4 ADAPTATIONS FROM OTHER MEDIA
aimed at adolescent readers. Some of these works are even adapted by the original
author. In the 19th century, popular prints in Europe adapted various literary works
(from fairy tales to literary novels). Adaptations have been prominent in more mod-
ern European comics as well, as in Tardi’s adaptations of detective novels, Mattotti’s
version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , or Heuet’s adaptation of Proust’s A la recherche du
temps perdu. In the United States one of the earliest adaptations was a 1921 comic
book version of Swiss Family Robinson. In 1935, New Fun ( later called More Fun ), one
of the fi rst, if not the fi rst, comic books in the modern format containing all-original
material, featured a one-page serialized adaptation of Ivanhoe in many early issues. Th is
was followed by an adaptation of Th e Th ree Musketeers. Beginning in the 1940s, the
title most widely known for literary adaptations was Classics Illustrated , which adapted
numerous classic literary works to the comic book format.
However, Classics Illustrated was far from the only comic book to adapt literary
works. In addition to ongoing series, many anthology titles over the years included
adaptations as one of the many stories in the issue. For example, the science fi ction ,
fantasy , horror , and crime comics put out by EC Comics in the 1950s adapted the
work of such writers as Ray Bradbury. Originally the adaptations of his work were
done without his permission, but Bradbury and EC soon came to a formal arrange-
ment. A number of these stories were collected in two paperback books, Th e Autumn
People and Tomorrow Midnight , published in the mid-1960s by Ballantine Books,
making them one of the earliest examples of trade paperbacks collecting stories from
comic books.
More adaptations came out in the 1970s. One of the fi rst books to use the designa-
tion “Graphic Novel” was Richard Corben’s Bloodstar (1976), which adapted a story
by Robert E. Howard. In 1976, Marvel Comics began Marvel Classics Comics which
ran for 36 issues. Th e fi rst 12 issues of the series featured reprints of comics published
by Pendulum Press in 1973–74, but the rest were new adaptations by regular Marvel
personnel including Chris Claremont. Various other literary adaptations came out
over the next two decades. Another notable work from the 1990s was an adaptation of
Paul Auster’s City of Glass from Avon books, which the Comics Journal considered to
be one of the “100 Most Important Comics of the Century.”
Th e late 1990s and the fi rst decade of the 21st century have seen a boom in liter-
ary adaptations for readers of all ages. Th is is due in part to the increased popularity
of graphic novels (as well as their increased use in libraries). Many of these works are
original graphic novels, but some, especially a new line of adaptations from Marvel
Comics, begin in comic book form and are then collected. Some of these works are
being produced by comic book /graphic novel publishers, while others are produced by
publishers of non-graphic materials.
Many of the latter are from publishers of nonfi ction books for children. Such
publishers have also put out graphic novels with a biographical, historical, or vari-
ous educational theme. Th ese include Abdo with their Graphic Horror and Graphic
Classics series, and Gareth Stevens’s Bank Street Graphic Novels line which puts
