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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 29, 2017 4:19:31 GMT -5
Except for Spookman - thanks to Charlton Arrow - I never knew about any of these (and this post reminds me that I should find the time to some spelunking in Rip Jagger's archives). I definitely agree with you about the Shape, seems like it could have become a hit, or at least modestly successful, if given a chance. Also interesting to see Grainger's art in those Sentinel features; I'm only familiar with his inking. At a few places it reminds me a bit of Frank Robbins' artwork, although a bit tighter. And that Prankster feature yet again makes me wish there was some way that all of the non-Phantom stories with Aparo's pre-DC Charlton art could be collected and published. As it is, it's nice that some of that material is posted online at a few sites like Diversions of the Groovy Kind.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Dec 29, 2017 12:50:09 GMT -5
I know the rights issue would be a nightmare, but I have longed for a collection of Charlton Premiere. Over its 3 or 4 issue run (if you include 'Unlikely Stories') it includes some classic stories, cameos from the Action Heroes line, and encapsulates a lot of what people love about the company.
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 29, 2017 17:16:03 GMT -5
I was a Charlton fan during the Wildman/Cuti era and am looking forward to those reviews, but weren't you going to do Hercules and Tarzan and Willy Schultz?
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2017 2:46:48 GMT -5
I was a Charlton fan during the Wildman/Cuti era and am looking forward to those reviews, but weren't you going to do Hercules and Tarzan and Willy Schultz? Yeah, I am. I'm going to look at the superhero/action-adventure stuff from Wildman & Cuti era, then focus on some of the genre titles, licensed comics, and a few other themed topics. Still got a long way to go with Charlton. I just figured the Action Hero line flowed well into a discussion of E-Man, Yang, and Vengeance Squad. We still have Charlton's westerns, romance, horror, and hot rod comics, their Hanna-Barbera and tv licenses, the monster comics, stuff like Tarzan and the Phantom (and Flash Gordon), the Six Million Dollar Man and Space 1999, the humor stuff (especially Go-Go) and more about some of the features in the other Charlton Premiere issues. That and the entire Fightin' line of war comics. There will be plenty of Sam Glanzman: Hercules, Willy Schultz, the Iron Corporal, Fightin' Navy, Fightin Army, Fightin' Marines, Donutin' USO; the whole lot. Man, Charlton really should have done a Donutin' USO, even if it was just a one-shot! Mmmmmmmm...........................donut...........................garhrlll.................................................
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 30, 2017 11:57:21 GMT -5
Ah, OK, I thought you were going chronologically. Lots to look forward to!
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2017 12:12:35 GMT -5
Ah, OK, I thought you were going chronologically. Lots to look forward to! I was initially, going into the Giordano era; but, Charlton put out so much stuff that you can spend a long time trying to cover it all. I tend to do these in a stream of consciousness, as I do the research and write; so, sometimes, I find myself getting on a roll on a particular subject, like the superhero books, and decide I want to keep the momentum going, before switching genres. In talking about the CPL Gang uses of Blue Beetle Captain Atom and the Question, it just felt natural to go into E-Man. Charlton's westerns and horror comics cover a lot of ground, as do the war comics, so it seemed more logical to cover them as an entire genre, rather than Silver Age and Bronze Age. The stories aren't that different between eras, other than specific features, like Wander and Lonely War of Willy Schultz. Those were pretty unique entries within the genre. I intend to cover Hercules with Charlton's more fantasy-oriented stuff (which was mostly Hercules and the back-up stories of the Thane of Bagarth). Heck, Wheely and the Chopper Bunch is a column in itself.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 3, 2018 23:17:08 GMT -5
So, the Action Hero line had died and Dick Giordano moved on the DC, as an editor, then to freelancing and helping to run Neal Adams Continuity Associates. Meanwhile, Sal Gentile became managing editor of the comic line and he, in turn, turned it over to George Wildman. Wildman needed an assistant and hired Nicola Cuti, a writer/artist who had been an assistant to Wally Wood and created stories for Warren. Cuti became known as the face of Charlton at the burgeoning convention circuit and, together, he and Wildman helped to create an identity for Charlton. They spearheaded finding new talent for Charlton and one such person was a young artist from Tennessee, Joe Staton. Staton was involved in the fan community and was seeking a shot at the big time. meanwhile, he had gotten married and they were headed to New York and were stuck in Connecticut. Well, one thing led to another and Staton found himself at the Charlton offices in Derby and walked out with an assignment. That led to more, many written by Cuti (especially horror and sci-fi stories). Charlton decided to try superheroes again, which Cuti had wanted to do; but, they were doing it cautiously, with one book. Cuti was given the task and he brought Staton on board. Cuti wanted something lighter, like his favorite comic book hero, Plastic Man. He came up with the idea of an energy hero, who converted from matter to energy and back, allowing the wild visuals ala Plas. His original idea was an atomic power plant worker who is blown up in an accident, but reconstitutes himself as energy, then converts to matter. Staton wasn't wild on the origin, as it was too derivative. Cuti went back to the drawing board and Alec Tronn was born. Right from the start, E-Man was different. he was an energy being, born from a nova star, who is thrown out into the galaxy, wandering the cosmos. He encounters an alien craft and hops on board, via the exhaust port. There, he encounters robots and a giant brain, from the planet Sirius, which is going to Pluto to test a bomb. E-Man's physical form adds to the mass of the spaceship, throwing it off course, causing it to crash on Earth. Meanwhile, exotic dancer (stripper) Katrinka Colchnzski, aka Nova Kane has finished her set and is getting ready to change and head home for the night. She hears a voice and thinks it is the ventriloquist act playing a joke. She plays along and smashes a light bulb to free the voice she hears. The energy being takes on human form and Nova takes him home, via her jeep battery. The next morning, she fixes him bacon and eggs, surprised to find that he eats, in physical form. Her landlord shows up and she thinks he is there to collect the rent when he attacks her. E-Man jumps to her aid and stops him. Nova had mentioned he had been on vacation upstate, so they decide to head up there. E-Man travels via phone lines, while Nova drives. She stops at a local grocery store, where she is attacked, as a stranger. She runs from a mob and meets a talking cat, who is E-Man. They head out the next morning and find the sight of the spaceship crash and discover that the alien Brain from Sirius is alive and has the gas bomb. E-man is able to destroy the bomb and blow up the brain. Thus began the saga of the most delightful hero to hit the stands since Jack Cole's Plastic Man. The tone is light and whimsical, in stark contrast to the broodier heroes from the Big Two. This was deliberate on the part of Cuti and Staton and it is a smart move, making E-Man stand out from everything. Meanwhile, Staton adds nice comic touches to the visuals, while Cuti keeps the dialogue and plot playful, yet exciting. It can read a little slight; but, in an age where writers were cover comic pages in word balloons, it was a refreshing change. The inventiveness of the series, both in the stories and the designs made for great visuals and fun characters. The Brain soon makes a return and launches a new weapon, the Entropy Twins, two beings who represent order and disorder, causing havoc when apart, cancelling out the other when together. It is here that E-Man gains the alias Alec Tronn, when Nova introduces him to what are revealed to be the Entropy Twins. As the series progresses, we get commentaries on the Energy Crisis, a satire of Walt Disney (with Staton's caricature ability on display), more battles with the Brain and a return of the Entropy Twins. In the third issue, we meet dishevelled private eye Mike Mauser, who Nova hires to help her find the missing E-Man. Mauser pops back in occasionally. Issue 8 introduces Teddy Q, a sort of mascot for the series and sees Nova blown up, only to reconstitute herself as E-Man does. She is now superpowered, as well, adopting a costume similar to E-Man's. Along the way we get homages to King Kong, tons of sci-fi, current events and tons of fun. Unfortunately, what we didn't get was sales. Although E-Man was the most popular subscription title, it didn't do well on newsstands and was cancelled. A last story appeared in the Charlton Bullseye #4... That would be it for our hero for close to ten years (aside from reprints via the Modern Comics imprint, in bagged sets). However, you can't keep a good idea down and he was revived at First Comics, in one of their early titles. Staton was the art director at First and they agreed to buy the property from Charlton, with rights reverting to Cuti and Staton when that was paid off. However, like most things with First, that wasn't entirely what happened. A new series was launched, but Cuti wasn't available, so Marty Pasko did the scripting. The stories were fun; but, lack a certain spark that Cuti gave them. He did return for one or two stories, while First also reprinted the original stories. The series then found itself at Comico, for a one-shot and a mini-series. It would turn up again at Alpha Productions, then some digital work and Neo-Charlton's Charlton Arrow. It is now back at AC Comics, in their new Charlton Arrow, with Cuti and Staton back together (Cuti was also involved in the Comico and Alpha material). Meanwhile, E-man featured several back-up ideas. Issue one has The Knight, from Cuti and Tom Sutton. This was a spy-fi idea, with an agent of CHESS (Command for Hindrance of Espionage, Sabotage and Subversion). The Knight, agent Link Chain is their field agent, a somewhat disrespectful man, who's a devil with the ladies. Sounds vaguely familiar. CHESS is headed by the King and Queen, who hand out assignments. Mission support is provided by Bishops, who act as controllers, and Rooks, who provide arms and equipment. The Knight infiltrates an electronics plant, where several government secrets have gone missing. It turns out the whole operation is a front for spies. The Knight and his Rook, Marko Tulsa are forced to fight it out until help arrives from CHESS. When it looks like they are going to go out like Butch and Sundance, in comes their Bishop, Mari Halliday, who runs hot and cold with Link. She saves their bacon and agrees to that date with Link, who falls asleep, after being up all night photographing documents and faking guidance system designs. The next back-up feature is Killjoy, from Joe Gill and Steve Ditko. The look of things is lighter than previous Ditko; but, the writing isn't. The plot is obviously Ditko's, as the story is a Randian satire of the idea of rights for "criminals. It is taken to an extreme as robbers talk about their rights and the right to share the wealth, while others talk about earners. It's a bit heavy-handed and slogging through the Randian ideology takes a lot of the joy out of it, for me. Ditko's visuals help make it more palatable; but not a lot. There were two Killjoy stories; but, no more. Ditko did return with Liberty Belle, a patriotic heroine. She's a fashion designer and qualified astronaut, who goes on a Skylab mission, which is being sabotaged by the Commies (Ayn Rand's ultimate enemies). Issue three has a sort of sci-fi and fantasy mix that seems a bit of a tribute to Wally Wood's work, from Cuti and Wayne Howard, titled Travis, in the Dragon Killer. The last and most sustained back-up feature is Rog 2000, with stories by Cuti and art by some young fan named John Byrne. This would be John Byrne's first professionally published color work (after a two-page B&W story for Skywald), leading to his next assignment, Wheely and the Chopper Bunch, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Byrne has fun with it, as he himself appears as a character, as does Duffy Vohland and, I assume, several of the other members of the CPL Gang, which included Roger Stern and Roger Slifer, for whom the character was named. These stories are filled with satire and silliness, including a send-up of gothic horror, swamp creatures (which were all the rage in the early 70s) and other ideas. Rog 2000 would have likely gotten his own series, had E-Man and the superhero idea not been cancelled. The stories were reprinted by Pacific Comics, in 1982. Next up, we look at the other superhero/action-adventure strips at the Wildman/Cuti Charlton: Yang and Vengeance Squad.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 4, 2018 8:29:39 GMT -5
Love, love, love E-man, and nothing beats the original 10-issue run. I tracked down and purchased all of the original issues, because I also wanted the letters pages and back-up features, and had them bound. Just re-read it over the holidays. What I really love about this initial run is that the stories have this sort of goofy, light, Silver Age quality to them, as embodied in the naive E-man himself, but there's still so many serious and sometimes even dark aspects. As you noted, some of the themes, like the energy crisis and pollution, were quite topical, and there's also just the fact that Nova is a student who moonlights as a stripper. Mike Mauser, meanwhile, looks like he just stepped out of an underground comic. Rog 2000 is a fantastic character, and it's too bad that he wasn't spun off into another series back then in the early '70s. As for Killjoy, I would disagree that those are a slog to read (that's how I would characterize pretty much every Mr. A story). I don't agree with any of Ditko's Randian views, but I find the two Killjoy features, especially the first one, rather entertaining, because it's like reading Ditko's fever dreams.
By the way, do you know if these latest Charlton Arrows published by AC can be purchased in digital versions, like the previously ones produced by Charlton Neo? I can't even find listings for it at the AC site.
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Post by MDG on Jan 4, 2018 10:20:01 GMT -5
Love, love, love E-man, and nothing beats the original 10-issue run.... What I really love about this initial run is that the stories have this sort of goofy, light, Silver Age quality to them, as embodied in the naive E-man himself, but there's still so many serious and sometimes even dark aspects. Yeah--It hit the tone that DC was never quite able to get right in all of their Plastic Man iterations (even w/ Staton). Fun, but with the ability to go deep if needed. Also, this has to be one of the best origin pages of any superhero: As for Killjoy, I would disagree that those are a slog to read (that's how I would characterize pretty much every Mr. A story). I don't agree with any of Ditko's Randian views, but I find the two Killjoy features, especially the first one, rather entertaining, because it's like reading Ditko's fever dreams. They certainly have as much (and probably more) color, movement, and action than most of Marvel/DC of the time.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,057
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Post by Confessor on Jan 4, 2018 10:46:10 GMT -5
As I noted in this thread a few pages back, I love the original 10 issue run of E-Man. In fact, although I'm not that widely read on Charlton's stuff, E-Man is the only Charlton comic I've ever found that I enjoyed. As you say codystarbuck, it's a fun, lightweight comic series to read, with a memorable cast of core characters. I mean, sure, some of the stories and/or villains were a bit crap-tastic on occasion, but in the context of the series it all worked well. Joe Staton's artwork is lovely too, and as for Nova Kane, well...va-va-voom!!! However, the thing that I think I love most about the original E-Man is the satirical and mildly subversive skewering of the superhero idiom that is a feature throughout that run. Also, as something of a late '60s/early '70s armchair historian, I love, love, LOVE all the little hidden references to then-contemporary pop culture and current affairs buried in Staton's artwork. E-Man is a really fun comic book and is definitely of its time (in a good way).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 10:50:57 GMT -5
As I noted in this thread a few pages back, I love the original 10 issue run of E-Man. In fact, although I'm not that widely read on Charlton's stuff, E-Man is the only Charlton comic I've ever found that I enjoyed. As you say codystarbuck , it's a fun, lightweight comic series to read, with a memorable cast of core characters. I mean, sure, some of the stories and/or villains were a bit crap-tastic on occasion, but in the context of the series it all worked well. Joe Staton's artwork is lovely too, and as for Nova Kane, well...va-va-voom!!! However, the thing that I think I love most about the original E-Man is the satirical and mildly subversive skewering of the superhero idiom that is a feature throughout that run. Also, as something of a late '60s/early '70s armchair historian, I love, love, LOVE all the little hidden references to then-contemporary pop culture and current affairs buried in Staton's artwork. E-Man is a really fun comic book and is definitely of its time (in a good way). I agree. E-Man was one of my favorite series in the 70's. It definitely captured the spirit of Cole's Plastic Man. It was brilliant & a breath of fresh air at that time. Lightning in a bottle!
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jan 4, 2018 12:34:26 GMT -5
A lot of love for E-Man here! I join the crowd in appreciation of the series' brilliance, although I never thought the follow-up series quite lived up to the original. And was Nova one of the sexiest women in comics ever, or what?
I enjoyed all the back-ups too, and have stated before I think it's a shame they never wound up at DC as Liberty Belle would make a nice legacy hero for the JSA.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 4, 2018 12:45:21 GMT -5
Love, love, love E-man, and nothing beats the original 10-issue run. I tracked down and purchased all of the original issues, because I also wanted the letters pages and back-up features, and had them bound. Just re-read it over the holidays. What I really love about this initial run is that the stories have this sort of goofy, light, Silver Age quality to them, as embodied in the naive E-man himself, but there's still so many serious and sometimes even dark aspects. As you noted, some of the themes, like the energy crisis and pollution, were quite topical, and there's also just the fact that Nova is a student who moonlights as a stripper. Mike Mauser, meanwhile, looks like he just stepped out of an underground comic. Rog 2000 is a fantastic character, and it's too bad that he wasn't spun off into another series back then in the early '70s. As for Killjoy, I would disagree that those are a slog to read (that's how I would characterize pretty much every Mr. A story). I don't agree with any of Ditko's Randian views, but I find the two Killjoy features, especially the first one, rather entertaining, because it's like reading Ditko's fever dreams. By the way, do you know if these latest Charlton Arrows published by AC can be purchased in digital versions, like the previously ones produced by Charlton Neo? I can't even find listings for it at the AC site. While I agree it is far more accessible than Mr. A and it's better satire than something like that awful conservative newspaper strip Mallard Fillmore, it just wants to make me fire back at Ditko about the rights of the "accused," vs his ideas of criminals whining about "rights." To me, the shame of it is that Ditko was really good with humor material; yet, his inflexible worldview limits his ability to be truly satirical. The visuals are great; but, I find the joke worn out on the first page. Contrast that with some of the broader bits he did for Not Brand Ecch and the stories of the Christmas strip he posted on the office walls at Charlton, with a gruesome, twisted take on Santa Claus that built and built as he posted each new installment. I just think that if Ditko could see more of the grey in the world, he could have had a lot more fun with this kind of thing, poking fun at both sides, ala the Mad crowd. A lot of those guys were fairly liberal; but, they poked just as much fun at the Left as the Right.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 4, 2018 12:50:18 GMT -5
As I noted in this thread a few pages back, I love the original 10 issue run of E-Man. In fact, although I'm not that widely read on Charlton's stuff, E-Man is the only Charlton comic I've ever found that I enjoyed. As you say codystarbuck , it's a fun, lightweight comic series to read, with a memorable cast of core characters. I mean, sure, some of the stories and/or villains were a bit crap-tastic on occasion, but in the context of the series it all worked well. Joe Staton's artwork is lovely too, and as for Nova Kane, well...va-va-voom!!! However, the thing that I think I love most about the original E-Man is the satirical and mildly subversive skewering of the superhero idiom that is a feature throughout that run. Also, as something of a late '60s/early '70s armchair historian, I love, love, LOVE all the little hidden references to then-contemporary pop culture and current affairs buried in Staton's artwork. E-Man is a really fun comic book and is definitely of its time (in a good way). Nova was a strong element of E-Man and a fan favorite for several reasons, not the least of which was a nuclear figure. Rip Jagger's Dojo has an image that Staton did that is sure to please fan of the character, which you can see here. (NSFW)
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Post by MDG on Jan 4, 2018 13:16:18 GMT -5
While I agree it is far more accessible than Mr. A and it's better satire than something like that awful conservative newspaper strip Mallard Fillmore, it just wants to make me fire back at Ditko about the rights of the "accused," vs his ideas of criminals whining about "rights." I felt the same way the first time I read "The Avenging World," my first real exposure to Ditko (I know now that I'd seen his work before that, notably Hawk & Dove, but didn't follow creators), still I love his ability to use images to convey ideas. Nova was a strong element of E-Man and a fan favorite for several reasons, not the least of which was a nuclear figure. Rip Jagger's Dojo has an image that Staton did that is sure to please fan of the character, which you can see here. When my partner and I were dealing original art, we had a Green Lantern page by Staton that on the back had a drawing of a naked Katma Tui saying "Yoo-hoo, Brucie!," a note to inker Bruce Patterson.
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