall; scheduled but not pub- December 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
lished. 19. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens). Reissue
The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper; scheduled but not pub- of 1956 PC, A2 (Mike Sekowsky, Frank Giacoia) edition (scanned).
lished. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 170,
The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte; scheduled but not pub- 48 pages, $9.99].
lished. 23. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Reissue of 1961 PC, A2
*The Awakening by Kate Chopin; scheduled but not published. (George Evans, Reed Crandall) edition. New digitalized artwork:
The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper; scheduled but not published. cover by Christina Choma; interior art recoloring by Bruce Downey.
The Food of the Gods by H.G. Wells; scheduled but not published. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2009
*King Lear by William Shakespeare; scheduled but not published. [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope; scheduled but not pub- 26. Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley. Reissue of 1958 PC (Norman
lished. B. Saunders), original interior art (Robert H. Webb, Ann Brewster)
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana; scheduled but edition (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing
not published. 2008 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
356 APPENDIX M

37. The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper. Reissue of 1968 PC inal cover painting reproduced; new digitalized coloring by Ali Morbi.
(Thomas Oughton), original interior art (Rudolph Palais) edition. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing December 2009
New digitalized artwork: interior art recoloring by Bruce Downey. [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing February 2011 72. The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman. Reissue of 1956 PC,
[HRN 171, 48 pages (“Pioneers of Science: Thomas Alva Edison” original interior art (Henry C. Kiefer) edition. New digitalized art-
from 1947 edition replaces “Jungle Promise” on page 48), $9.99]. work: interior art recoloring by Mike Gagnon. Introduction by
39. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Reissue of 1962 PC1, A2 (H.J. William B. Jones, Jr. First printing February 2011 [HRN 171, 48 pages,
Kihl) edition. New digitalized artwork: cover by Christina Choma; $9.99].
coloring by Bruce Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. 78. Joan of Arc. Reissue of 1955 PC1, original interior art (Henry
First printing December 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. C. Kiefer) edition. New digitalized artwork: cover by Christina
42. Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. Reissue of 1959 PC, Choma; coloring by Bruce Downey. Introduction by William B.
A2 (Norman Nodel) edition (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing December 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. 83. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Reissue of 1951 PC1
43. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Reissue of 1947 (Alex A. Blum), 1968 A2 (Norman Nodel) edition (only union of
interior-art (Henry C. Kiefer); UK painted-cover edition. New dig- original painted cover and second interior art). New digitalized art-
italized artwork: cover by Christina Choma; coloring by Bruce work: cover by Christina Choma; coloring by Shane Kirshenblatt
Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October and Bram Cayne. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing
2010 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
47. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Reissue 87. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.
of 1955 PC1, original interior art (Henry C. Kiefer) edition (scanned). Reissue of 1951 PC (Alex A. Blum), original interior art (Alex A.
Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 170, Blum) edition. New digitalized artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
48 pages, $9.99]. coloring by Bruce Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr.
49. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge First printing December 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
Dodgson). Reissue of 1960 PC1 (originally 1956 Joint European series 91. The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Reissue of 1952 PC
cover), original interior art (Alex A. Blum) edition. New digitalized (Alex A. Blum), original interior art (Maurice del Bourgo) edition
artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art recoloring by Shane (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008
Kirshenblatt. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing [HRN 170, 52 pages (three ads plus Kanter bio by Jones), $9.99].
February 2011 [HRN 171, 48 pages, $9.99]. 95. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
53. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Reissue of 1948 Reissue of 1952 PC, original interior art (Maurice del Bourgo) edition.
interior-art (Henry C. Kiefer) and UK painted-cover edition. New Original cover painting reproduced; new digitalized coloring by
digitalized artwork: cover by Christina Choma. Introduction by Shane Kirshenblatt. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First print-
William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2010 [HRN 170, 48 ing December 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
pages, $9.99]. 96. Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness by John Bakeless. Reis-
54. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas. Reissue of sue of 1952 PC1, original interior art (Alex A. Blum) edition. Original
1958 PC, A2 (Ken Battefield) edition. New digital artwork: cover by cover painting reproduced; new digitalized coloring by Bruce
Christina Choma; coloring by Bruce Downey. Introduction by Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October
William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2009 [HRN 170, 48 2010 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
pages, $9.99]. 99. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Reissue of 1952 PC1 (Alex
57. The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Reis- A. Blum), original interior art (Alex A. Blum) edition. New digitalized
sue of 1956 PC, original interior art (Alex A. Blum) edition. New artwork unattributed. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First
digitalized artwork: cover by Christina Choma; coloring by Shane printing October 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
Kirshenblatt and Alana Peroff. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. 100. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
First printing October 2010 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. Hall. Reissue of 1952 PC (Henry C. Kiefer), original interior art
59. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Reissue of 1960 PC (Ge- (Morris Waldinger) edition. Original cover painting reproduced; new
offrey Biggs), original interior art (Henry C. Kiefer) edition. Original digitalized coloring by Shane Kirshenblatt. Introduction by William
cover painting reproduced; new digitalized coloring by Bruce B. Jones, Jr. First printing December 2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages,
Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October $9.99].
2009 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. 106. Buffalo Bill. Reissue of 1953 PC (Mort Künstler), original in-
60. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Reissue of 1960 PC1 (Leonard terior art (Maurice del Bourgo) edition. New digitalized artwork: in-
B. Cole), A2 (Leonard B. Cole, Norman Nodel, Stephen L. Addeo) terior art recoloring by Bruce Downey. Introduction by William B.
edition (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing Jones, Jr. First printing February 2011; limited initial run (200 copies)
2008 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. with “No. 112” erroneously printed in open-book device on front
64. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Reissue of 1956 cover [HRN 171, 48 pages, $9.99].
PC (George Wilson), original interior art (Alex A. Blum) edition 108. Knights of the Round Table by Sir Thomas Malory and others.
(scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing (cover Reissue of 1953 PC (Mort Künstler), original interior art (Alex A.
variant, Hispaniola deleted from enlarged image) 2008 [HRN 170, Blum) edition. New digitalized interior artwork by Holly Stover. In-
48 pages, $9.99]. troduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing December 2009
65. Benjamin Franklin. Reissue of 1956 PC, original interior art [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99].
(Robert Hebberd et al.) edition. New digitalized artwork: interior 112. The Adventures of Kit Carson. Reissue of 1953 PC1 (Mort Kün-
art recoloring by Mike Gagnon. Introduction by William B. Jones, stler), original interior art (Rudolph Palais) edition. New digitalized
Jr. First printing February 2011 [HRN 171, 48 pages, $9.99]. artwork: interior art recoloring by Bruce Downey. Introduction by
68. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Reissue of 1962 PC William B. Jones, Jr. First printing February 2011 [HRN 171, 48 pages,
(Leonard B. Cole), A2 (George Evans, Reed Crandall) edition. Orig- $9.99].
 APPENDIX N 357

121. Wild Bill Hickok. Reissue of 1954 PC, original interior art restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior
(Sal Trapani, Medio Iorio) edition. Original cover painting repro- art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William
duced. New digitalized artwork: interior art recoloring by Bruce B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/
Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing Can. $4.99].
February 2011 [HRN 171, 48 pages, $9.99]. 503. Cinderella. Reissue of 1953 edition. Digitalized restorations
124. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Reissue of 1955 PC of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Wayne
(Lou Cameron), original interior art (Lou Cameron) edition. Intro- Downey. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First
duction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2005 [no HRN, Albert printing 2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
Lewis Kanter biography by William B. Jones, Jr., on back cover, 48 504. The Pied Piper. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized restora-
pages, hardcover $12.99, softcover $9.99]. tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by
128. Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Reissue of 1955 PC, Chad Solomon and Miah Moon. Biography of Robert Browning by
original interior art (Alex A. Blum) edition (scanned). Introduction William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2005 [HRN 577, 32 pages,
by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2009 [HRN 170, 48 perfect-bound, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
pages, $9.99]. 505. The Sleeping Beauty. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized
129. Davy Crockett. Reissue of 1955 PC, original interior art (Lou restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior
Cameron) edition. Original cover painting reproduced; new art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of Charles Perrault by William
digitalized coloring by Mike Gagnon. Introduction by William B. B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/
Jones, Jr. First printing October 2010 [no HRN, essay on Davy Can. $4.99].
Crockett Craze of 1955 by William B. Jones, Jr., on back cover, 48 506. The 3 Little Pigs. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized restora-
pages, $9.99]. tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by
133. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Reissue of 1956 PC Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of Joseph Jacobs by William B. Jones,
(George Wilson), original interior art (Lou Cameron) edition Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
(scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 507. Jack and the Beanstalk. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized
[HRN 170, 52 pages (three ads plus Kanter bio by Jones), $9.99]. restorations of original Blum artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
134. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Reissue of 1956 interior art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of William Godwin
PC, original interior art (George Evans) edition (scanned). Introduc- by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 577, 32 pages,
tion by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 170, 52 pages U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
(three ads plus Kanter bio by Jones, $9.99]. 508. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Reissue of 1954 edition. Dig-
138. A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Reissue of italized restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
1957 PC (Norman B. Saunders), original interior art (Norman Nodel) interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of Robert Southey by
edition (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2005 [HRN 577, 32 pages,
2008 [HRN 170, 52 pages (three ads plus Kanter bio by Jones), perfect-bound, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
$9.99]. 509. Beauty and the Beast. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized
142. Abraham Lincoln [based on Abraham Lincoln: A Biography restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior
by Benjamin P. Thomas]. Reissue of 1958 PC (Gerald McCann), art by Richard Zajac and Matt Kells. Biography of Charles Perrault
original interior art (Norman Nodel) edition. Original cover painting by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2005 [HRN 577, 32 pages,
reproduced. New digitalized artwork: interior art recoloring by Mike perfect-bound, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
Gagnon. Introduction and biography of Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht 510. Little Red Riding Hood. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized
by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing February 2011 [HRN 171, 48 restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior
pages, $9.99]. art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William
153. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Reissue of 1959 PC (Ge- B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2008 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/
offrey Biggs), original interior art (Norman Nodel) edition. Original Can. $4.99].
cover painting reproduced. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. 511. Puss-in-Boots. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized restora-
First printing October 2010 [HRN 170, 48 pages, $9.99]. tions of original Dik Browne/William A. Walsh artwork: cover by
170. The Aeneid by Virgil. Reissue of UK PC original Reed Cran- Christina Choma; interior art by Binah and Miah Moon. Biography
dall interior art edition. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First of Charles Perrault by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2009 [HRN
printing December 2007 [HRN 170, 48 pages (in-house ad plus 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99].
Kanter bio by Jones replacing original pages 47–48), $9.99]. 512. Rumpelstiltskin. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized restora-
171. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. Reissue of 1950 Famous tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by
Authors original interior art (Gustav Schrotter) edition. New painted Wayne Downey. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by William B.
cover by Colin Mayne. New digitalized coloring by Ali Morbi. In- Jones, Jr. First printing 2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can.
troduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing October 2010 $4.99].
[HRN 171, 48 pages, $9.99]. 513. Pinocchio. Reissue of 1954 edition. Digitalized restorations
of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Binah
Appendix N. Classics Illustrated Junior, Second Moon and Miah Moon. Biography of Carlo Collodi by William B.
Jones, Jr. First printing 2005 [HRN 577, 32 pages, perfect-bound,
Series (Jack Lake Productions, Inc., 2003– ) U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
501. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Reissue of 1953 edition. 514. The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digitalized
Digitalized restorations of original cover and Alex A. Blum interior restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior
artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Susan Shaw-Rus- art by Kaarel and Pärt Prommik. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by
sell. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S.
printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
502. The Ugly Duckling. Reissue of 1953 edition. Digitalized 515. Johnny Appleseed. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digitalized restora-
358 APPENDIX N

tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by restorations of original Walsh artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
Bruce Downey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing interior art by Ali Morbi. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by Wil-
2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. liam B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can.
516. Aladdin and His Lamp. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digitalized $5.99].
restoration of original Schaffenberger artwork: interior art by Bruce 530. The Golden Bird. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized restora-
Downey. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First tions of original Browne/Streeter artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by
517. The Emperor’s New Clothes. Reissue of 1955 edition. William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S.
Digitalized restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina $3.99/Can. $4.99].
Choma; interior art by Bram Cayne. Biography of Hans Christian 531. Rapunzel. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized restorations of
Andersen by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 original Streeter/ Blum artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior
pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. art by Ali Morbi. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by William B.
518. The Golden Goose. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digitalized Jones, Jr. First printing 2009 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99].
restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior 532. The Dancing Princesses. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized
art by Susan-Shaw Russell. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by restorations of original Dik Browne/William A. Walsh artwork: cover
William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./ by Christina Choma; interior art by Binah Moon and Miah Moon.
Can. $5.99]. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by William B. Jones, Jr. First print-
519. Paul Bunyan. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digitalized restorations ing 2009 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99].
of original Sekowsky/Giacoia artwork: cover by Yvonne Poon; interior 533. The Magic Fountain. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized
art by Susan-Shaw Russell. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William restorations of original Sekowsky artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/ interior artwork by Bram Cayne. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by
Can. $4.99]. William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./
520. Thumbelina. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digitalized restorations Can.$5.99].
of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Leigh 535. The Wizard of Oz. Reissue of 1957 edition. Digitalized
Young. Biography of Hans Christian Andersen by William B. Jones, restorations of original Sekowsky artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
Jr. First printing 2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. interior art by Chen Yu Wei, Dai Cheng Song, and Yu Jing.
521. The King of the Golden River. Reissue of 1955 edition. Digi- Biography of L. Frank Baum by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing
talized restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; 2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
interior art by Ali Morbi. Biography of John Ruskin by William B. 536. The Chimney Sweep. Reissue of 1957 edition. Digitalized
Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. restorations of original Walsh artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
522. The Nightingale. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized restora- interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by
tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S.
Ali Morbi. Biography of Hans Christian Andersen by William B. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S.9/Can. 539. The Enchanted Fish. Reissue of 1957 edition. Digitalized
$5.99]. restorations of original Browne/Streeter artwork: cover by Christina
523. The Gallant Tailor. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized Choma; interior art by Binah Moon and Miah Moon. Biography of
restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2004 [HRN
art by Ali Morbi. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by William B. 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. 540. The Tinder-Box. Reissue of 1957 edition. Digitalized restora-
524. The Wild Swans. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized restora- tions of original Browne/Streeter artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by interior art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of Albert L. Kanter
Wayne Downey. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by William B. by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages,
Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
525. The Little Mermaid. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized 541. Snow White and Rose Red. Reissue of 1957 edition. Digitalized
restorations of original William A. Walsh/Alex A. Blum artwork: restorations of original William A. Walsh artwork: cover by Christina
cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Binah Moon and Miah Choma; interior art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Biography of the
Moon. Biography of Hans Christian Andersen by William B. Jones, Brothers Grimm by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2009 [HRN
Jr. First printing 2009 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99].
526. The Frog Prince. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized restora- 546. The Elves and the Shoemaker. Reissue of 1958 edition. Digi-
tions of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by talized restorations of original Walsh artwork: cover by Christina
Ali Morbi. Biography of the Brothers Grimm by William B. Jones, Choma; interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of Albert L.
Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99]. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32
527. The Golden-Haired Giant. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digi- pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
talized restorations of original artwork: cover by Christina Choma; 548. The Magic Pitcher. Reissue of 1958 edition. Digitalized
interior art by Shane Kirshenblatt. Biography of the Brothers Grimm restorations of original Walsh artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, interior art by Chen Yu Wei, Dai Cheng Song, and Yu Jing. Biog-
U.S./Can.$ 5.99]. raphy of Nathaniel Hawthorne by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing
528. The Penny Prince. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized restora- 2005 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99].
tions of original Browne/Hickey art: cover by Christina Choma; in- 551. The Queen Bee. Reissue of 1958 edition. Digitalized restora-
terior art by Ali Morbi. Biography of Hans Christian Andersen by tions of original William A. Walsh artwork: cover by Christina
William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2010 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S./ Choma; interior art by Eva Oja and Ali Morbi. Biography of the
Can. $5.99]. Brothers Grimm by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2009 [HRN
529. The Magic Servants. Reissue of 1956 edition. Digitalized 577, 32 pages, U.S./Can. $5.99].
 APPENDIX O, APPENDIX P 359

562. The Enchanted Pony: A Russian Fairy Tale. Reissue of October interior art (pencils) by George Evans (reproduced from original
1959 edition. Digitalized restorations of original L.B. Cole/William Gilberton proof pages). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First
A. Walsh artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Shane printing (softcover edition) 2008 [Back-cover display of all 16 Special
Kirshenblatt. Biography of Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. Issues; 96 pages; $14.99].
First printing 2009 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. 150A. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Original painted cover by
563. The Wishing Well. Reissue of 1959 edition. Digitalized Gerald McCann; interior art by L.B. Cole, Sam Glanzman, Graham
restorations of original Cole/Walsh artwork: cover by Christina Ingels, Sid Check, Kirner, Sam Becker, Norman Nodel, Stan Camp-
Choma; interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of Albert L. bell, and Ray Ramsey. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First
Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN 577, 32 printing (softcover edition) September 2011 [Back-cover display of
pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. all 16 Special Issues; 96 pages; $14.99].
564. The Salt Mountain: A Russian Fairy Tale. Reissue of 1960 edi- 162A. The War Between the States. Original painted cover by Ge-
tion. Digitalized restorations of original Cole/Peltz artwork: cover offrey Biggs; interior art by Jack Kirby, Sam Glanzman, Till Goodan,
by Christina Choma; interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of George Peltz, George Evans, John Tartaglione, and Edd Ashe
Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2003 [HRN (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing (soft-
577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. cover edition) 2007 [Back-cover display of all 16 Special Issues; 96
565. The Silly Princess. Reissue of 1960 edition. Digitalized restora- pages; $14.99].
tions of original Cole/Walsh artwork: cover by Christina Choma;
interior art by Binah and Miah Moon. Biography of Albert L. Kanter
by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2004 [HRN 577, 32 pages,
Appendix P. British Classics Illustrated, Third
U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. Series (Classic Comics Store, 2008– )
570. The Pearl Princess. Reissue of 1961 edition; first title to be
reissued in second series. Digitalized restorations of original artwork: Produced in conjunction with Jack Lake Productions, Inc., and
using same digitalized art. All titles perfect-bound and priced at
cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Susan Shaw-Russell. Bi-
£3.25. Note that some titles were published in the third British
ography of Albert L. Kanter by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing
series before they were added to the Jack Lake Productions catalogue.
2003 [HRN 577, 32 pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. A Junior series is also published, as well as teachers’ guides.
571. How Fire Came to the Indians. Reissue of 1961 edition. Dig-
italized restorations of original Tony Tallarico artwork: cover by 1. The War of the Worlds (September 2008).
Christina Choma (based on Jack Kirby “Coming Next” art in No. 2. Oliver Twist (November 2008)
570 [1961]); interior art by Richard Zajac and Matt Kells. Intro- 3. Robin Hood (December 2008)
duction by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2005 [HRN 577, 32 4. The Man in the Iron Mask ( January 2009).
pages, U.S. $3.99/Can. $4.99]. 5. Romeo and Juliet (February 2009).
576. The Princess Who Saw Everything. Entirely new edition, re- 6. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (February 2009; British
placing 1962 Pat Prichard cover and interior. Artwork: cover by Colin spelling of “Centre” in title).
Mayne; interior art by Wayne Downey. Biography of the Brothers 7. Les Miserables (April 2009).
Grimm by William B. Jones, Jr. First printing 2009 [HRN 577, 32 8. The Jungle Book (May 2009; first appearance in a British
pages, U.S./Can. $5.99. Classics Illustrated series; Nodel rather than Blum cover; Nodel
interior art).
Appendix O. Classics Illustrated Special Issues, 9. Mutiny on the Bounty ( June 2009).
Second Series (Jack Lake Productions, Inc., 10. Wuthering Heights ( July 2009).
11. Knights of the Round Table (September 2009).
2004 – ) 12. Jane Eyre (September 2009).
129A. The Story of Jesus. Original painted cover by Victor Prezio; 13. Frankenstein (October 2009; first appearance in a British
interior art by William A. Walsh and Alex A. Blum. New digitalized Classics Illustrated series).
artwork: cover by Christina Choma; interior art by Susan Shaw- 14. The Time Machine (November 2009).
Russell, Leigh Young, and Bruce Downey. Introduction by William 15. A Christmas Carol (December 2009).
B. Jones, Jr. First printing (hardcover edition) 2004 [Back-cover dis- 16. Moby Dick ( January 2010).
play of all 16 Special Issues; 98 pages; $19.99]. Second printing (soft- 17. Macbeth (February 2010).
cover edition) October 2010 [Back-cover display of all 16 Special 18. The Invisible Man (March 2010).
Issues; 100 pages, including biographies of Albert L. Kanter and 19. Huckleberry Finn (April 2010).
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht by William B. Jones, Jr.; $14.99]. 20. Great Expectations ( June 2010).
132A. The Story of America. Original painted cover by George 21. Treasure Island ( June 2010).
Wilson; interior art by Lou Cameron, Lin Streeter, Peter Costanza, 22. Alice in Wonderland ( July 2010).
and Tom Hickey (scanned). Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. 23. Black Beauty (August 2010).
First printing (softcover edition) 2007 [Back-cover display of all 16 24. Kidnapped (September 2010).
Special Issues; 96 pages; $14.99]. 25. The Three Musketeers (October 2010).
135A. The Ten Commandments. Original painted cover and 26. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (November 2010).
interior art by Norman Nodel. New digitalized artwork: cover by 27. Ben-Hur (December 2010).
Christina Choma; interior art by Richard Zajac, Matt Kells, and 28. The Last Days of Pompeii ( January 2011).
Chad Solomon. Introduction by William B. Jones, Jr. Second printing 29. Ivanhoe (March 2011).
(softcover edition) October 2010 [Back-cover display of all 16 Special 30. Julius Caesar (April 2011).
Issues; 100 pages, including biographies of Albert L. Kanter and 31. Around the World in Eighty Days (2011).
Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht by William B. Jones, Jr.; $14.99]. 32. Nicholas Nickleby (2011; first appearance in a British Classics
141A. The Rough Rider. Original painted cover (unidentified artist); Illustrated series).
360 APPENDIX Q, APPENDIX R, APPENDIX S

33. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2011). Appendix S. Correspondence Between Roberta
34. The Last of the Mohicans (2011). Strauss and the National Maritime Museum,
35. A Tale of Two Cities (2011).
36. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2011). Greenwich, re: The Dark Frigate
(November-December 1955)
Appendix Q. Papercutz Classics Illustrated November 18, 1955
DeLuxe Editions (Papercutz, 2008– ) National Maritime Museum
Greenwich
All 6 1 ⁄ 2" ¥ 9", 144 pages, full-color; hardcover and softcover. London, SE 10, England
Gentlemen:
1. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Adapted by
Michel Plessix. Translation by Joe Johnson. First printing January We are in the process of adapting a novel, The Dark Frigate by
2008. Charles Boardman Hawes. The climax of the book is a trial in an
2. Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: admiralty court in London toward the end of the reign of Charles I.
“Hansel and Gretel” adapted by Philip Petit; “Learning How to We will have to illustrate this trial, yet we find a remarkable paucity
Shudder” adapted by Mazan; “The Devil and the Three Golden of reference material. We finally checked with British Information
Hairs” adapted by Cecile Chicault; “The Valiant Little Tailor” Services and were told to contact you.
adapted by Mazan. Translation by Joe Johnson. First Printing April We are not interested as such in the procedure in these courts; we
2008. are mainly concerned with the physical makeup of the court. Ques-
3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Adapted by Marion Mousse. tions that occur are:
Translation by Joe Johnson. First printing January 2009. a. were all of the officers of the court naval personnel?
4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Adapted by b. did the court contain a judge, prosecutor, defense attorney or
Jean David Morvan, Voulyze, and Lefebre. Translation by Joe John- similar comparable figures? was there a particular costume for any of
son. First printing December 2009. these gentlemen?
5. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Adapted by David c. was there a jury, and if so, how many members did it contain,
Chauvel and Fred Simon. Translation by Joe Johnson. First printing and were they all naval officers? where did they deliberate — in the
March 2010. courtroom or elsewhere?
6. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Adapted by Jean d. was there a specific seating arrangement? were there any other
David Morvan, Michel Dufranne, and Rubén. Translation by Joe physical details of the courtroom of which we should be aware?
Johnson. First printing June 2011. If material for this specific period is not available, is general
material available on admiralty courts? Did they vary greatly from
era to era? Any information you forward to us will be gratefully re-
Appendix R. Papercutz Classics Illustrated ceived, although, unhappily, publishing deadlines demand that we
Editions (Papercutz, 2008– ) hear from you within one month. But if you can help us produce a
more accurate book, we will indeed be indebted to you.
1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Adapted by Rick Geary. Sincerely,
First printing March 2008. GILBERTON COMPANY, INC.
2. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Adapted by Rick Geary. Roberta Strauss
First printing June 2008. Script Editor
3. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Adapted by Kyle
Baker. First printing September 2008. ***
4. The Raven and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll. Adapted by Postmark: 2 DEC 1955
Gahan Wilson. First printing March 2009. National Maritime Museum
5. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Adapted by Steven Grant Greenwich,
and Tom Mandrake. First printing May 2009. S.E. 10
6. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Adapted by P.
Craig Russell and Jill Thompson. First printing September 2009. Dear Madam,
7. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Adapted In answer to your letter of 18th November, there is nothing, as far
by John K. Snyder, III. First printing December 2009. as I have been able to discover, which illustrates the points about the
8. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Adapted by Admiralty Court, which you raise.
Steven Grant and Dan Spiegle. First printing January 2010. There would have been nothing to distinguish those appearing in
9. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Adapted by Peter Kuper. First the court as naval people, (there was at the time no uniform) and
printing May 2010. nothing is known of the arrangement of the rooms or halls in which
10. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. Adapted by Peter the judges sat. A small informal gathering round a table is probably
David and Kyle Baker. First printing June 2010. a more likely arrangement than any well-set-out Court Room.
11. The Devil’s Dictionary and Other Works by Ambrose Bierce. In a book called “Doctors Commons & the Old Court of Admi-
Adapted by Gahan Wilson. First printing November 2010. ralty” by W. Senior (London) 1922, there is a description of a costume
12. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. Adapted by Steven worn by Doctors before the Admiralty Judge or Judges; black gowns,
Grant and Eric Vincent. First printing January 2011. with the hoods of their Degrees and “all-round black velvet caps”
13. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Adapted by Mark Wayne Harris (not unlike present day Doctor’s robes). This refers to the time of
and Ray Lago. First printing April 2011. Charles II, but these details could well be incorporated in your il-
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Adapted by Rick Geary. lustration.
First printing August 2011. Samuel Pepys describes two visits to an Admiralty Court, and
 APPENDIX T 361

speaks of his three counsel, and only one on the opposing side. There Appendix T. Letter from Roberta Strauss
was also a jury, at least in one of his passages (concerned with a trial Feuerlicht to E. Nelson Bridwell
for dishonesty in a Dockyard). In the other in-
stance, a case of Prize, he mentions only the
Judge delivering his sentence. He notes that he
had to sit with his hat off, and its worth noting
that in your period the Court was held in part
of an old church, so that perhaps a “Gothic”
background, or windows, would be a useful ref-
erence for your artist.
There remains the Admiralty mace to be men-
tioned. This was a silver oar, about 3 feet in
length according to some accounts, which was
carried into the Court and placed on the table
before the Judge. This too could well figure in
your pictures.
I hope these details will be of some help,
Yours truly,
J. MUNDAY.
LIBRARIAN.
Miss R. Strauss
Gilberton Company, Inc.
101, Fifth Avenue
New York 3.
N.Y.
U.S.A.
This page intentionally left blank
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Palais, Rudolph. Letter to author, 30 December 1990. “Bruno Premiani.” Lambiek Comiclopedia,
1993. Palais, Rudolph. Interview with author, 1 No- http//lambiek.net/artists/p/premiani_bruno.
Petránek, Michael. E-mail to author, 1 Septem- vember 1993. htm. Accessed 26 November 2010.
ber 2010. Prager, Ron. Interview with author, 25 May “Classics Illustrated Artists (Who are they, and
Rubinstein, Annette T. Letter to Roberta 2000. who did what!)” http://www.ttbwrr.com/
Strauss, 3 February 1955. _____. Interview with author, 31 May 2000. ClassicsIllustrated /Classics- Illustrated-
Sørensen, Øystein. E-mail to author, 21 No- Robins, Madeleine. Interview with author, 4 Artists-contributions.htm. Accessed 19 No-
vember 2010. April 1997. vember 2010.
Sundel, Alfred. Letter to author, 21 August _____. Interview with author, 23 July 1997. “Dino Battaglia.” DanDare.Info, http://dan
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March 2000. Swayze, Marc. Interview with author, 1 June Cultural History. Paul Gravett website, http://
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Feuerlicht, Herb. Interview with author, 25 _____. Interview with author, 20 February 22 October 2009), pp. 22–51, http://onlineli-
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This page intentionally left blank
 Index
Numbers in bold italics indicate pages with illustrations.

Abel, Jack 343, 347 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer American Communist Party 180 Around the World with the United
About, Edmond 154, 331 (Rubano) 2, 100, 101, 103, 232, American Flagg! (First Publishing/ Nations (Picture Parade/Picture
Abraham Lincoln (Nodel) 157–158, 324, C4 First Classics, Inc.) 283 Progress) 246, 335
332, 357 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (unat- American Heritage 3, 309, 311, 364 Art Students League 27, 35, 105,
Abramson, Samuel H. 33, 319 tributed) 232, 324 The American Indian (Picture 132, 169, 182
Acclaim Books 5, 6, 32, 103, 291– The Aeneid (British Classics Illus- Parade/Picture Progress) 335 Ashe, Edd 18, 19, 265, 309, 317,
293, 353 trated) 238–239, 278, 352 “American Indians” (Classic Comics, 342, 343, 348
Ace Comics 28, 105, 128, 129, 131, The Aeneid (Greek) C14 Classics Illustrated filler) 321, Astarita, Rafael 49, 89
144, 153 The Aeneid ( Jack Lake Productions) 322, 323, 328 Atelier Julian (Paris art school) 64
Aces High (EC) 191 296, 357 “American Presidents” (Classics The Atlantic Monthly 112
Ackroyd, Dan 281 “Aesop’s Fables” (Classics Illustrated Illustrated filler) 328, 329, 330 Atlas 121, 133, 144, 174, 192, 207,
Action Comics 6 Junior) 252, 336–341 American Presidents (World Around 228, 254; see also Marvel; Timely
Adam, Pat 44, 321 Aesop’s Fables (Vincent) 288, 353 Us) 19, 219, 263, 265, 347 The Atomic Age (Classics Illustrated
Adam-12 57 The Age of Fable (Bulfinch) 322, American Red Cross 16 Special Issue) 176, 224, 259,
Adams, John Quincy 265, 347 349 America’s Reign of Terror (Feuerlicht) 260, 342
Addeo, Stephen L. 21, 176, 179, Aida (Famous Operas) 138, 325 197 Attucks, Crispus 273, 334
180, 208, 234, 318, 325, 345, Air Force (World Around Us) 264, Ames, Lee J. 268, 344 Austen, Jane 4, 136, 293, 355
346, 348 346 Amundsen, Roald 327, 347 Author biographies 111, 137
Adler, Harry M. 49 Airmont Books 238, 315 And Called It Macaroni–II (Zansky) Avalanche! (Schrotter) 119
Adorno, Theodor 165 Aizen, Adolfo 277 28 Avitabile, Albert 323
The Adventure of Hans Pfall (Kiefer) “Aladdin” (Berger) 231, 318 Andersen, Hans Christian 75, 336– Avon 169
66, 69, 323, 354 Aladdin and His Lamp (Classics Illus- 341, 358 Ayers, Dick 228, 322
The Adventure of the Speckled Band trated Junior) 125, 231, 246, 337 Andy’s Atomic Adventures (PP and
(Moskowitz) 121, 122, 330 “Aladdin and His Magic Lamp” Classics Illustrated Special Issue) Bachleitner, Norbert 233, 315, 363
Adventures in Science (Classics Illus- (Chestney) 38, 318 122, 130, 245, 255, 259, 335, “Bad Men of the West” (Classics
trated Special Issue) 129, 255, 342 Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp 342, C13 Illustrated filler) 329, 331
Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Dell) 280 “The Animal World” (Classics Illus- Bails, Jerry xi, 309, 310, 311, 314, 363
(British Classics Illustrated) 352 Alaska: “The Great Land” (Picture trated Junior) 252, 338–342 Baily, Bernard 94
Adventures of Cellini (Battaglia?) Parade/Picture Progress) 246, “Annabel Lee” (Poe) 320 Bakeless, John 87, 114, 115, 328
231, 232, 323 335 “Annabel Lee” (Wilson) 284 Baker, Kyle 284, 285, 353, 360
Adventures of Cellini (Froehlich) 95, Albistur, Jo 262, 343, 348, 349 “The Ant and the Grasshopper” Baker, Matt 49, 58, 59, 60, 61, 87,
322–323 Alcatena, Enrique 353, 354 (Classics Illustrated Junior) 252, 132, 307, 310, 322, 363; drawings
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Alcott, Louisa May 4, 136 337 of women 58, 59; training 58
(First, unpublished) 290 Aldrich, Thomas Bailey 63 Antony, Mark 63, 67, 194, 333 Balboa, Vasco Muñez de 330
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Alexander, Grover Cleveland (“Old “The Apache Wars” (Orlando) 258, Ballantyne, R.M. 278, 352
(Twain) 137, 201 Pete”) 328 342 Balto 263, 321, 344
The Adventures of Kit Carson (Palais) “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” Appolonius of Rhodes 352 Banneker, Benjamin 273, 334
105, 107–108, 330, 356 (Berger) 230, 231, 318 Arabian Nights (Berger) 39, 222, “Barbara Frietchie” (Whittier) 321
The Adventures of Marco Polo (Flem- “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” 230, 231, 318 Barbarossa, Frederick 334
ing) 55, 321 (Chestney) 37, 318 Arabian Nights (Chestney) 37, 38, The Barber of Seville (Famous
The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck Alice in Wonderland (Acc. Books, 66, 231, 246, 318, 334 Operas) 324
(Töpffer, transl.) 10 unpublished) 355 Arbuthnot, May Hill 1 Barbie (doll) 1, 306
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Alice in Wonderland (Blum) 5, 76, Archimedes 325 Barker, Martin 20, 310, 363
(Zansky/Kiefer) 30, 31, 32, 64, 77, 91, 136, 198, 222, 271, 324, The Argonauts (British Classics Illus- Barnes, Barbara 114
66, 90, 94, 121, 322 350, 355, 356 trated) 249, 352 Barnes, John 354
“The Adventures of Sinbad the All Quiet on the Western Front (Acc. Arkwright, Sir Richard 328 Barnes, Pat 114
Sailor” (Chestney) 38, 318 Books) 355 Army (World Around Us) 21, 171, Bart, Lionel 194
Adventures of Superman (Golden) All Quiet on the Western Front (del 173, 264, 345 Barton, Clara 330
125 Bourgo) 132, 133, 141, 239, 328, Arnold, Louis 144 Baseball cards 1, 306
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Acc. 356 Arnold, Matthew 319 Basehart, Richard 154
Books) 103, 292, 353 Ally Sloper’s Half-Holiday 9 Arnold, Dr. Thomas 55, 206 Basile, Giambattista 339
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Alsten see Stenzel, Al Around the World in 80 Days (Acc. Bass, Jack 321
(Papercutz) 297, 360 Amash, Jim x, 105, 108, 311, 363 Books) 355 Bates, Esther Willard 119
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier Around the World in 80 Days (First, Batman 3, 10
(Ploog) 287, 353 & Clay 7 unpublished) 289 Batman (DC) 5, 286
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel) Around the World in 80 Days Batman trading cards (Saunders)
(Polseno) 12 228 (Kiefer) 71, 326, 351, 359 210

367
368 INDEX

Batt, David 316, 364 Black Beauty (Cole/Nodel/Addeo) “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” California School of Fine Arts 144
Battaglia, Dino 231, 232, 323 176, 198, 208, 222, 325, 350, 356 (Crane) 333, 334 Calkins, Dick 10
Battefield, Ken 17, 205, 324, 356 Black Beauty (Froehlich) 4, 77, 95, Bridger, Jim 331 The Call of the Wild (Acc. Books)
“The Battle of Tours” (World 325, 350 Bridgman, George 132 292, 354
Around Us) 348, 349 Black Beauty (Micale, second Bridwell, E. Nelson 198, 300, 361 The Call of the Wild (del Bourgo) 2,
Baum, L. Frank 251, 339, 358 painted cover) 271, 325 Brigadoon 271 132, 328, 356
The Beach of Falesá (Cameron) 146, “The Black Death” (Defoe) 349 Briggs, Bill xi, xii, 20, 78, 131, 299, The Call of the Wild (Villagran)
330 The Black Tulip (Blum) 81, 82, 83, 309, 311, 312, 316 289, 353
The Bearskin Soldier (Classics Illus- 116, 141, 301, 326, C4 Briggs, Gladys 290 Cameron, Lou x, xii, 3, 59, 129,
trated Junior) 341 The Black Tulip (British edition) Brightboots (Classics Illustrated Jun- 131, 138, 144, 145–151, 152, 164,
Beatles 267 276, 278, 351 ior) 225, 341 173, 178, 198, 245, 246, 307, 312,
Beaty, Bart 306, 316, 363 Blackhawk 192 Bring ’Em Back Alive (Kiefer) 1, 75, 317, 319, 330, 331, 335, 342, 355,
Beau Geste (Kiefer) 114, 334 Blackmore, R.D. (Richard Dod- 329 357, 359, 363, 364; artistic train-
Beauty and the Beast (Classics Illus- dridge) 58, 137, 322, 350 Bringing Up Father 10 ing 144; career as comics artist
trated Junior) 250, 336 Blackwell, Elizabeth 138, 324 Broderick, Patrick 293, 355 144; career as novelist 144; dis-
Beauty and the Beast (Disney) 6 Blatt, Dean 303 Brontë, Charlotte 96, 135, 232, agreements with Gilberton edito-
Beck, Charles Clarence 122, 124 Blazing Combat (Warren) 171 233, 292, 323, 350, 353, 356 rial department 148, 152; military
Becker, Sam 342, 345 Blazing the Trails West (Classics Brontë, Emily 68, 135, 284, 325, experience 144; style 144; tech-
Beckwourth, James 273, 334 Illustrated Special Issue) 178, 352, 353, 356 nique 146; wins Spur Award 144;
Beerbohm, Robert L. 309, 363 187, 198, 256, 258, 342 Brooks, Jeff 297 wins Thomas Alva Edison Award
Beery, Wallace 78 Bleha, Julie 354 Brooks, Jon 297 144, 152, 246
Beethoven, Ludwig van 323 Bloom, Abigail Burnham 354 Brother Jonathan 10 Camilla 49
Bell, Alexander Graham 325 Blue Beetle 10, 49 Brown, Dee xii Campbell, Elspeth 323
“The Bells” (Poe) 320 The Blue Hotel (Crane, Joint Euro- Brown v. Board of Education 40 Campbell, Georgina 48, 318, 321
Ben-Hur (McCann, first painted pean Series) 242 Browne, Dik 249, 250, 251, 268, Campbell, Stan 204, 205, 332,
cover) 214, 332 Blue Ribbon Comics 128 336, 337, 338, 344 339, 345, 348
Ben-Hur (Orlando) 170, 171, 271, Blum, Alex A. 3, 6, 7, 49, 50, 64, Browne, Hablôt K. (“Phiz”) 68 Candide (First, unpublished) 290
332, 359 75, 76 –88, 89, 91, 103, 113, 116, Browning, Robert 250, 336 Caniff, Milt 107
Ben-Hur (Oughton, second painted 120, 135, 141, 143, 153, 159, 173, Bruce, Robert 332 The Canterville Ghost (British Clas-
cover) 271, 332 183, 188, 207, 216, 246, 247, 254, Bruzenak, Ken 353 sics Illustrated) 278, 352
Ben-Hur (Schrotter) 170, 335 284, 301, 324–333, 334, 336– Brynner, Yul 143, 210 Captain America 226
Benito Cereno [The Slave Ship] (Mel- 340, 342, 346, C4, C5; artistic The Buccaneer (“Coming Next”) Captain Blood (Kiefer) 66, 113, 334
ville, Joint European Series) 242 training 76; drawings of women 141, 143, 188, 332 Captain Marvel 10, 111, 122
Benjamin Franklin 78, 81, 87; Gilberton art director The Buccaneer (Evans/Jenney) 141, Captain Marvel 286
(Hebberd/Schrotter/others) 2, 77, 88, 247; one of two dominant 143, 188, 189, 191, 332–333, 350 Captain Marvel Adventures 226
102, 103, 119, 326, 350, 356 Iger Era Classics Illustrated artists The Buccaneer (Saunders cover) Captain Marvel, Jr. 94
Benjamin Franklin (Kiefer cover) 76; personality 88, 89; style 77 209, 210, 332–333 Captain Tootsie 122
103, 326 “The Boarded Window” (Wilson) Buchan, John 114, 334 Captain Triumph 192
Benjamin Franklin (painted cover) 353 Buck, Frank 1, 75, 114, 128, 135, Captains Courageous (Acc. Books)
102, 103, 326 Boating (World Around Us) 219, 157, 329, 331, 332, 351, 352 354
Benson, John 314 265, 347 Buck Rogers 10 Captains Courageous (Costanza)
Benton, Mike 51, 309, 310, 311, 312, “Bobby Thatcher” 309 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 124, 330
313, 363 La Boheme (Famous Operas) 326 (comic strip) 203 Captains Courageous (Kipling) 292
Beowulf (Acc. Books, unpublished) Bolivar, Simon 11 Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) 138, Carmen (Famous Operas) 324
293, 355 Bomber Comics 49 332 Carney, William 334
Beowulf (First Publishing/First Clas- Bonney, William H. (Billy the Kid) Buel, Stephen ix Carrell, Alexis 323
sics, Inc.) 283 259 Buffalo Bill (del Bourgo) 133, 134, Carroll, Lewis (Charles Lutwidge
Berenger, Tom 282 Book of the Month Club 166 329, 351, 356 Dodgson) 76, 284, 324, 350,
Berg, Cherney 312 Boone, Daniel 258, 342 Buffalo Bill (Künstler) C6 353, 356
Berger, Charles 39, 230, 231, 318, Boris (Classics Illustrated Junior Bugs Bunny (Dell) 168 Carson, Christopher (Kit) 108, 258
341, 348 artist) 341 Buhle, Paul x, 297, 316, 363 Carson, David (Boy Scout) 269,
Berger, Richard S. xi, 290 Boris Gudenof (Famous Operas) 326 Bulfinch, Thomas 322, 349 343
Bergh, Henry 329 Bossert, Audrey (Toni) Blum 76 Bullwinkle 253 Carter, Henry A. 137, 363
Bessemer, Sir Henry 324 Bossert, William 83, 327 Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, 1st Baron Cartier, Ed 146
The Best from Boys’ Life Comics 244, The Bottle Imp (Cameron) xi, 146, Lytton 66, 91, 137, 227, 322, 352 Carton, Sydney (character) 4, 35,
268, 269, 343, 344 301, 330 Bumppo, Natty (character) 1, 32, 36, 37, 167, 169, 170
Better Publications (Pines) 171 Bottom, Nick (character) 83, 139 301 Carver, George Washington 273,
Bewitched (Dell) 225 “Bound by Rails” (Orlando) 176, Bunsen, Robert Wilhelm 328 334
Bible Tales for Young People (Atlas) 233 Buonarroti, Michelangelo 323 Case, Richard 353, 354
254 Bowdler, Thomas 165 Burbank, Luther 323 The Cask of Amontillado (Palais)
Bierce, Ambrose 284, 353 Bowie, James 212, 331 Burns, Robert C. 100, 323 108, 109, 328, 354
Biggs, Geoffrey 210, 211, 265, 325, The Boy Captain (unpublished) Burroughs, Edgar Rice 143 Cassette Book Company 280, 281
333, 346, C12 238, 334 Burrows, Stephen 320 Castle Dangerous (Campbell) 204,
Biggs, Stephanie 211 Boy Commandos 226 Busch, Jeffrey 288, 353 205, 332, 350
Billy the Kid see Bonney, William Boy Scouts of America 137, 268, Buster Brown 10 The Catholic Guild 192
H. 269 Butler, David, Jr. 319 Catman Comics 105
Binder, Jack 10, 51, 94 Boyette, Pat 289, 353 Byrne, Donn 55, 321 Caupolican 225
Binder Shop 10, 51, 57, 94 Boys’ Life 268, 269 “The Causes” (Glanzman) 260, 343
The Birth of America (Streeter, PP Brady, Mathew 329 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 285 Cayne, Bram 356, 358
and Classics Illustrated Special The Brain as an Organ (Wertham) Caesar, Augustus (Octavius) 326, Cellini, Benvenuto 95, 231, 322–323
Issue) 129, 255, 335, 342 165 333 Cervantes de Saavedra, Miguel de
Bissette, Stephen R. 310, 364 The Brave and the Bold (DC) 202 Caesar, Julius 111, 169, 331 33, 319, 352, 354
Bizet, Georges 324 “Break, Break, Break” (Tennyson) Caesar’s Conquests (Orlando) 3, 140, Chabon, Michael 7
The Black Arrow (Hicks) 44, 45, 319 169, 180, 254, 331, 349 Chalif, Eric x
47, 111, 322, 350, C1 Brecht Forum 180 Caesar’s Conquests (painted cover) C7 Chalif, Lawrence x, 8, 305
Black Beauty (Cole, first painted Brewster, Ann 51, 54, 264, 321, Calero, Dennis 353, 354 Challengers of the Unknown (DC)
cover) 208, 325, 350, 356 345–347 Califiore, Jim 354 227
 INDEX 369

“The Champion of Rum Alley” length 13; organizational changes record series (M-G-M, Golden) Cohen, Bobby 241
(Crane) 348 35; racial stereotyping 40–41, 55; 211, 212, regularity of panel Cold War 255, 259, 260
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” reprinted editions 16; sent to GIs design 157; reissued titles 198, Cole, Jack 107
(Tennyson) 319 by Red Cross 16; uneven quality 222, 239; reorder list 14, 139, Cole, Leonard B. xi, 6, 178, 183,
Charlton Comics 107, 127, 128, 204, of early art 6, 17, 49; uniqueness 140, 141, 166, 237; scope of series 207, 208, 209, 210, 213, 225,
225 16 1, 6; termination of bimonthly 232, 251, 252, 259, 263, 269,
Chatrain, Louis-Alexandre see Classic Comics Gift Boxes 16, 143 publication 229; termination of 314, 325, 326, 333, 340, 341,
Erckmann-Chatrain The Classic Comics Index (Fisher) x, new-title publication 236 342, 344, 345, 356, 359, C9,
Chauvel, David 360 303, 304 Classics Illustrated ( Jack Lake Pro- C11; animal covers and interiors
Chayefsky, Paddy 26 The Classics Collector xi, 300, 310, ductions) x, 294–297, 357–359 207–208, 251; Gilberton art
Check, Sid 342, 345 312, 364 Classics Illustrated (Papercutz) x, director 207–208
Chen Yu Wei 358 The Classics Collectors Club Newslet- 297, 298, 360 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 286, 353
Chesler, Harry “A” 10, 64 ter 18 Classics Illustrated DeLuxe (British) Coll, Joseph Clement 192
Chesler Shop 61, 64 Classics Illustrated (Acc. Books 349, 351 Collins, William Wilkie 57, 78,
Chestney, Lillian (Zuckerberg) 37, Study Guides) 6, 103, 232, 233, Classics Illustrated Deluxe (Paper- 135, 210, 311, 321, 322, 325, 351,
38, 39, 231, 299, 318, 320, 334; 291–293, 353–355; critical appa- cutz) 297, 360 352, 355
awards as commercial artist and ratus 291, 292; digest-size format Classics Illustrated Educational Series Colonial Press 9
book illustrator 39; style 38 291; “Original Editions” 293; 112, 335 Columbia Pictures 105
Chicago Daily News 10 quality of original artwork 293; Classics Illustrated Field Manual Columbus, Christopher 144, 152
Chicago Sun 91 quality of reproduced artwork (Curtis) 315, 364 Colver, Anne 213
Chicault, Cecile 360 291–292; reasons for demise 293 Classics Illustrated Giants 66, 292, Comic books: attacks upon 10,
Chicot the Jester (Dumas) 133 Classics Illustrated (Australian series) 301, 302, 334 165–166, 168; crime comics 57,
“Childhood of Famous Americans” 274, 275 Classics Illustrated Junior (Gilberton, 105, 107, 165, 167, 168; “Golden
(Bobbs-Merrill) 221 Classics Illustrated (British series, Frawley) 1, 4, 6, 76, 122, 125, Age” 10, 17, 27, 55, 165, 182, 201,
“Children of the Slums” 139, 323 original) 62, 140, 196, 238–239, 127, 128, 129, 143, 202, 204, 208, 226, 259, 283, 299; horror
Children’s Choice Award 288 249, 349–352 209, 225, 231, 236, 238, 246– comics 25, 42–43, 93–94, 122,
“The Children’s Hour” (Lipman) Classics Illustrated (British series, 254, 259, 270, 280, 336–342; 166, 171, 173, 228, 288; origins
20, 319 second) 297, 359–360 adaptations of fairy tales 246, 9–10; romance comics 4, 78, 135,
The Chimney Sweep (Classics Illus- Classics Illustrated (First Publish- 251–252; adaptations of myths 203, 226; “Silver Age” 226
trated Junior) 247, 339 ing/Berkely) 6, 283–290, 293, 252; increasing sophistication of Comics art shops 10, 17, 49, 51, 57,
Choma, Christina 295, 355, 356, 353; contemporary design 283, scripts 252; multicultural titles 94
357, 358, 359 284; educational mission 283; 252; publication schedule 246; Comics Code Authority 168
Chopin, Frédéric 332 prominence accorded artists 284; softened endings 247; visual sim- Comics Magazine Association of
Christian Herald Magazine 254 reasons for demise 290 plicity 246 America 168
Christie, Stuart 353 Classics Illustrated (Gilberton-Fraw- Classics Illustrated Junior ( Jack Lake Commentary 167, 312, 364
A Christmas Adventure (Picture ley): assessment of artwork 6, 17; Productions) 294–297, 357–359 Communications (World Around Us)
Parade/Picture Progress) 335 author’s introduction to 1; bias Classics Illustrated Special Edition see Through Time and Space
A Christmas Carol (Acc. Books) toward male authors 135–136; see Classics Illustrated Special Companion Library (Grosset &
292, 354 binders 6, 142, 143; biographies Issues Dunlap) 127, 213
A Christmas Carol (Kiefer) 64, 65, 55, 73, 87, 95, 103, 107–108, 133, Classics Illustrated Special Issues The Complete Guide to Classics Col-
68, 92, 301, 324, 350, 356 148, 158, 187, 254, 273; boom (Gilberton) 4, 6, 19, 129, 133, lectibles, Vol. 1 (Malan) ix, xi, 5,
A Christmas Carol (Staton) 289, years 201; “boys’ books” 4, 135– 152, 155, 158, 171, 173, 176, 178, 304, 309, 310, 311, 315, 316, 364
353 136; canonical status of works 187, 191, 199, 204, 207, 214, 216, The Complete Guide to Classics Illus-
Churchill, Winston (American adapted 135–136; “Coming Next” 219, 222, 224, 227, 238, 246, trated, Vol. 2 (Malan) xi, 304,
author) 188, 332 ads 141, 142; competing series 16, 254–262, 266, 342–343; educa- 309, 315, 349, 364
Churchill, Winston S. (British 66, 113–114; complexity of series tional role 258–262; endorse- The Complete Life of Christ (EC)
prime minister) 11, 188 xi; cover price increase 112; criti- ments 254, 258 254
Classics IllustratedE see Classics cism of series xi, 6, 17, 111, 165– Classics Illustrated Special Issues ( Jack Comstock, Anthony 165
International Entertainment, Inc. 168; defense of series 167; Lake Productions) 296, 359 Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur 32, 66,
Cincinnati Art Academy 76 discontinuation of open-book The Classics Index x, 303–304 87, 115, 135, 320, 322, 329, 330
Cinderella (Classics Illustrated Jun- device 235–236; educational role Classics International Entertain- “Concord Hymn” (Emerson) 137,
ior) 122, 249, 253, 336, 357 4, 6, 16, 93, 112, 130, 137–139, ment, Inc. (Classics IllustratedE) 318
Citron, Sam 203, 204, 319 244–246; efforts to trace history 290, 291 Condon, Deborah 354
The Civil War (Nodel cover) 266, of series vii, 302–304; endorse- The Classics Reader xii, 78, 131, 299, A Connecticut Yankee in King
267, 347 ments 15, 16, 92–93; foreign edi- 312, 364 Arthur’s Court (Acc. Books) 354
The Civil War (World Around Us) tions 274–279; haven for EC Classics Story Teller (Golden Records A Connecticut Yankee in King
176, 219, 227, 260, 266, 267, 347 artists 168–169; historical accu- LP series) 212 Arthur’s Court (Hearne) 50, 51,
Civil War Centennial 227, 260, racy 66, 68, 108, 147, 198; Holly- Clay, Henry 329 321
261, 266 wood connection 129, 188; Clemens, Samuel L. see Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King
Civil War trading cards (Saunders) “horror” issues 25, 42, 44, 54, Mark Arthur’s Court (Sparling) 51, 202,
210 67, 69, 93, 94, 97, 100, 108, 166; Cleopatra (Nodel) 139, 158, 198, 203, 321, 350
Claire Voyant (comic strip) 202– “house style” 49, 50, 63, 153, 157; 225, 333 “The Conqueror Worm” (Wilson)
203 introduction of painted covers Cleopatra (Poch cover) 333 353
Clark, Walter Van Tilburg 114, 153, 112; issues serialized in Twin Cir- Cleveland School of Art 192 The Conquest of Mexico (Premiani)
331, 355 cle 270; legal battle over second- Clinton, Bill ix 6, 139, 219, 222, 224, 238, 267,
Clásicos Ilustrados (Mexican series) class mailing status 223, 238; The Cloister and the Hearth (Kiefer) 333, 352
275 minimalism 223, 229; most pop- 3, 5, 73, 136, 301, 326 Conrad, Joseph 2, 111, 185, 186,
Classic Comics 1, 4, 6, 11–23, 26–28, ular authors 135; name change of Clovis Crawfish and the Orphan Zo- 292, 313, 332, 350, 353, 354
31, 33–35, 39, 40, 42–44, 49–51, series 4, 90–91; nature of adapta- Zo 288 Conray Products 13
55, 57, 58, 76, 90–91, 94, 110, tions 4, 6; new editorial direction Clumsy Hans (Classics Illustrated The Conspiracy of Pontiac (McCann)
137, 140, 141, 143, 146, 154, 222, 223, 235–236; nudity in 46, 47, Junior) 341 214, 215, 216, 222, 238, 333, 352
236, 240, 246, 259, 264, 273, 73; 100th issue 120, 121; place in Coast Guard (World Around Us) The Conspirators (McCann) 214,
274, 275, 282, 289, 298, 299, popular culture 1, 306; promo- 264, 346 215, 216, 234, 333, 352, C10
302, 303, 304, 309, 310, 317– tional items and premiums 143; The Cocoanuts (film) 9 “The Convicts and the Eagle” (Dos-
322, 335, 342, 363; change of readers’ responses 4, 5, 15, 16, 91, Cody, William F. (“Buffalo Bill”) toevsky) 348
name 4, 90–91; founding 11–12; 92–93, 198–199, 299–301; rea- 133, 329 Cook, James 347
improvement in artwork 49; issue sons for demise 236, 238, 273; Coen Brothers 6 Cooney, John 88, 330
370 INDEX

Cooper, James Fenimore 6, 21, 33, Crosby, Bing 188 Davis, Richard E. 330 Ditko, Steve 228
47, 81, 107, 108, 124, 135, 178, “The Cross-Draw Kid” (Zansky) 28 Davis, Richard Harding 124, 137, Dix, Dorothea 323
249, 289, 318, 320, 322, 324, Crossing the Rockies (Classics Illus- 330 Dixon, Charles 353
325, 326, 330, 349, 350, 351, trated Special Issue) 171, 187, 214, Davy Crockett (Cameron) 1, 2, 139, Doc Savage 11
354, 355 257, 258, 342 143, 147, 148, 150, 152, 212, 301, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Acc.
Cooper, Peter 319 Cruikshank, George 43, 194 331, 352, 357 Books) 292, 354
Cooper Union 27, 57, 58, 228 The Crusades (World Around Us) Davy Crockett (Disney) 1, 148, 271 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Cameron)
“The Cop and the Anthem” 19, 214, 224, 265, 266, 346 Davy Crockett (painted cover) 2, 43, 114, 145, 146, 166, 167, 198,
(Gianni) 353 The Crystal Ball (Classics Illustrated 331, 352, 357 201, 302, 307, 319, 349, 351, 360
Copernicus, Nicholas 328, 346 Junior) 341 “The Dawn Men” (Evans) 262, 343 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Cass. Book
Corbino, John 27 Curie, Marie Sklodowska 137, 322 Day, Clarence 328 Company) 280
Coronet (Curtis) 199, 238 Curtis Circulation Company 112, DC Comics 4, 122, 124, 168, 226, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Hicks) 6,
The Corsican Brothers (Simon) 23, 113, 199, 238, 241, 242, 270, 275, 300 13, 42, 43, 47, 166, 319, 334,
24, 94, 141, 320, 350 315, 364 The Deacon and Mickey 105 349; first “horror” comic book 42
The Cossack Chief (Miller) 229, Cuvier, Baron Georges Léopold “Dead” (Wilson) 353 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (horror
334, 352 Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert 265, Dean, James 4 cover) 43, 93, 114, 319
Costanza, Peter 122, 123, 124, 127, 346 “Death and the Donners” (Nodel) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Kiefer
129, 225, 245, 246, 249, 255, Cwiklik, Gregory 87, 311, 363 258, 342 cover) 93, 94, 319
330, 331, 335, 336, 342, 359, Cyrano de Bergerac (Acc. Books) “The Death of Captain Cook” Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Künstler
C13; style 122 293, 354 (World Around Us) 349 cover) 43, 114, 126, 319, C12
The Count of Monte Cristo (Acc. Cyrano de Bergerac (Baker) 285, “Death of the Dinosaur” Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Snyder)
Books) 292, 293, 354 353, 360 (Williamson) 265, 346 284, 285, 286, 353, 360
The Count of Monte Cristo Cyrano de Bergerac (Blum) 3, 83, DeCarlo, Mike 293, 355 Doctor No (British Classics Illus-
(Cameron) x, 151, 152, 282, 310, 84, 114, 115, 129, 300, 327, 351 Declaration of the Rights of Man trated) 278, 352
317, 349 264 Doctor No (Greek) 277, 278
The Count of Monte Cristo (Cass. “D-Day” (World Around Us) 268, The Deerslayer (Acc. Books, unpub- Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge see
Book Company) 280 347–348 lished) 355 Carroll, Lewis
The Count of Monte Cristo ( Jack Dai Cheng Song 358 The Deerslayer (British painted The Dog Crusoe (British Classics
Lake Productions) 355 Daimler, Gottlieb 327 cover) 278, C14 Illustrated) 278, 352
The Count of Monte Cristo (Paper- Dale, Steve 320 The Deerslayer (Zansky) 2, 12, 32, “Dog Heroes” (Classics Illustrated
cutz) 360 Dallas Home News 91 33, 107, 240, 270, 271, 278, 282, filler) 11, 322–328
The Count of Monte Cristo (Ram- Dalziel, Gilbert 9 320, 334, 349, 355 Dogs (World Around Us) 129, 263,
sey/Lipman/Simon) 12, 19, 20, Dana, Richard Henry, Jr. 51, 321, Defoe, Daniel 37, 203, 278, 319, 264, 344
21, 103, 137, 232, 310, 317 349, 355 349, 352, 353 The Doll Princess (Classics Illus-
The Count of Monte Cristo (Spiegle) The Dancing Princesses (Classics DeFuccio, Jerry 313, 364 trated Junior) 340
289, 353 Illustrated Junior) 76, 247, 249, Delacorte, George 10 Dominguez, Luis 62, 322, 348, 352
The Courtship of Miles Standish 338, 358 Delaney, Martin R. 334 Don Carlos (Famous Operas) 327
(Blum) 77, 92, 223, 328 Dane, Bob 303 DeLay, Harold 11 Don Giovanni (Famous Operas)
The Covered Wagon (Nodel) 154, Daniel Boone (Blum) 87, 115, 212, del Bourgo, Maurice 120, 131–134, 137–138, 221
180, 181, 331, 349 226, 303, 328, 351 312, 328, 329, 330, 335, 356, Don Quixote (Acc. Books) 354
Cracked 228 Daniel Boone ( Jack Lake Produc- 364; high standards 131; style 131 Don Quixote (Canadian) 275, 319
Crandall, Reed 6, 17, 49, 107, 182, tions) 296, 356 Delibes, Leo 326 Don Quixote (Künstler, first painted
191, 192 –195, 196, 225, 229, 239, Daniel Boone (Tallarico, second Dell Comics 59, 110, 127, 129, 202, cover) 114, 126, 140, 319, 330,
273, 313, 320, 321, 326, 334, painted cover) 226, 271, 329 203, 209, 225, 247, 255, 280, 289 352, C7
352, 355, 356, 357; artistic train- Daniels, Les 10, 174, 309, 311, 312, Dell Junior Treasury 39, 280 Don Quixote (Oughton, second
ing and influences 192; collabora- 313, 314, 363 Dell Magazines 243 painted cover) 271, 319
tions with George Evans 192–196; Dante, Joe 281 Dell Movie Classics 59, 168, 196, Don Quixote (Zansky) 28, 31, 33,
struggle with alcoholism 196 Dantes, Edmond (character) x, 4, 213, 278 198, 222, 275, 302, 307, 319,
Crane, Ichabod (character) 40, 158, 20, 139, 152 Dell Publishing Company 10, 16, 352, 354
160 Danton, Georges Jacques 264, 346 21, 110, 168, 238, 280, 315 Donahue, Troy 289
Crane, Stephen 119, 223, 242, 329, The Dark Frigate (Webb) 51, 198, Demby, Emanuel 321 Donenfeld, Harry 10
333, 334, 347, 348, 351, 354 331, 349, 360 DeMille, Cecil B. 188 Donizetti, Gaetano 325
Crawford, Hubert H. 67, 253, 310, Dark Horse Comics 290, 310, 313, Dempsey, David 111 The Donkey’s Tale (Classics Illus-
311, 315, 363 363 “Desert Treasure” (World Around trated Junior) 204, 339
Creepy (Warren) 174, 196, 221 Dark Legend (Wertham) 165 Us) 348 Doom Patrol 224
Crime and Punishment (Acc. Books) d’Artagnan (character) 1, 3, 11, 12, The Desperate Act (Feuerlicht) 197 Doré, Gustave 304
353 16, 18, 100, 167, 190, 191, 205, Detective Comics 6, 10 Dorman, Isaiah 334
Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky) 269 The Devil’s Dictionary (Wilson) Dorscheid, Les 353
292 Darwin, Charles 265, 323, 331, 284, 353 Dostoevsky, Fyodor 2, 4, 109, 111,
Crime and Punishment (Edicão Mar- 346 Devine, Andy 128 292, 306, 328, 348, 351, 353
avilhosa) 277, C14 Daudet, Alphonse 331 Diaz del Castillo, Bernal 224, 333, Double Comics 9, 11
Crime and Punishment (original art) Daugherty, Harry 118, 119, 328 348, 352 Douglas, Lord James 332
106, 303 Daugherty, James 119 Dickens, Charles 3, 6, 11, 35, 43, Douglas MacArthur: Young Protector
Crime and Punishment (Palais) 3, David, Peter 353, 360 68, 94, 135, 170, 180, 194, 284, (Morrow) 221
104, 106, 109, 139, 166, 198, 282, David, Sir Edgeworth 325 289, 291, 292, 318, 321, 323, Douglass, Frederick 273, 293, 334,
307, 328, 351 David Balfour (Acc. Books, unpub- 324, 335, 349, 350, 352, 353, 355
Crime comics see Comics lished) 355 354, 355, 356, 357 “Dover Beach” (Arnold) 319
Crime Does Not Pay (Gleason) 43, David Balfour (painted cover) C5 Dickinson, Emily 319 Downey, Bruce 355, 356, 357, 358,
105, 166 David Balfour (Palais) 2, 16, 104, Dirks, Rudolph 10 359
Crime SuspenStories (EC) 168 107, 108, 110, 157, 226, 303, 307, Disbrow, Jay 341, 345 Downey, Wayne 357, 358, 359
The Crisis (Evans) 143, 188, 191, 328, 351, 355 The Discoveries of Louis Pasteur (PP The Downfall (Cameron) 139, 147,
332, 351 David Copperfield (Acc. Books) 354 and Classics Illustrated Special 148, 149, 331, 352
The Crisis (Saunders cover) 209, David Copperfield (Kiefer) 64, 68, Issue) 245–246, 255, 335, 342 Doyle, Debra 353, 354, 355
210 75, 91, 92, 324, 350 Disney, Walt 1, 6, 23, 78, 110, 129, Doyle Dane Bernbach (advertising
Crockett, David 1, 148, 331 Davis, Charles H. 334, 335 147, 148, 168, 223, 271 agency) 223
Cromwell, Oliver (African Ameri- Davis, Dick 334 Disneyland (television series) 147– Doylen, Michael 353
can) 334 Davis, Jefferson 266 148 Dracula (First, unpublished) 290
 INDEX 371

Dragonslayer 207 Esquire 112 Federal Reserve 164 Flamsteed, John 325
Dresser, Lawrence 115, 117, 118, 119, Euclid 137, 328, 346 Feeley, Gregory 354, 355 Flash (DC) 202
327, 328 Evangeline (Blum) 77, 328 Feldman, Scott 321 Flashman (character) 3, 55, 206
The Drummer Boy (Classics Illus- Evans, George xii, 3, 6, 89, 153, Fennimore, Linda 293, 355 Flaxman, John 77, 83
trated Junior) 341 164, 170, 173, 176, 178, 182 –190, Ferguson, Howard (H.G.) 325, The Flayed Hand (Simon) 24, 25,
Dryden, John 238, 352 191, 192 –195, 196, 198, 201, 209, 334, 335 299, 320
“The Duel” (Maupassant) 348 213, 217, 222, 223, 225, 229, Fernandez, Joan 319 Die Fledermaus (Famous Operas)
Dufranne, Michel 360 234, 256, 258–261, 262, 263– Festivals (World Around Us) 224, 327
Duin, Steve xii, 310, 313, 314, 363 268, 273, 291, 307, 311, 313, 314, 265, 346 Fleischer, Max 226
Dumas, Alexandre 3, 6, 12, 18, 19, 317, 318, 320, 321, 324, 326, Feuerlicht, Herb xii, 197, 198, 199, Fleming, Homer 55, 56, 57, 321,
24, 81, 95, 100, 133, 134, 135, 137, 331–334, 342–343, 344–349, 200, 313, 314, 365 323
139, 152, 191, 205, 214, 221, 282, 355–357, 359, 364, 365; affilia- Feuerlicht, Ira 199 Fleming, Ian 278, 352
289, 317, 320, 323, 324, 326, tion with Gilberton 182–183; Feuerlicht, Roberta Strauss xii, 5, 6, Flessel, Craig 268, 344
330, 333, 334, 349, 350, 351, artistic training 182; career as EC 137, 138, 153, 160, 162, 164, 178, Flight (World Around Us) 187, 204,
352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 360 artist 182; collaborations with 191, 197, 198, 199, 200, 208, 212, 264, 345
duMaurier, George 335 Reed Crandall 192–196; commit- 217, 219, 222, 223, 224, 228, “Flight Over Tokyo” (Sullivan) 137,
Dutch, Dana E. 114, 334, 335 ment to historical fidelity 183, 229, 233, 234, 235, 238, 240, 319
Dutton, Bill 1 186; completion of The Buccaneer 246, 258, 259, 261, 262, 263, Flipper, Henry 334
Dylan, Bob 267 188, 191; dissatisfaction with The 264, 268, 283, 291, 300, 307, Florence Nightingale: War Nurse
Rough Rider 187; drawings of 313, 314, 315, 317, 357, 359, 361, (McCann) 213
Eaker, George 329 women 186; love of airplanes 182, 363, 364; attention to detail 148, The Flying Dutchman (Famous
Earhart, Amelia 342 191; relationship with Roberta 152, 164, 173, 198; career as writer Operas) 326
“Early Hunters” (Kirby) 227, 348 Strauss Feuerlicht 186, 188, 191; 197, 200; character 197, 198, 199, Flynn, Errol 32, 75
Eastern Color Printing Company reputation 182, 191; work on The 200; childhood poverty 197; com- Foley, June 354
10, 66 Three Musketeers 190, 191 mended in Congressional Record The Food of the Gods (McCann
Eaton, Mal 268 Evans, Mary Ann see Eliot, George 199; controversy caused by The cover) 216, 333, 352
eBay 303, 305, 306 Evans, Vince 244 Fate of the Jews 197; death 200; The Food of the Gods (Tallarico)
EC Comics 21, 99, 107, 165, 168, Evory, Ann 312, 363 editorial tenure 198–199; friend- 225, 333, 352
169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 176, 178, Exodus 255, 342, 344 ship with Isaac Bashevis Singer For Gold and Glory (World Around
180, 182, 183, 191, 192, 194, 196, Explorers 281 199; hiring by William Kanter Us) 187, 219, 227, 267, 268, 348
201, 225, 300 198; impaired health after mug- Forbidden Worlds 120
Eddy, Mary Baker 325 F-Troop (Dell) 225 ging 200; influence of Judaism in The Forever People (DC) 228
Edicão Maravilhosa (Brazilian series) Falcons of France (Nordhoff and work 200; passion for folk danc- “Fort Sumter” (Kirby) 226, 227,
275, 277 Hall) 191 ing 198, 200; relations with artists 314, 343
Edison, Thomas Alva 322, 356 The Fall of the House of Usher (Geld- 148, 152, 178, 198 Forte, John 49, 345
Editora Brasil-América Limitada hof ) 289, 353 Fiction House 49, 50, 51, 55, 58, The Forty-Five Guardsmen (del
277 The Fall of the House of Usher 61, 63, 76, 105, 171, 182, 202 Bourgo) 3, 133, 134, 141, 301,
Educational Comics see EC Comics (Griffiths) 96, 97, 99, 323 Fiedler, Leslie 306 330, 351
Edwards, Tommy Lee 354, 355 Falvey, William D. x, 305 Fields, Gary 353 Foster, Hal 10, 73, 75, 107, 169, 191
Eerie (Warren) 61, 174, 196 Famous Artists School 173 Fight for Life (World Around Us) The Four Seasons (Picture
Eichmann, Adolf 261 Famous Authors Illustrated see Sto- 226, 227, 267, 349 Parade/Picture Progress) 335
Einstein, Albert 265, 323 ries by Famous Authors Illustrated Fine, Lou 49, 203 Fox, Victor 76
Eisenhower, Dwight D. 246, 265, Famous Authors, Ltd. (Classics Illus- Finn, Huckleberry (character) 3, “The Fox and the Stork” (Classics
319, 347 trated Junior) 114, 246, 253, 336 28, 33, 201, 250 Illustrated Junior) 252, 337
Eisner, Will 3, 10, 49, 76, 105, 157, Famous Funnies 10, 254 Finocchiaro, Sal 127, 330 Fox Features Syndicate 28, 49, 57,
192, 287, 312, 363 “Famous Operas” (Classics Illus- First Classics, Inc. xi, 221, 291, 294 105, 114, 169
The Elf Mound (Classics Illustrated trated filler) 129, 137–138, 324– “The First Fishes” (Torres) 262, “Fractured Fairy Tales” 253
Junior) 340 328 343 Frankenstein (Acc. Books) 292, 354
Eliot, George (Mary Ann Evans) 6, Famous Stories (Dell) 16, 280 The First Men in the Moon (Acc. Frankenstein (Marvel) 280
48, 135, 136, 292, 307, 316, 324, Famous Teens (World Around Us) Books, not published) 355 Frankenstein (Papercutz) 297, 298,
350, 354 178, 205, 219, 226, 267, 307, 348 The First Men in the Moon (Marvel) 360
Elliott Publishing Company 9, 11, 12 Fang and Claw (Streeter) 128, 331, 280 Frankenstein (Saunders cover) 209,
The Elves and the Shoemaker (Clas- 352 The First Men in the Moon 210, 321, C9
sics Illustrated Junior) 339 Fantastic Comics 76 (McCann, first painted cover) Frankenstein (Webb, Brewster) 13,
Emerson, Ralph Waldo 137, 318 The Fantastic Four (Marvel) 228 214, 332 51, 52, 54, 94, 136, 264, 310, 321,
The Emperor’s New Clothes (Classics Far from the Madding Crowd The First Men in the Moon 355, 359, 363
Illustrated Junior) 173, 230 (Hardy) 137 (Oughton second painted cover) Frankfurt School 165
The Enchanted Deer (Classics Illus- Faraday, Michael 323 271, 332 Franklin, Benjamin 103
trated Junior) 340 Fasano, Jerry 251, 340 The First Men in the Moon (Wood- Franks, Robert 152
The Enchanted Fish (Classics Illus- Fast Fiction 66, 113, 116, 280, 334 bridge et al.) 5, 174, 176, 188, Fraser, Ferrin 332
trated Junior) 129, 252, 339, 358 The Fate of the Jews (Feuerlicht) 197, 212, 332, 350, 355 Frawley, Michael xi
The Enchanted Pony (Classics Illus- 200, 313, 363 First Publishing 5, 6, 147, 283–290, Frawley, Patrick 243, 270, 273, 315,
trated Junior) 251, 341, 359 Faust (Acc. Books) 355 291, 293, 294, 297, 304, 353 364; character 270; devout nature
The Encyclopedia of American Comics Faust (Famous Operas) 326 Fisher, Bud 10 270; efforts to rejuvenate Classics
(Goulart) 309, 310, 312, 313, 314, Faust (Nodel) 1, 6, 153, 155, 159, Fisher, The Rev. George Thomas x, Illustrated 270, 273; “Frawley’s
315, 363 160, 164, 199, 219, 223, 229, 238, 303–304 Folly” 273; ownership of other
“An End to Slaughter” (Kirby) 348 273, 334, C12; considered Fishing (World Around Us) 178, enterprises 270; publication of
Eng, Fred 31, 38, 318 Gilberton’s greatest achievement 229, 263, 267, 307, 348 educational Negro Americans 273;
Entertaining Comics see EC 160, 219 Fitch, Kenneth W. 6, 83, 87, 108, purchase of Classics Illustrated
Comics Fawcett 76, 94, 107, 122, 124, 169, 114–116, 117, 132, 133, 137, 311, 270; supporter of conservative
“An Episode of War” (Crane) 348 182 325–330 causes 270
Eratosthenes 265 FBI (Federal Bureau of Investiga- Fitzhugh, Percy K. 268, 344 Frawley Corporation 5, 162, 226,
Erckmann, Emile see Erckmann- tion) 180 Five Weeks in a Balloon (King Clas- 246, 253, 270, 271, 273, 280,
Chatrain The FBI (World Around Us) 21, sics) 280 283, 290, 291, 294, 296, 302,
Erckmann-Chatrain 173, 332, 349 214, 264, 345 Flagg, Montgomery 105 304, 316, 317, 336, 364
Erhard (Classics Illustrated Junior The Fearless Prince (Classics Illus- The Flame 49 Frawley Group see Frawley Corpo-
artist) 341, 342 trated Junior) 341 Flamingo (Baker) 49, 59 ration
372 INDEX

The French Revolution (World 203, 205–212, 213–216, 217, 219, Graham, Lorenz 152, 254, 255, 331, Hamill, Pete 4, 309, 363
Around Us) 51, 158, 173, 187, 221, 223, 224–229, 231, 232, 342 Hamilton, Philip 329
214, 264, 265, 346 234, 235, 238, 239, 240–243, Grant, Steven 286, 288, 353, 360 Hamlet (Acc. Books) 353
Fricke, Paul 353 244–247, 249, 251, 253–255, Grant, Ulysses S. 138, 188, 266, Hamlet (Blum) 1, 7, 85, 111, 114,
Frisky Animals (Star) 251 258, 260, 261, 263, 264, 266– 329, 347 240, 329, 351, 356
Froebel, Friedrich 327 269, 270, 273, 274, 276–279, Graphic Classics 298 Hamlet (Kiefer, Stories by Famous
Froehlich, August M. 77, 94, 95, 280, 288–290, 291, 292, 294– Graphic novels 5, 283, 297, 298 Authors Illustrated) 113–114, 335
96, 205, 307, 322, 323, 324, 296, 299–304, 306, 309, 310, The Grasshopper Man (Little Folks) Hamlet (Mandrake, First/Papercutz)
325, 334; distinctive style 94–95 311, 313, 316, 317, 322, 327, 334, 49 286, 297, 298, 353, 360
The Frog Prince (Classics Illustrated 335, 336, 342, 343, 344, 360, Gray, Harold 10 Hamlet (Moritz, second painted
Junior) 129, 338, 358 361, 363, 364; legal battle over “The Great City” (Diaz) 348 cover) 271, 329
From the Earth to the Moon (Acc. second-class mailing status 223; Great Expectations (Acc. Books) 353 Hampton, Bo 354
Books) 354 move to 101 Fifth Avenue 114; Great Expectations (Geary) 284, Hampton, Scott 354
From the Earth to the Moon (Blum) name 12; purchase and reorgani- 297, 353, 360 Hanks, Tom 281
88, 135, 329, 351 zation of 12–13 Great Expectations (Kiefer) 64, 68, Hans Humdrum (Classics Illustrated
From Tom-Tom to TV (PP, unpub- Gilberton World-Wide Publications, 94, 140, 166, 296, 302, 323, 352, Junior) 251, 340
lished, and Classics Illustrated Inc. 274, 278 356, 359, C3 The Happy Hedgehog (Classics Illus-
Special Issue) 129, 255, 342 Gillray, James 9, 69 Great Explorers (World Around Us) trated Junior) 208, 251, 341
Frontline Combat (EC) 182 La Gioconda (Famous Operas) 327 219, 234, 265, 347 Hardy, Thomas 137
Fulton, Robert 323 Giolitti, Alberto 39, 127 “Great Lives” (Classics Illustrated The Hardy Boys (Papercutz) 297
The Funnies 10 The Girl of the Golden West (Famous filler) 138, 323, 324, 325, 328, Harris, Tony 354
Funnies, Inc. see Jacquet Shop Operas) 325 329, 330, 331, 332, 342 Harrison, Harry 169
Funny Folks 10 Glanzman, Sam 260, 265, 266, Great Scientists (World Around Us) Harrison, Lou 354, 355
The Funny Little Woman 252 267, 342, 343, 345–348, 359 174, 176, 187, 219, 224, 265, 346 Hart, Ernest H. 263, 344, 345
Glaser, Milton 284 Green, Alfonso 345 Harte, Bret 73, 75, 325, 350, 355
Gagarin, Yuri A. 261 The Glass Mountain (Classics Illus- Green Arrow 111, 131 Harvey, Robert C. 10, 309, 310,
Gagnon, Mike 356, 357 trated Junior) 339 Green Lantern (DC) 3, 202, 203 363
Gaines, Max 99, 254 Glassco, Bruce 353 Green Mansions (Blum) 86, 87, 112, Harvey, William 325, 346
Gaines, William M. 43, 168, 171, Gleason, Lev 17, 43, 105, 109, 166, 198, 328, 351 Harvey Comics 17, 76, 105, 168
173, 178, 182, 191, 192 202 Green Mansions (Cole, second Haufe, John x, xi, 92, 114, 209,
Galilei, Galileo 324 Glenn, John H. 219, 261 painted cover) 208, 328 237, 269, 296, 299, 300, 301,
Galland, Antoine 318 Glickman, Harry see Miller, Harry Greenstreet, Sydney 78 303, 313, 314, 315, 316, 336, 342
The Gallant Tailor (Classics Illus- G. Grendel (First Publishing/First Clas- The Haunt of Fear (EC) 43, 166,
trated Junior) 202, 250, 338, Glut, Donald F. 51, 310, 363 sics, Inc.) 285 171, 173, 182, 246
358 Goddard, Robert Hutchings 260, Griffiths, Harley M. 96, 97–99, The Hawaiian Islands (Picture
The Gallic War (Caesar, Commen- 346 232, 233, 292, 323, 324, 327, Parade/Picture Progress) 246,
tarii de bello Gallico) 169, 331 Godwin, William 336, 357 334 335
Gannett, Deborah 334 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 1, 4, Griffiths, Harley M., Jr. xii, 311, Hawes, Charles Boardman 51, 114,
Gartler, Marion 252 111, 158, 159, 160, 164, 223, 307, 364 124, 135, 331, 349, 352, 360
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. 41, 310, 363 334, 355 Grimjack (First Publishing/First The Hawk 51
Gatling, Richard Jordan 326 Gogol, Nikolai 111, 229, 334, 352 Classics, Inc.) 283, 285, 286 Hawkins, Jim (character) 78, 79,
Gaudino, Philip J. xi The Gold Bug and Other Stories Grimm, Jakob see Grimm, Brothers 210, 289
Gautier, Théophile 347 (Blum/Wilcox/Palais) 83, 85, Grimm, Wilhelm see Grimm, Hawthorne, Nathaniel 6, 96, 173,
Geary, Rick 284, 297, 353, 360 108, 109, 119, 120, 166, 239, 281, Brothers 252, 306, 324, 338, 339, 340,
Geggan (WAU artist) 348 327–328, 351 Grimm, Brothers ( Jakob and Wil- 350, 353, 354, 358, 360
Gehrig, Lou (“Iron Horse”) 138, “The Gold Rush” (Evans) 258, 342 helm) 75, 251, 295, 297, 307, Hayes, William C. 155
329 The Golden Bird (Classics Illustrated 336–342, 357–359, 360, 363 The Headless Horseman of Sleepy
Geldhof, Jay 289, 353 Junior) 129, 338, 358 Guay, Rebecca 293, 353, 354, C16 Hollow (Berg, Nodel) 158, 312
George Washington: Boy Leader Golden Books 49, 125 Guimarães, Bernardo 277 Heames, David 51, 53, 321, 322, C2
(Dresser) 117 The Golden Fleece (Classics Illus- Gulliver’s Travels (Acc. Books) 354 Hearn, Lafcadio 252, 340, 342
Geronimo 258, 259, 333 trated Junior) 247, 249, 339 Gulliver’s Travels (Chestney) 38, 39, Hearne, Jack R. 50, 51, 321
“Gettysburg” (Glanzman) 260, 261, The Golden Goose (Classics Illus- 141, 198, 222, 275, 299, 320, Heavy Metal 284
343 trated Junior) 202, 250, 337, 358 349, 355 Hebberd, Robert 77, 102, 103, 326,
Ghost Rider 228 The Golden-Haired Giant (Classics Gulliver’s Travels (Giolitti) 39, 280 356
Ghosts (World Around Us) 187, 219, Illustrated Junior) 338, 358 Gulliver’s Travels (New Comics) 11 Heffelfinger, Charles 116, 303, 311
263, 265, 347 Golden Records 212 Gulliver’s Travels (Swift) 11, 315 Heffernan, Helen 246
Giacoia, Frank 201, 202, 246, 250, The Golden Touch (Classics Illus- Gunsmoke 259 Heidi (Pendulum) 280
320, 337, 338, 355, 358 trated Junior) 249, 338 Gutenberg, Johann 326 Hendrix, Howard 292, 354
Gianni, Gary 288, 289, 290, 353 Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Clas- Henry, Marguerite 117
The Gift of the Magi (Gianni) 288, sics Illustrated Junior) 246, 247, Ha, Gene 354 Henry, O. (William Sydney Porter)
353 253, 336, 357 Haas, Raymond 11, 12, 13 288, 353
“The Gift of the Plow” (Bulfinch) Goldklang, Louis L. 321, 322 Hagar the Horrible (Browne) 249 Henry Clay: Young Kentucky Orator
349 Good Girl art 49, 51, 53, 58, 59, Hagedorn, Hermann 187, 342 (Morrow) 221
Gilbert, Hamilton 12 60, 73, 87, 186 Hagenauer, George 312, 363 Henry IV–Part One (Acc. Books)
Gilbert, W.S. (William Schwenck) Goodan, Till 343, 345, 346, 348, Haggard, H. Rider 11, 69, 135, 329, 293, 355
138, 321, 328 359 333, 334, 351, 352 Henry IV–Part Two (Acc. Books,
Gilberton Company ix-xi, 1–6, 12, Goodman, Evelyn 23, 25, 32, 34, Halasz, Laslo 153 unpublished) 293, 355
13, 16, 17, 21, 23, 25–28, 31–35, 35, 36, 38, 42, 43, 194, 318–320 Hale, Edward Everett 73, 137, 325, Henry V (Acc. Books, unpublished)
37–40, 43, 44, 47, 49–51, 55, 58, Goodyear, Charles 327 352 355
62, 63, 64, 66, 69, 71, 73, 76– Gordon, Charlotte ix, xii Hale, Nathan 138, 329, 348 Henson, Matthew 273, 334
78, 81, 88, 89, 90–96, 99, 103, Gordon, Edward 320 Hall, Charles Martin 322 Henty, G.A. (George Alfred) 5, 135,
107–110, 111–114, 116, 117, 119- 122, Gorgas, William Crawford 324 Hall, James Norman 109, 114, 120, 137, 138, 157, 158, 186, 196, 206,
124–130, 131–134, 135–137, 139, The Gorilla Hunters (British Classics 135, 146, 191, 329, 330, 351, 352, 229, 273, 307, 332, 333, 334,
141, 143, 144, 146–148, 152, 153– Illustrated) 352 356 350, 351, 352
155, 157, 158, 160, 162, 167–171, Goulart, Ron 67, 203, 309, 310, Hall, J.V. 1 “Hercules and the Wagon Driver”
173, 174, 178, 180, 182, 183, 186– 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 363 Hall, Prince 334 (Peltz) 340
188, 191, 192, 194, 196, 197, 201, Gounod, Charles 326 Halleck, Henry 261 Hercules Unchained (Dell) 196
 INDEX 373

“Heroic Dogs” (Evans) 263, 344 Huckleberry Finn (Zansky) 33, 34, In Re: Gilberton World-Wide Publi- Jarve, Jaak ix, x, 294–297, 307
Herold, David 332 320, 330 C1 cations 223, 314, 315, 363–364 Jaws 289
Herriman, George 10 Hudson, W.H. (William Henry) 87, In the Reign of Terror (Evans) 2, 4, “Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New
Herschel, William 261 137, 328, 351 138, 143, 186, 188, 198, 332, 350 Orleans” (del Bourgo) 329
Heston, Charlton 79 Hudson News Company 241 The Incredible Hulk (Marvel) 228 Jefferson, Thomas 265, 347
Hi and Lois (Browne) 249 Hudson River Artists Association 99 Indianapolis Star 91 Jenner, Edward 328
Hickey, Tom 255, 335, 338, 342, Hughes, Thomas 206, 323, 352 Indians (World Around Us) 264, 345 Jenney, Robert (Bob) 188, 189, 333
359 Hugo, Victor 23, 40, 49, 81, 95, Infantino, Carmine 202 Jensen, Michael P. x, 85, 311
Hickok, James Butler (Wild Bill) 135, 158, 159, 160, 162, 176, 194, Infantino, Jim 345 Jerry Iger’s Famous Features 310, 363
138, 259 318, 319, 320, 325, 326, 350, Inge, M. Thomas 311, 364 “Jets Around the World”
Hicks, Arnold L. 42 –47, 48, 49, 351, 352, 354, 355 Ingels, Graham 171, 172, 173, 187, (Tartaglione) 260, 343
146, 291, 319, 320, 321, 322, 324, Humboldt, Friedrich, Baron von 198, 205, 259, 263, 332, 342, Joan of Arc (first painted cover) 136,
334, C1, C2 327 345, 346, 359; “Ghastly” reputa- 327
Hicks, Yslan x, 94 The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Acc. tion 171; modified Gilberton style Joan of Arc ( Jeanne d’Arc) 3, 323
High Adventure (World Around Us) Books) 293, 354 173; reclusiveness 173 Joan of Arc (Kiefer) 72, 73, 75, 129,
219, 226, 266, 347–348 The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Instructor 92, 93, 244, 246, 136, 327
Highest Reorder Number (HRN) (Canadian) 275, 320 253, 315, 363, 364 Joan of Arc (second painted cover)
139–140, 302, 317 The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Invisible Man (Acc. Books) 271, 327
Hillman 131 (Crandall, Evans) 191, 192, 194, 292, 297, 354 Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism
Hillson, Gail 32, 35 320, 350, 355, 360 The Invisible Man (Biggs cover) (Feuerlicht) 197
Hippocrates 137, 325 The Hunchback of Notre Dame (hor- 210, 211, 333, 352, 357, C12 Joe Versus the Volcano 381
Hit Comics 49, 105 ror cover) 24, 94, 320 The Invisible Man (Geary) 284, John Paul II 207
Hitchcock, Alfred 51 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 353, 360 Johnny Appleseed (Classics Illustrated
“The Hitch-Hiker” (Evans) 265, (Kiefer cover) 66, 166, 320 The Invisible Man (Nodel) 159, 160, Junior) 252, 295, 337, 357–358
347 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 161, 278, 333, 352, 357, 359 “Johnny Appleseed” ( John Chapman,
Hitler, Adolf 24, 261 (McCann cover) 216, 225, 320, Iolanthe (Famous Operas) 138, 328 historical character) 330, 344
Hoffman, Andrew Jay 292, 353, 354 355 Iorio, Medio 127, 128, 331, 357 Johnny Jones 57
Hogarth, Burne 174, 228 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Irving, Henry (actor) 67 Johnson, Andrew 329
Hogarth, William 9, 69, 77, 107 (Simon) 23, 24, 141, 299, 320, Irving, Henry (filler writer) 320 Johnson, Joe 360
Hole, William 117 349, 350 Irving, Washington 40, 158, 288, Jones, Bill (William B., Junior) ix,
Holiday 211 Hunter College 198 310, 312, 319, 351, 353, 354 4, 306, 316, 364
Holmes, Oliver Wendell 320 Hunting (World Around Us) 227, The Island of Dr. Moreau (Vincent) Jones, Casey (artist) 333
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. 223, 267, 348 288, 353, 360 Jones, George 222
332 The Hurricane (Cameron) 146, 147, Island Publishing Co. 13 Jones, Gerard 210
Holmes, Sherlock (character) 30, 148, 301, 330, 352 Ivanhoe (Acc. Books) 354 Jones, John Luther (“Casey”) 345
32, 122, 202 Huston, John 119, 154 Ivanhoe (Ashe) 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 111, Jones, John Paul 331
Homer (Homeric) 1, 83, 96, 111, 112, 137, 277, 310, 317, 334, 349 Jones, Malcolm 297, 364
135, 327, 349, 351, 353, 354 I Can Draw series (Tallarico) 225 Ivanhoe (Blum) 11, 76 Jones, Marie W. 3, 4, 306
“Homo Sapiens” (Nodel) 262, 343 “I Hear America Singing” (Whit- Ivanhoe (Lago) 289, 353, 360 Jones, Stephen ix, x, xii, 115
Hooker, Joseph 261 man) 320 Ivanhoe (Nodel) 3, 137, 154, 155, Jones, Will x, xii, 173
Hoover, David 353 Iger, S.M. “Jerry” 10, 16, 42, 44, 156, 302, 307, 310, 317, 349, 359 Jones, William B., Sr. 1, 2, 5, 306
Hoover, J. Edgar 180 49, 50, 58, 64, 88, 92, 94, 103, Ivanhoe (painted cover) 289 Jones, William B., Jr. (Bill) 295,
Hope, Anthony 69, 137, 327, 355 105, 119, 120, 127, 192, 310, 314, Ivanhoe (Scott) 137, 167 311, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359
Hornell, David E. 300 363, 364; association with Albert Joshua (“Men of Action”) 333
Horror comics see Comics Kanter 49; friction with Kanter Jack and the Beanstalk (Classics Journal of Chemical Education 137,
Horses (World Around Us) 207, 214, concerning newspaper serials 92; Illustrated Junior) 89, 247, 254, 312, 363
263, 264, 345 partnership with Will Eisner 49; 336, 357 Journal of Popular Culture 5, 304,
Hough, Emerson 114, 154, 180, 331, relationship with Ruth Roche 50; Jack Lake Productions, Inc. x, 5, 6, 309, 311, 315, 364
349 termination of arrangement with 79, 233, 239, 279, 294–297, A Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Zan- Gilberton 50 300, 316, 317, 334, 335, 352, (Acc. Books) 292, 354
sky/Kiefer) 30, 31, 32, 66, 322 Iger Shop 10, 42, 44, 49–61, 76, 87, 355, 357, 359 A Journey to the Center of the Earth
The House in the Woods (Classics 88, 89, 94, 100, 103, 116, 119, 129, Jackson, Andrew 265, 347 (Nodel) 155, 157, 212, 279, 332,
Illustrated Junior) 129, 254, 339 131, 137, 192, 283, 299, 321, 326 Jackson, Ezra 61 349, 357
The House of the Seven Gables (Acc. Igle, Jamal 293, 355 Jackson, Jack 290, 314, 364 A Journey to the Center of the Earth
Books) 354 The Iliad (Acc. Books) 354 Jackson, Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) (Saunders cover) 209, 332, 357
The House of the Seven Gables The Iliad (Blum) 3, 83, 111, 327, 266, 347 Judgment at Nuremberg 261
(Griffiths) 91, 96, 98, 99, 324 351 Jacobs, Joseph 336, 357 Judy 9
The House of the Seven Gables Illustrated Classics (newspaper series) Jacobson, Betty 173, 332 Juilliard School of Music 153
(Woodbridge) 6, 173, 174, 324, 44, 76, 77, 91, 92, 311, 323, 324, Jacquet, Lloyd 10, 12, 17, 169 Julius Caesar (Acc. Books) 291, 354
350 325, 328 Jacquet Shop (Funnies, Inc.) 12, 16, Julius Caesar (Cole cover) 208, 296,
Houston, Sam 330 An Illustrated Library of Great 17, 18, 20, 26, 51, 57, 119, 120, 326, 351
How and Why Wonder Books 262 Adventure Stories 66, 334 154, 202 Julius Caesar (Crandall, Evans) 191,
How Fire Came to the Indians (Clas- An Illustrated Library of Great James I 331 194, 326, 350–351, 356, 359
sics Illustrated Junior) 225, 252, Indian Stories 301, 334 James, Jesse 331 Julius Caesar (Kiefer) 2, 63, 66, 67,
341 An Illustrated Library of Great Mys- Jane Eyre (Acc. Books) 233, 292, 91, 92, 111, 129, 137, 170, 198,
How Fire Came to the Indians ( Jack tery Stories 334 293, 353 222, 291, 326, 350–351
Lake Productions) 295, 359 An Illustrated Library of Great Jane Eyre (Brontë) 1, 137 Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) 111, 311,
How I Found Livingstone (painted Romances (unpublished) 334 Jane Eyre (Griffiths) 4, 96, 99, 136, 364
cover) 330, C7 An Illustrated Library of Great Sea 233, 323, 334 The Jungle (Kuper) 283, 287, 353,
How I Found Livingstone Stories (unpublished) 334 Jane Eyre (Kihl) 232, 233, 323, 360, C15
(Trapani/Finocchiaro) 127, 128, “An Imperfect Conflagration” (Wil- 334, 356, 359 Jungle (World Around Us) 219, 265,
330, 352 son) 353 Jane Eyre (Nodel, second painted 346–347
Howarth, F.M. 10 In Freedom’s Cause (Crandall, Evans) cover) 162, 271, 323 The Jungle Book (Acc. Books) 293
Huckleberry Finn (Acc. Books) 353 191, 194, 195, 196, 272, 273, 334, Jane Martin 51 The Jungle Book (Blum/Bossert) 83,
Huckleberry Finn (Sekowsky, Gia- 352 Jansen, Rolf 243 300, 327
coia) 137, 140, 201, 310, 320, In Freedom’s Cause (painted cover) The Japanese Lantern (Classics Illus- The Jungle Book ( Jack Lake Produc-
349, 355, 359 272 trated Junior) 251, 340 tions) 356
374 INDEX

The Jungle Book (Nodel) 162, 271, Kidnapped (First, unpublished) 289 Kraepelin, Emile 165 trated No. 74), Baron Gottfried
327, 359 Kidnapped (Polseno) 127 Krazy Kat 10 326
The Jungle Books (Busch) 288, 353 Kidnapped (Webb, Heames) 2, 51, Krenkel, Roy G. 174, 176, 178, 332 Lent, Blair 252
Jungle Comics 49, 76 53, 54, 79, 91, 92, 278, 323, 334, Kubert, Joe 49 Leon, John Paul 354
“Jungle Promise” (filler) 322, 356 350, 359 Künstler, Mort x, 125, 126, 127, Leoncavallo, Ruggerio 325
Justice Crucified (Feuerlicht) 197, Kiefer, Henry C. 3, 5, 34, 39, 43, 146, 311, 312, 319, 329, 330, 356, Let’s Find Out About series (Shapp,
200, 313 49, 63 –75, 76, 77, 78, 85, 92, 365, C6, C7, C12 Costanza) 124
Justice League of America (DC) 202 93, 94, 100, 103, 111, 113, 120, 122, Kunzle, David 10 Levin, Dan 40, 57, 319, 320, 322
Justinian 327 127, 134, 153, 166, 176, 186, 194, Kuper, Peter 287, 353, 360, C15 Levy, Meyer 11, 12, 13
198, 216, 227, 244, 247, 284, 291, Kurtzburg, Jacob see Kirby, Jack Lewis, Robert Q. 212, 253
Kaanga 49 300, 312, 319–330, 334–335, Kurtzman, Harvey 31, 178, 318 “The Lewis and Clark Expedition”
Kane, Gil 280 356, C3, C13; artistic training 64; Kushner, Dan 23, 39, 319, 320 (Evans) 187, 258, 342
Kane, Hal (Hal Kanter) 320 dominance in Iger Era 64; per- The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Kanter, Albert L. xii, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, sonality 64; style 66–68, 71, 75; Ladd, John 322 (Nodel, Picture Parade/Picture
10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 27, 35, work for Famous Authors 66 Ladies’ Home Journal 112 Progress) 245, 335
44, 49, 66, 88, 92, 93, 100, 111, Kihl, H.J. 232–233, 265, 266, 323, The Lady of the Lake (Kiefer) 71, Lidofsky, Eleanor x, 64, 66, 111, 112,
112, 113, 114, 116, 120, 121, 129, 341, 343, 345–348, 356 72, 92, 111, 326–327, 350 129–130, 137, 244, 245, 254, 310,
130, 137, 164, 168, 188, 208, 236, Kildale, Malcolm 11, 12, 17, 18, 191, Lafargue Clinic 165 311, 312, 315, 326, 327, 328, 335,
238, 240, 241, 242, 244, 246, 205, 317 Lafayette Escadrille 191 365
253, 254, 262, 269, 270, 273, Kim (Acc. Books) 355 Lafitte, Jean 143, 210, 329, 345 Lidofsky, Leon J. 130, 245
283, 289, 290, 293, 295, 298, Kim (Orlando) 138, 140, 170, 332 Lago, Ray 289, 353, 355, 360 Life in the Circus (Picture
303, 304, 306, 307, 309, 310, 311, King, Martin Luther, Jr. 136, 228 Lake, Simon 325 Parade/Picture Progress) 246,
312, 313, 315, 335, 357, 358, 359, King Classics 280 Lakme (Famous Operas) 326 335
364; business ventures 9; death King Features 280 Lamme, Bob 77, 116, 117, 311, 326, Life on the Mississippi (Twain) 324
273; founds Classic Comics 13–14; The King of the Golden River (Clas- 364 “A Lightning Pilot” (Twain) 324
immigration 9; marriage and sics Illustrated Junior) 202, 250, Landmark Books 261, 262 Lincoln, Abraham 133, 138, 158,
family 9; “Papa Klassiker” 16; 337, 358 “Landscape” (Orlando) 171, 313 188, 265, 266, 322, 328, 330,
relationship with Jerry Iger 49; King — of the Khyber Rifles (Künstler Lang, Fritz 109 333, 335, 347
role as educator 5, 111–112; sells cover) 126, 351 Langley, Samuel Pierpont 327, 345 Lincoln Features 226
Classics Illustrated to Patrick King — of the Khyber Rifles Lanier, Sidney 330 Lindbergh, Charles 182, 345
Frawley 270; sense of humor 9; (Moskowitz) 1, 121, 130, 330, 351 Lasky, Jessie L., Jr. 332 Linehan, Katherine 310, 364
stroke 273; voracious reader 9 The King of the Mountains (Nodel) Lassie (Dell) 59 Linnaeus, Carolus 326
Kanter, Andrew 241 154, 278, 331, 350 The Last Days of Pompeii (Kiefer) Lins do Rego, José 277
Kanter, Henry (Hal) xii, 9, 13, 35, King Richard and the Crusaders 66, 90, 91, 310, 322 The Lion of the North (McCann
114, 116, 117, 130, 188, 255, 281, (Dell) 59 The Last Days of Pompeii (Kirby) cover) 215, 216, 333, 352
309, 315, 320, 364 King Solomon’s Mines (Kiefer) 69, 139, 198, 222, 227, 228, 310, The Lion of the North (Nodel) 157,
Kanter, James 241 121, 299, 300, 329, 351 322, 352, 359 158, 159, 206, 333, 352
Kanter, John (“Buzz”) x, 9, 112, King Thrushbeard (Classics Illus- “The Last Leaf ” (Gianni) 289, 353 Lion Records (M-G-M) 211, 212
235, 240, 241, 242, 243, 315 trated Junior) 340 “The Last Lesson” (Daudet) 331 Lipman (Berg), Vivian 20, 317, 319
Kanter, Maurice 9, 278 “The King’s Ankus” (Blum/Bossert) The Last of the Mohicans (Acc. Lipscomb, George D. 324, 326,
Kanter, Michael 9, 270, 303, 306, 83, 327 Books) 292, 293, 354 328
311 The King’s Henchman (Famous The Last of the Mohicans (Cooper) Lister, Joseph, Lord 324, 349
Kanter, Penny (Selma Roslyn Lapin Operas) 327 139, 315 Little Folks Books 49
Kanter) 240, 241 Kingsley, Charles 10, 23, 137, 319, The Last of the Mohicans ( Jack Lake Little Golden Books 49
Kanter, Peter 241, 243 349 Productions) 296, 355 The Little Mermaid (Classics Illus-
Kanter, Rose Ehrenrich 9 Kinney, James 344 The Last of the Mohicans ( Jackson) trated Junior) 247, 338, 358
Kanter, Saralea 9 Kinstler, Everett Raymond 258, 289, 290 The Little Mermaid (Disney) 6
Kanter, William Ehrenreich (Bill) 259, 265, 342, 345, 346 The Last of the Mohicans (King Clas- Little Nemo in Slumberland 10
x, 94, 112, 137, 160, 183, 198, 199, Kipling, Rudyard 83, 124, 135, 138, sics) 280 Little Orphan Annie 10
201, 209, 222, 223, 231, 234, 170, 249, 278, 280, 288, 327, The Last of the Mohicans (painted Little Red Riding Hood (Classics
238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 330, 332, 353, 354, 355, 356 cover) 3, 318, 334 Illustrated Junior) 247, 336–337,
268, 278; “Cadillacs” and Kirby, Jack 6, 17, 57, 198, 207, 226, The Last of the Mohicans (Ramsey) 357
“Chevrolets” comment 160; Curtis 227, 228, 260, 267, 295, 310, 2, 16, 20, 21, 259, 310, 318, 334 The Little Savage (Evans) 185, 186,
Circulation affiliation 112, 241; 322, 333, 341, 343, 348, 349, The Last of the Mohicans 332, 349
move to England 238, 242; role 359; collaborations with Dick (Severin/Addeo) 176, 178, 179, Little Shop of Horrors 287
in day-to-day operations 240; Ayers 228; collaborations with Joe 180, 208, 310, 318, 350, 360 Little Women (Alcott) 136
sense of humor 243; support for Simon 226; creation of Marvel Laughead, W.B. 337 Little Women (Golden Picture Clas-
changing name of series 90, 240 superheroes 228; innovations in Laughton, Charles 23 sic) 136
Kaplan, Meyer A. 6, 35, 43, 132, comics field 226; legendary status Lavery, Jim 119, 334 Lives of the Hunted (Cole cover)
133, 137, 144, 146, 167, 170, 173, 228; ten days’ work on Last Days Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent 137, 207, 208, 333, 352
198, 207, 208, 209, 247, 254, of Pompeii 160 324, 346 Lives of the Hunted (Nodel) 157,
269, 300, 312, 336; testimony Kirner (Classics Illustrated artist) Lawrence, T.E. 138, 349 158, 333, 352
before New York legislative com- 342, 345, 346, 359 Lawrence of Arabia (King Classics) “Living on Land” (Torres) 262, 343
mittee 167 Kirschenblatt, Shane 355, 356, 359 280 Livingstone, Rolland 39 –41, 291,
Karbiener, Karen 354 “The Klassic Komic Kid” (Zansky) Lear, Edward 253, 339–342 299, 318, 319, C1
Karloff, Boris 51, 94 141 Lecar, Helene x, 191, 199, 200, 208, Lohengrin (Famous Operas) 324
Katz, Leslie 322, 326 Klassika Eikonographimena (Greek 214, 222, 223, 224, 233, 234, Lois Lane (DC) 125
The Katzenjammer Kids 10 series) 277, 278 235, 239, 241, 261, 262, 267, London, Charmian K. 114
Kefauver, Estes 168, 182 Kleeman, Rita Halle 117 279, 313, 314, 315, 364 London, Jack 9, 83, 132, 135, 137,
Kelley, Raymond J. 223 Klein, George 264, 345, 346 Lee, Robert E. 261, 266, 347 242, 327, 328, 350, 351, 353,
Kells, Matt 357, 359 “The Knight of the Couchant Leop- Lee, Sheila Jackson 61 354, 355, 356
Kennedy, John F. 223, 260, 267 ard” (Scott) 231, 348 Lee, Stan 228, 280 Long, Laura M. 221
Kent, Rockwell 23, 24, 31, 57, 307 Knights of the Round Table (Blum) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Acc. Long John Silver Seafood Shoppe
Kepler, Johannes 327, 346 87, 88, 130, 223, 330, 351, 356, Books) 291, 292, 354 79, 283, 325
Kernan, J.F. 105 359 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Nodel) “The Long Voyage” (Morrow) 217,
Kidd, William 264, 333, 345 Knights of the Round Table (Künstler 158, 160 267, 348
Kidnapped (Acc. Books) 354 cover) 126 Leibniz (“Leibnitz” in Classics Illus- Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 77,
 INDEX 375

78, 135, 319, 321, 325, 328, 350, The Man Who Laughs (Nodel) 159, McCay, Winsor 10 159, 162, 198, 222, 307, 319, 351,
356 162, 163, 223, 326, 351, C11 McCloud, Scott 10, 309, 316, 364 355, 359
Longstreet, James 261 The Man Without a Country (Kiefer) McClure Syndicate 11 Les Miserables (Nodel, second
Lopez, Ravil 293, 355 73, 74, 78, 222, 325, 352 McCormick, Cyrus 328 painted cover) 162, 271, 319
Lord Jim (Acc. Books) 354 The Man Without a Country McCoy, Elijah 334 Mission Impossible (Dell) 203
Lord Jim (Conrad) 137, 292, 313 (McCann cover) 73, 216 , 325, McLoughlin, Jim xii, 301–302, 306 Mr. Midshipman Easy (Blum cover)
Lord Jim (Evans) 184, 186, 278, 352 McManus, George 10 326, 351 C4
332, 350 The Man Without a Country (Torres, Meade, George 261, 266, 347 Mr. Midshipman Easy (Lamme) 3,
Lorna Doone (Baker) xi, 3, 4, 58, Addeo) 176, 325, 352 Meadowcroft, Enid Lamonte 213 53, 77, 116, 117, 141, 275, 301,
59, 60, 132, 136, 307, 322, 350 Manco, Leonard 354 “Medals for Heroes” (filler) 240, 326, 351
Lorna Doone (second painted cover) Mandrake, Tom 286, 298, 353, 320 Mr. Midshipman Easy (Marryat) 137
271, 322 360 Der Meistersinger (Famous Operas) Mister X (Motter) 286
Lorre, Peter 109 “Manhunt!” (Ramsey) 21, 259, 342 326 Moby Dick (Acc. Books) 32, 354
Loti, Pierre 352 Manning, Russ 110 Melville, Herman 6, 31, 32, 61, 62, Moby Dick (Edicão Maravilhosa)
Louis XIV 205, 333 Manon (Famous Operas) 111, 326 93, 135, 154, 201, 242, 284, 285, 275, 277
Louis XVI 158, 264 Marconi, Marchese Guglielmo 346, 306, 318, 322, 349, 352, 353, Moby Dick (Huston) 154
Love, Nat 334 347 354, 355 Moby Dick (King Classics) 280
Loving You (film) 188, 281 Marie Antoinette 221, 264 Melvin and Howard (film) 287 Moby Dick (Melville) 137, 139, 201,
Lucas, George 176 Marilda and the Bird of Time Memphis Public Library 305 283
Lucia di Lammermoor (Famous (Schrotter) 119 Men Against the Sea (Palais) 5, 109, Moby Dick (Nodel) 2, 4, 154, 155,
Operas) 325 Marines (World Around Us) 171, 120, 198, 329, 351 201, 296, 310, 318, 349, 355, 359
The Luck of Roaring Camp (Kiefer) 205, 264, 345–346 Men, Guns and Cattle (Classics Moby Dick (second painted cover)
73, 325 Marrus, Jen 354 Illustrated Special Issue) 128, 187, 271, 318
Lynch, David 283 Marryat, Frederick 116, 117, 135, 212, 214, 258, 342 Moby Dick (Sienkiewicz) 284, 285,
Lynch, William 331 137, 185, 186, 326, 332, 349, 351 “Men of Action” (Classics Illustrated 353, C15
Lyons, Dan 270 Mars Attacks trading cards (Saun- feature) 223, 333, 334 Moby Dick (Zansky) 12, 16, 26, 28,
ders) 210 Men of Iron 31, 32, 93, 282, 310, 318, 334
MacArthur, Douglas 319 Marshall, Thurgood 228 (Schrotter/Dresser/Daugherty) 5, Moede, Jade 355
Macbeth (Acc. Books) 293, 354 Marvel 133, 174, 192, 203, 206, 118, 119, 198, 222, 328, 351 Monsell, Helen Albee 221
Macbeth (Blum) 89, 139, 140, 254, 207, 226, 228, 280, 298; see also Mendeleyev, Dmitri I. 325 Moon, Binah 357, 358, 359
331, 349, 357, 359 Atlas; Timely Merit 238 Moon, Miah 357, 358, 359
Macbeth (Kiefer) 113, 316, 334 Marvel Classics Comics 280 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood The Moonstone (Acc. Books, unpub-
Macbeth (Shakespeare) 315 Marvel Comics 6, 17 (Polseno) 127 lished) 355
MacLeod, Bob 144 Marvel Illustrated 298 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood The Moonstone (Cole cover) 208,
Macpherson, Jeanie 188, 332 Marvin, Lee 144 (Pyle) 318 209, 322, 351
Mad (EC) 168, 169, 173, 182, 228, Marvin, Ruth 144 The Merry Wives of Windsor The Moonstone (Rico) xi, 57, 198,
242 Marx Brothers 9 (Famous Operas) 326 222, 307, 321–322, 334, 351
Madame Butterfly (Famous Operas) Mason, Shirley 79, 311 Messer Marco Polo 55, 321 Moore, Alan 125
324 Massenet, Jules 111, 324, 326 Metropolitan Museum of Art 76, Moore, Demi 281
Madison, Guy 128 Massin, Arthur 90 155 Moore, Scotty 314
Magic (World Around Us) 51, 219, Master and Man (British Classics M-G-M (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Morales, Lou 348
265, 347, C13 Illustrated) 278, 352 251 Morbi, Ali 356, 358
The Magic Dish (Classics Illustrated The Master of Ballantrae (Acc. M-G-M Records 211, 212, 253 More Fun 55, 63
Junior) 208, 251, 252, 340 Books) 292, 354 Miami Herald 116 More Stories by Poe (Acc. Books)
The Magic Flute (Famous Operas) The Master of Ballantrae (Blum, first Micale, Albert 271, 325 354
325 painted cover) 303, 327, 351, C5 Michael Strogoff (first painted cover) Morgan, Garrett A. 334
The Magic Fountain (Classics Illus- The Master of Ballantrae (Dresser 321, 351 Morgan, Henry 264, 333, 345
trated Junior) 202, 250, 338, interior) 117, 118, 239, 303, 327, Michael Strogoff (Hicks) 44, 321, Morgan, John Hunt 207, 261
358 351 351 Morgan the Pirate (Dell) 213
The Magic Pitcher (Classics Illus- The Master of Ballantrae (Fitch Michael Strogoff (Nodel, second Morisi, Pete 348
trated Junior) 339–340, 358 script) 115, 117, 311, 327 painted cover) 271, 321 Moritz, Edward 271, 273, 329,
The Magic Servants (Classics Illus- The Master of Ballantrae ( JES cover) Mickey Mouse (Dell) 247 330, 332, 333, 345
trated Junior) 338, 358 351, C14 A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Acc. Morrow, Gray xii, 6, 153, 209,
Mahler, Nancy 309, 365 The Master of Ballantrae (Siryk, sec- Books) 293, 353 217–220, 221, 222, 225, 229,
Major League (film) 282 ond painted cover) 271, 327 A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Blum) 259, 260, 265, 266, 267, 314,
Malan, Dan ix, xi, 5, 6, 16, 266, Master of the World (Morrow) 139, 83, 85, 139, 222, 328, 350, 356 333, 334, 342, 343, 346, 347,
277, 304, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 219, 221, 229, 333–334, 352 Mignon (Famous Operas) 328 348, 365, C13; accurate rendering
314, 315, 316, 343, 349, 364 Master of the World (painted cover) Military Comics 192 of characters in The Octopus 219,
Maleev, Alexander 292, 293, 354 235, 236, 333–334, 352 Miller, Harry G. (Harry Glickman) 221; dispute over Whaling 217;
Malory, Sir Thomas 330, 356 Masterson, Bat 212, 259 61, 100, 103, 146, 292, 322, 323, fast work on The Queen’s Necklace
“Mammals, Men and Ice” Mathewson, Christy 329 324, 325, 330, 331 221; professional respect for 217
(Williamson) 265, 346 Maupassant, Guy de 24, 25, 223, Miller, Joshua 354, 355 Morvan, Jean David 360
Mamoulian, Rouben 42 231, 320, 333, 334, 348 Miller, Sidney 162, 209, 223, 229, Mosel, Arlene 252
The Man in the Iron Mask (Acc. Maverick 259 231, 236, 260, 267, 333, 334, Moses and the Ten Commandments
Books) 354 Maxwell, Stanley see Zuckerberg, 341, 348, 349 (Dell) 255
The Man in the Iron Mask (Bat- Stanley Maxwell Milton, John 347 Mosk, Berenice 332
tefield) 198, 205, 281, 324, 350, Mayne, Colin 295, 357, 359, C16 Milwaukee Journal 91 Moskowitz, Seymour 32, 121, 122,
356, 359 Mazan 297, 360 Minuit, Peter 333 330
The Man in the Iron Mask McCann, Gerald 62, 69, 73, 207, Les Miserables (Acc. Books) 291, Mother Teresa 207
(Froehlich) 92, 95, 96, 324 210, 213 –216, 222, 259, 260, 354 Motown 267, 283
Man o’ War 207 262, 265, 266, 319, 320, 322, Les Miserables (Livingstone cover) Motter, Dean 286, 353
The Man Who Discovered America 323, 325, 326, 328, 332, 333, C1 “A Mound of Ruins” (Classics Illus-
(Cameron, PP and Classics Illus- 342, 343, 345, 346, 347, 348, Les Miserables (Livingstone interior) trated filler) 139, 322
trated Special Issue) 144, 152, 355, 357, 359, C10; drybrush 39, 40, 277, 299, 318–319 Mousse, Marion 360
245, 246, 255, 335, 342 technique 214; painted covers 215; Les Miserables (McCann, first Moussorgsky, Modeste 326
The Man Who Laughs (Blum) 81, personality 213 painted cover) 216, 296, 319, 355 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 137,
302, 326 McCarthy, Joseph 165, 180, 245 Les Miserables (Nodel interior) 40, 325, 328, 348
376 INDEX

Much Ado About Nothing (Acc. New York Public Library (42nd The Odyssey (Acc. Books) 353 Paderewski, Ignance Jan 332
Books, unpublished) 293 Street Library) 129, 199, 222, 234 The Odyssey (Blum, first painted Page, William Tyler 320
“The Mummy’s Foot” (Gautier) New York School of Industrial Arts cover) 85, 112, 113, 327 Pagliacci (Famous Operas) 325
347 169 The Odyssey (Griffiths) 1, 96, 99, 111, Paine, Lewis 332
Mundy, Talbot 1, 114, 121, 137, 330, New York Times 39, 111, 129, 197, 112, 327, 349 Palais, Rudolph (Rudi, Rudy) ix,
351 200, 233, 270, 310, 311, 313, 314, The Odyssey (Marvel) 280 xii, 67, 77, 104 –109, 110, 120, 121,
Munson, Wayne x, 299, 300, 316, 315, 364 The Odyssey (Tallarico, second 122, 131, 157, 187, 307, 311, 322,
365 New York University 27, 35, 111, painted cover) 226, 271, 327 325, 328, 329, 330, 334, 356,
Murder Incorporated 57, 114 165, 180 The Odyssey (Wilcox, unpublished 363, 365, C4; artistic training
The Murders in the Rue Morgue New York World 10 cover) 120 104–105; influence of cinema 105,
(Hicks) 43, 320, 354 Newark Star Ledger 91 Off on a Comet (first painted cover) 109; significance of hands 109;
Murdock, William 322 Newbery Award 51 140, 273, 317, 333, 334, 350; style 104, 109
Museum of Natural History (New News in Review–1953 (Picture iconic status 273, C8 Palais, Walter 105, 110, 330
York) 267 Parade/Picture Progress) 335 Off on a Comet (McCann) 138, 213, Papercutz (Classics Illustrated) 5, 6,
Musgrave, Steven 355 Newton, Sir Isaac 323, 345 214, 333, 350 297–298, 360
Mussolini, Benito 224, 326 Newton, Robert 78 Off on a Comet (Moritz, second PaperMate 270
The Mutineers (Costanza) 124, 331, Nexus (First Publishing/First Clas- painted cover) 271, 273, 333 Paradise Lost (First, unpublished)
352 sics, Inc.) 283 Offenbach, Jacques 328 290
Mutiny on the Bounty (Acc. Books, Nicholas Nickleby (Schrotter, Jack Oja, Eva 358 Paramount Pictures 188, 255, 332,
unpublished) 355 Lake Productions) 296, 334, 357, “Old Ironsides” (Holmes) 320 342
Mutiny on the Bounty (Kiefer cover) 359, C16 “Old Timer Tales of Kit Carson” Parents’ Magazine 10
296, 329, 356 Nicholas Nickleby (Schrotter, Stories (Best from Boys’ Life Comics, Parker, Fess 1, 148, 226, 271
Mutiny on the Bounty (Waldinger by Famous Authors Illustrated) Ames) 268, 344 Parkman, Francis 73, 135, 214, 326,
interior) 2, 120, 121, 212, 329, 119, 334, 335 Oliff, Steve 353 333, 351, 352, 356
351, 356, 359 Night of Masks (Morrow) 221 Olinsky, Ivan 132 Parsifal (Famous Operas) 326
Mutt and Jeff 10 The Nightingale (Classics Illustrated Oliphant, David 280 Pascal, Blaise 111, 326
Myers, Harry 347 Junior) 249, 337–338, 358 Oliver! (musical) 194 Pasteur, Louis 349
Mysteries of Paris (Kiefer) 67, 69, 71, Nightingale, Florence 323, 346 Oliver Twist (Acc. Books) 291, 354 P.A.T. (Producers Associates of Tele-
94, 141, 166, 301, 323 Nights of Terror (British Classics Oliver Twist (Crandall, Evans) 191, vision, Inc.) 253
Mysteries of Poe (Froehlich/Kiefer/ Illustrated) 352 193, 194, 229, 321, 349, 355, 359 The Pathfinder (Acc. Books, unpub-
Griffiths) 66, 69, 94, 96, 97, 141, Nimitz, Chester 319 Oliver Twist (Hicks) 43, 44, 49, lished) 355
166, 301, 323, 334, 350 1954 — News in Review (Picture 291, 302, 321, 349 The Pathfinder ( JES, Le traceur de
Mysteries of Poe (Kiefer cover) 94 Parade/Picture Progress) 246, 335 Oliver Twist (Kiefer) 64 pistes) 278
The Mysterious Island (Acc. Books) Noah Carr, Yankee Firebrand Olivier, Laurence 68, 284 The Pathfinder (Nodel, unfinished)
354 (Schrotter) 119 Olson, Richard D. 309, 363 162, 321
The Mysterious Island (Webb/ Nobel, Alfred 326 On Jungle Trails (Nodel) 157, 210, The Pathfinder (Zansky) 33, 49,
Heames) 51, 53, 91, 307, 322, Nobel Prize 199 332, 351 167, 320–321, 334, 349
334, 349 Nodel, Norman xii, 3, 6, 40, 51, 81, “The Open Boat” (Crane) 347 Paul Bunyan (Classics Illustrated
Mystery in Space 202 89, 129, 153, 154 –164, 176, 180, Orczy, Baroness Emmuska 293, Junior) 202, 250, 253, 295, 300,
198, 201, 206, 207, 208, 209, 216, 334, 355 337, 358
Nachison, Beth 292, 354, 355 217, 222, 223, 225, 231, 255, The Oregon Trail (Kiefer) 2, 73, 75, Paul Revere’s Ride (Costanza, PP and
Nancy Drew (Papercutz) 297 258, 259, 261–262, 264, 265, 326, 351, 356 Classics Illustrated Special Issue)
Nantier, Terry 297 266, 267, 271, 273, 278, 284, “The Oregon Trail” (Nodel) 258, 245, 255, 335, 342
Nantucket Artists Association 99 285, 291, 293, 307, 311, 312, 313, 342 “Paul Revere’s Ride” (Longfellow)
Napoleon 51, 137, 264, 317, 331, 314, 315, 317–321, 323–327, 331– Orlando, Joe 6, 36, 37, 89, 168, 321
346 334, 335, 341, 342–343, 345– 169 –171, 183, 201, 257, 258, 291, P.D.C. (Publishers Distributing
Napoli, Vincent 334 349, 352, 355–357, 359, 364, 307, 313, 318, 331, 332, 342, 345, Corporation) 12, 35, 112, 241
Narrative of the Life of David Crock- 365, C11, C12; dominant free- 355; affiliation with Gilberton The Pearl Princess (Classics Illus-
ett 148, 331 lancer 153; personality 153; style 169; death 171; EC experience 169; trated Junior and Jack Lake Pro-
Narrative of the Life of Frederick 153, 154, 157; technique 159, 164 later career 168, 171 ductions) 295, 341, 359
Douglass (Acc. Books) 293, 355 Nollen, Scott Allen 311, 364 O’Rourke, John 53, 78, 81, 322– Pearson, Bill 353
Nassau Bulletin 6, 13 Nordhoff, Charles 109, 120, 135, 326, 328 Peck, Gregory 154
National Academy of Art 27, 96, 146, 191, 329, 330, 351, 352, 355, Osceola 324 Pecos Bill (Peltz, Classics Illustrated
105 356 Othello 6 Special Issue) 259
National Academy of Design 76, Norris, Frank 207, 219, 314, 333, Oughton, Taylor 271, 319, 322, “Pecos Bill” (Walsh, Classics Illus-
153 352, 364 324, 325, 327, 329, 332, 356 trated Junior) 337
National Arts Club 99 North, Sterling 10 Ouida (Louise de la Ramée) 132, Pee Wee and the Sneezing Elephant
National Lampoon 284 Northwest Mounties (St. John) 59 135, 137, 328, 351 (Little Folks) 49
National Maritime Museum, Green- Nothing but Trouble (film) 281 “Our American Heritage” (Classics “Pee Wee Harris” (Best from Boys’
wich 198, 317, 360 Norton, Andre 221 Illustrated filler) 330 Life Comics, Fitzhugh) 268,
National Periodical Publications 11 Nostradamus 331 The Outcasts of Poker Flat (Acc. 344
Navy (World Around Us) 264, 345 “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Books, unpublished) 355 Pelleas and Melisande (Famous
Negro Americans–The Early Years Calaveras County” (Twain) 266, The Outcasts of Poker Flat (Kiefer) Operas) 327
(Nodel) 136, 162, 272, 273, 347 73, 75, 325 Peltz, George 251, 259, 260, 264,
334 Novelty (Curtis) 51 Outcault, Richard 10 266, 340–343, 345–348, 359;
Nero 332 Now Age Books Illustrated 280 “An Outline History of the Civil style 251
Neruda, Pablo 181 Nowlan, Philip 10 War” (del Bourgo) 114, 133, 329 Pendulum Classics 280
New Comics 11 Nyberg, Amy Kiste 312, 364 “The Overland Mail” (Orlando) “The Peninsula” (Kirby) 227, 260,
New Fun 11, 63 Nyoka, the Jungle Girl 61, 203 258, 342 343
The New Gods (DC) 228 Overstreet, Robert M. (“Bob”) 302, Penn, William 76
New Heroic Comics 66 Obadiah, Rick xii, 283, 316, 365 316, 365; Comic Book Price Guide Penny Press 243
“New York City” (Kirby, War Oberon, Merle 68, 284 302, 305 The Penny Prince (Classics Illus-
Between the States) 227, 343 The Octopus (Cole cover) 207, 333; Owsley, Patrick 353 trated Junior) 338, 358
New York Herald Tribune 10 C11 The Ox-Bow Incident (Acc. Books, The Pentamerone (Basile) 339
New York Marxist School (Brecht The Octopus (Morrow) 6, 218, 219, unpublished) 355 Peppe, Mike 202, 250,
Forum) 180 221, 222, 225, 278, 333, 352 The Ox-Bow Incident (Nodel) 153, Perlin, Don 221, 228, 229, 333
New York Post 91 The Octopus (Norris) 221, 314, 364 154, 331, 352 Peroff, Alana 356
 INDEX 377

Perrault, Charles 251, 295, 336, Portis, Charles 6 Quality Comics Group 49, 76, 105, Richardson, Mike 310, 313, 314,
337, 357 Potter, Harry (character) 206, 207 192 363
Petit, Philip 360 Potter, Jeffrey K. 353 Quantrill, William 329 Richardson, Tony 271
Petránek, Michael x, 298 Prager, Ron xii, 23, 50, 228, 310, The Queen Bee (Classics Illustrated Rico, Don 57, 307, 321, 322, 334
Phantom Lady (Baker) 58, 111, 166 311, 314, 364, 365 Junior) 340, 358 Rigoletto (Famous Operas) 324
Phidias 326 The Prairie (Palais) 3, 77, 104, 105, Queen Margot (Dumas) 133 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Pickering, Trevor 354 107, 325, 350 The Queen of Spades (British Classics ( Joint European Series) 289
Picture Parade 88, 122, 127, 129, 130, Pratt, George 355 Illustrated) 278, 352 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
244, 245, 315, 317, 335, 342, 364 Pratt Institute 35, 38, 96, 124, 125, Queens County Times 13 (Motter) 286, 287, 289, 353
Picture Progress 4, 6, 129, 130, 144, 226, 228, 293 Queens Home News 13, 91 Rip Kirby 174
152, 154, 244–246, 254, 255, Prehistoric Animals (World Around The Queen’s Necklace (Morrow) Rip Van Winkle (Busch) 288, 353
263, 273, 317, 331, 335–336, Us) 174, 211, 219, 265, 346 220, 221, 334, 352 “Rip Van Winkle” (Irving) 40, 310,
342; educational purpose 130, Prehistoric World (Classics Illustrated The Queen’s Necklace (painted cover) 364
244, 246 Special Issue) 176, 187, 235, 238, C9 Rip Van Winkle (Nodel) 158, 160,
Picture Stories from American History 262, 265, 343 310, 319, 351
(Simon, EC) 21 Premiani, Bruno 6, 222, 223, 224, Railroads (World Around Us) 263, Rip Van Winkle (Oughton, second
Picture Stories from the Bible (EC) 225, 259, 262, 265, 266, 267, 264, 345 painted cover) 271, 319
99, 254 314, 333, 334, 342, 343, 346, “The Railway Train” (Dickinson) Rip Van Winkle and the Headless
The Pied Piper (Classics Illustrated 347, 348 319 Horseman (Livingstone) 39, 40,
Junior) 212, 249, 250, 253, 336, Prentice, John 174 Ramsey, Ray 19, 20, 21, 259, 317, 41, 275, 300, 310, 319
357 Presley, Elvis 1, 188, 281 318, 334, 342, 345, 359 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Pike, Jay Scott 348 Prezio, Victor 255, 318, 342, 355, Randall, Maurice A. 353, 354 (Shirer) 261
The Pilot (Blum) 53, 81, 111, 326, 359, C7 Random House 262 Rob Roy (Dell) 110
350 Price, Norman 78 Rapunzel (Classics Illustrated Junior) Rob Roy (Palais) 2, 110, 301, 330,
The Pilot (McCann cover) 215, 216, Price, Vincent 221 129, 338, 358 352
326, 350 Prichard, Pat 341, 342, 348, 359 Raskin, Jordan 354 Robbins, Trina 310, 311, 364
“The Pimienta Pancakes” (Gianni) Pride and Prejudice (Acc. Books, Raspe, Rudolf Erich 348, 352 Robert Fulton: Boy Craftsman
289, 353 unpublished) 293, 355 The Raven and Other Poems (Wil- (Dresser) 117
Pines, Ned 171, 205 Pride and Prejudice (Austen) 136 son) 284, 353, 360 Robert Louis Stevenson School 180
Pinocchio (Classics Illustrated Jun- Priestley, Joseph 137, 322, 342, 346 Raw 284 Roberts, Wade xii, 283
ior) 212, 247, 253, 337, 357 The Prince and the Pauper (Acc. Raymond, Albert W. (pseudonym) Robespierre, Maximilien 138, 186,
The Pioneers (Oughton cover) 271, Books) 353–354 35 187, 264, 332, 346
322 The Prince and the Pauper (Hicks) Raymond, Alex 107, 174 Robin Hood (Prezio cover) 296, 318,
The Pioneers (Palais) 104, 107, 270, 44, 94, 166, 277, 321, 350 Reade, Charles 73, 137, 326 349, 355, C7
322, 334, 350, 356, C4 The Prince and the Pauper (horror Reader’s Digest 166, 235 Robin Hood (Saks giveaway) xii, 318
“Pioneers of Science” (Classic cover) 94, 166, 277, 321, C2 Reading (BSA Merit Badge Series) Robin Hood (Sparling) 180, 198,
Comics, Classics Illustrated filler) The Prince and the Pauper (Kiefer 137 202, 203, 310, 318, 349, 355,
4, 111, 137, 223, 322–328, 342, cover) 94, 321 Reading Comics (Wolk) 6, 309, 364 359
356 The Prince and the Pauper (Wilson The Rebel (Dell) 202 Robin Hood (Zansky) 2, 13, 28, 29,
Piracy (EC) 192 cover) 210, 321, 350 “Reconstruction” (Evans) 260, 343 31, 32, 35, 66, 299, 310, 318,
Pirates (World Around Us) 51, 173, Prince Valiant (Foster) 73, 169, 191 The Red Badge of Courage (Acc. 334, 349
214, 235, 263, 264, 297, 345 The Princess Who Saw Everything Books) 354 Robins, Clem 354, 355
The Pit and the Pendulum (Classics Illustrated Junior) 238, The Red Badge of Courage (Crane) Robins, Madeleine xii, 32, 103,
(Froehlich) 94, 95, 323, 354 246, 342 137, 315 232, 291, 311, 316, 355, 365
Pitcairn’s Island (Künstler cover) The Princess Who Saw Everything The Red Badge of Courage (First, Robinson Crusoe (Acc. Books) 354
126, 330 ( Jack Lake Productions) 295, unpublished) 290 Robinson Crusoe (Boyette) 289, 353
Pitcairn’s Island (Palais) 4, 104, 109, 359, C16 The Red Badge of Courage (Huston) Robinson Crusoe (Cass. Book Com-
120, 223, 330, 351 The Prisoner of Zenda (Acc. Books, 119 pany) 280, 281
Pitz, Henry C. 192 unpublished) 355 The Red Badge of Courage Robinson Crusoe (Citron/Sultan)
Pizarro, Francisco 267, 333, 346, The Prisoner of Zenda (Kiefer) 68, (Oughton, second painted cover) 203, 204, 310, 319, 349
348 69, 71, 75, 327 271, 329 Robinson Crusoe (McCann) 213
Planet Comics 49 Prize 131, 226 The Red Badge of Courage (Schrot- Robinson Crusoe (painted cover) 8,
Plessix, Michel 297, 360, C16 Project Mercury 219, 260 ter) 114, 119, 133, 329, 334, 351 319
Ploog, Mike 287, 289, 353 Prommik, Kaarel 357 “The Red Planet” (World Around Robinson Crusoe (Zuckerberg) 37,
Poch (Cleopatra cover) 333 Prommik, Pärt 357 Us) 266, 347, 348 66, 275, 281, 310, 319, 334, 349
Pocket Books see Washington “The Psychopathology of Comic The Red Rover (Costanza) 122, 123, Robur the Conqueror (Perlin) 221,
Square Press Books” (symposium) 165 124, 301, 330, 351 223, 228, 229, 333, 352
Poe, Edgar Allan 43, 69, 83, 95, Publishers Distributing Corporation The Red Rover (Polseno) 127, 330 Roche, Ruth A. 6, 47, 49, 50, 51,
96, 109, 119, 120, 135, 231, 284, see P.D.C. Reed, Carol 194 58, 321, 322, 323; improves
311, 320, 323, 327–328, 351, 353, Puccini, Giacomo 324, 325, 326 Reese, Ralph 293, 355 Gilberton scripts 50; relationship
354, 360, 364 Puck 10 Reeves, Steve 227 with Jerry Iger 50
Pokes of Gold (McCann) 213 Pudd’nhead Wilson (Acc. Books) Regents Illustrated Classics 280 Rock ’n’ roll 1
Poling, Daniel A. 254, 255, 258 354 Relf, Patricia 125 “Rocket Engines” (Tartaglione)
Polo, Marco 55 Pudd’nhead Wilson (Kiefer) 68, 198, Remarque, Erich Maria 114, 132, 260, 343
Polseno, Jo 127, 312, 330, 365 223, 328, 350 133, 328, 355, 358 Rockets, Jets and Missiles (Classics
Poon, Yvonne 358 Pudd’nhead Wilson (McCann, sec- Remington, Frederick 330 Illustrated Special Issue) 219,
Ponce de León 329 ond painted cover) 216, 328, 350 “A Retrieved Reformation” (Gianni) 232, 259, 260, 343
Ponchielli, Amilcare 327 Pulitzer, Joseph 10 289, 353 Rockne, Knute 138, 329
“Pony Express” (Orlando) 171, 257, Punch 9 The Return of the Native (Hardy) Rockwell, Norman 35, 105, 144
258, 342 Pushkin, Alexander 278, 352 137 “Rocky Stoneaxe” (Best from Boys’
“Pony Soldiers” (Ingels) 173, 259, Puss-in-Boots (Classics Illustrated The Return of the Native (Pendulum) Life Comics, Eaton) 268, 344
342 Junior) 249, 251, 337, 357 280 Rocky the Flying Squirrel 253
Pope, Alexander 345 Pyle, Howard 118, 119, 127, 192, 318, Das Rheingold (Famous Operas) Roea, Doug 100, 210, 211, 323, 325,
Popeye 226 328, 330, 345, 349, 351, 355 138, 327 333, 345
Popular Comics 10 “Pyramus and Thisbe” (Bulfinch) Rice, Anne 4, 309, 364 Roebling, John A. 325
Popular Teenagers 207 322 Richardson, Donna 3, 68, 309, 311, Roentgen, Wilhelm Konrad 324
Porter, Jane 81, 135, 137, 326, 350 Pythagoras 137, 326 364 Romance comics see Comics
378 INDEX

Romberg, Sigmund 69 93, 116, 183, 191, 303, 304, 309, She (Stories by Famous Authors Snyder, John K., III 284, 285, 286,
Romeo and Juliet (Acc. Books) 292, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, Illustrated) 113, 334 287, 353, 360
293, 353 364, 365 She (New Comics) 11 So Far, So Funny (Kanter) 309, 364
Romeo and Juliet (Evans) 16, 183, Scaramouche (Kiefer) 114, 335 Sheena, Queen of the Jungle 49, 51, “So Proudly We Hailed” (del
186, 331–332, 349, 357 The Scarlet Letter (Thompson) 287, 61 Bourgo) 328
Romeo and Juliet (Kiefer) 335 353, 360 Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft 51, Socrates 331, 334
Romeo and Juliet (Moritz, second The Scarlet Pimpernel (Acc. Books) 135, 136, 321, 354, 355, 360 Soldiers of Fortune (Schaffenberger)
painted cover) 271, 332 293, 355 Shelter Through the Ages (Kiefer) 66, 124, 125, 315, 330, 352
“Room for the Night” (Morrow) The Scarlet Pimpernel (Lavery) 113, 112, 244, 335, C13 Solomon, Chad 357, 359
266, 347 334 Shepard, Alan 219, 261 Somervell, Lt. Gen. Brehon 320
Rooney, Mickey 33 Schaffenberger, Kurt 124, 125, 246, Sherlock Holmes (comic strip) 202 The Song of Hiawatha (Blum) 77,
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 138, 265, 315, 330, 337, 358 “Shiloh” (Evans) 260, 343 296, 325, 350, 356
329, 347 Schick 270, 315, 364 Shirer, William L. 261 Sørensen, Øystein x, 211, 215, 259,
Roosevelt, Theodore 256, 258, Schiller, Friedrich von 111, 329, 351 The Show of Violence (Wertham) 315, 365
265, 296, 330, 342, 347 Schlegell, William von 132 165 South Sea Girl (Baker) 58
Der Rosenkavalier (Famous Operas) School-Day Romances 207 Showcase (DC) 162, 226, 278 Southey, Robert 336, 357
326 School of Visual Arts 284 Shwartz, Susan 353, 354, 355 Space (World Around Us) 214, 264,
Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio 324 Schrotter, Gustav 77, 103, 118, 119, Sick 228 345
Rostand, Edmond 83, 115, 285, 170, 326, 328, 329, 335, 357 Siebert News Agency 3 “Space Conquerors” (Best from
327, 351, 353, 354, 360 Schubert, Willie 353 The Siege of Sevastopol (unpublished) Boys’ Life Comics, Stenzel) 268,
The Rough Rider (Classics Illustrated Schuck, Arthur A. 269, 343 238, 334 344
Special Issue) 187, 188, 199, 256, Schwartz, Delmore 306 Siegfried (Famous Operas) 327 Space Stories and Sounds (Lion LP)
258, 296, 342, 359 Schweitzer, Albert 332 Sienkiewicz, Bill 284, 285, 353, 212
Rowlandson, Thomas 9, 69 Scoggins, Loy 2 C15 Sparling, Jack 198, 202, 203, 318,
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Scopino, A.J., Jr. 355 Sienkiewicz, Henryk 111, 173, 332, 321, 355
(Classics Illustrated Special Issue) Scott, Bill 253 350 Spider-Man 228
21, 173, 214, 259, 342, 359 Scott, Keith 315, 364 The Sign of the Four (Zansky) 33, Spiegle, Carrie 353
Rubano, Aldo 100, 101, 102, 103, Scott, Robert 346, 347 320 Spiegle, Dan 289, 353, 360
232, 324, C4 Scott, Thomas T. 47, 49, 321, 322 Silas Marner (Acc. Books) 292, 354 Spies (World Around Us) 187, 227,
Rubén 360 Scott, Sir Walter 3, 6, 12, 59, 71, Silas Marner (Eliot) 136, 137, 292 267, 348–349
Ruberoid Company 112, 335 110, 135, 137, 154, 155, 204, 231, Silas Marner (Hicks) 6, 44, 47, 48, The Spirit (Eisner) 49
Rubinstein, Annette T. x, 37, 169, 283, 289, 317, 326, 330, 332, 324, 350 The Spirit Horses (Cameron) 144
180–181, 313, 318, 331, 365 345, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, Silly Hans (Classics Illustrated Jun- Spitfire Comics 17, 49
Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli (Dell) 280 353, 354, 360 ior) 339 Spur Award 144
Rugby 55, 206 The Scottish Chiefs (Blum) 2, 80, 81, The Silly Princess (Classics Illustrated The Spy (Acc. Books, unpublished)
Rumpelstiltskin (Classics Illustrated 136, 326, 350 Junior) 252, 341 355
Junior) 247, 251, 337, 357 “Scouts in Action” (Best from Boys’ Silly Willy (Classics Illustrated Jun- The Spy (Hicks) 44, 46, 47, 91,
The Runaway Dumpling (Classics Life Comics, Stenzel) 268, 344 ior) 202, 252, 340 324, 349
Illustrated Junior) 246, 252, 253, Scranton Art School 182 Silver, Long John (character) 78 Spy James 334
295, 342 The Sea Wolf (Blum) 55, 83, 85, “Silver Age” see Comics Squatront! 300
Ruskin, John 202, 250, 337, 358 139, 328, 350 Simon, Allen 20, 21, 22 –25, 194, “The Squaw” (Crandall) 196, 313
Russell, Emily 353 Seaboard Publishers, Inc. 66, 113, 299, 317, 319, 320, 322, 334, Stafford, Charlotte 253
Russell, P. Craig 287, 353, 360 114, 120, 334 343, C1 Stanley, Henry Morton 127, 330, 352
Russo, Rene 282 The Secret Agent (Snyder) 286, 353 Simon, Bill 212 Star Comics 207
Ruth, George Herman (Babe) 138, Secret Agent Corrigan (Secret Agent Simon, Fred 360 Star Raiders (DC) 168
328 X-9) 174, 192 Simon, Joe 226 “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Seduction of the Innocent (Wertham) Simple Kate (Classics Illustrated (Hickey, Classics Illustrated Spe-
Saalfield Publishing Company 10 94, 103, 111, 121, 166, 167, 168, 311, Junior) 251, 340 cial Issue) 342, 359
Sabatini, Rafael 9, 66, 114, 334, 364 “Sinbad the Sailor” (Berger) 231, The Star-Spangled Banner (Hickey,
335 Sekowsky, Mike 201, 202, 246, 318 PP and Classics Illustrated Special
Sabin, Roger 9, 20, 309, 310, 363, 250, 255, 320, 337–340, 355, Sinclair, Upton 283, 287, 353, 360 Issue) 246, 335
364 358 “Sing a Song of Sixpence” (Classics Star Spangled War Stories 133
The Sacred and the Profane (Motter) Sergeant Stony Craig (Streeter) 128, Illustrated Junior) 252, 336 Star Wars 176
286 312 Singer, Isaac Bashevis 199 State of New York Joint Legislative
Saga of the North (British Classics Seton, Ernest Thompson 135, 157, The Singing Donkey (Classics Illus- Committee to Study the Publica-
Illustrated) 352 207, 208, 238, 333, 351, 352 trated Junior) 204, 340 tion of Comics 167, 312
Sail with the Devil (British Classics Seurat, Georges 105 Sinnott, Joe 340 Staton, Joe 289, 353
Illustrated) 276, 278, 352 “Seven for Space” (Morrow) 219, Siryk (Classics Illustrated artist) Steacy, Ken 147
St. Clement 323 260, 343 271, 327 The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Classics
St. Columba 323 Severin, John P. 21, 178, 179, 180, Skelton, Red 321 Illustrated Junior) 250, 337, 357
St. John, Archer 59, 207 256, 258, 318, 342, 355 The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Stein, Marvin 345
Saint-Just, Louis Antoine Léon de Severin, Marie 207 (Irving) 310, 364 Steinmetz, Charles Proteus 322
264, 346 Sewell, Anna 95, 135, 157, 208, Slater, June 320 Stenzel, Al (Alsten) 268, 344
St. Louis Post-Dispatch 91 325, 350, 356 The Sleeping Beauty (Classics Illus- Stern, Bill 212
Salem, Peter 334 Shakespeare, William 1, 2, 4, 6, 67, trated Junior) 122, 249, 253, Stevenson, Augusta 117
Salicrup, Jim x, 297, 298, 307, 316, 83, 85, 89, 111, 113, 114, 129, 135, 336, 357 Stevenson, Fanny Osbourne 137
365 137, 139, 170, 186, 194, 254, 286, Smalls, Robert 334 Stevenson, Robert Louis 3, 10, 11,
The Salt Mountain (Classics Illus- 292, 293, 297, 306, 311, 326, Smith v. Hitchcock (U.S., 1912) 223 16, 42, 43, 47, 49, 53, 78, 108,
trated Junior) 251, 341, 359 328, 329, 331, 334, 335, 349, Smith, Edesse Peery 213 115, 117, 127, 129, 135, 137, 146,
Sands, Jim xi, 131, 303, 312, 364 350, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356, Smith, Sherwood 354 253, 271, 283, 284, 285, 289,
The Saturday Evening Post 112, 211 357, 360, 364 Smith, Wendell 328 292, 310, 311, 319, 322, 323, 325,
Saunders, Norman B. 143, 207, Shane, Nat 324 Smith, William 265, 346 327, 328, 330, 336, 337, 338,
209, 210, 314, 321, 332, 333, Shanley, John Patrick 281 Snow-White and Rose Red (Classics 350, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356,
355, 357, C9 Shapp, Charles 124 Illustrated Junior) 339, 358 360, 364
Savage, William W., Jr. 245, 315, Shapp, Martha 124 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Stewart, Bhob 313
364 Shaw, Robert 289 (Classics Illustrated Junior) 88, Stiskin, O.B. “Bernie” x, 234, 249,
Sawyer, Michael (Mike) x, xi, 5, Shaw-Russell, Susan 357, 358, 359 246, 247, 336, 357 270, 273, 315, 365
 INDEX 379

Stockley, Grif ix, xii Sundel, Alfred 5, 6, 153, 159, 160, The Ten Commandments (Classics Tigers and Traitors (painted cover)
Stoker, Bram 196, 355 176, 178, 182, 194, 207, 208, 209, Illustrated Special Issue) 155, 238, 334, 352
Stokes, Manning 322 214, 217, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 156, 162, 188, 255, 296, 342, 359 Time 165
“Stone Soup” (Classics Illustrated 225, 229, 231, 234, 236, 238, Tenniel, John 77 The Time Machine (Cameron) 150,
Junior) 252, 338 242, 262, 267, 268, 310, 312, 313, Tennyson, Alfred, Lord 319 152, 212, 277, 331, 349, 357, 359
Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated 314, 315, 318–323, 325–326, Terry and the Pirates (comic strip) The Time Machine (Wilson cover)
66, 113–114, 119, 120, 133, 170, 333–334, 348, 365; favorite sub- 192 152, 210, 212, 317, 331, 349, 357,
243, 244, 280, 296, 316, 329, jects 235; role in selection of later The Texan 59 359, C8
334–335, 357; acquisition by titles 222 Thais (Famous Operas) 324 The Time of the Cave Man (Picture
Gilberton 114; quality of adapta- Sunn Classics (television films) 283 Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Parade/Picture Progress) 246,
tions 113–114 The Sunrise Times 13 Commission 187, 258, 342 335
“Stories from the Bible” (Best from Superman (DC character) 3, 10, 111, “There Was an Old Man with a Timely 57, 144, 168, 226; see also
Boys’ Life Comics, Flessel) 268, 122, 167, 264 Beard” (Lear) 253, 339 Atlas; Marvel
344 Superman: Whatever Happened to the “These Brave Fields” (Glanzman) The Tinder-Box (Classics Illustrated
“Stories from the World of Sports” Man of Tomorrow? 125 266, 347 Junior) 339, 358
(Classics Illustrated filler) 138, Sutter, John 328, 333 The 39 Steps (Lavery) 114, 334 “Tippy, the Terrier” (Julius Caesar
328, 329, 330 La Svengali (Trilby) (Schrotter) 119, “This Is the Place” (Nodel) 258, filler) 111, 326
“Stories of Early America” (Classics 335 342 TNT (Turner Network Television)
Illustrated filler) 328, 329, 330, Swamp Thing (DC) 168, 286 This Month (Gilberton) 199, 235, 283
331 Swan, Curt 125 238 To the Stars! (Classics Illustrated
Storm, George 11 Swayze, Marc 122, 311, 365 Thomas, H.C. 119 Special Issue) 176, 187, 227, 261,
Stormy Foster 105, 192 Swift, Jonathan 11, 39, 320, 349, Thomas, Robert McG., Jr. 315, 364 343; educational aspect 261
Story, J.C. 259 354, 355 Thomas, Roy x, 298 The Toilers of the Sea (Froehlich)
The Story of a Bad Boy (Kiefer) 63 Swiss Family Robinson (Kiefer) 67, Thomas Alva Edison Award 102, 92, 95, 301, 307, 325
The Story of America (Classics Illus- 246, 323, 350, C3 103, 144, 187, 245, 246 The Toilers of the Sea (Torres) 176,
trated Special Issue) 129, 152, Swiss Family Robinson (Nodel) 323, Thompson, Jill 287, 353, 360 177, 234, 325, 352
255, 296, 342, 359, C13 350, 356 Thorpe & Porter 242, 243, 278 Tolstoy, Leo 238, 278, 352
The Story of Flight (Costanza, PP Swiss Family Robinson (Storm) 11 The Three Fairies (Classics Illus- Tom Brown’s School Days (Fleming)
and Classics Illustrated Special trated Junior) 129, 339 13–14, 55, 56, 57, 92, 323
Issue) 245, 255, 335, 342 The Tale of the Body Thief (Rice) 4 Three Famous Mysteries (3 Famous Tom Brown’s School Days (McCann
“The Story of Great Britain” A Tale of Two Cities (Acc. Books) Mysteries) (Zansky/Simon/Hicks) cover) 215, 216, 323, C10
(Cameron, Classics Illustrated 292, 353 24, 25, 33, 43, 94, 141, 166, 167, Tom Brown’s School Days
feature) 138, 147, 331–332 A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) 1, 168, 302, 320, 334 (Tartaglione) 138, 206, 222, 323,
The Story of Inflation (Nodel) 164 137, 309 “The Three Fishers” (Kingsley) 319 352
The Story of Jesus (Classics Illus- A Tale of Two Cities (New Comics) The Three Giants (Classics Illus- Tom Sawyer (Dell) 16, 280
trated Special Issue) 89, 254, 11 trated Junior) 341 Tom Sawyer see The Adventures of
255, 263, 295, 342, 359 A Tale of Two Cities (Nodel, second The Three Golden Apples (Classics Tom Sawyer for Classics Illus-
The Story of Jesus (Prezio cover) painted cover) 162, 271, 318 Illustrated Junior) 340 trated editions
255, 342, 359 A Tale of Two Cities (Orlando) 169, The Three Little Dwarfs (Classics Tom Sawyer Detective (McCann) 213
The Story of Jesus (“Three Camels” 170, 180, 183, 270, 307, 310, 318, Illustrated Junior) 340 Töpffer, Rodolphe 7
cover) 254, 255, 342 349, 355, 360 The Three Little Pigs (The 3 Little Topps 210
The Story of Money (Nodel) 164 A Tale of Two Cities (first painted Pigs) (Classics Illustrated Junior) Torres, Angelo 174, 176, 177, 217,
The Story of the Commandos 49 cover) 4, 318, 349, 355, 360 247, 336, 357 222, 223, 261, 262, 265–267,
“The Story of the Magic Horse” A Tale of Two Cities (Zuckerberg) The Three Musketeers (Acc. Books) 325, 332, 342, 343, 346–348;
(Chestney) 38, 231, 318 16, 35, 36, 37, 66, 293, 310, 318, 354 highly regarded by editorial staff
Stover, Holly 356 334, 349 The Three Musketeers (Cass. Book 176
Stowe, Harriet Beecher 41, 135, 310, Tales from the Crypt (EC) 168, 169 Company) 280 Toth, Alex 51, 231, 310, 314, 364
319, 349, 354 Tales from the Crypt (Papercutz) 297 The Three Musketeers (Dumas) 100 Tourneur, Maurice 79, 311
Strange Adventures (DC) 202 Tales from the Great Book (Famous The Three Musketeers (Evans) 140, Le Traceur de pistes ( Joint European
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Funnies) 254 190, 191, 296, 307, 310, 317, 350, Series) see The Pathfinder
Hyde (Stevenson) 42, 310, 364 Tales of Hoffman (Famous Operas) 355, 359 “Tracks, Teeth and Bones” (Mor-
Straparola, Gianfrancesco 336, 337 328 The Three Musketeers (Kildale) 2, 3, row) 265, 346
Strauss, Johann 327 The Talisman (Kiefer) 71, 198, 223, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 137, 140, 205, Tracy, Spencer 42
Strauss, Mike 303 330, 351 236, 277, 310, 317 “Tracy Twins” (Best from Boys’ Life
Strauss, Richard 326 The Talisman (Künstler) 126, 330, The Three Musketeers (painted cover) Comics, Browne) 268, 344
Strauss, Roberta see Feuerlicht, 351 191, 317 Trapani, Sal 127, 128, 129, 330, 331,
Roberta Strauss The Talisman (Scott) 59, 231, 348 The Three Musketeers (Papercutz) 357
Streeter, Lin 128, 129, 144, 153, 225, Tallarico, Tony 225, 226, 246, 252, 360 Treasure Chest 169, 192
246, 255, 264, 331, 335, 337, 267, 271, 327, 333, 341, 347–349, The Three Musketeers (Pendulum) Treasure Island (Acc. Books) 291,
338, 339, 342, 345, 358, 359 359 280 354
“The Strongest of Vikings” (Tal- Tambone, Rudy xi, 336 The Three Worlds of Gulliver (film) Treasure Island (Australian Classics
larico) 226, 348 Tannhauser (Famous Operas) 325 39 Illustrated) 274
Stuart, Charles Edward (Bonnie Taras Bulba (Gogol) 229 Through the Looking Glass (Baker) Treasure Island (Blum) 2, 78, 79,
Prince Charlie) 16, 328 Target Comics 11, 57 284, 285, 353, 360 129, 325, 350, 356, 359
Stuart, Jeb 330 Tartaglione, John 206, 207, 260, Through the Looking Glass (British Treasure Island (Boyette) 289, 353
A Study in Scarlet (Künstler cover) 265, 323, 333, 342, 343, 345– Classics Illustrated) 278, 352 Treasure Island (Cass. Book Com-
126, 330, C6 347, 359 Through Time and Space: Communi- pany) 280
A Study in Scarlet (Moskowitz) 121, Tarzan (comic strip) 10, 73, 174, 326 cations (World Around Us) 176, Treasure Island (deLay) 11
122, 198, 223, 277, 330 Tarzan films 37 224, 255, 263, 265, 347 Treasure Island (Dell) 16, 280
A Study in Scarlet (Zansky/Kiefer) Taylor, Deems 327 Thumbelina (Classics Illustrated Treasure Island (Disney) 78, 129
30, 32, 33, 66, 322 Taylor, Gary 311, 364 Junior) 129, 249, 337, 358 Treasure Island (Long John Silver’s
Sue, Eugene 69, 137, 323 Technicolor 270 Thutmosis III 334 Seafood Shoppe) 79, 283, 325
Sullivan, Sir Arthur 138, 328 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 283 Tickle Tickle Tickle (Little Folks) 49 Treasure Island (McCann) 213
Sullivan, Michael 137, 319, 320 Teen-Age Temptations 59 Tierney, Michael xii, 316, 365 Treasure Island (New Fun) 11
Sultan, Charles 203, 204, 319 Teglbjaerg, Lars x, 71, 305, 311, 365 Tiger Girl (Baker) 58 Treasure Island (Papercutz) 297, 360
Summer Fun (Picture Parade/Picture The Tell-Tale Heart (Wilcox) 119, Tigers and Traitors (Nodel) 159, Treasure Island (Stevenson) 10, 53,
Progress) 246, 335 120, 328, 354 334, 352 78, 311, 364
380 INDEX

Treasure Island (Tourneur) 79, 311 The Unbearable Lightness of Being nant Classics Illustrated Junior Wertheimer, Frederic J. see
Treasure Island (Wilson cover) 210, (film) 287 artist 247, 248; style 247, 249 Wertham, Fredric
325, 350, 356, 359, C12 Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Acc. Books) 354 Walston, Frank 315, 364 Western Playhouse (Lion LP) 212
A Treasury of Victorian Murder Uncle Tom’s Cabin (first painted Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories Western Publishing 192
(Geary) 284 cover) 40, 271, 320, 349 (Dell) 168 Western Stories (Kiefer) 73, 78, 325,
Tristan and Isolde (Famous Operas) Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Livingstone) 4, Walton, Izaak 267, 348 350
325 39, 40, 41, 136, 319–320, 349 Wambi, the Jungle Boy (Kiefer) 49, Western Stories (Oughton cover)
Tropea-Wheatley, Doug 354 Uncle Tom’s Cabin (second painted 63, 67, 71 271, 325
Trudeau, Edward Livingstone 326 cover) 271, 320 War Adventures 133 Westinghouse, George 324
True, Doreen 302 Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe) 41, 310, War Against Crime 171 The Westinghouse Story: The Dreams
True, Raymond S. x, xi, 18, 139, 363 The War Between the States (Biggs of a Man (Kiefer) 66, 112, 244,
302, 303, 309, 310, 312, 316, 365 Under Two Flags (del Bourgo) 131, cover) 211, 343, 359 335
True Comics 10, 11, 203 132, 136, 139, 328, 351 The War Between the States (Classics Westward Ho! (Kingsley) 10
True Grit (novel) 6 Undersea Adventures (World Around Illustrated Special Issue) 19, 204, Westward Ho! (Simon) 22, 23, 24,
True Love Pictorial 59 Us) 178, 226, 227, 267, 348 207, 211, 226, 227, 260, 261, 266, 140, 303, 319, 349, C1
Truman, Harry S. 319, 347 Understanding Comics (McCloud) 296, 343, 359 Whale, James 51
Tubman, Harriet 273, 334 10, 309, 316, 364 “War Drums” (WAU, Morrow) Whaling (World Around Us) 178,
Tukell, George 345, 348 United Nations 130, 244, 333 266, 347 217, 224, 263, 267, 335, 348
The Turn of the Screw (Pendulum) The United Nations (Classics Illus- “War Leaders” (WAU, Kihl) 266, “What’s Wrong with Comics?”
280 trated Special Issue) 176, 224, 347 (ABC radio program) 165
Turpin, Kathryn 283 262, 315, 335, 342, 343 The War of the Worlds (Acc. Books) Wheatley, Phillis 273, 334
Twain, Mark (Samuel L. Clemens) United Nations (Picture Parade/Pic- 355 Wheeler-Nicholson, Major Malcolm
3, 9, 33, 44, 51, 68, 69, 103, 127, ture Progress) see Around the The War of the Worlds (Cameron) 10, 11, 55, 63, 76
135, 201, 202, 232, 266, 287, 292, World With the United Nations 147, 148, 212, 281, 307, 312, 331, When the Sleeper Wakes (unpub-
314, 320, 321, 324, 328, 349, Universal Pictures 51 352, 364 lished) 238, 334
350, 353, 354, 355, 360, 365 The War of the Worlds ( Jack Lake Whipple, Prince 334
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Vadeboncoeur, Jim, Jr. xi, 59, 169, Productions) 296, 357, 359 The White Company (Blum) 87, 115,
Sea (Acc. Books) 354 231, 310, 365 Ward, David S. 282 116, 198, 223, 329
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the “Valiant Lives” (Griffiths) 96 Ward, Jay 253, 315, 364 White Fang (Acc. Books, unpub-
Sea (Gianni) 289, 290 Valjean, Jean (character) 4, 39, 40, Ward, Lynd 22, 23, 24, 51, 57, 100, lished) 355
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the 159, 162, 167 307 White Fang (Blum) 83, 114, 327,
Sea (20,000 Leagues Under the The Valkyrie (Famous Operas) 325 Ware, Hames xi, 17, 19, 38, 51, 61, 351
Sea) (Kiefer) 2, 12, 51, 64, 69, Vallada, Christine 355 64, 66, 67, 75, 77, 85, 119, 120, Whiteman, Ezra 61, 322
70, 71, 91, 229, 323–324, 349, Vampirella (Warren) 196 127, 131, 133, 144, 169, 203, 229, Whitman, Maurice 61
356, 359 Van der Loeff, A. 119 300, 303, 309–314, 336, 363, 365 Whitman, Walt 181, 320
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Van Doren, Carl 103 Warner Brothers 32, 105 Whitney, Eli 322
Sea (Nodel, second painted cover) VanHook Studios 291 Warren, James 196 Whittier, John Greenleaf 321
162, 271, 324 Verdi, Giuseppe 6, 138, 324, 325, Warren Publishing 171, 221 Whittle, Frank 260
Twenty Years After (Acc. Books, 326, 327 Warshow, Robert 167, 312, 364 Whiz Comics 122
unpublished) 355 Verne, Jules 3, 5, 44, 51, 69, 71, 88, Washington, Booker T. 273, 334 “Who Am I?” (Classics Illustrated
Twenty Years After (Burns) 100, 198, 135, 138, 155, 159, 209, 214, 221, Washington, George 138, 265, 323, feature) 4, 139, 141
222, 323 228, 229, 238, 273, 279, 280, 328, 335, 345, 347 “Who Knows?” (Maupassant) 333–
Twenty Years After (horror cover) 283, 290, 292, 321–323, 326, Washington Square Press (Pocket 334
94, 100, 166, 323 329, 332–334, 349–352, 354– Books) 238, 315 Wiater, Stanley 310, 364
Twenty Years After (Kiefer cover) 357; most popular Classics Illus- Waterloo (Blum cover) 89, 332 Wilcox, Jim 119, 120, 328
100, 166, 323 trated author 135 Waterloo (Ingels) 2, 172, 173, 198, Wild Animals I Have Known (Cole)
Twenty Years After (Roea cover) 100, “Vicksburg” (Kirby) 227, 260 332, 349 207, 278, 333, 351, C9
210, 323 Vigilante, Sylvester 258 Wayne, John 81, 144 Wild Bill Hickok (Trapani, Iorio)
Twilight Graphics 291–292 Vikings (World Around Us) 178, We Were There at the Opening of the 127, 128, 212, 330–331, 352, 357
Twilight Man (First Publishing/First 199, 224, 226, 235, 267, 348 Erie Canal (McCann) 213 The Wild Swans (Classics Illustrated
Classics, Inc.) 288 Villagran, Ricardo 289, 353 Weather (World Around Us) 263, Junior) 338, 358
Twilight Zone (Dell) 196 Vincent, Eric 288, 353, 360 348 Wilde, Oscar 278, 352
Twin Circle 270, 280, 317, 318, 319, Virgil 238, 239, 278, 352, 357 Webb, Robert Hayward 51, 52, 53, William Tell (del Bourgo) 133, 329,
320, 324, 326, 331, 339 The Virginian (Nodel) 1, 158, 159, 54, 79, 131, 264, 307, 321–323, 351
Two-Fisted Tales (EC) 178 210, 333, 351 331, 334, 355, C2; love of boats Williams, Daniel Hale 273, 334
Two Little Savages (unpublished) The Virginian (Roea cover) 210, 333 51; robust style 51, 131 Williamson, Al 6, 174, 176, 178,
238, 334 “The Voice of the City” (Gianni) Wedgwood, Thomas 326 192, 196, 265, 332, 346
“Two Merry Pranks of Till Eulen- 353 Wein, Len 355 Willinsky, Samuel 73, 114, 286,
spiegel” (Berger) 231, 348 Voodoo 59 Weintraub, Deena 334 322, 323, 327–329
“Two Tales of Baron Munchausen” A Vote for Crazy River (The Mean- Weird Fantasy (EC) 169, 174, 176 Wilson, Gahan 284, 353, 360
(World Around Us) 348 ing of Elections) 335 Weird Science (EC) 174, 182 Wilson, George 152, 198, 210, 255,
Two Years Before the Mast (Cass. Weizmann, Chaim 44, 321 321, 325, 327, 331, 332, 342,
Book Company) 280 Wade, Mary Hazelton 76 Welker, Gaylord (Gay) 259, 342, 356, 357, 359, C8, C12, C13
Two Years Before the Mast (Webb, Wagner, Anna 211 345 The Wind in the Willows (painted
Heames) 3, 51, 52, 53, 166, 167, Wagner, Richard 138, 324–327 Welles, Orson 109, 331 cover) C16
198, 222, 321, 334, 349, C2 Waldinger, Morris 120, 121, 329, Wells, H.G. (Herbert George) 135, The Window (Kiefer) 335
Typee (Acc. Books) 354 356 147, 152, 159, 174, 178, 216, 225, “Windy Nights” (Stevenson) 253,
Typee (British Classics Illustrated) Waldman, Ed 51, 331 229, 238, 280, 283, 284, 288, 338
62, 322, 352 Wallace, Lew 170, 332, 335, 350 292, 296, 331–333, 349, 350, Wing Brady 63
Typee (McCann cover) 62, 215, 216, Wallace, William 3, 81, 196, 332 352–355, 357, 360 The Wishing Table (Classics Illus-
322 “The Walled City” (Premiani) 224, Wells, Stanley 311, 364 trated Junior) 129, 339,
Typee (Melville) 62 266, 346 Wentworth, Peter 347 The Wishing Well (Classics Illus-
Typee (Whiteman/Whitman, Jack- Wallenstein, Albrecht Wenzel Euse- Wermuth, Arthur 319 trated Junior) 341, 359
son) 61, 62, 92, 198, 222, 322 bius von 333 Wertham, Florence Hesketh 165 Wister, Owen 1, 158, 333, 351
Walsh, William A. 89, 247, 248, Wertham, Fredric 1, 73, 94, 103, 111, “Witches in Salem” (World Around
The Ugly Duckling (Classics Illus- 249, 252, 254, 264, 336–341, 121, 129, 165–167, 254, 311, 312, Us) 349
trated Junior) 247, 248, 336, 357 342, 345, 347, 357–359; domi- 364 Witek, Joseph 314, 364
 INDEX 381

With Fire and Sword (painted cover) Wonderworld Comics 49 World War II (Classics Illustrated “The Yarn of the ‘Nancy Bell’”
C9 Wood, Wally 169, 226 Special Issue) 176, 187, 261, (Gilbert) 321
With Fire and Sword (Sienkiewicz) Woodbridge, George 173, 174, 175, 343 Yarrish, Ralph 273
137, 173 176, 332, 346, World War 3 Illustrated (Kuper) Yeager, Chuck 260, 345
With Fire and Sword (Woodbridge) Woods, Granville T. 334 287 The Yellow Kid 10
173, 175, 332, 350 Woody Woodpecker (Dell) 168 Worth/Harvey 76 The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s Flats
The Wizard of Oz (Classics Illus- Woolrich, Cornell 335 Wotjkiewicz, Chuck 353, 354 10
trated Junior) 202, 212, 250, Woolworth 2, 238 Woudenberg, Emily 354 Young, Leigh 358, 359
253, 339, 358 The World Around Us xi, 4, 6, 19, Wray, Bill 353 Young Franklin Roosevelt (Dresser)
The Wizard of Oz (Dell) 280 21, 51, 112, 129, 133, 143, 158, 171, Wray, Sam 353 117
Wolfe, Tom 260 173, 174, 176, 187, 191, 199, 204, Wren, P.C. (Percival Christopher) Young Romance 226
Wolk, Douglas 6, 309, 364 207, 210, 213, 214, 216, 217, 219, 114, 334 Yronwode, Catherine 310, 311, 364
The Woman in White (Blum) 78, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226, 227, Wright Brothers 323, 345 Yu Jing 358
135, 136, 222, 325, 334, 352 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, Wunder, George 192
The Woman in White (Collins) 78, 236, 238, 246, 255, 259, 260, Wuthering Heights (Biggs cover) 211, Zansky, Jeanette xii, 26, 27, 28, 31,
311, 363 263–268, 279, 297, 304, 335, 325, 356 34
The Woman in White (Roea cover) 344–349; educational role 265; Wuthering Heights (Geary) 284, Zansky, Louis 3, 16, 17, 26, 27, 28,
210, 211, 325 impact of postal rulings 223, 353, 360 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, C1; artistic
Women and the Comics (Robbins, 267–268; range of topics 180; sig- Wuthering Heights (Guay cover) training 26, 27; career as artist
Yronwode) 310, 311, 364 nificance of The French Revolution 293, 354, C16 27, 28; personality 26; style 28
Won by the Sword (Tartaglione) 264 Wuthering Heights (Kiefer) 4, 64, Zenger, John Peter 347
206, 333, 351 The World of Fanzines (Wertham) 68, 135, 136, 198, 222, 325, 334, Zola, Emile 111, 147, 331, 352
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys 165 352, 356, 359 Zuckerberg, Lillian Chestney see
(Hawthorne) 252, 338, 339, 340 “The World of Science” (WAU fea- Wyeth, N.C. (Newell Convers) 47, Chestney, Lillian
Wonder Boy 49 ture) 266, 348–349 78, 81, 115, 116, 211, 307, 311 Zuckerberg, Stanley Maxwell 35,
“The Wonderful Earth Movie” “The World of Story” (WAU fea- Wyler, William 68, 170 36, 37, 38, 203, 293, 318, 319,
(Lecar, Torres) 235, 262, 343 ture) 231, 266, 347–349 Wyss, Johann 11, 323, 350, 356 334, 365
The Wonderful World of Fairy Tales World War II 12, 35, 55, 96, 100, Zweifach, Ira 330, 331
(Lion LP) 211–212, 253 137, 138, 143, 144, 270, 300, 345 X-Men (Marvel) 203, 228