Multiversity’s history column returns with an October-themed article on comic milestones from years passed. This month we’re jumping back to the first issue of “Classics Illustrated,” sliding into 1979 and the creation of Batfilms Productions, bouncing around Marvel’s financial troubles in the 1990s, and landing in 2011 when Barnes and Noble snubbed DC.
Adapting classic literature to the comic format was not an especially creative idea, particularly in the mid 1930s when publishers were starving for material. Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was using it alongside other material in his “More Fun” anthology as early as 1936. Will Eisner tried to sell literary adaptations to schools as “Education Comics,” but couldn’t find a buyer. After the Parents Magazine Institute demonstrated success with “True Comics” in April 1941, Eisner’s former partner Jerry Iger was able to sell the idea of adaptations to Albert “Al” Kantor, head of Elliot Publishing.
Kantor hired Funnies Inc, the packaging shop run by Iger’s competitor Lloyd Jacquet, to produce the initial issues of “Classic Comics.” The first, a 64-page adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers,” was released with an October 1941 cover date. It was followed by Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe” in #2 (Dec 1941) and another Dumas story, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” in #3 (March 1942). As of the fourth issue (August 1942), the “Classic Comics” brand was strong enough to be spun off from Elliot as a separate publishing entity, Gilberton Publications. While few teachers approved of the material, students found them preferable to reading the original material. Demand remained strong and Kantor kept older issues in print for years.
Kantor took the series back to Iger’s shop in 1945 with the 23rd issue. Whoever was producing it, Gilberton had a policy against writers and artists signing their work. In 1947, the series title changed to “Classics Illustrated.” In 1948, Gilberton began issuing foreign editions in nine languages. That number ballooned to 25 languages in the 1950s, when more copies of “Classics Illustrated” were sold worldwide than any other American magazine. This mighty titan of a publisher was toppled by the United States Postal Service in 1962.
In 1966, a young Michael Uslan hated the Batman TV show. He knew from the comics that Batman was dark and serious, but Adam West played him as a buffoon to be laughed at by audiences. He wanted desperately to see it done justice. Thirteen years later, he was an adult with a law degree but he hadn’t lost his passion. He partnered with Ben Melnicker to form Batfilms Productions on October 3, 1979 and purchased the film rights to Batman. After several false starts, he was directly responsible for Batmania that swirled around Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s 1989 movie, and every other Batman film released since.
Marvel was struggling after years of poor management decisions, and the announcement of two more quarterly losses caused its stock to fall 42% on October 8,1996. Bankruptcy was just a few months in its future. Meanwhile, Toy Biz had an exceptionally good third quarter earnings report because of its success with X-Men and Spider-Man toylines, which they were able to put out without paying a licensing fee. Marvel had essentially traded the licenses for minority ownership in the toy company.
A year later, on October 1, 1997, Toy Biz executives Avi Arad and Ike Perlmutter met with bankers involved in Marvel’s bankruptcy to convince them to restructure Marvel as a subsidiary of Toy Biz. It was a passionate and persuasive presentation. Their plan was accepted. Exactly one year later, on October 1, 1998, Toy Biz assumed control of Marvel and renamed itself Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
The last week of September 2011, DC announced a partnership with Amazon to make 100 graphic novels available in a digital format exclusively on the Kindle. This was timed to take advantage of the public’s interest generated by the recent launch of the New 52 and Amazon’s big promotional push for the latest model, the Kindle Fire, in November.
Barnes & Noble didn’t like it. They had been asking DC to make some comic books available for their in-house ereader, the Nook. When the Amazon news hit, B&N reached out to DC but couldn’t get a satisfactory explanation. In response, B&N corporate sent an email to its retail outlets telling them to remove the physical copies of those 100 trades from shelves until after Christmas. This was not just a spiteful jab at DC, as B&N did have an official policy in place not to carry physical product it couldn’t offer digitally. Books-A-Million made the same decision not long after.
DC claimed the comics could be read on any ereader with the Kindle app, but there were technical issues with fulfilling that promise quickly.
