Macbeth (Classics Illustrated)

Macbeth has even made it into comic book form. Classics Illustrated did their version first in 1955, issue 128, which I purchased for a reasonable price, fourteen dollars. It was interesting to read it, and it's kind of charming to think that this series even existed.

The series ran from 1941 to 1971, taking classics of literature and biographies of historical figures and turning them into comic book form. Although before my time, when I posted this on a comic book group on Facebook many people older than me said it was their first exposure to some of great works of literature.

Of course the work is abridged, but nimbly so. I think the only notable elements missing were the porter's speech and the soliloquy containing the line, "If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly." There are also annotations for words that might prove difficult, and some transitional information. As a bonus, there is a biography of Shakespeare and an article on Banquo's descendants (Shakespeare likely wrote Macbeth as a sop to James I, who was said to be a descendant of Banquo). Plus, there was part two of the history of Britain, in comic book form. This part was about the Roman conquest.

Although the cover painting is very fine, the art inside was a bit slapdash. It reminded me of old Clutch Cargo cartoons, when the expressions on the faces didn't change. The lettering was also odd--it seemed to be machine generated, like a typewriter, rather than hand lettered. I was surprised to see that there were hardly any ads--many remember golden age comic books for their ads for sea monkeys. x-ray specs, or Grit Magazine, but only one advertisement here.

Classics Illustrated ended for many reasons, such as Cliff Notes, television, and the general change in what kids wanted in comic books. But they remain collector's items, a curious by-product of an age in which there was an idealism about what comic books could do, even during the era when they were denounced in congress. I imagine there was many a child who was assigned a book report who used one of these books instead.