Classics Illustrated: Literature As Comic Books

After a surprisingly eager response over on the Instagram page @genrebucket I decided to cover something different today: comic books! But why, you may ask, aren't comic books just superheroes? Actually, comic books are a rich and varied art form with just as many genres as books, as well as sub genres including literary adaptation. The grandfather of this genre being according to AbeBooks, Albert Kanter who was a Russian born publisher. He started Classic Comics later Classics Illustrated as a way to engage children with classic literature and was hugely successful. Running under his leadership from 1941 until its sale in 1971 all issues were comic book adaptations of classic literature like The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. He got into comics very early in the art forms existence and saw their appeal as a natural way to encourage reluctant readers. All the comics in his line were ad free except for promotion on the inside cover to order issues of the comics themselves which further enhanced his educational goals for the line.

An original 1950's issue from my collection

As for the comics they were faithful, albeit simplified adaptations of the classics. All major story beats are there and they don't shy away from death or violence they just don't have blood everywhere. The language and dialogue is also great in that it retains the flavor of the original text while at the same time being closer to everyday American English. But the best part was its accessibility. For just a few cents you could be on Robinson Crusoe's island or thrill at Frankenstein's monster. It's this accessibility that brings us to why I care about the Classics Illustrated line and you should too. Like many kids I didn't grow up with a lot of money and as soon as I could read I was devouring whatever reading material I could grab but I couldn't buy books. I had to either go to the library or wait til Christmas to get a new book or two. Enter comic books. For the 3 or 4 dollars I could save up from allowance I could buy my reading material and even better with the Classics line, find out about awesome books and see if I liked the story enough to track it down at the library to read the full source material. This was a major boon to me and I know I wouldn't be the reader I am if I didn't have comic books to show me the way to these amazing pieces of literature.

All of the 1950's issues feature painted covers 

Unfortunately, like everything else in comics Classics Illustrated was viewed as corrupting material and lacking artistic merit in its day and it's a wonder original issues have survived so prolifically. But looking at our current media culture it's really not a surprise. Visual storytelling has always had reach and we're finding out more and more how important a tool it is in teaching. So much so that Classics Illustrated has risen from the dead several times in several iterations and been used as teaching materials in schools. As much as that makes me happy there's something about the original issues that just can't be matched. Whether it's the old school primary color based art or the surprising emotional depth they are able to capture with that unique early '50's face style they are something that deserves to be experienced. Luckily, some intrepid individuals have scanned and uploaded a selection of the line at https://archive.org/details/classicsillustrated since all of these are most likely public domain. If you enjoy these comics it is possible to find them at comic book stores that sell old comics at fairly affordable prices starting around 3 dollars an issue. Comic books made me the genre nerd I am today and looking back at Classics Illustrated I can see how my younger self fell in love with genre fiction. Well that's my overview of Classics Illustrated. As always to be alerted to posts like this or other activity on the blog make sure to give a follow or subscribe. Did you enjoy this look at comic book literary adaptations? As always the comments are open. 'Til next time!