I think that Jules Verne's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA is quite probably his most famous and popular story. A big part of that is the 1954 feature film, which is no doubt also the most famous, most popular and by far BEST film adaptation of any Verne story ever made. Never mind that it doesn't exactly follow the book-- in many ways, I feel it IMPROVES on the book dramatically.
When my friend Frank Thorne decided to send me his "last copy" of Dell's FOUR COLOR #614, I just flipped out! It instantly become one of the oldest comics in my collection (original, not reprint).
Dell Comics' specialty was "licensed" properties. It's no surprise they did the comics adaptation of the 1954 movie. The film studio must not have sent them much in the way of reference photos, perhaps wanting to keep the film a secret, as the only thing in the comic that resembled the film was The Nautilus, and the diving suit seen on the cover. Despite this, the art is vastly superior to the Gilberton version of 6 years earlier.
FOUR COLOR 614 /
cover by (??) (Dell / February 1955)
Page 1
Copyright (C) 1954, by Walt Disney Productions.
Raw scan FOUR COLOR #614 cover painting
from the Heritage Auctions site
Interior scans from my collection
Special thanks to FRANK THORNE
Restorations by HENRY R. KUJAWA
For more:
Read about Frank Thorne at the Wikipedia site
Read about Frank Thorne at the Comic Book Resources site
See more of Frank Thorne's art at the Comic Art Fans site
See the 20,000 LEAGUES overview!
Read the Jesse Marsh 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
Read the Frank Thorne 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
Read the Wally Wood 20,000 LEAGUES parody!
Read the Jack Kirby 20,000 LEAGUES parody!
Read the Dan Spiegle CAPTAIN NEMO series!
Read the Jim Fair CAPTAIN NEMO series!
Read the Bill Baker 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
Read the Gary Gianni 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
Read the Ernie Colon 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
See the JOURNEY overview!
See the MYSTERIOUS ISLAND overview!
You seem to know Thorne, so maybe he already told you this...many years ago I corresponded briefly with him about his Dell work. He wrote me that when he was given the "20,000 Leagues" assignment, the studio had the props all figured out--they provided loads of reference photos of the sub, diving suits, etc.--but they still hadn't finalized the cast! So he was instructed just to make the characters up. In any event, it was a beautiful art job.
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