A Tale of Two Cities: Classics Illustrated

My most favorite classic illustrated senior comic reprint much better the original one

I owned a copy of this comic in the early 1960s. It kept me sane in the backseat of my parents car during a two week long car trip vacation. I read and retread it over and over. I bought this to give my grandson after telling him about it. It's a beautiful reprint of the original edition. The quality of the paper is better (I think the original used the old newsprint that all comics were printed on in the 50's and 60's). The binding does seem weak. But I'll enjoy sharing this childhood memory with him.

The print is beautifully done, the color rich and vibrant, but SADLY the binding is poor. After only ONE READING the pages started to fall apart, although I was very careful to turn the pages. I had meant it to be shared by many kids; unfortunately, this is not going to be so. I tried to put Elmers glue between pages, but I do not know, how long this would last, I will have to look for other publishers that produce this kind of classics as I meant to have a collection for a mini-library. Content is very helpful for one who would just want to know what the story is about.

Dickens is not an easy author to read. I read this novel some 50 years ago in high school and decided to revisit it again. The Classics Illustrated helped me sort out the characters and sequence of events AFTER I read the novel again. I prefer this to Cliff Notes. The only minor issue was that it took some time to get this since it is shipped from Britain.

I love this series to introduce young readers to the classics. It's a good balance of words and imagery, and the original story has been paired back without losing the thrust of the narrative.