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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Back in 1975/'76, a new comicbook series hit the stands - MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS, featuring comic strip adaptations of famous works of literature. There were 36 issues in all, a dozen of them being reprints of other publishers' strips. I thought it was an interesting run of comics and thought you all might like to see the covers of the first three issues.
Tough luck if you don't, 'cos here they are.
I had the first and third issues - they were brilliant. If I remember correctly they had some amazing artists on them Im pretty sure that “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” had art by the amazingly talented Nestor Redondo (as did Dracula later in the series) but I can’t recall who drew “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” but I wasn’t as enamored by it . I think Alex Nino and Rudy Nebres did a few as well - and nice covers by Gil Kane of course . Sadly I only got 3 issues and kept none of them.
ReplyDeleteI had a number of the early issues, PM, but only have three left. I'll maybe hunt down a few more. The artist on #1 was Nestor Redondo, #2 was Alex Nino, and #3 was John Lo Famia.
ReplyDeleteThese were originally paperback books from, I think Scholastic, in the mid 70's. I remember seeing them in our school library. They were printed in black and white and I remember knowing the artists from my comic books. Marvel bought the rights, I guess, and colored them, adding those great Kane covers.
ReplyDeleteThe first 12 issues were coloured reprints of strips first published by Pendulum Press, I believe, G, but I'm unsure if Scholastic was part of their imprint or not. The remainder of the run (24 issues) were newly commissioned works by Marvel.
ReplyDeleteI had the Island of Dr Moreau issue, got it in one of those old fashioned second hand buy/sell/exchange bookshops that every area used to have, with stacks of paperback novels floor to ceiling, boxes of cheap comics and usually a small adult section with some dodgy looking characters hanging around. I reckon those shops had virtually died out by the mid 90s - I've often wondered what happened to all their stock - were all those tons of dogeared books and pre-loved comics just thrown away when the shops went out of business? I'd hate to think so.
ReplyDeleteNice Gil Kane covers on those, Kid. I never used to like Kane's habit of drawing heads from unusual perspectives, but it's grown on me over the years.
Man, Gil Kane is the Man, 50 grand.
ReplyDeleteGJ
Funnily enough, DD, I was in an 'antique' shop in the West End of Glasgow about 10 days ago, and it had a pile of Classics Illustrated going for a very reasonable price per issue, so these type of shops still exist. Gil Kane's work always looked like he used rubber stamps engraved with stock drawings to me, but when he was inked by someone who diluted his overwhelming style, I quite liked his storytelling.
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Oo-er, GJ, I've blotted my copybook with you with the above remark, eh?
Naw, it's all good; to each his own. Unless you hate Gene Colan too?
ReplyDeleteGJ
Just read the Daredevil Epic Collection, mostly illustrated by Gene Colan, and thoroughly enjoyed it. In later years, Gene's perspectives were a bit dodgy and he gave his character's banana fingers, but he had really bad eyesight and drew with his face right up against the paper. It's a wonder he could draw at all, cursed with that disadvantage. In his heyday 'though, he was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI did actually like Gil Kane's art on Green Lantern when inked by Joe Giella, and his art on Batman when inked by Murphy Anderson, but his actual delineation when inking his own work was just a bit overwhelming to me.
Neal Adams?
ReplyDeleteGJ
In the main, great, but even he drew some weird-looking anatomy from time to time, as witnessed on several covers. He's still a good artist today, but his faces all tend to look the same nowadays, with only one open-mouthed, slightly-glaikit expression.
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