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The Count of Monte Cristo
Edmond Dantès, a merchant sailor in the early 19th Century, is wrongfully imprisoned for life without trial. After years of incarceration on the remote island prison of the Château d'If, he learns of a vast treasure on the island of Monte Cristo and becomes determined to escape in order to retrieve the treasure and use it for vengeance against the men who betrayed him.
Classics Illustrated tells this wonderful tale in colorful comic strip form, offering an excellent introduction for younger readers. This edition also includes theme discussions and study questions, which can be used both in the classroom or at home to further engage the reader in the story.
The Classics Illustrated comic book series began life in 1941 with its first issue, Alexandre Dumas’ "The Three Musketeers", and has since included over 200 classic tales released around the world. This new CCS Books edition is specifically tailored to engage and educate young readers with some of the greatest works ever written, while still thrilling older readers who have loving memories of this series of old. Each book contains dedicated theme discussions and study questions to further develop the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the work at hand.
Classics Illustrated tells this wonderful tale in colorful comic strip form, offering an excellent introduction for younger readers. This edition also includes theme discussions and study questions, which can be used both in the classroom or at home to further engage the reader in the story.
The Classics Illustrated comic book series began life in 1941 with its first issue, Alexandre Dumas’ "The Three Musketeers", and has since included over 200 classic tales released around the world. This new CCS Books edition is specifically tailored to engage and educate young readers with some of the greatest works ever written, while still thrilling older readers who have loving memories of this series of old. Each book contains dedicated theme discussions and study questions to further develop the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the work at hand.
52 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1844
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381 people want to read
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
7,365 books12.2k followersThis note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 27, 2013
I don't think it has ever taken me so long to read a book. Great story but too long winded
May 4, 2020
Ok so I never read the original book. I read this and it’s so good I want to buy and get the original. Not gonna lie. If a book is too many pages it intimidates me and I don’t want to read it. When I saw that this classic book was in comic book form I was more willing to take a chance. I’m so glad I did. This is a great comic and I can’t wait to read the novel.
December 7, 2020
From Amazon: The comic book from of the classic, Edmond Dantes, a fugitive wrongly accused of a crime and betrayed by a rival, escapes from prison to embark on a search for treasure. Eventually, Dantes returns to France after creating the new identity of The Count of Monte Cristo in order to exact vengeance on his betrayer.
November 19, 2018
i found it too brief. it seemed disjointed
August 21, 2019
simple and too brief.
September 9, 2021
Fairly decent, and not too hard for middle-grade students to read, at least for the first half. The second part gets out of control and you really need a scorecard to keep track of it all.
February 19, 2022
This is a colourful graphic novel version of the famous Alexander Dumas book. It tells the exciting story of Edmond Dantès, who is a merchant sailor in the early 1800s. Edmond has a good life. He is a successful sailor, has many friends and is engaged to a beautiful woman called Mercedes.
But there are some of his so-called friends who become jealous of his perfect life and plan to ruin it. They accuse him of treason and he is sent to an island prison, Château d’If, for life without a trial! He loses his job, his success, his fiancée, his freedom and his good reputation.
After 13 years in prison, Edmond has made a friend, Abbé Faria, who teaches him many subjects and tells him about his treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. Edmond is desperate to escape the prison, get revenge on all the people who betrayed him and find Abbé Faria’s treasure.
This book is a great way for younger readers to enjoy this classic revenge story. It includes lots of detail and has all the action and excitement of the original story but in a comic strip style that makes the story easier for young people to enjoy. You will need to get your own copy to discover if Edmund does manage to escape or if he ever gets revenge on the old friends who ruined his life.
But there are some of his so-called friends who become jealous of his perfect life and plan to ruin it. They accuse him of treason and he is sent to an island prison, Château d’If, for life without a trial! He loses his job, his success, his fiancée, his freedom and his good reputation.
After 13 years in prison, Edmond has made a friend, Abbé Faria, who teaches him many subjects and tells him about his treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. Edmond is desperate to escape the prison, get revenge on all the people who betrayed him and find Abbé Faria’s treasure.
This book is a great way for younger readers to enjoy this classic revenge story. It includes lots of detail and has all the action and excitement of the original story but in a comic strip style that makes the story easier for young people to enjoy. You will need to get your own copy to discover if Edmund does manage to escape or if he ever gets revenge on the old friends who ruined his life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2014
So this is another classic that I have not read the original of first. I never had any intention of reading this original as I did try to read The Three Musketeers once and gave it up as a bad job. Over the years I've come to simply realize I do like French Literature nor historical fiction set in French history, not even if Charles Dickens writes it. This story was passable reading but it is a very complicated plot with many storylines between various characters going on and I can only imagine the number of cast not included in this graphic adaptation. A silly romance, with over the top devotions, willing to die rather than live without that one special love. It's also a story of revenge, backstabbing, swindling and the past coming back to haunt us. I can't compare to the original but Grant did manage to keep me on my toes with all that was going on with so many characters I never felt lost; while Spiegle is a legendary artist in the field and his art makes for an attractive book. However reading this has not made me want to read the original, anything else by Dumas nor has it changed my opinion of French Lit. in general.
April 18, 2022
The full novel is over 1,000 pages long, so it was a significant challenge to abridge the story down to a lengthy comic book. Despite this difficulty, the creators of this comic have succeeded very well. The essence of the story as well as the political background of the restoration of the monarchy after Napoleon was overthrown is maintained.
I have long been a proponent of the Classics Illustrated series of comics, for anything that encourages young people to get involved in reading the classics is something that I consider a strong positive. Given the extended length of the novel, this comic provides an excellent summary of the story.
I have long been a proponent of the Classics Illustrated series of comics, for anything that encourages young people to get involved in reading the classics is something that I consider a strong positive. Given the extended length of the novel, this comic provides an excellent summary of the story.
October 6, 2012
What a story! I had forgotten so much and loved reading it! I read a 500 pg abridged version this time but I would love to get my hands on an unabridged to read before bookclub. I had such a hard time keeping all the characters straight and had to keep turning back to the first few chapters to remember who had done what to Dante at the beginning of the story. Does anyone have an unabridged version sitting on a shelf?
September 20, 2015
In addition to the swashbuckling story... I love, love the comics artwork of Dan Spiegle! He's one of the great storytellers, still living, and here's to him. I read this upon publication as part of the First Comics revival of the Classics Illustrated line. I liked this generation of Classics Illustrated above and beyond all previous: highly, highly recommended. You may have to find this on ebay or the back issue comics market. Ask your local comics shop, for instance.
March 17, 2016
One of the greatest and well written fiction stories out there. This book drew me back into reading in the 10th grade when all of my "friends" thought and said reading was a waste. Thankfully this book found me and proved that wrong at such an impressionable time in my life.
I recommend this book to anyone and even more so to a parent trying to attract a young child into reading. This story has it all and will keep them into it.
I cannot say enough good things about this book!
I recommend this book to anyone and even more so to a parent trying to attract a young child into reading. This story has it all and will keep them into it.
I cannot say enough good things about this book!
July 8, 2009
Warning, if you have seen the most recent Count of Monte Cristo with James Caviesel, you will be disappointed with how the story ends. And yet, it has a rather interesting storyline.
" There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness."
" There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness."
December 16, 2013
I re-read this classic and found that there were some details that I did not remember. This is an excellent book and it treats people of color and slaves in an unprecedented way for it's era.
There is a new series called Dracula and it reminds me of the Count of Monte Cristo, after Dantes became the Count. Very interesting...
There is a new series called Dracula and it reminds me of the Count of Monte Cristo, after Dantes became the Count. Very interesting...
January 9, 2009
I never read a book like this, in which many characters development are involved. Pay attention to details of the book, a book about envy, betral, perseverance, adventure, love, hate, revenge on the evil doing and rewarding the good. Forgiveness and compassion are also involved...
July 10, 2009
The best book that I have read. The epitome of page-turner and just like the old Saturday morning movies (that I am too young to remember) as each chapter seems to have some kind of cliff-hanger to keep you reading on!
August 17, 2008
Absolutely loved this -- one of my favorites!
April 8, 2010
This is a wonderful classic. Clean reading material with a lot of characters I identify with. Great book for any for any reader looking for a thrill.
January 16, 2009
This book was so in depth and detailed. It's lengthy, but I couldn't put it down! It's a lot different than the movie so you need to read it even if you've seen the movie.
December 29, 2009
Loved this book, even though I had seen the movie first. Way better than the movie.
January 2, 2010
The abridged version is enough
October 20, 2011
Absolutely stunning book! Could not put it down. Am now hooked on Dumas and cant wait to read more of his books.
June 2, 2014
Not the best adaptation. Confusing, even for me who has read the original several times. Could have used more narration boxes. Not recommended.
December 5, 2014
Always found this story to be too "neat" but they do a pretty good job on condensing it here.
October 6, 2015
Not bad
April 10, 2019
Can't see to find a paperback edition of this run on here, but that's how I read this, frequently as a child and fell in love with it. Adored it as a child.
September 13, 2021
Pretty good but I wish the characters were easier to recognize by their drawings… also there were several things left unsettled.
October 28, 2021
Fast paced, leaves out on certain plots necessary in development of the flow.
October 15, 2008
A great classic!
December 18, 2009
I loved this book and liked the movies
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews