Classics Illustrated

William Bryan Jones, Jr., is the author of Petit Jean: A Wilderness Adventure; the editor of Robert Louis Stevenson Reconsidered: New Critical Perspectives; and a contributor to The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies and Icons of the American Comic Book. He has written introductions for more than 100 reissued titles in the revived Classics Illustrated and related series.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments delete deletexiIntroduction: “Good Stories” deleteI. Albert Kanter’s Dream deleteII. Of Musketeers and Mohicans: The Jacquet Shop deleteIII. Louis Zansky: The Painter’s Touch deleteIV. Eccentricity Abounding: The War Years deleteV. Arnold Lorne Hicks: Transitional Figure deletedelete delete delete delete  Between pages 54 and 55 are 16 color plates with 60 photographsVI. Enter Iger: The Fiction House Artists deleteVII. Henry Carl Kiefer and the Classics House Style deleteVIII. Alex A. Blum: “A Prince of a Man” deleteIX. A “Newer, Truer Name”: The Late Forties deleteX. Blood, Sweat, and Rudy Palais deleteXI. Meyer A. Kaplan: An Editor’s Perspective deleteXII. William E. Kanter and the Family Business deleteXIII. Painted Covers and an Extra Nickel: The Early Fifties deleteXIV. Maurice del Bourgo: From Little Lefty to William Tell deleteXV. Freelancers and Publicity: The Mid–1950s deleteXVI. Canonical Matters and Classical Curiosities deleteXVII. Lou Cameron: “If John Wayne Had Drawn Comic Books” deleteXVIII. Norman Nodel: “A Certain Integrity” deleteXIX. Roberta’s Writers: Lorenz Graham and Annette T. Rubinstein deleteXX. John William Parker: Iconic Images deleteXXI. From the Crypt to the Classics: The EC Era deletedelete delete delete delete  Between pages 210 and 211 are 16 color plates with 52 photographsXXII. George Evans, Reed Crandall, and EC Realism deleteXXIII. Roberta the Conqueror deleteXXIV. High Tide and Greenbacks: The Late Fifties deleteXXV. L.B. Cole: Horses, Wild Animals, and Poster Colors deleteXXVI. Gerald McCann: The Colors of the Sky deleteXXVII. Gray Morrow: “Real People and Real Events” deleteXXVIII. “Roberta’s Reforms”: The Early Sixties deleteXXIX. “Frawley’s Folly”: The Twin Circle Era (1967–1971) deleteXXX. Expanding the Mission (Subsidiary Series, 1953–1971): Picture Progress and Classics Illustrated Junior deleteXXXI. Ambitious Endeavors (Subsidiary Series, 1955–1964): Classics Illustrated Special Issues; The Best from Boys’ Life Comics; The World Around Us deleteXXXII. Classics Abroad: The Worldwide Yellow Banner deleteXXXIII. The Wilderness Years: The Seventies and Eighties deleteXXXIV. Great Expectations: First Publishing’s Graphic Novels deleteXXXV. “Your Doorway to the Classics”: Acclaim’s Study Guides deleteXXXVI. Restoration: Jack Lake Productions, Papercutz, and CCS Books deleteXXXVII. Classics Collected: Notes on the Evolution of a Pastime and a Passion deleteXXXVIII. Classical Coda deleteAppendices deleteA. Classic Comics (Gilberton, 1941–1947) and Classics Illustrated (Gilberton, 1947–1967; Frawley, 1967–1971) deleteB. Classics Illustrated Giant Editions (Gilberton, 1949) deleteC. Fast Fiction/Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated (1949–1951) deleteD. Classics Illustrated Educational Series (Gilberton, 1951–1953) deleteE. Picture Parade/Picture Progress (Gilberton, 1953–1955) deleteF. Classics Illustrated Junior (Gilberton/Famous Authors, 1953–1967; Frawley, 1967–1971) deleteG. Classics Illustrated Special Issues (Gilberton, 1955–1964) deleteH. The Best from Boys’ Life Comics (Gilberton, 1957–1958) deleteI. The World Around Us (Gilberton, 1958–1961) deleteJ. British Classics Illustrated, First and Second Series (Thorpe & Porter/Strato, 1951–1963; Ayers & James Pty., Ltd., Australia) deleteK. British World Illustrated Series (Thorpe & Porter, 1960–1963) deleteL. Ediçao Maravilhosa (Brazil, Editora ­Brasil-América Limitada [EBAL], First and Second Series, 1948–1962) deleteM. Clásicos Ilustrados (Mexico, Editora La Prensa, 1951–1974) deleteN. Klassika Eikonographemena (Greece, ­Atlantis-M. Pechlivanides, S.A., First Series 1951–1970, Second Series 1975–1980): Greek Literature, Mythology, and History Titles deleteO. Classics Illustrated “Joint European Series”/JES (1956–1976) deleteP. Classics Illustrated, Second Series (Berkley Publishing Group/First Publishing, 1990–1991; Classics International Entertainment, 1994) deleteQ. Classics Illustrated, Third Series, Study Guides (Acclaim Books, 1997–1998) deleteR. Classics Illustrated, Fourth Series (Jack Lake Productions, Inc., 2005–2014) deleteS. Papercutz Classics Illustrated Deluxe Editions (Papercutz, 2008–2014) deleteT. Papercutz Classics Illustrated Editions (Papercutz, 2008–2014) deleteU. British Classics Illustrated, Third Series (CCS Books, 2008– ); Modern Hardbacks (CCS Books, 2016– ); Replica Hardbacks (CCS Books, 2018– ) deleteV. Letter from Albert L. Kanter to T/4 Joseph Mersand, Camp Crowder, Missouri, 7 July 1944 deleteW. Correspondence Between Roberta Strauss and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, re: The Dark Frigate, ­November-December 1955 deleteX. Letter from Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht to E. Nelson Bridwell, 25 July 1960 deleteY. Synopsis of The Call of the Wild by Ken W. Fitch, 1951 deleteChapter Notes deleteSources Cited or Consulted deleteIndex delete

“Classics Illustrated was a wonderful series, which introduced young readers to works of literature which they were encouraged to read in the original—and that's just what I, like many others, did, in my case from The Iliad to the works of Verne and Wells. Now, with William Jones Jr.’s enlarged and improved third edition of his study of the Gilberton publication, the author has introduced yet another illustrated classic to the world—this one with the title Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History. It's one of a handful of comics-historical works that belongs on any comics fan's bookshelf.”—Roy Thomas, Alter Ego