Charlton Comics
Encyclopedia
Charlton Comics was an American
comic book
publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name (T.W.O. Charles Company) in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut
. The comic book line was a division of Charlton Publications, which published magazines (most notably song-lyric magazines), puzzle books and, briefly, books (under the Monarch and Gold Star imprints). It had its own distribution company (Capital Distribution).
Charlton Comics published a wide variety of genres, including crime
, science fiction
, Western
, horror, war
and romance comics, as well as funny animal
and superhero
titles. The company was known for its low-budget practices, often using unpublished material acquired from defunct companies and paying comics creators among the lowest rates in the industry. Charlton Comics were also the last of the American comics to raise their price from ten cents to 12 cents in mid-1962.
It was also unique among comic book companies in that it controlled all areas of publishing—from editorial to printing to distribution—rather than working with outside printers and distributors as did most other publishers. It did so under one roof at its Derby headquarters.
The company was formed by John Santangelo, Sr. and Ed Levy in 1940 as T.W.O. Charles Company, named after the co-founders' two sons, both named Charles, and became Charlton Publications in 1945.
, New York
, five years earlier, began what became a highly successfully business publishing song-lyric magazines out of nearby Yonkers, New York
. Operating in violation of copyright
laws, however, he was sentenced in 1934 to a year and a day at New Haven County Jail in New Haven
, Connecticut
, near Derby, Connecticut
where he and his wife by then lived. In jail, he met Waterbury, Connecticut
, attorney Ed Levy, with whom he began legitimate publishing in 1935, acquiring permissions to reproduce lyrics in such magazines as Hit Parade and Song Hits. Santangelo and Levy opened a printing plant in Waterbury the following year, and in 1940 founded the T.W.O. Charles Company, named after each of the co-founders' sons, both named Charles, eventually moving its headquarters to Derby.
The company's first comic book was Yellowjacket, an anthology of superhero and horror stories launched September 1944 under the imprint Frank Comunale Publications, with Ed Levy listed as publisher. Zoo Funnies was published under the imprint Children Comics Publishing; Jack in the Box, under Frank Comunale; and TNT Comics, under Charles Publishing Co.. Another imprint was Frank Publications.
Following the adoption of the Charlton Comics name in 1946, the company over the next five years acquired material from freelance editor
and comics packager Al Fago (brother of former Timely Comics
editor Vincent Fago). Charlton additionally published Merry Comics, Cowboy Western, the Western title Tim McCoy, and Pictorial Love Stories.
In 1951, when Al Fago began as an in-house editor, Charlton hired a staff of artists that included its future managing editor, Dick Giordano
. Others, either on staff or freelance, eventually included Vince Alascia
, Jon D'Agostino
, Sam Glanzman
, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio
, Bill Molno, Charles Nicholas
and Sal Trapani. The primary writer was the remarkably prolific Joe Gill
.
The company began a wide expansion of its comics line, which would include notoriously gory horror comics (the principal title being Steve Ditko
's The Thing!
). In 1954-55, it acquired a stable of comic book properties from the defunct Superior Comics, Mainline Publications
, St. John Publications
, and most significantly, Fawcett Publications
, which was shutting down its Fawcett Comics
division. Charlton continued publishing two of Fawcett's horror books — This Magazine Is Haunted
and Strange Suspense Stories
— initially using unpublished material from Fawcett's inventory. Artistic chores were then handed to Ditko, whose moody, individualistic touch came to dominate Charlton's supernatural line. Beset by the circulation slump that swept the industry towards the end of the 1950s, Haunted struggled for another two years, published bi-monthly until May 1958. Strange Suspense Stories ran longer, lasting well into the 1960s before giving up the ghost in 1965.
Charlton published a wide line of romance
titles, particularly after it acquired the Fawcett line, which included the romance comics Sweethearts
, Romantic Secrets, and Romantic Story. Sweethearts was the comics world's first monthly romance title (debuting in 1948), and Charlton continued publishing it until 1973. Charlton had launched its first original romance title in 1951, True Life Secrets, but that series only lasted until 1956.
Al Fago left in the mid-1950s, and was succeeded by his assistant, Pat Masulli
, who remained in the position for ten years. Masulli oversaw a plethora of new romance titles, including the long-running I Love You
, Sweetheart Diary, Brides in Love
, My Secret Life, and Just Married; and the teen-oriented romance comics Teen-Age Love, Teen Confessions, and Teen-Age Confidential Confessions.
Superheroes were a minor part of the company. At the beginning, Charlton's main characters were Yellowjacket, not to be confused with the later Marvel character, and Diana the Huntress. In the mid-1950s, Charlton briefly published a Blue Beetle
title with new and reprinted stories, and in 1956, several short-lived titles written by Superman
co-creator Jerry Siegel
, such as Mr. Muscles
and Nature Boy
(the latter with artist Mastroserio), and the Joe Gill-created Zaza the Mystic
.
, which had begun with DC Comics
' successful revival of superheroes in 1956. In 1960, Charlton's science fiction
anthology
title Space Adventures
introduced Captain Atom
, by Gill and the soon-to-be-legendary co-creator of Marvel Comics
' Spider-Man
, Steve Ditko
. (After the mid-1980s demise of Charlton, Captain Atom would go on to become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle, the old Fox Comics
superhero revived by Gill and artists Bill Fraccio
and Tony Tallarico
as a campy, comedic character in Blue Beetle #1 [June 1964].)
Charlton also had middling success with Son of Vulcan
, its answer to Marvel's Thor
, in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965). Much less successful was another Space Adventures superhero, Mercury Man
, star of two stories in 1962.
During the Silver Age, Charlton, like Marvel and DC, published war comics
— even as the Vietnam War
served as the focal point for the burgeoning anti-war
movement. Notable titles included the "Fightin'" line of Fightin' Air Force
, Fightin' Army
, Fightin' Marines
, and Fightin' Navy
; the "Attack" line of Army Attack and Submarine Attack; Battlefield Action; D-Day, U.S. Air Force Comics, and War Heroes. Though primarily anthologies
of stories about 20th-century warfare, they included a small number of recurring characters and features, including "Shotgun Harker and the Chicken", "The Devil's Brigade
", "The Iron Corporal
" and "The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz
".
Charlton also threw itself into the resurgent horror comics
genre during this period, with such titles as Ghostly Tales
, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
, and Ghost Manor
. It continued its commitment to romance, as well, with new titles like Career Girl Romances, Hollywood Romances (later to change its name to For Lovers Only), and Time for Love.
In 1966, Ditko returned after his celebrated stint at Marvel, having grown disenchanted with that company and his Spider-Man collaborator, writer-editor Stan Lee
. Having the hugely popular Ditko back helped prompt Charlton editor Giordano to introduce the company's "Action Hero" superhero line the following year, with characters including Captain Atom; Ditko's The Question
; Gill and artist Pat Boyette
's The Peacemaker
; Gill and company art director
Frank McLaughlin's Judomaster
; Pete Morisi
's Peter Cannon... Thunderbolt
; and Ditko's new "Ted Kord" version of the Blue Beetle. The company also developed a reputation as a place for new talent to break into comics; examples include Jim Aparo
, Dennis O'Neil
and Sam Grainger
. As well, Charlton in the late 1960s published some of the first manga
in America, in Ghost Manor
and other titles (thanks to artist Sanho Kim
), and artist Wayne Howard
became the industry's first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror-anthology Midnight Tales
blurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue — "a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time".
Yet by the end of 1967, Charlton's superhero titles had been cancelled, and licensed properties had become the company's staples, particularly cartoon characters from Hanna-Barbera
(The Flintstones
, The Jetsons
, Top Cat
, others) and King Features Syndicate
(Flash Gordon
), the company luring several such titles away from Gold Key Comics
. Charlton also published Bullwinkle and Rocky, based on Jay Ward Productions
' Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show
.
Nicola Cuti made creative improvements to Charlton's line in the early 1970s Bronze Age of comic books
as assistant editor under George Wildman
, who was occupied primarily with administrative duties. Cuti brought Mike Zeck
, among others, into Charlton's roster of artists, and his writing enlivened the Ghostly titles, now including Ghostly Haunts
. Other Bronze Age Charlton horror titles included Haunted
, Midnight Tales
, and Scary Tales
.
In 1973, Charlton debuted the Gothic romance title Haunted Love
, but this same period saw the mass cancellation of almost all of Charlton's vast stable of traditional romance
titles, including such long-running series as Sweethearts
, Romantic Secrets, Romantic Story, I Love You
, Teen-Age Love, Just Married, and Teen Confessions, all of which dated from the 1950s.
In the mid-1970s, there was a brief resurgence of talent, energized by Cuti, artist Joe Staton
and the "CPL Gang
" — a group of writer/artist comics fans including John Byrne, Roger Stern
, Bob Layton
, and Roger Slifer
, who had all worked on the fanzine CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature). Charlton began publishing such new titles as E-Man
, Midnight Tales
and Doomsday + 1
. The CPL Gang also produced an in-house fanzine called Charlton Bullseye
, which published, among other things, such commissioned but previously unpublished material as the company's last Captain Atom story. Also during this period, most of Charlton's titles began sporting painted covers.
Early in 1975, Cuti, already writing freelance for the company in addition to his staff duties, quit to write freelance exclusively for Charlton when its line expanded to include black-and-white magazines in addition to the King Features
and Hanna-Barbera
franchised titles. He was replaced by Bill Pearson, who became assistant editor after promoting Don Newton
as the new Phantom artist and writing scripts for that title.
Charlton's black-and-white comics magazines were based upon current television series and aimed at older readers. One of these was The Six Million Dollar Man
#1-7 (July 1976 - Aug. 1977). Retailing for $1, it featured art by Neal Adams
' studio, Continuity Associates
, as well as some stories by veteran illustrators Jack Sparling and Win Mortimer
. Also published in magazine form were adaptations of The Six Million Dollar Man spinoff The Bionic Woman
,Space: 1999
, and Emergency!
, as well as a comic based on teen heartthrob David Cassidy
, then starring in the musical sitcom The Partridge Family
.
By 1976, however, most of these titles had been canceled, and most of the company's remaining titles went on hiatus during the period January to August 1977. Much of the new talent took the opportunity to move on to Marvel and DC.
serving as a new-talent showcase that actively solicited submissions by comic book fans, and an attempt at new Ditko-produced titles. A number of 1970s-era titles were also reprinted under the Modern Comics imprint and sold in bagged sets in department stores (in much the same way Gold Key Comics
were published under the Whitman Comics branding around the same time). None of these measures worked however, and in 1984 Charlton Comics suspended publication.
In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editor T.C. Ford with a direct-market Charlton Bullseye
Special. But later that same year, Charlton Comics went out of business; Charlton Publications followed suit in 1991, and its building and press were demolished in 1999.
Editor Robin Snyder oversaw the sale of some properties to their creators, though the bulk of the rights was purchased by Canadian entrepreneur
Roger Broughton
. He would produce several reprint titles under the company name of Avalon Communications and its imprint America's Comics Group (ACG for short, Broughton having also purchased the rights to the defunct American Comics Group
properties), and announced plans to restart Charlton Comics. This did not occur beyond its publishing a number of reprints and changing his company name to Charlton Media Group.
Most of Charlton's superhero characters were acquired in 1983 by DC Comics
, where Giordano was then managing editor. These "Action Hero" characters were originally to be used in the landmark Watchmen
miniseries
written by Alan Moore
, but DC then chose to save the characters for other uses. Moore instead developed new characters loosely based on them. The Charlton characters were incorporated into DC's main superhero line, starting in the epic Crisis on Infinite Earths
miniseries of 1985. In the years to follow, some of them enjoyed renewed popularity at DC, most notably Blue Beetle
, Captain Atom
and the Question
, of which the latter had languished in obscurity for years before reintroduction. In 1987, Blue Beetle and Captain Atom joined a version of the Justice League of America. The team of Charlton characters first planned for Moore's Watchmen became reality in 1999 with the DC miniseries L.A.W
.
In 2000, Charlton Spotlight
, a fanzine
devoted to Charlton, began publication.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name (T.W.O. Charles Company) in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut
Derby, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 12,391 at the 2000 census. With of land area, Derby is Connecticut's smallest municipality.The city has a Metro-North railroad station called Derby – Shelton.-History:...
. The comic book line was a division of Charlton Publications, which published magazines (most notably song-lyric magazines), puzzle books and, briefly, books (under the Monarch and Gold Star imprints). It had its own distribution company (Capital Distribution).
Charlton Comics published a wide variety of genres, including crime
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, horror, war
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
and romance comics, as well as funny animal
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
and superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
titles. The company was known for its low-budget practices, often using unpublished material acquired from defunct companies and paying comics creators among the lowest rates in the industry. Charlton Comics were also the last of the American comics to raise their price from ten cents to 12 cents in mid-1962.
It was also unique among comic book companies in that it controlled all areas of publishing—from editorial to printing to distribution—rather than working with outside printers and distributors as did most other publishers. It did so under one roof at its Derby headquarters.
The company was formed by John Santangelo, Sr. and Ed Levy in 1940 as T.W.O. Charles Company, named after the co-founders' two sons, both named Charles, and became Charlton Publications in 1945.
Early years
In 1931, Italian immigrant John Santangelo, Sr., a bricklayer who had started a construction business in White PlainsWhite Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, five years earlier, began what became a highly successfully business publishing song-lyric magazines out of nearby Yonkers, New York
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. Operating in violation of copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
laws, however, he was sentenced in 1934 to a year and a day at New Haven County Jail in New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, near Derby, Connecticut
Derby, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 12,391 at the 2000 census. With of land area, Derby is Connecticut's smallest municipality.The city has a Metro-North railroad station called Derby – Shelton.-History:...
where he and his wife by then lived. In jail, he met Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
, attorney Ed Levy, with whom he began legitimate publishing in 1935, acquiring permissions to reproduce lyrics in such magazines as Hit Parade and Song Hits. Santangelo and Levy opened a printing plant in Waterbury the following year, and in 1940 founded the T.W.O. Charles Company, named after each of the co-founders' sons, both named Charles, eventually moving its headquarters to Derby.
The company's first comic book was Yellowjacket, an anthology of superhero and horror stories launched September 1944 under the imprint Frank Comunale Publications, with Ed Levy listed as publisher. Zoo Funnies was published under the imprint Children Comics Publishing; Jack in the Box, under Frank Comunale; and TNT Comics, under Charles Publishing Co.. Another imprint was Frank Publications.
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
and comics packager Al Fago (brother of former Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
editor Vincent Fago). Charlton additionally published Merry Comics, Cowboy Western, the Western title Tim McCoy, and Pictorial Love Stories.
In 1951, when Al Fago began as an in-house editor, Charlton hired a staff of artists that included its future managing editor, Dick Giordano
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph "Dick" Giordano was an American comic book artist and editor best known for introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes, and serving as executive editor of then–industry leader DC Comics...
. Others, either on staff or freelance, eventually included Vince Alascia
Vince Alascia
Vincent Alascia , also known as Nicholas Alascia, was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America during the Golden Age of comics, and for his 23-year run as inker on a single creative team, with penciler Charles Nicholas Wojtkowski and writer Joe Gill at Charlton Comics...
, Jon D'Agostino
Jon D'Agostino
John P. D'Agostino Sr., generally credited as Jon D'Agostino was an Italian-American comic-book artist best known for his Archie Comics work...
, Sam Glanzman
Sam Glanzman
Sam J. Glanzman is an American comic-book artist, best known for his Charlton Comics series Hercules, about the mythological Greek demigod; his biographical war stories about his service aboard the U.S.S...
, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio
Rocke Mastroserio
Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio , who sometimes signed his work "Rocke M.", "RM", "Rocke" or "RAM", was an American comic book artist best known as a penciler and inker for Charlton Comics.-Early career:...
, Bill Molno, Charles Nicholas
Charles Nicholas (comics)
"Charles Nicholas" is the pseudonymous house name of three early creators of American comic books for the Fox Feature Syndicate and Fox Comics....
and Sal Trapani. The primary writer was the remarkably prolific Joe Gill
Joe Gill
Joseph Gill was an American magazine writer and highly prolific comic book scripter. Most of his work was for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the superheroes Captain Atom, Peacemaker, and Judomaster, among others. Comics historians consider Gill a top contender as the comic-book field's most...
.
The company began a wide expansion of its comics line, which would include notoriously gory horror comics (the principal title being Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
's The Thing!
The Thing!
The Thing! was a Charlton Comics horror title that ran 17 issues from 1952 to 1954. Its tagline was "Weird tales of suspense and horror!" After it was cancelled, it was retitled Blue Beetle ....
). In 1954-55, it acquired a stable of comic book properties from the defunct Superior Comics, Mainline Publications
Mainline Publications
Mainline Publications, also called Mainline Comics, was a short-lived, 1950s American comic book publisher established and owned by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.-Foundation:...
, St. John Publications
St. John Publications
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...
, and most significantly, Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett . At the age of 16, Fawcett ran away from home to join the Army, and the Spanish-American War took him to the Philippines. Back in Minnesota, he became a...
, which was shutting down its Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
division. Charlton continued publishing two of Fawcett's horror books — This Magazine Is Haunted
This Magazine Is Haunted
This Magazine is Haunted was a horror comic originally published by Fawcett between 1951 and 1953. Running 14 issues, it was the first of Fawcett's supernatural line; a string of titles which included Beware! Terror Tales, Worlds of Fear, Strange Suspense Stories, and Unknown Worlds.After Fawcett...
and Strange Suspense Stories
Strange Suspense Stories
Strange Suspense Stories was a comic book published in two volumes by Fawcett Comics and Charlton Comics in the 1950s and 1960s. Starting out as a horror/suspense title, the first volume gradually moved toward eerie fantasy and weird science fiction, before ending as a vehicle for the superhero...
— initially using unpublished material from Fawcett's inventory. Artistic chores were then handed to Ditko, whose moody, individualistic touch came to dominate Charlton's supernatural line. Beset by the circulation slump that swept the industry towards the end of the 1950s, Haunted struggled for another two years, published bi-monthly until May 1958. Strange Suspense Stories ran longer, lasting well into the 1960s before giving up the ghost in 1965.
Charlton published a wide line of romance
Romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...
titles, particularly after it acquired the Fawcett line, which included the romance comics Sweethearts
Sweethearts (comics)
Sweethearts was a romance comic book series published by Fawcett Publications from October 1948 to 1953, and continued by Charlton Comics from 1954 to 1973. It was the first monthly romance comic book, and a great commercial success...
, Romantic Secrets, and Romantic Story. Sweethearts was the comics world's first monthly romance title (debuting in 1948), and Charlton continued publishing it until 1973. Charlton had launched its first original romance title in 1951, True Life Secrets, but that series only lasted until 1956.
Al Fago left in the mid-1950s, and was succeeded by his assistant, Pat Masulli
Pat Masulli
Patrick J. Masulli was an American comic book creator, most notably as the executive editor of Charlton Comics from 1955–1966, during much of the Silver Age of Comic Books...
, who remained in the position for ten years. Masulli oversaw a plethora of new romance titles, including the long-running I Love You
I Love You (comics)
I Love You was a romance comic published by Charlton Comics from 1955–1980.Notable creators who worked on the title included inker Vince Alascia, who contributed to nearly every issue during its 25-year run. Joe Sinnott drew many early covers; most were inked by Vince Colletta, who worked on the...
, Sweetheart Diary, Brides in Love
Brides in Love
Brides in Love is a comic book series in the romance comics genre. It was published by Charlton Comics in the 1950s and 1960s...
, My Secret Life, and Just Married; and the teen-oriented romance comics Teen-Age Love, Teen Confessions, and Teen-Age Confidential Confessions.
Superheroes were a minor part of the company. At the beginning, Charlton's main characters were Yellowjacket, not to be confused with the later Marvel character, and Diana the Huntress. In the mid-1950s, Charlton briefly published a Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.-Publication history:...
title with new and reprinted stories, and in 1956, several short-lived titles written by Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
co-creator Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...
, such as Mr. Muscles
Mr. Muscles
Not to be confused with Sturgis Butterfield of Hero Hotline, who has also used the name Mr. Muscles.Mr. Muscles is a fictional comic book superhero created in 1956 by writer Jerry Siegel for Charlton Comics, and drawn by Bill Fraccio for the first of two issues of his namesake comic, and by the...
and Nature Boy
Nature Boy (comics)
Nature Boy is a superhero created by Jerry Siegel and drawn by John Buscema and others. He first appeared in Nature Boy #3 , published by Charlton Comics.-Publication history:...
(the latter with artist Mastroserio), and the Joe Gill-created Zaza the Mystic
Zaza the Mystic
Zaza the Mystic is a fictional character that appeared in comic books published by Charlton Comics. She appeared in only two issues, Zaza the Mystic #10 and Zaza the Mystic #11...
.
Silver Age
The company's most noteworthy period was during the Silver Age of comic booksSilver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
, which had begun with DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' successful revival of superheroes in 1956. In 1960, Charlton's science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
title Space Adventures
Space Adventures (comics)
Space Adventures was an American science-fiction anthology comic book series published sporadically by Charlton Comics from 1952 to 1979...
introduced Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
, by Gill and the soon-to-be-legendary co-creator of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
. (After the mid-1980s demise of Charlton, Captain Atom would go on to become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle, the old Fox Comics
Fox Feature Syndicate
Fox Feature Syndicate was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S...
superhero revived by Gill and artists Bill Fraccio
Bill Fraccio
William Fraccio was an American comic book artist whose career stretched from the 1940s Golden Age of comic books through 1979, when he turned to producing advertising art and teaching...
and Tony Tallarico
Tony Tallarico
Tony Tallarico is an American comic book artist, and children's book illustrator and author. Often paired in a team with his generally uncredited penciler, Bill Fraccio, Tallarico drew primarily for Charlton Comics and Dell Comics — including for the comic book Lobo, the first to star an...
as a campy, comedic character in Blue Beetle #1 [June 1964].)
Charlton also had middling success with Son of Vulcan
Son of Vulcan
Son of Vulcan is the name of two comic book characters, one created by Charlton Comics in 1965, the other by DC Comics in August 2005. Son of Vulcan was one of the characters DC Comics purchased from defunct Charlton Comics in 1983.-Charlton Comics:...
, its answer to Marvel's Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
, in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965). Much less successful was another Space Adventures superhero, Mercury Man
Mercury Man
Mercury Man was a very short-lived superhero published by Charlton Comics in their Science Fiction anthology title Space Adventures after they stopped published Captain Atom stories in the early 1960s....
, star of two stories in 1962.
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
— even as the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
served as the focal point for the burgeoning anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
movement. Notable titles included the "Fightin'" line of Fightin' Air Force
Fightin' Air Force
Fightin' Air Force was a bimonthly war comic published by Charlton Comics from 1956–1966. Telling fictional stories of American military pilots, it was a sister title of the other Charlton war comics Fightin' Army, Fightin' Marines, and Fightin' Navy.Regular contributors to Fightin' Air Force...
, Fightin' Army
Fightin' Army
Fightin' Army was a bimonthly war comic published by Charlton Comics from 1956–1984...
, Fightin' Marines
Fightin' Marines
Fightin' Marines was a bimonthly war comic published by St. John Publications from 1951–1953, and Charlton Comics from 1955–1984, although it was primarily a reprint title from 1978 to the end of its run...
, and Fightin' Navy
Fightin' Navy
Fightin' Navy was a bimonthly war comic published by Charlton Comics from 1956–1966, and then again from 1983–1984...
; the "Attack" line of Army Attack and Submarine Attack; Battlefield Action; D-Day, U.S. Air Force Comics, and War Heroes. Though primarily anthologies
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of stories about 20th-century warfare, they included a small number of recurring characters and features, including "Shotgun Harker and the Chicken", "The Devil's Brigade
Will Franz
William "Willi" Franz is an American comic-book writer and occasional penciler, best known for his Charlton Comics war stories, mostly published during the period 1967–1970. Franz is particularly remembered for the ongoing feature "The Lonely War of Willy Schultz", a Vietnam War-era serial about a...
", "The Iron Corporal
The Iron Corporal
The Iron Corporal was a fictional character appearing first as a recurring character in Charlton Comics' war comics line, and briefly in his own comic book titled The Iron Corporal...
" and "The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz
Captain Willy Schultz
Captain Willy Schultz is a fictional comic-book soldier, a German-American U.S. Army captain during World War II, who after being falsely accused and convicted of murder, escapes and blends into the German Army while seeking a way to clear his name and retain his Allied allegiance...
".
Charlton also threw itself into the resurgent horror comics
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
genre during this period, with such titles as Ghostly Tales
Ghostly Tales
Ghostly Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1966 to 1984 . The book was "hosted" by Mr. L. Dedd , a middle-aged gentleman with purplish skin and horns who dressed like a vampire. Mr...
, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves was an American supernatural-anthology comic book published by Charlton Comics and best known as a showcase for the popular writer-artist Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man. The eponymous Dr. M. T...
, and Ghost Manor
Ghost Manor (comics)
Ghost Manor was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1968 to 1984 . Volume one was "hosted" by the Old Witch , while volume two was hosted by Mr...
. It continued its commitment to romance, as well, with new titles like Career Girl Romances, Hollywood Romances (later to change its name to For Lovers Only), and Time for Love.
In 1966, Ditko returned after his celebrated stint at Marvel, having grown disenchanted with that company and his Spider-Man collaborator, writer-editor Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
. Having the hugely popular Ditko back helped prompt Charlton editor Giordano to introduce the company's "Action Hero" superhero line the following year, with characters including Captain Atom; Ditko's The Question
Question (comics)
The Question is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by DC Comics. The original was created by writer-artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Blue Beetle #1...
; Gill and artist Pat Boyette
Pat Boyette
Pat Boyette Pat Boyette Pat Boyette (July 27, 1923, San Antonio, Texas – January 14, 2000, was an American broadcasting personality and news producer, and later a comic book artist best known for two decades of work for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the character The Peacemaker...
's The Peacemaker
Peacemaker (comics)
The Peacemaker is the name of a series of superheroes originally owned by Charlton Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. The original Peacemaker first appeared in Fightin' 5 #40 The Peacemaker is the name of a series of superheroes originally owned by Charlton Comics and later acquired by DC...
; Gill and company art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
Frank McLaughlin's Judomaster
Judomaster
Judomaster is the name given to three fictional superheroes published by DC Comics. The first Judomaster debuted in Special War Series #4 published by Charlton Comics, and was created by Joe Gill and Frank McLaughlin.-Hadley Jagger:...
; Pete Morisi
Pete Morisi
Peter A. Morisi , who sometimes went by the pseudonym PAM, is an American comic book writer and artist who also spent much of his professional life as a New York City Police Department officer. He is best known as creator of the 1960s Charlton Comics series Peter Cannon .....
's Peter Cannon... Thunderbolt
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt is a fictional superhero character originally owned by Charlton Comics, notable for containing some of the earliest respectful invocations of Eastern mysticism in American pop culture. The character has been owned by the estate of its creator, writer-artist Pete Morisi,...
; and Ditko's new "Ted Kord" version of the Blue Beetle. The company also developed a reputation as a place for new talent to break into comics; examples include Jim Aparo
Jim Aparo
James N. "Jim" Aparo was an American comic book artist best known for his 1960s and 1970s DC Comics work, including on the characters Batman, Aquaman and the Spectre....
, Dennis O'Neil
Dennis O'Neil
Dennis J. "Denny" O'Neil is an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of books until his retirement....
and Sam Grainger
Sam Grainger
Samuel E. Grainger was an American comic book artist best known as a Marvel Comics inker during the 1960s and 1970s periods fans and historians call, respectively, the Silver Age and the Bronze Age of Comic Books...
. As well, Charlton in the late 1960s published some of the first manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
in America, in Ghost Manor
Ghost Manor (comics)
Ghost Manor was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1968 to 1984 . Volume one was "hosted" by the Old Witch , while volume two was hosted by Mr...
and other titles (thanks to artist Sanho Kim
Sanho Kim
Sanho Kim is a Korean comic book artist, considered the first artist working in a manhwa style to be published regularly in the United States...
), and artist Wayne Howard
Wayne Howard
Wayne Wright Howard was an African-American comic book artist best known for his 1970s work at Charlton Comics, where he became American comic books' first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror anthology Midnight Tales blurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue — "a...
became the industry's first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror-anthology Midnight Tales
Midnight Tales
Midnight Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series created by Wayne Howard and published by Charlton Comics from 1972 to 1976. The book was "hosted" by Professor Coffin and his niece Arachne...
blurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue — "a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time".
Yet by the end of 1967, Charlton's superhero titles had been cancelled, and licensed properties had become the company's staples, particularly cartoon characters from Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
(The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
, The Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
, Top Cat
Top Cat
Top Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.-History:...
, others) and King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
(Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
), the company luring several such titles away from Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
. Charlton also published Bullwinkle and Rocky, based on Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions was an Amercian animated television cartoon series production company, founded in 1949 by American animator Jay Ward. It made extensive use of limited animation techniques....
' Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
.
Bronze Age
Bronze Age of Comic Books
The Bronze Age of Comic Books is an informal name for a period in the history of mainstream American comic books usually said to run from 1970 to 1985. It follows the Silver Age of Comic Books....
as assistant editor under George Wildman
George Wildman
George Wildman , is an American cartoonist most noted for his work in the comic books industry. He was a top editor at Charlton Comics from 1971–1985, where he also became the long-time regular artist on Popeye comic books....
, who was occupied primarily with administrative duties. Cuti brought Mike Zeck
Mike Zeck
Mike Zeck is an American comic book illustrator.-Biography:Zeck was born in Greenville, Pennsylvania to Michael and Kathryn Jean Zeck...
, among others, into Charlton's roster of artists, and his writing enlivened the Ghostly titles, now including Ghostly Haunts
Ghostly Haunts
Ghostly Haunts was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1971 to 1978. The book was "hosted" by Winnie the Witch, a "moddish" blue-skinned witch....
. Other Bronze Age Charlton horror titles included Haunted
Haunted (comics)
Haunted was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1971 to 1984 . The book was "hosted" by Impy, a pint-sized ghost dressed in an all-white superhero costume...
, Midnight Tales
Midnight Tales
Midnight Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series created by Wayne Howard and published by Charlton Comics from 1972 to 1976. The book was "hosted" by Professor Coffin and his niece Arachne...
, and Scary Tales
Scary Tales (comics)
Scary Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1975 to 1984. The book was "hosted" by Countess R.H. Von Bludd, an alluring female vampire in a tight-fitting dress...
.
In 1973, Charlton debuted the Gothic romance title Haunted Love
Haunted Love
Haunted Love was a horror-romance anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1973 - 1975. It was part of the Gothic Romance comic book mini-trend of the era, which included the short-lived DC Comics series The Dark Mansion Of Forbidden Love and The Sinister House of Secret Love,...
, but this same period saw the mass cancellation of almost all of Charlton's vast stable of traditional romance
Romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...
titles, including such long-running series as Sweethearts
Sweethearts (comics)
Sweethearts was a romance comic book series published by Fawcett Publications from October 1948 to 1953, and continued by Charlton Comics from 1954 to 1973. It was the first monthly romance comic book, and a great commercial success...
, Romantic Secrets, Romantic Story, I Love You
I Love You (comics)
I Love You was a romance comic published by Charlton Comics from 1955–1980.Notable creators who worked on the title included inker Vince Alascia, who contributed to nearly every issue during its 25-year run. Joe Sinnott drew many early covers; most were inked by Vince Colletta, who worked on the...
, Teen-Age Love, Just Married, and Teen Confessions, all of which dated from the 1950s.
Joe Staton
Joe Staton is an American illustrator and writer of comic books.-Career:Staton started his work with Charlton Comics in 1971 and gained notability as the artist of the super-hero book E-Man...
and the "CPL Gang
CPL Gang
The CPL Gang was a group of comic book enthusiasts who published a number of fanzines in the mid-1970s, including Contemporary Pictorial Literature and Charlton Bullseye...
" — a group of writer/artist comics fans including John Byrne, Roger Stern
Roger Stern
Roger Stern is an American comic book author and novelist.-Early career:In the early 1970s, Stern and Bob Layton published the fanzine CPL , one of the first platforms for the work of John Byrne...
, Bob Layton
Bob Layton
Bob Layton is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor, who has worked for Marvel Comics, Valiant Comics, DC Comics, Future Comics, and other publishers.-Early life:...
, and Roger Slifer
Roger Slifer
Roger Slifer is a writer of comic books, animation, and video games, well-known for a run on Omega Men in the 1980s.-Biography:Slifer started out in comics as an editor at Marvel Comics where he also wrote a number of comic books....
, who had all worked on the fanzine CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature). Charlton began publishing such new titles as E-Man
E-Man
E-Man is a fictional comic book superhero created by writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton for Charlton Comics in 1973. Though the character's original series was short-lived, the lightly humorous hero has become a cult-classic sporadically revived by various independent comics...
, Midnight Tales
Midnight Tales
Midnight Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series created by Wayne Howard and published by Charlton Comics from 1972 to 1976. The book was "hosted" by Professor Coffin and his niece Arachne...
and Doomsday + 1
Doomsday + 1
Doomsday + 1 was an American post-apocalyptic comic-book series published by Charlton Comics in the 1970s.It is best known as the first original, color-comics series by artist John Byrne, who would go on to become a major industry figure...
. The CPL Gang also produced an in-house fanzine called Charlton Bullseye
Charlton Bullseye (fanzine)
Charton Bullseye was a fanzine published from 1975-76 by the CPL Gang highlighting Charlton Comics. It was a large format publication, with color covers on card stock and black & white interiors...
, which published, among other things, such commissioned but previously unpublished material as the company's last Captain Atom story. Also during this period, most of Charlton's titles began sporting painted covers.
Early in 1975, Cuti, already writing freelance for the company in addition to his staff duties, quit to write freelance exclusively for Charlton when its line expanded to include black-and-white magazines in addition to the King Features
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
and Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
franchised titles. He was replaced by Bill Pearson, who became assistant editor after promoting Don Newton
Don Newton
Don Newton was an American comic book artist. During his career, he worked for a number of comic book publishers, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Charlton Comics. He is best known for his work on The Phantom, Aquaman, and Batman...
as the new Phantom artist and writing scripts for that title.
Charlton's black-and-white comics magazines were based upon current television series and aimed at older readers. One of these was The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
#1-7 (July 1976 - Aug. 1977). Retailing for $1, it featured art by Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
' studio, Continuity Associates
Continuity Associates
Continuity Studios is a New York City- and Los Angeles-based art and illustration studio formed by cartoonists Neal Adams and Dick Giordano...
, as well as some stories by veteran illustrators Jack Sparling and Win Mortimer
Win Mortimer
James Winslow "Win" Mortimer was a comic book and comic strip artist best known as one of the major illustrators of the DC Comics superhero Superman...
. Also published in magazine form were adaptations of The Six Million Dollar Man spinoff The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman is an American television series starring Lindsay Wagner that aired for three seasons between 1976 and 1978 as a spin off from The Six Million Dollar Man. Wagner stars as tennis pro Jaime Sommers who is nearly killed in a skydiving accident. Sommers' life is saved by Oscar Goldman ...
,Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
, and Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...
, as well as a comic based on teen heartthrob David Cassidy
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy is an American actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his role as the character of Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical/sitcom The Partridge Family. He was one of pop culture's most celebrated teen idols, enjoying a successful pop career in the 1970s, and...
, then starring in the musical sitcom The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
.
Final years
By the 1980s, Charlton was in decline. The comic book industry was in a sales slump, struggling to reinvent a profitable distribution and retail system. Charlton's licensed titles lapsed, its aging presses were deteriorating towards uselessness, and the company did not have the resources to replace them. In 1981, there was yet another attempt at new material, with a comic book version of Charlton BullseyeCharlton Bullseye (comic)
Charlton Bullseye was the title of a short-lived Charlton Comics showcase comic book series published from June 1981 through December 1982. Several new stories using Charlton's "Action Heroes" appeared, before they were sold to DC Comics in 1983...
serving as a new-talent showcase that actively solicited submissions by comic book fans, and an attempt at new Ditko-produced titles. A number of 1970s-era titles were also reprinted under the Modern Comics imprint and sold in bagged sets in department stores (in much the same way Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
were published under the Whitman Comics branding around the same time). None of these measures worked however, and in 1984 Charlton Comics suspended publication.
In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editor T.C. Ford with a direct-market Charlton Bullseye
Charlton Bullseye (comic)
Charlton Bullseye was the title of a short-lived Charlton Comics showcase comic book series published from June 1981 through December 1982. Several new stories using Charlton's "Action Heroes" appeared, before they were sold to DC Comics in 1983...
Special. But later that same year, Charlton Comics went out of business; Charlton Publications followed suit in 1991, and its building and press were demolished in 1999.
Editor Robin Snyder oversaw the sale of some properties to their creators, though the bulk of the rights was purchased by Canadian entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
Roger Broughton
Roger Broughton
Charlton Media Group is a Montreal-based publisher owned and operated by Canadian entrepreneur Roger Broughton. CMG has published Charlton Comics and American Comics Group reprint comics, under several names, including Sword in Stone, A+, and America's Comics Group.- History :Long-time comics...
. He would produce several reprint titles under the company name of Avalon Communications and its imprint America's Comics Group (ACG for short, Broughton having also purchased the rights to the defunct American Comics Group
American Comics Group
American Comics Group was a New York City-based comic book publisher which operated during the Golden and Silver Age of comic books. ACG published one of the first horror comics titles, Adventures into the Unknown. Another of ACG's claims to fame was the character of Herbie Popnecker, who starred...
properties), and announced plans to restart Charlton Comics. This did not occur beyond its publishing a number of reprints and changing his company name to Charlton Media Group.
Most of Charlton's superhero characters were acquired in 1983 by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, where Giordano was then managing editor. These "Action Hero" characters were originally to be used in the landmark Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
written by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
, but DC then chose to save the characters for other uses. Moore instead developed new characters loosely based on them. The Charlton characters were incorporated into DC's main superhero line, starting in the epic Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
miniseries of 1985. In the years to follow, some of them enjoyed renewed popularity at DC, most notably Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes that appear in American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.-Publication history:...
, Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
and the Question
Question (comics)
The Question is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by DC Comics. The original was created by writer-artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Blue Beetle #1...
, of which the latter had languished in obscurity for years before reintroduction. In 1987, Blue Beetle and Captain Atom joined a version of the Justice League of America. The team of Charlton characters first planned for Moore's Watchmen became reality in 1999 with the DC miniseries L.A.W
L.A.W. (comics)
The L.A.W. was a six-issue American comic book limited series, published by DC Comics.The starring team "The L.A.W." consisted of Charlton Comics characters Blue Beetle, The Question, Judomaster, Captain Atom, The Peacemaker, Nightshade, and Sarge Steel...
.
In 2000, Charlton Spotlight
Charlton spotlight
Charlton Spotlight is a magazine dedicated to "Exploring the history of the Charlton Comics Group". It is published by Argo Press. It's publisher/editor is Michael Ambrose...
, a fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
devoted to Charlton, began publication.
External links
- The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History: Charlton's Space: 1999 magazines and comic books
- Nesteroff, Kliph. "In Celebration of Crud: The Charlton Comics Story" Kliph NesteroffKliph NesteroffKliph Nesteroff is a North American radio personality, show business historian and highly regarded non-fiction writer. Nesteroff is a frequent contributor to CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2 and Radio WFMU His work has been cited by The Atlantic Monthly, Boing Boing, The Chicago Tribune, Comedy Central,...
's WFMU (radio station): Beware of the Blog (column of April 8, 2007) - Archive of Keppler, Nick. "Secret Origins! Connecticut-based Charlton Comics' Link to the First Blockbuster of 2009", Fairfield County Weekly, March 5, 2009. Original site. WebCitation archive.Additional WebCitation archive made June 15, 2010.