Here's a small trip down memory lane for us senior citizens. There has been for years much debate over the production value of "Classics Illustrated". Sure for the producers it was money in the bank and for the lazy student it was a quick way to get the basics of the plot line and with some creativity fulfill the once a month required book review. Many have condemned the publications, but I think they have merit and, if one was smart enough to have saved them, collectible and worth a few bucks. Sometimes, the original texts were not in the libraries and it seamed to satisfy the reader for the entertainment value. Maybe there wasn't much science but they were fun to read. I have selected a few covers representing science and the likes of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Enjoy. 
Classics Central
Popularization of science
I loved them. There was a pharmacy up the street where i used to buy mine. We had a set of the classic in red binding and gold leaf but the Classics Illustrated were my favorites. There was something much more alluring to pictures and words. When i was mentoring for a while in the middle school students who had trouble reading i used to get comics for them. It helped some to get over that hump and onto books.
ReplyDelete15 cents to fifty cents was still pricey but worth it. Sometimes the whole of the literary piece was missing but the core was maintained...it is difficult to encompass Don Quixote in cartoon panels. Such a procedure is even being done today. It wasn't long ago that I watched a PBS kid's program called "Wishbone". Wishbone is a Jackson Terrier that has real life adventures and a literary adventure. The one I watched was Dickens's "Great Expectations". There were a lot of details missing but overall it was pretty good despite the fact that the time frame was merely 12 minutes or so. But the Classics Illustrated series was welcome and cool. If it help children to read...so much the better.
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