Albert Kanter
Albert Kanter (April 11, 1897 - March 17, 1973) was the creator of Classics Illustrated and Classics Illustrated Junior. Kanter began creating Classic Comics with The Three Musketeers in October, 1941. His renditions of classic novels in comic book form popularized classic tales for a younger audience.
Life and Work
Early life
Kanter was born in Baranovitch, Russia and immigrated to the United States in 1904. He then lived in Nashua, New Hampshire for some time. He left high at the age of sixteen, and worked as a traveling salesman for years. He married Rose Ehrenrich in 1917 and moved to Savannah, Georgia. He had three children.[1]
Career
Kanter is best known for the creation of Classic Comics. Classic Comics became a huge success, proven by the demand for reprints of issues 1, 2, 3, and 5; something never seen before in the comic book industry. The comics' success opened classic novels to a large audience of young people for decades. Eventually all 169 titles of Classic Comics were reprinted, some up to 25 times. Classic Comics later became Classics Illustrated in March 1947, with the release of The Last Days of Pompeii, the 35th issue.[2]
Kanter created Classics Illustrated Junior in 1953, which had similar success.
Despite the success of Classics Illustrated, Albert Kanter sold the business to Patrick Frawley, and the series stopped being printed in 1971.