U.K. publisher Classical Comics has entered the U.S. market with several full-color graphic novel adaptations of works by Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Charlotte Brontë, all available in either two or three text versions—each version keyed to different reading levels—in an effort to reach all possible markets.

The Shakespeare titles, including the just-released Henry V and Macbeth, are produced in Original Text, Plain Text (modern English version) and Quick Text (a version reduced to as few words as possible), each version with unique cover art and U.S. translations. Classical Comics, founded in 2006 by Karen Wenborn and Clive Bryant, are already in the U.K. school curriculum.

The publisher, which has six titles available now and will release five more in 2009, is distributed in the U.S. and in Canada by PGW. “They've already placed our books in all the major chains,” Wenborn said. The books retail for $16.95 each and the print runs for the American editions are 8,000 copies each.

Wenborn was quick to acknowledge the complexity involved in producing comics. “We were naïve. We estimated it would take 10 to 12 months to produce each title. In reality we had to wait over two years to see the first finished books,” she said. Creating three different text versions means three times the work, but Wenborn and Bryant, the company's chairman, are learning as they go, gathering advice from established comics publishers. Neither principal has a publishing background. Bryant, whom Wenborn refers to as a “serial entrepreneur,” cofounded the U.K.-based shopping channel Gems TV. Wenborn was a financial services adviser.

After meeting at Gems TV, the two began a discussion about the troubling state of literacy in the U.K. Both are avid bibliophiles and decided to pool their efforts into publishing classics that would be accessible to everyone. After test-marketing different concepts on their own sons—they both have 11-year-olds—it became clear, Wenborn said, that “books that look like computer games stand a much better chance of being attractive to young people.”

Classical Comics relies on various U.K. artists for the comics illustrations in the books. John McDonald handles script adaptations for the Shakespeare titles; different editors are assigned to the others.

There is some competition. Y.Kids, an educational imprint of the Korean publisher YoungJin, distributed in the U.S. by IPG, launched its line of manga literary classics (among them Treasure Island and Little Women) in 2007, although it does not include any Shakespeare titles. Wiley, on the other hand, began releasing a series of graphic novels based on the Bard's work this February.

What makes Classical Comics different is its multitiered approach to the text of classic works. Classical Comics provides three versions of the language used in the same Shakespeare story, which allows students of different reading abilities to work together simultaneously in a classroom setting. Because the language in Classic Comics' non-Shakespeare titles is less complex, for those titles the publishers offer only two versions—Original Text and Quick Text.

Staff (l. to r.) Greg Powell, Jo Wheeler, Karen Winborn and Clive Barnes

Classical Comics did well at the Frankfurt Book Fair, making its first language rights sale, to Japan, and is now in negotiations with publishers in Greece, Sweden, Spain, Italy, China, Hungary, Malaysia and Korea. The house has also sold worldwide ELT rights for all its books to Cengage (formerly Thomson Learning), which will produce graded readers packaged with audio CDs.

While it is too soon to say how Classical Comics will sell in the U.S. (the first two titles have just landed), reviews in the U.K. have been consistently glowing. The director of the National Association for the Teaching of the English Language said, “The genius of Shakespeare is in the language, but for some students understanding it can be a struggle. It will be useful for teachers to have three different versions of the text.”

Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart praised the series as well, noting, “What you are doing in illuminating and making the text perhaps more lucid, especially for young people, is clever and meaningful.”