ANOTHER RAISE THE TITANIC COMIC STRIP

Most Cussler collectors know that during the late seventies, Clive’s book, Raise the Titanic! was adapted and serialized in the Sunday comic sections of 130 newspapers. With a combined circulation in excess of 42 million by the Universal Press Syndicate of Mission, Kansas, the strip was produced under the title "BEST SELLERS byline" and ran in nearly every major newspaper across the country. The panels were sketched by noted artist, Frank Bolle, a popular illustrator of the fifties, sixties and seventies, whose work complemented (among others) the Lone Ranger and Gene Autry books. The comic strip ran from August 15, 1977 until October 9, 1977. It varied between three- and six-panel comics. Overall, the panels are highly condensed, fun to read, and quite melodramatic as one would expect from such an endeavor. The strip is faithful to Clive’s original to the extent that this was possible in an unlikely and condensed medium. Inevitably, some liberties were taken with the adaptation. The well-drawn, black and white daily strip (color on Sunday) had a total of 192 individual panels and ran daily over the course of eight weeks. I bring this up because I recently obtained a 1976 Spanish edition entitled Rescaten El Titanic. I bought it from a seller in Argentina. Upon arrival I discovered the thin (cheaply produced) paperback to be only 128 pages which indicates it’s obviously a condensed version of Clive’s book. What’s interesting about this publication is that each page has one or more full-color illustrations–160 in total. Although they do not have the refinement of Bolle’s artwork, they are fairly similar. And, by all indications, this strip may very well predate the one done by Bolle. For me, one of the more interesting aspects of the strip is that one panel depicts the outside of the newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News (which is in Clive’s book). The name of the newspaper is prominently displayed on the building in English. Although the Rocky Mountain News no longer exists, it holds a special meaning to me. That’s where I was employed from 1974 until its closure in 2009. Being able to find this particular edition reminded me that, after twenty-five years of collecting Clive, there are still surprises waiting to be found.