|
|
CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED
IN ITS FRESHMAN YEAR
By Stephen Vrattos,
Marketing Coordinator for Acclaim Comics
Since the
company debuted the line in January of 1997, Acclaim
Comics has been providing students as well as fans of classic literature a colorful gateway to the classics with its line of Study
Guides. Not merely a reproduction of the original series which ran for more
than three decades, beginning in the forties each volume truly is a
"study guide," containing a lively 15-20 page essay by a real, live
academic, discussing each work's themes, characters, author and historical
context.
Each guide sports an original, beautifully-painted cover but such masters as
Tony Harris, Bo and Scott Hampton, Ashley Wood and George Pratt. The interior
artwork is reproduced from the original, and it has been sensitively
retouched and recolored.
One of the most notable features of Acclaim's CI line is the fact that the 40
titles currently available and every single volume thereafter will forever be
kept on backlist.
Every year, students, teachers and fans can get the CLASSICS they want. Stores
can establish a library of fine comic literature or simply order the titles
their customers or local school districts seek at any time, without the
budgetary worries of a monthly ordering schedule.
CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED Study Guides are not merely a clever means to sidestep
classic literature. In fact, they are the perfect way to make even the most
challenging written masterpieces accessible to any reader, piquing their
interest and leading them to pursue reading the original work, and perhaps
other great works.
This is not an unfamiliar story to fans of the original series, including
editor Robins. Robins was never a fan of Charles Dickens's work with one
exception. "I read the CI adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities as a kid,
so when I read the novel itself, I knew there was a story in thereÑone which I wanted to read. It was no coincidence,
when she was handed the editorial reins on the newly formatted Acclaim Comics
editions, that A Tale of Two Cities was among the
first set released.
The additional supplemental back text seems to be a hit with readers picking
up the titles for the first time and old-time fans, who cite it as enhancing
the pleasure of the story.
Letters continue to come into the Acclaim offices by teachers, professors,
librarians and people from all walks of life complimenting the new line. A.J.
Scopino, Jr.Ña professor
at Central Connecticut State
University with a Ph.D.
in American historyÑcites the original CI line as
being responsible for his interest in history. He said of the added material
in the back of Acclaim's Ivanhoe, "It was tastefully done and is a sound
educational addition. Congratulations on a wonderful format,"
The good reviews are not isolated to the private sector either. Part of the
reason for the success of the series is the incredible amount of exposure its getting in the press. Articles have appeared in
Newsweek, LA Times Book Review and Publisher's Weekly. And interviews with
editor Robins have aired on such radio programs as Canadian National, CBS
Radio's Osgood Files, and National Public Radio.
Acclaim's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED line is a big hit overseas, as well. Newton, Inc.Ñan international educational publisherÑarranged
to release twenty Japanese versions of Acclaim's CI line several months ago. Only
a month after the release of the first four titles of their agreement (Romeo
and Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities, Tom Sawyer, and Jane Eyre), the company has
extended its agreement, adding sixteen more titles to their ongoing program.
Although Japan's
initial offering mimicked Acclaim's debut schedule, their subsequent
offerings will not. They have selected titles by internationally known
authors such as Shakespeare, Twain, Homer and Melville.
The Japanese editions are similar to their American counterparts in content
but packaged in a size comparable to a National Geographic. The Japanese
CLASSICS are one-third comics with balloons containing Japanese translations
of the original script, one-third American scholars' analyses, translated,
and one-third English script facing Japanese translation.
Acclaim continues its expansion of the CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED line into foreign
markets this September when Modern Times in Greece begins their commitment of
publishing 16 titles.
With the success of the series, Acclaim has made plans to expand the line
with brand new, previously unproduced CLASSICS
titles as well as developing a CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED JUNIOR line for younger
readers.
"The originals were aiming for the standard comic-reading market of the
time," Robins explained. "They were also strongly guided by the
publisher's taste." Thus, only five Shakespearean works were ever
produced, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and
Julius Caesar, all of which are currently available from Acclaim. The first
new volume will be Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I, written by science-fiction
author and Washington Post book critic Gregory Feeley
and rendered by Pat Broderick, with a painted cover by George Pratt. It will
debut in January 1998.
Robins plans on integrating the release of the new titles slowly, with one
new title being introduced monthly for every three originals during the first
season of 1998. The second season will herald the release of two out of four
new volumes each month. By August, the final month of the second season,
three new volumes will accompany an original. Robins predicts that by the end
of the third year, Acclaim will have reprinted all the CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED
originals worthy of merit as a study guide and the line will consist entirely
of new material.
"There are certain titles from the original season that are more
curiosity pieces rather than having any academic virtue," she explained.
These include biographies on Ben Franklin and Abraham
Lincoln which, given what experts have learned about these individuals in the
years since their publication, would make the original versions dated.
"All new material will be handled in the same manner as the
originals," Robins promised. "The story is still king." She
does, however, intend on broadening the scope of the line to include books
from more diverse cultures and by making female writers a more prevalent part
of the line. One of the first new titles will be The Awakening by Kate
Chopin, a feminist novel from the late 1800s. And several works by Jane
Austen such as Emma and Pride and PrejudiceÑa
personal favorite of Robins'sÑwill
also be among the first new releases.
Other notable entries are an adaptation of A Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglas by new X-Men creator Len Wein,
shipping in time for Black History Month; King Lear written by Bob Hall, who
Robins hopes will have time in his schedule to do the interiors; and Dracula,
written by Marv Wolfman,
who gained notoriety for his stint as scribe of Tomb of Dracula for Marvel in
the mid-seventies.
In the spring of 1998, Acclaim plans on releasing the first issue of its
brand-new CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED JUNIOR line. Although there was an original
series of comic books which ran from the early fifties to the early sixties,
Acclaim's editions will be entirely new material, rather than reproductions. Each
book will be 32 pages and measure 6" x 9", a standard format for
children's literature and priced competitively for that market. "The
books will be big enough for little hands, but not too big," Robins
explained, "and geared to pre-readers, early readers and their
parents."
The line will launch with an adaptation of Pinnocchio,
by writer Kayte Kuch and
artists Peter Pachoumis and Nathaniel Palant, whose work can most recently be seen in Disney's
Enchanting Stories and Action Club, both of Acclaim's Young Reader line. Although
editor Robins intends to make the adaptations as faithful as possible, they
will be geared for children ages 3-7. Don't expect to see Pinnocchio
burned or hanged, or the Blue Fairy killed, as in the original story.
Once launched, Acclaim will release two CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED JUNIOR titles a
month, featuring folk and fairy tales from around the world. "There's a
demand for more culturally diverse folk literature," Robins pointed out.
"The art will reflect a range of styles to suit the country of the
story's origin and the flavor of the tale,"
she continued.
Robins intends to adapt folk tales starring Anansi,
the "trickster" spider character from Northern
Africa, and CoyoteÑanother tricksterÑfrom Native American folklore. "Kids love
to read about characters who are allowed to be bad." Other future plans
concern adaptations of Hans Christian Anderson's more famous works and Ashputtel, a German version of Cinderella.
Looking beyond the current boundaries of her "CLASSICS Empire," as
she laughingly put it, Robins would love to adapt some of the great Greek
tragedies, like The Bacchae and Medea,
and modern works, like Catcher in the Rye.
A version of Little Women is also one of her secret desires. "It's blown
off as being a children's book, but there's a lot of meat in it," she
explained.
Robins dreams aren't purely restricted to
literature, either. She would love to see a line of CLASSICS biographies, a
desire grown out of a series of books she read as a child, entitled
Childhoods of Famous Americans. " When I read
that people like George Washington had a childhood, and I was having a
childhood...I thought, 'Wow, anything could happen!'" It is this
enthusiasm and dedication that is most responsible for the success of
Acclaim's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED.
|
|
|
