Classics Illustrated (New York, NY, USA)

Launched by Albert Kantner in 1941, Comic Classics was a series of comic book adaptations from classic literary works. Beginning with Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, it ranged across the Anglo-American canon, publishing works by Herman Melville, Mary Shelley, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Stephen Crane, and William Shakespeare. Changing its name to Classics Illustrated in 1947, the series reached total sales of 200 million by 1962 when it was suspended, possibly due to a dispute between the series's publisher, Gilberton Publishing, and the U.S. Post Office, which refused to carry Classics Illustrated at the magazine rate on the grounds that it was in fact a book. After a long hiatus, during which a number of reprint editions appeared, Classics Illustrated was relauched in 1990 and again in 1997.

Sources
E-bay Guides. Classics Illustrated.
Nationmaster. Classics Illustrated.
Toonopedia. Classics Illustrated.