Jack Butterworth, the owner of one of the largest collections of comic art in New England, will share some insider stories behind the two comic book versions of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The House of Seven Gables” Sunday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m. at the House of Seven Gables.

A Salem resident, Butterworth is a former newspaper reporter and former occasional comic book writer as well as a collector.

He became a serious comic book enthusiast in 1974 in the exciting days when many of the earliest comic book creators were still alive. He met the surviving co-founder of Classics Illustrated, Mike Kanter, and two of its former art directors, Jerry Iger and L.B. Cole, and he has stories to share about them all.

People attending will have the opportunity to see some of his pages of original art from “The House of Seven Gables,” “Kidnapped,” “Toilers of the Sea” and other Classics Illustrated publications.

Some people may be aware that Classics Illustrated published two graphic versions of “The House of Seven Gables” in 1947 and again in 1958.

Those versions reflect the history of a company that was ahead of its time in many ways.

Classics Illustrated was one of the first comic book companies to hire women editors, writers and artists, they published the first graphic novels in America – and they published the first horror comics as well.

These are characters and stories that Hawthorne himself might have liked – and Butterworth looks forward to sharing the history and the fun.

Members: Free
Public: $10

Tickets available here: https://store.7gables.org/EventPurchase.aspx