For those readers (students) bothered by too many pesky words and too many pesky pages, there were Classics Illustrated -- a line of comic books designed to have those on football scholarships pass their English Lit classes. Okay, I'm being too harsh. These books were actually quality publications designed to bring the world of great literature down to the common man. Both the adaptations and the artwork in these issues were pretty good and the original issues command a pretty pennny on the collector's market.
They were created by Albert Kantner (1897-1973), a Russian-born naturalized American who believed that he could use the medium of comic books to introduce great literature to young and reluctant readers. With the backing of two business partners he created Classic Comics, releasing their first title in October 1941 (Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers). Classic Comics was an immediate hit; demands for reprinting the first few issues was so great that Kanter had to move his offices to a larger space and created a corporate identoty, GilbertonComopanu, Inc. With issue #35 (Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompei) the line rebranded itself as Classic Illustrated, and eventually published 169 titles through its first run in 1969. Eventually, all 169 titles were reprinted, some up to 25 times.
H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds was originally published as Classics Illustrated #124, adapted by Harry G. Miller and illustrated by Lou Cameron.
You know the story so I won't recap it. It makes good October reading. This YouTube version is a panel by panel reproduction, to which music has been added.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x1f0spGNiU
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