From Here to Insanity: 20,000 Lugs under the Sea, by Julius Vermin

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20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Charlton comics, Comet Feldmeyer, From Here to Insanity, giant squid, golden age, Jack Kirby, Julius Vermin

You have enjoyed our 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea posts featuring the Moby Books adaptations and Pablo Marcos artwork. Now, let’s just keep proving that Jack Kirby did it all — including a giant squid! Today you will find in our gallery a six-page story from 1955, published by Charlton Comics, that spoofs the Jules Verne classic.

Just for fun, we threw in a one-page superhero spoof from Uncle Jack, too: Comet Feldmeyer and his lovable companion The Electronic Nuisance! Consider yourself a major geek if you get the “Dial M for Myrtle” comics reference, and move to the head of the class.

Collector’s Guide: from From Here to Insanity #11; Charlton, 1955. All art by Jack Kirby other than four pages out of the 68-page issue.

Underwater adventures also await you in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea!

Captain Nemo Attacks the Giant Squid!

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20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo, giant squid, Illustrated Classics Edition, Jules Verne, Malvina Vogel, Moby Books, Pablo Marcos Studio

Do you like tentacles? Love being underwater? Awesome battles between heroic men and creatures of the deep? Then you’ve come to the right place! Scroll down to our gallery today to witness the incredible giant squid battle!

In the mid to late 1970’s, I. Waldman & Son published a wonderful illustrated series of the classics of western literature. If we judge the Roman numerals correctly, this edition of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea came out in 1977.

A couple of years ago we ordered a few sets of these on eBay to recapture our favorites of the series: Jack London’s Call of the Wild, Baum’s Wizard of Oz, and Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo. Along the way, we picked up a few like today’s sample that were not part of our original collection but turned out to be great fun, with thrilling illustrations.

 
Ostensibly aimed at children, these books make solid reading for adults, too. Often the antiquated dialects of works like Mutiny on the Bounty make them ponderous reading. Not so with this series. These small volumes capture all the essentials of the intriguing plots and no small part of the characterizations as well. These are the perfect volumes for people of all ages to read to each other, packed with action and adventure in a very natural language.

That’s right — read to each other. Turn off the TV and the phone, get a good book, and read to each other. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it, together.

Collector’s Guide: From 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne. Moby Books Illustrated Classics Edition, adapted by Malvina G. Vogel. Illustrations by Pablo Marcos Studio; Cover illustration by Al Leiner.

NOTE: If you try to find these on Amazon, search for “moby books” and “illustrated classics editions” together and separately. Due to the way they are listed, and since they are long out of print, not all of the volumes appear in any one search.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea!

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Dell, Dell Four Color, giant squid, Gold Key, golden age, Hermes Press, movie adaptation, shark, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Here’s a blast from the past for you, Martians: Dell’s adaptation of the movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Collector’s Guide: This single-issue adaptation comes from Dell Four Color #1230, 1961. Later, from 1964-1969, Gold Key had a 16-issue series that serialized the concept, called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. More recently, Hermes Press collected those Gold Key issues in a hardcover edition of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.