Jules Verne, Part 39

(Continued from Jules Verne, Part 38)

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND   (Overview)  Part 2

First published in 1874, this was another of the earliest Jules Verne stories I was exposed to as a kid.  More or less.  More so than most, various adaptations of this story have been more different from each other than normal.

Gilberton's CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED line was shut down in 1971.
In 1973, Pendulum Press, Inc. picked up the ball, doing brand-new versions of old stories in hardbound editions.  The line was headed up by Vince Fago, most known for funny-animal comics, and a brief run as Marvel's Editor during WW2.  Pendulum's MYSTERIOUS ISLAND was written by Otto Binder and had interior art by E.R. CRUZ.  (Cruz did a ton of work for DC and Warren in the
70s & 80s, including THE SHADOW, SHERLOCK HOLMES, and various
stories in EERIE magazine.)  There've been 4 different editions of this (so far) over the years!

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND   64-1387  /
cover by EUFRONIO REYES CRUZ   (Pendulum Press, Inc.  /  1974)

MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS was one more area Marvel Comics decided to expand into, if in a half-hearted way.   Running 36 issues from 1976-78, they began with reprints of the earlier versions from Pendulum Press, Inc. under new covers-- all of which were terrible!  It's no wonder these slipped completely under my radar when they came out. 

MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS 11 /
cover by Gil Kane & Al Milgrom   (Marvel  /  1976)

In 1984, Academic Industries Inc. did a series of B&W paperback-sized reprints of the 1973 Pendulum CLASSICS (which had previously been reprinted by Marvel).  Aside from my general dislike for shinking art that way, the new covers weren't impressive, either.

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND  C19  /
cover by E.R. CRUZ   (Academic Industries, Inc.  /  1984)

After the stylish new Berkely / First / Dark Horse adaptations, it must have seemed a step backwards when Acclaim Entertainment (the company that bought out Valiant Comics) decided to reprint the original versions, once again with NEW covers.  Still, it's fun to compare versions, and this gave younger audiences a chance to read the older ones without going broke on expensive back-issues.

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED 24  /
cover by RICHARD CASE   (Acclaim Entertainment  /  July 1997)

In 2010, Saddleback Publishing, Inc. revived Pendulum Press's version, which were intended to be reprinted as prestige format books in 1990 (only 6 books were published before the line was cut short).  They used the same cover painting and format, with only the lettering changed to reflect the different publisher.  I'm not sure if the cover of this was done new in 2010, or if it had been done in 1990 but not published until 2 decades later!

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND  SP-9286  /
cover by ??   (Saddleback Publishing, Inc.  /  2010)

(Continued in Jules Verne, Part 40)

Copyright (C) the various artists & publishers.

Scan of 1974 Pendulum Press edition from the KNC Book site
Scan of 1976 Marvel Classics Comics edition from the CLCen site
Scan of 1984 Academic Industries edition from the My Comics Shop site
Scan of 1997 Acclaim Entertainment edition from the My Comics Shop site
Scan of 2010 Saddleback Publishing edition from the Saddleback site

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about the book at the Wikipedia site!
Visit the Jules Verne website
     to see various editions of the novel over the years!
Read about the history of Gilberton & Classics Illustrated at Wikipedia
Read about Vincent Fago's Pendulum Press at the Kleefeld On Comics blog
Read more about Pendulum Press at Wikipedia!
Read a bit more about Pendulum Press at the Illustration Facebook blog
Visit the Saddleback Publishing site
     to BUY a copy of the Pendulum adaptation!

Read about E.R. Cruz at Steve W.'s Steve Does Comics blog
Read about E.R. Cruz at the Comic Vine site
Read about E.R. Cruz at the Lambiek site
See more of E.R. Cruz's work at the Comic Art Fans site!
Read about Richard Case at the Wikipedia site
Read about Richard Case at the Lambiek site

Read an excerpt of the 1947 Gilberton adaptation!
Read the 1961 Dell Comics adaptation of the Ray Harryhausen movie
     at Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine!

See the 20,000 LEAGUES overview!
See the JOURNEY overview!
See the MYSTERIOUS ISLAND overview!