Space Adventures #33 (Mar.1960) |
Trivia: The company was originally founded by John Santangelo, Sr. and Ed Levy in 1940 as T.W.O. Charles Company, named after their two sons, both named Charles, and ultimately became Charlton Publications in 1945.
The company's most noteworthy period was during the Silver Age where its science fiction anthology title Space Adventures introduced Captain Atom, by Joe Gill and the soon-to-be-legendary co-creator Spider-Man, Steve Ditko. Charlton also introduced Son of Vulcan, in answer to Marvels Thor, in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965). With the Vietnam War underway, Charlton offered notable titles including 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. Charlton also threw itself into the resurgent horror genre during this period, with such titles as Ghostly Tales, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves and Ghost Manor.
In 1966, having grown disenchanted with Marvel and his Spider-Man collaborator, writer-editor Stan Lee, Steve Ditko returned. Having the hugely popular Ditko back, prompted Charlton editor Dick Giordano to introduce the company's "Action Hero" line the following year, with characters including Captain Atom, The Question, The Peacemaker, Judomaster, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt and Ditko's new "Ted Kord" version of the Blue Beetle. The company developed a reputation as a place for new talent to break into comics; examples included Jim Aparo, Dennis O'Neil and Sam Grainger. Yet by 1967, Charlton's Action Hero titles had been cancelled, and licensed properties became staples, particularly cartoon characters such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat and Bullwinkle and Rocky.
Industry greats who made their mark at Charlton either on staff or freelance, included Pete Morisi, John Byrne, Nicola Cuti, Mike Zeck, Vince Alascia, Jon D'Agostino, Sam Glanzman, Joe Staton, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, Bill Molno, Charles Nicholas, Jerry Seigel, Al Fago, Tony Tallarico, Frank McLaughlin, Pat Boyette, Roger Stern, Bob Layton, Roger Slifer and Sal Trapani. The primary writer for Charlton was the remarkably prolific Joe Gill.
The Phantom #31 (Apr.1969) |
1 comment:
Charlton Comics, home of Judomaster and Sarge Steel, the man with the steel fist! Their romance comics were brilliant, too.
Charlton will forever be etched in my mind as the comics with the worst printing registration so everything looked blurry and off-kilter, like a 3-D picture without glasses.
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