"Classics Illustrated - The Gray Ghost"

[donna]

I started school at age 4 too. I was born end of December and back in the day, they let you start. This was in New York. I too was youngest in the class.

I loved all kinds of books. My Mom taught me to read early. She and my Dad always read and loved books. I guess they influenced me a lot.

 

[Deleted User CS]

James N. You have quite the collection of Civil War Memorabilia; guns, swords, books, etc, Thanks for sharing it with everyone at the forum. David.

 

[James N.]

I grew up in the era of Classics Illustrated and they have meant so much to me my entire life. In fact I still have my collection and I am only missing 4 or 5 of the entire collection. My interest developed through my older brother who had a number of the original 10 cent CI's. with the original line drawn covers. These are about the only things from my childhood that I have retained...

Ironically enough, last night after watching a PBS story about Edgar Allan Poe I dug out the only recent issue of CI I own, a 1990's one titled The Raven and Other Poems by with wonderfully silly illustrations by cartoonist Gahan Wilson! Some of the other poems are El Dorado, The Conqueror Worm, and Annabelle Lee, all in the Gothic vein. Evidently this was Number 1 in a new publication run of CI; I wonder how long it lasted, or if it's still going? They were fairly expensive as I remember, and I bought them at an upscale bookstore in a high-class mall, one for myself and three others as Christmas gifts for friends.

 

[Malingerer]

This drawings remind the same style than Airfix toy soldiers boxes.
Toy soldiers boxes art may deserve their own topic, some are great.
View attachment 163770 View attachment 163771 View attachment 163772

I had a bunch of these as a kid - hours of fun recreating battles with my brother.

 

[Boonslick]

Ironically enough, last night after watching a PBS story about Edgar Allan Poe I dug out the only recent issue of CI I own, a 1990's one titled The Raven and Other Poems by with wonderfully silly illustrations by cartoonist Gahan Wilson! Some of the other poems are El Dorado, The Conqueror Worm, and Annabelle Lee, all in the Gothic vein. Evidently this was Number 1 in a new publication run of CI; I wonder how long it lasted, or if it's still going? They were fairly expensive as I remember, and I bought them at an upscale bookstore in a high-class mall, one for myself and three others as Christmas gifts for friends.

I believe that this series of Classic Illustrated comics was the 3rd revival of the brand and was published by Berkley First Publishing and not the original Gilbertson Publishing Company. None of the original work was included in this series. Rather, they updated story lines and included more modern illustrations by Gahan Wilson, Joe Staton and others. This series ran from Feb. 1990 through May 1991 and comprised 27 titles.

For You Captain James--

And my favorite ~~~~~