ILLUSTRATED STORIES OF THE OPERAS -- FAUST (1943)

 Here's a short-lived comic book from Baily Publishing.  The title lasted for four issues:  Faust (#1), Aida (#2), Carmen (#3), and Rigaletto (#4).  All were written and drawn by Bernard Baily (1916-1996).  From 1949-1950, Baily had a related syndicated comic strip, Stories of the Operas.

Baily was an influencial figure in comic books.  From 1943 to 1946, he ran the Bernard Baily Studio, a comics shop much like the Eisner-Iger shop, where he had worked for two years.  His studio wrote a number of comic books for various publishers, including Fawcett, Star, Stanmor, Toby, and a pre-Marvel Atlas. Among its artists were some later legends who got their foothold in the industry. thanks to Baily:  Gil Kane, Carmen Infantino, and a 16-year-old Frank Frazetta, among others.  In addition to comics, his Baily Enterprise pubished magazines for children, including For Boys Only and For Girls Only.  Baily was also the co-creator of D.C. Comics.  He left D.C. briefly, returning in 1951 for a thirty-year run drawing for them.

Faust was the work of composer Charles Francois Gounod (1818-1893).  In 1838, Gounod composed his first successful opera (three earlier, less successful operas have been lost to time), Le Medicin Malgre Lui.  The following year saw his most noted work, Faust.  Gounod then turned his attention to composing religious music, including "Ave Maria" (1853).  He died following a stroke while composing a requiem mass for a grandchild who had just dies.  He was 79.

I need not go into the plot of Faust, certainly one of the most famous Deal-With-the-Devil stories, but I would like to pint ouot Baily's glorious artwork in the comic book.  He condensed one of the world's greatest stories into a magnificent book.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=85327