The face that launched a thousand sh-… wait, that’s a different chick from antiquity – Classics Illustrated #161, “Cleopatra”
I bought this book mainly for the cover. I’m not at all familiar with the “classic” by H. Rider Haggard that this comic is based on. Never heard of it, though I’m very much aware of his Allan Quatermain series. The content inside is a bit tepid — I look forward to a little more from a tale about one of the most beautiful women (so we’re told) in the history of the world. She does at least have a sufficiently appreciative first appearance:
Plus all the Egyptians are extremely pale. I’d expect some more melanin in a sun-drenched climate — I guess there was some high SPF sunblock back in the day.
The cover is by far the nicest part of this thing, though I’m not sure of the artist responsible for it. I like its tiled mosaic detail. It’s colorful and intricate and pleasing to the eye, like Cleopatra supoosedly was.
Jared
H. Rider Haggard also wrote King Solomon’s Mines, which I believe was turned into a movie in the 1980s. I’m surprised to hear “Cleopatra” was tepid–I suspect that’s just the comic adaptation. King Solomon’s Mines at least is full of gory scenes that would send modern day PC-readers into a swoon, most notably an elephant slaughter.
I’m sure you’re right about the reason. And I remember watching that version of King Solomon’s Mines, starring Richard Chamberlain and a young pre-crotch-shot Sharon Stone, expecting an Indiana Jones experience and being horribly, horribly disappointed.