Friday, August 29, 2014

Jules Verne, Part 37

(Continued from Jules Verne, Part 36)

BOYS' LIFE  /  BANK STREET CLASSICS  (1995)  Part 2

Completely separate from the regular comics section, Bank Street Classics made its debut in February 1990 with "Gulliver's Travels".  Appearing sporadically between then and November 2001, the series managed to present 25 adaptations of "classic" stories, each narrowed down, incredibly, to a mere  
16 PAGES apiece!!  The first 19 of these had art by Ernie Colon, while the rest were by Dan Spiegle or Mike Vosburg.

Ernie Colon tended to use a fairly "cartoony" style for most of the early adaptations, although at some point the coloring began to be more ornate.

BOYS' LIFE   (March 1995)
And now-- The EPIC Conclusion!!

Bank Street Classics  /  "JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH"
Adaptation by Seymour Reit  /  Art by ERNIE COLON
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
(Continued in Jules Verne, Part 38)

Copyright (C) 1995 by Bank Street College Of Education
     Created in collaboration with Boys' Life magazine

Raw scans from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Visit the Bank Street College Of Education website
Read the Bank Street College Of Education page at Wikipedia
Read the Ernie Colon page at Wikipedia!
Visit the Ernie Colon Unlimited blog!
Visit the Ernie Colon Facebook page!

See the JOURNEY overview!
See Edouard Riou's illustrations for "JOURNEY" at the Tom's Place site!
Read the Norman Nodel JOURNEY adaptation at the Tom's Place site!
Watch the 1st episode of Filmation's JOURNEY cartoon!
Read the Ernie Colon JOURNEY adaptation!

See the 20,000 LEAGUES overview!
Read the Ernie Colon 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
See the MYSTERIOUS ISLAND overview! 

Jules Verne, Part 36

(Continued from Jules Verne, Part 35)

BOYS' LIFE  /  BANK STREET CLASSICS  (1995)

Completely separate from the regular comics section, Bank Street Classics made its debut in February 1990 with "Gulliver's Travels".  Appearing sporadically between then and November 2001, the series managed to present 25 adaptations of "classic" stories, each narrowed down, incredibly, to a mere  
16 PAGES apiece!!  The first 19 of these had art by Ernie Colon, while the rest were by Dan Spiegle or Mike Vosburg.

Ernie Colon tended to use a fairly "cartoony" style for most of the early adaptations, although at some point the coloring began to be more ornate.

BOYS' LIFE   (March 1995) 
Bank Street Classics  /  "JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH"
Adaptation by Seymour Reit  /  Art by ERNIE COLON
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Don't miss the 2nd half of this story!

(Continued in Jules Verne, Part 37)

Copyright (C) 1995 by Bank Street College Of Education
     Created in collaboration with Boys' Life magazine

Raw scans from the Boys' Life / Wayback Machine website
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Visit the Bank Street College Of Education website
Read the Bank Street College Of Education page at Wikipedia
Read the Ernie Colon page at Wikipedia!
Visit the Ernie Colon Unlimited blog!
Visit the Ernie Colon Facebook page!

See the JOURNEY overview!
See Edouard Riou's illustrations for "JOURNEY" at the Tom's Place site!
Read the Norman Nodel JOURNEY adaptation at the Tom's Place site!
Watch the 1st episode of Filmation's JOURNEY cartoon!
Read the Ernie Colon JOURNEY adaptation!

See the 20,000 LEAGUES overview!
Read the Ernie Colon 20,000 LEAGUES adaptation!
See the MYSTERIOUS ISLAND overview!  

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Jules Verne, Part 35

(Continued from Jules Verne, Part 34)

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH   (Overview)  Part 2

First published in 1864, this has been probably my
FAVORITE Jules Verne story since I was a kid.

Wonderland Records specialized in original "radio-style" dramatic recordings aimed at children.  As usual, their take on JOURNEY had some nice cover art.

WONDERLAND LP  /  cover art by WALLY WOOD   (1973)
Rick Wakeman, the keyboardist for The Strawbs and Yes, did a 45-minute adaptation of ":JOURNEY" as his 2nd solo album.  A mixture of music (both orchestral and rock) and narration (provided by actor David Hemmings), it actually followed the story of the novel closer than most adaptations, despite the narration amounting to no more than 10 minutes' worth of the album.  Due to budget restrictions, it was recorded LIVE, making it an even more impressive achievement!

Rick Wakeman  /  JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH  /
cover by ??   (A&M Records  /  1974)
back cover
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.  The entire Pendulum line was illustrated by artists from the Phillipines.  "JOURNEY" was adapted by Naunerle Farr with art by Val Calaquian.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
Now Age Books  64-1352
cover by VAL CALAQUIAN   (Pendulum Press, Inc.  /  1976)
In 1977, Almena Films in Spain produced an adaptation of "JOURNEY" that, while still veering off into its own flights of fantasy, was far more accurate to the book than the 1959 film had been.  Starring Kenneth More, it was released in the US under the title "WHERE TIME BEGAN".  I've seen it several times now, and I have to confess, I've gotten to like it MORE each time I sit through it!

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
(Almena Films  /  1977)
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
art by CIACCIARIELLO   (Almena Films  /  1977  /  Spanish poster)
WHERE TIME BEGAN
(Almena Films  /  1977  /  US title)
Academic Industries, the parent company of Pendulum Press, reprinted many of their 1970s "CLASSICS" in the 80s in reduced-size paperback editions.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
cover by VAL CALAQUIAN   (Academic Industries, Inc.  /  1984)
Brilliance Corporation, as one of their "Bookcassette" series, did a 3-tape, 8-hour book-on-tape version of "JOURNEY", read by David Colacci.  I listended to this in October 1996, and it not only allowed me the virtually "read" the orignial novel for a 2nd time, word for word (without actually having to read it), but it even coincided with my getting over a lifelong fear of heights!

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
cover by Colleen Rockey   (Brilliance Corporation  /  1993)
From 1990 to 2001, BOYS' LIFE magazine featured Bank Street Classics,  
25 brand-new adaptations, each clocking in at a mind-boggling 16 pages per novel.  Despite the extreme compression, the results were very impressive!

BOYS' LIFE  /  Bank Street Classics  /  page 12  /
adaptation by Seymour Reit  /  art by ERNIE COLON   (March 1995)
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 Gilberton 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 25  /
cover by LOU HARRISON   (Acclaim Entertainment  /  July 1997)
In 1999, Rick Wakeman, who had recorded multiple live versions of his "JOURNEY" project, managed to do his most high-profile album in decades-- an actual sequel to the Verne story, recorded with an all-star cast of singers and narrated by Patrick Stewart.

Rick Wakeman  /  RETURN TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
cover by ??   (EMI CLASSICS  /  April 1999)
Track listing
Interior photo
In 2008, a far-more "cartoony" adaptation was done, in a style apparently inspired by Japanese comic-books ("manga").

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
cover by GREG REBIS
(Capstone Publishers / Stone Arch Books / Graphic Resolve  /  January 2008)
In 2010, Saddleback Publishing, Inc. reprinted Pendulum Press's version as part of their "Illustrated Classics" series.  I'm not sure if the new cover painting was done specifically for this edition, or if it was done 20 years earlier for the intended (but never published) 1990 reprint. 

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  SP-9146  /
cover by ??   (Saddleback Publishing, Inc.  /  2010)
Campfire Classics is yet ANOTHER publisher getting into the market of doing graphic novels based on "classic" novels, doing an entire series of books based on the SAME stories (how many versions does the world really need, anyway?).  This one appears to be based in India, and while their cover artists are good on the technical side, their depictions of people seem strangely "off" to me. Also odd is that I've found 2 completely different covers for their version of this story.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
cover by VINOD KUMAR   (Campfire Classics  /  2010)
Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. did an abridged version as part of their "Classic Starts" series.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
cover by ??   (Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.  /  2011)
Finally, a few odds and ends...

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
illustration by DON PUNCHATZ   (20??)
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
illustration by FRANK BRUNNER   (20??)
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
illustration by VALENTINA BARIC   (2013)
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
illustration by LAURENT DURIEUX   (Nautilus Art Prints  /  2014)
(Continued in Jules Verne, Part 36)

Copyright (C) the various artists & publishers

Scan of 1973 Wonderland LP from the Masterworks message board
Scans of 1974 Rick Walkeman LP from my collection
Scan of 1976 Pendulum Press edition from the My Comics Shop site
Scans of 1977 Almena Films posters from the Ain't It Cool,
     and Wrong Side Of The Art sites
Scan of 1984 Academic Industries editions from the GCD site
Scan of 1993 Brilliance Corporation Bookcassette from my collection
Scan of 1995 Bank Street Classics version from the Boys' Life site
Scan of 1996 Acclaim Entertainment edition from the My Comics Shop site
Scans of 1999 Rick Wakeman CD from my collection
Scan of 2008 Stone Arch edition from the Capstone Publishing site
Scan of 2010 Saddleback edition from the Saddleback site
Scan of 2010 Campfire Classics edition from the ?? site
Scan of Don Punchatz illo from the Heritage Auctions site
Scan of Frank Brunner illo from the Heritage Auctions site
Scan of 2013 Valentina Baric illo from the Deviant Art site
Scan of 2014 Nautilus Art Print from theOMG Posters 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 the 1959 20th Century Fox movie at Wikipedia!
Read about the music of the 1959 film at A Lost Film.com!
Read Perspective magazine's article on Dell Movie Classics.
Read about the "JOURNEY" theme park ride at Laff In The Dark.com
Read about the 1967 Filmation "JOURNEY" TV series 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

See Edouard Riou's illustrations for "JOURNEY" at the Tom's Place site!
Read the Norman Nodel JOURNEY adaptation at the Tom's Place site!
Watch the 1st episode of Filmation's JOURNEY cartoon!
Read the Ernie Colon JOURNEY adaptation!

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

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Jules Verne, Part 34

(Continued from Jules Verne, Part 33)

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH   (Overview)

First published in 1864, this has been probably my FAVORITE Jules Verne story since I was a kid.

A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
cover by ??   (Henry L. Shepard & Co. / Boston  /  1874)
The novel was serialized in several of the earliest issues
of AMAZING STORIES magazine!

AMAZING STORIES Vol.1, No3
cover by FRANK R. PAUL   (Experimenter Publishing Company  /  June 1926)
interior illustration by FRANK R. PAUL
If memory serves, I saw this particular edition in the "Captain Company" mail-order catalog in the various Warren Publishing horror comics magazines.  I used to wonder why music albums so often had different cover art on reissues, but the music biz has nothing on the book publishing biz on that score.  The "Headed For Alien Territory" website had an interesting comment about this particular cover...  "It’s a very nice cave with some bones and a boy scout in a baseball cap. Wait. What? This book is explicitly set in 1863, and plucky nephews weren’t wearing jeans and a baseball cap at that time. We are very amused. Otherwise…. it’s a fine cover."  Well, it does say "A new modern translation".  Is it possible the book has been "updated" to 1956? 

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
cover by ??   (Ace Books  /  1956)
Gilberton's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED series finally got around to tackling Verne's "JOURNEY" in 1957-- only 2 years before 20th Century-Fox did their big-budget feature film version (which no doubt was inspired by the tremendous success of the 1954 Disney version of "20,000 LEAGUES").  As with many of their comics, this one has been reprinted multiple times over the years since.

Sometime in the 70s (I think it was in high school), I read a comics version of "JOURNEY" was, to my amazement, was included in the contents of a thick, hardbound, English-class reading book.  I can't be sure... but I have a strong feeling it may well have been this one.

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED 138  /
cover by ??   (Gilberton  /  May 1957)
Page 19  /  art by NORMAN NODEL
Read the Norman Nodel CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED adaptation
     at the Tom's Place site! 

In the wake of the 1954 Disney film of "20,000 LEAGUES", a whole slew of Jules Verne films were made.  One of the biggest was the 1959 adaptation of "Journey".  As with the 1954 film, severe liberties were taken with the original story for dramatic purposes.  While Axel had originally been the Professor's nephew, instead, Alex was engaged to the Professor's niece; Hans the guide had a companion in Gertude the duck (harkening back to Ismael the sea-lion); and the expedition of discovery became a race between Lindenrook, his rival Guterberg, and once he was killed, no less than Count Saknussem, evil descendant of Arne, in whose footsteps they all trod.  Perhaps completely out of place was the lost city of Atlantis, seen in the book "20,000 LEAGUES" but missing from that film.

From the IMDB site:  "Although the film substantially strayed from the novel, the latter plodded along, while the script was fast-paced and engaging. And where there was no villain except nature herself, the film had Thayer David as the self-serving-downright nasty - Count Saknussem. With James Mason heading the cast and-then-teen heartthrob Pat Boone drawing in as well a young female audience, the film and its special effects made for a rousing good time."

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
poster art by ??   (20th Century-Fox  /  1959)
Naturally, Dell Comics did the adaptation of the movie.
Adatption was by Robert Schaefer, art by John Ushler.

FOUR COLOR 1060
(Dell  /  1959)
MY introduction to "JOURNEY"-- and the beginning of my fascination with it-- came in-- of all things-- an amusement park ride in Dorney Park at Allentown, PA.  I only just learned that the ride had started life in 1927 under the name "The Old Mill", but in 1960 (no doubt inspired by the movie!) it was re-formatted as "Journey The The Center Of The Earth", with dinosaurs!  Click on this link to read about the history of the ride.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /  amusement park boat ride
Dorney Park  /  1960
Airmont Books' 1965 paperback edition was the one I had in my collection, and which I eventually got around to reading on the train to and from art school in the late 80s.   I must confess, the cover, which depicts a group of men wearing heavy, protective suits, and employing a piece of machinery that looks like some kind of underground vehicle, looks as if it was done for an entirely different book about underground caverns!

A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
cover by ??   (Airmont Books  /  1965)
Here's a really nice cover to a 1966 edition I found online.
I spent most of a day cleaning up this image!

A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH  /
cover by MORT KUNSTLER   (NY Scholastic  /  1966)
My 2nd exposure to "JOURNEY" was the 1967 Filmation Saturday morning cartoon series, which was based somewhat on the 1959 film.   The Professor's niece was changed from Jenny to Cindy, and she came along on the trip rather than the more mature Mrs. Guterberg.  Count Saknussem, from the film, was more evil than ever, and was forever accompanied by his "brute-like manservant", Torg.  Apart from the inferior writing & animation, the thing that really bugged me was there was no "pilot" (the start of the story was explained in the opening credits), and-- worse-- no ending.  On the other hand, it did have a terrific theme song!  I had to wait until I finally saw the '59 film before I found out how the story ended, although I've always imagined the Filmation version would have been quite diffferent, had they ever actually done it.
Professor Oliver Lindenbrook, Cindy, Alex, and Count Saknussem
Gertrude, Lars, the group
actual animation cel!
Click here to see the opening credits of the 1967 Filmation JOURNEY cartoon!
Watch the 1st episode of Filmation's JOURNEY cartoon!

In late 1967, Marvel published a one-shot anthology centered around ABC-TV's Saturday morning line-up... including Filmation's "JOURNEY" series.  It looks like artist Paul Reinman didn't even TRY to match the look of the characters from the TV cartoon.

AMERICA'S BEST TV COMICS  /
cover by various   (Marvel  /  1967)
"Journey To The Center Of The Earth"
story by ??  /  art by PAUL REINMAN 
Although there wasn't anything related to "JOURNEY" or Jules Verne inside, the cover of this Warren horror comic magazine paid tribute to the Frank R. Paul cover of AMAZING STORIES #3 (1926).

CREEPY 18
cover by VIC PREZIO   (Warren Publishing  /  January 1968)
Whitman Publishing did a "Big Little Book" based
     on the 1967 cartoon show.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
cover by ??   (Whitman Publishing  /  1968)
Whitman Publishing also did a jigsaw puzzle based
     on the 1967 cartoon show!

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
cover by ??   (Whitman Publishing  /  1969) 
Don't miss the 2nd half of this overview!

(Continued in Jules Verne, Part 35)

Copyright (C) the various artists & publishers

Scan of 1874 Henry L. Shepard & Co. edition from the Wikipedia site
Scan of 1926 Amazing Stories cover from the Heritage Auctions site
Scan of 1926 Amazing Stories interior page from the Archives.Org site
Scan of 1956 Ace Books edition from the Headed For Alien Territory site
Scan of 1957 Gilberton version cover from the Heritage Auctions site
Scan of 1957 Gilberton version interior from the Tom's Place site
Scan of 1959 20th Century-Fox feature film poster from the FlickFacts site
Scan of 1959 Dell version from the GCD site
Scan of Dorney Park ride from the Cardcow site
     Special thanks to the Laff In The Dark site
Scan of 1965 Airmont Books edition from my collection
Scan of 1966 NY Scholastic edition from the Ragged Claw site
Scans of 1967 Filmation cartoon from the SF Signal,
     Goodcomics and Aveleyman sites
Scan of 1967 America's Best Comics cover from Nick Caputo's blog
Scan of 1967 America's Best Comics interior from the Booksteve blog
Scan of 1968 Creepy cover from the GCD site
Scan of 1968 Whitman Big Little Book from the My Comics Shop site
Scan of 1969 Whitman jugsaw puzzle from the Bye My Life 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 the 1959 20th Century Fox movie at Wikipedia!
Read about the music of the 1959 film at A Lost Film.com!
Read Perspective magazine's article on Dell Movie Classics.
Read about the "JOURNEY" theme park ride at Laff In The Dark.com
Read about the 1967 Filmation "JOURNEY" TV series at Wikipedia!

See Edouard Riou's illustrations for "JOURNEY" at the Tom's Place site!
Read the Norman Nodel JOURNEY adaptation at the Tom's Place site!
Watch the 1st episode of Filmation's JOURNEY cartoon!
Read the Ernie Colon JOURNEY adaptation!

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