Picture Books / Picture Classics

Published by Random House from 1981 onward, the Picture Books / Picture Classics series adapts classic stories and historical narratives into a 12-issue comic format, with Irwin Shapiro and Mark Twain among its most frequent writers. The painted artwork by E. R. Cruz, Lisa Bonforte, and Robert Handville gives each issue a distinctive, illustrated-book feel, bridging the gap between children’s literature and sequential art. This series matters as an early example of a major publisher treating comics as a vehicle for literary and educational content, offering a unique, visually rich entry point to timeless tales.