"excerpts"  from: 

©  rudy tambone

Let us review the all-important Classics terminology. When you are looking at copies of Classic Comics - CC, or Classics Illustrated - CI, the single most important thing is to differentiate between an original edition (O) and a reprint edition (R). We will get to that very shortly. The CC series began 10/41. At that time, there were only original editions - CC(O)s. But starting 5/43, the publisher Gilberton began issuing reprint editions - CC(R)s. By then, both CC(O)s and CC(R)s contained a reorder List showing all the titles up to that point. Those titles were all numbered, of course, and the highest number on the reorder list (HRN) became the means of telling what edition it was. The first CC(R) had an HRN of (10), which means that after they had issued ten titles, they began to reprint the earlier titles.

That would be simple enough, but in 3/47, beginning with #35, they changed the series Logo from Classic Comics over to Classics Illustrated, or from CC to CI. Those CI editions had a new logo, but retained the original Line Drawn Cover - LDC. So when reprint editions began changing over to the new logo, they were called LDC(R)s. Technically, The full Listing for a CC would be CC-LDC, and an LDC would be CI-LDC, but somewhere as time went by, they just got shortened. Anyway, Four of the LDC(R)s got new covers, and are called LDC2s. Later, in 1/51, beginning with #81, they changed from LDCs to Painted Covers - PCs. Original editions were then called PC(O)s. So all (O)s from 1-34 were called CC(O)s, all (O)s from 35-80 were called LDC(O)s, and all (O)s from #81 on were called PC(O)s. Then in 1953, they began to do new PCs for the old LDCs. All reprints of 1-80 with a new PC would be called PC(B)s. Later on, about 30 titles also got completely new artwork inside. For those titles we differentiate the artwork by referring to A1/A2. If a title never got new art, there is no need to list anything. Years Later, about 30 titles got a second PC, and are called PC2s. Those titles are not connected with the 30 A1/A2 titles (just a coincidence). The CI series died out in 1971, but in 1990, a new CI series began. To differentiate the old and the new CI, we just call the new CI series - NCI. (and Acclaim's CI series 1997-98)

A competitor to CI was called Famous Authors,  FA, which actually began in 1949 as Fast Fiction - FF, but they changed their logo in 1950 to FA. In 1951, Gilberton bought out FA, and when Gilberton began the CI Junior series - JRS, they had the FA organization publish the JRS. In the 1950s, Gilberton also tried other new series: Picture Parade/Progress -.PP, CI Specials - SPCL, World Around Us - WAU, and Best From Boy's Life - BBL. Then in 1962, the U.S. CI series stopped issuing new CI titles, and the joint European CI series then produced new CI titles until 1976. New European CI titles are called ET (but they never did phone home). Also, we often refer to a front/back cover as fc/bc, and inside/outside as ifc/obc. 

The biggest problem in differentiating (O)s from (R)s is that many (R)s list incorrect dates. Many CC/CI(R)s continued to list the (O) date. Most comic collectors find the numerous CI reprints confusing. A Superman #50 had a date, but had no reprints. But CI(R)s are determined by the HRN, not the date. Only CI editions with dates from 1963 on are accurate.

Since we are not going by the listed date to determine a CC/CI(O), how do we tell for sure whether or not a CI edition is an (O) or an (R)? Well, we have three rules, but each has a few exceptions. Recently, someone said to me, "Dan, I was reading your introduction to CI in the guide, and everything was fine, until you started listing all those exceptions!" We cannot deny that it takes a little effort to really become a CI expert, much more so than any other comic-book series. But we believe it is worth it. We hope we can influence readers to think of the complexity of CI as an incredible challenge.

Rule#2: All (O)s, and only (O)s, for the first 80 titles, list 10c on the front cover, usually in a circle.

Rule#3: All (O)s, .... should have an HRN close to the number of that title number.

It should be pointed out that almost all (O)s do list the date, in an indicia on the bottom of the ifc or page 1. That can be used as a fourth detail in determining an (O), but we do not list it as a rule, since so many (R)s also list dates.

#168 & #169 do not have ads for the next title. They were the last two titles in the series. #168 was never reprinted. #169 has one reprint. 169(166) is the (O), and 169(169) is the (R).

(R) Exceptions:

 14(15) has ad for next title on page 64 only.

- HRN: 14(0) - (13); 14(15) - (15).

- ofc: 14(O) - 10c in price circle;

14(15)  price circle blank.

- obc: 14(O) - full page coming-next ad;

14(15) - ad for 3 CC gift boxes.

- 55(75) & 57(75) each have coming-next ad, but neither of them list 10c on front cover, and neither of them have HRN close to title#.

(Rule#2) (O) Exceptions: none; (R) Exceptions:

---------------

 37(62), 39(71) & 46(62) list 10c on front cover,

but none of them have a coming-next-ad, and

none of them have an HRN close to title number.

(Rule#3) (O) Exceptions: none; (R) Exceptions:

---------------

- #12-21 have first reprint with HRN close to title number, but none of them list 10c on fc, and none of them have coming-next-ad, except for #14 (see Rule#1 exception, above)

- 58(62) & 60(62) have HRN close to title number, but neither of them has a coming-next-ad, and neither of them lists 10c on front cover.

- 149(149), 152(149) & 153(149) have HRN close to title number, but none of them have a coming next-ad. 149(O), 152(O) & 153(O) all have blue obc; HRN (149) (R)s all have white obc.

- #163-167(R)s have HRN close to title number; but none have a coming-next-ad..

- 169(R) HRN close to title# (see Rule#1 exception)