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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 11, 2018 16:16:56 GMT -5
I like the script credit in the last story - "Norm di Pluhm". The GCD says it was D.J. Arneson who wrote all of the Bikini Luv stories, but only the last three were credited this way. The earlier ones had no script credit at all.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 16:40:47 GMT -5
I've been keeping an eye out for the ACG issue of Hagar with the Frazetta homage in the wild for a couple of years now. I know Lonestar has one I could order, but I would like to find it in the wild.
-M
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 11, 2018 16:53:56 GMT -5
I've never seen Aparo do humor comics before, and I totally agree that he's suited to it. By the way, I very recently discovered another site like the Digital Comic Museum that has old comic books available on line (legally) called Comic Book + and was surprised to find that from the late 1940s through the '60s Charlton published a number of adult-oriented humor books, with titles like "Crazy, Man, Crazy," "From Here to Insanity," etc. One of them even has some illustrations by Basil Wolverton.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 11, 2018 18:14:46 GMT -5
I've been keeping an eye out for the ACG issue of Hagar with the Frazetta homage in the wild for a couple of years now. I know Lonestar has one I could order, but I would like to find it in the wild. -M I had that on my pull list when it came out. When Roger Broughton first started using the ACG name, it caught my attention, as I had a few of that company's comics (Adventures into the Unknown, with Pete Costanza's Nemesis). I picked up a few things; but, when I saw that Frazetta riff in Previews, I had to picl up the comic. Besides, I always liked Hagar. The comic was pretty good, as these things go. I just wish they would have done a whole Eternal Champion riff with Hagar, given the cover. I assume it was from the 70s, around the time Charlton lost the license for King Features, as those guys would have been more familiar with Frazetta's cover painting for the Moorcock novel (Phoenix in Obsidian aka Silver Warriors).
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 11, 2018 18:19:41 GMT -5
I've never seen Aparo do humor comics before, and I totally agree that he's suited to it. By the way, I very recently discovered another site like the Digital Comic Museum that has old comic books available on line (legally) called Comic Book + and was surprised to find that from the late 1940s through the '60s Charlton published a number of adult-oriented humor books, with titles like "Crazy, Man, Crazy," "From Here to Insanity," etc. One of them even has some illustrations by Basil Wolverton. Yeah, I'm not sure how many kids in the 50s would have understood this joke. It might be US slang only; let me know if translation is needed.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
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Post by Confessor on Jan 11, 2018 19:45:54 GMT -5
I've never seen Aparo do humor comics before, and I totally agree that he's suited to it. By the way, I very recently discovered another site like the Digital Comic Museum that has old comic books available on line (legally) called Comic Book + and was surprised to find that from the late 1940s through the '60s Charlton published a number of adult-oriented humor books, with titles like "Crazy, Man, Crazy," "From Here to Insanity," etc. One of them even has some illustrations by Basil Wolverton. Yeah, I'm not sure how many kids in the 50s would have understood this joke. It might be US slang only; let me know if translation is needed. "Built like a brick s**thouse" isn't a solely American phrase. We have it over here in the UK too, but it means something entirely different. In the UK, you would use the phrase to describe a guy who is big, musclebound and probably quite scary looking, whereas I believe in the U.S. it means a curvaceous woman with big boobs and a big ass.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 11, 2018 20:07:49 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm not sure how many kids in the 50s would have understood this joke. It might be US slang only; let me know if translation is needed. "Built like a brick s**thouse" isn't a solely American phrase. We have it over here in the UK too, but it means something entirely different. In the UK, you would use the phrase to describe a guy who is big, musclebound and probably quite scary looking, whereas I believe in the U.S. it means a curvaceous woman with big boobs and a big ass.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,057
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Post by Confessor on Jan 11, 2018 20:14:26 GMT -5
"Built like a brick s**thouse" isn't a solely American phrase. We have it over here in the UK too, but it means something entirely different. In the UK, you would use the phrase to describe a guy who is big, musclebound and probably quite scary looking, whereas I believe in the U.S. it means a curvaceous woman with big boobs and a big ass. Are you saying that the American phrase is just "brick house"? Because that's definitely a brick outhouse on the cover of that comic. I'm sure I've heard the phrase "built like a brick s**thouse" used by Americans to describe a well built attractive woman.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 20:44:39 GMT -5
Are you saying that the American phrase is just "brick house"? Because that's definitely a brick outhouse on the cover of that comic. I'm sure I've heard the phrase "built like a brick s**thouse" used by Americans to describe a well built attractive woman. No. Probably because "brick s**thouse" wouldn't be allowed on the radio in the 70's. So they used "brickhouse" instead.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 12, 2018 12:21:34 GMT -5
And there's a significant pause when they sing "She's a brick ... house", which I always interpreted as leaving room for the missing word.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 14, 2018 0:31:12 GMT -5
In the mid-50s, Charlton picked up several titles from publishers leaving the game, including some newspaper adventure strips and other licensed titles. From Fawcett they got Don Winslow of the Navy and Nyoka, from Superior they got Brenda Starr, and from Crestwood they got Charlie Chan, which had been a newspaper strip until 1942, as well as the original series of books and the films series. They picked up Terry and the Pirates, for three issues, reprinting the George Wunder strips. Later, they picked up some from King Features, when King Comics was shut down. The first Charlton issue (#22) includes art from Wally Wood (inks). Subsequent issues would have stories from Joe Gill and art by Pat Boyette. Gill was better at writing this kind of stuff and Boyette threw everything into his art and really excelled at adventure strips. Charlton also picked up Flash Gordon from King, for a handful of issues, before it went to Western/Gold Key. The first two Charlton issues (#12 and 13) appear to have left over King material, with art from Reed Crandall (12) and Jeff Jones (13). Pat Boyette produces most of the Charlton stuff and again shows his mastery of this stuff. Boyette handles the swashbuckling action well and he was pretty adept at the sci-fi touches, like rayguns and rocketships. King had had Al Williamson on the material; but, Boyette wasn't a bad successor. However, as I said, Flash didn't stick around long, before he switched over to Western, who handled him (with art from Carlos Garzon) up through their adaptation of the 1980 movie (with art by Al Williamson). Charlton would have a much longer tenure, though, with another classic King Features action hero and Boyette would be heavily involved: The Phantom. Assignments rotated, with other artists, including Don Perlin and Bill Ligante, handling stories; but, Boyette is pretty much the regular artists from issue #39 through 59. Joe Gill's scripts are pretty lively (usually); but, Boyette really brings in the adventure, though Charlton's cheap printing undermined the look of things. Bill Ligante did #35, "The Ghost Tribe," which is a favorite story of mine, as the Phantom faces a group of invaders, who use his own tactics to strike fear in the locals. There was another artist, though, who really made a name for himself on the Phantom, though he did less than a dozen issues (including covers); Jim Aparo. Aparo handled art on covers and stories in issues 31-32, 34, and 36-38. He did covers only for issues 33, 35, 60 and 61. His original tenure goes right up to the point that he followed Dick Giordano to DC; but, he was able to freelance the covers for 60 and 61, for George Wildman, while still working at DC. DC usually frowned upon their artists working elsewhere; but, Aparo had proved so popular on Batman and Aquaman that DC was happy to accomodate (so long as it wasn't Marvel). It's a shame that Aparo didn't do the interior for my fav #35; but, Aparo's stories were gorgeous. His moody style fit in well with the Ghost Who Walks and gave a preview of what was to come, with Batman. I would venture to say that Aparo was the definitive Phantom artist at Charlton, if it wasn't for the one artist who I always felt topped him: Don Newton. I've already sung the praises of Newton and my two favorite issues: #70 ("The Mystery of the Mali Ibex") and #74 ("The Phantom of 1776"), way back in the early days of this thread. #70 is, in my estimation, the greatest Phantom story, ever! It's a big Bogart film riff, with scenes and characters borrowed from Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, Casablanca, and The Maltese Falcon. John Huston and Bogey are channeled throughout this tale of the Phantom of the 1930s and 40s. Newton gets to play with all kinds of exotic locales and gets the caricatures right. He has moody jungle scenes, images of Morocco, old buildings, swampy rivers and just about everything in between. #74 has my favorite cover, painted by Newton. If Charlton had given a flying Phantom about making some money with their comics, they would have turned that cover painting into a poster. Charlton had one of their longest licensed runs with the Phantom; but, it came to an end in 1976, with issue 74. The Phantom would go unseen in American comic books until Marvel published their licensed comic, based on the Defenders of the Earth animated series; and, DC picked up the character, with the mini-series from Peter David and Joe Orlando (in a rare art job by Orlando, for that era). DC continued with a regular series, featuring Luke McDonnell on the art. The Phantom later got three issues from Marvel (in 1995), before being picked up by Moonstone, Dynamite, and Hermes. The Phantom did appear in comics from Wolf Publishing, a UK publisher, which reprinted stories from a Scandinavian publisher. The comics were distributed in the US and Australia, via the Direct Market. Charlton's Phantom comic has a special place in my heart. Both my first Charlton comic and my first Phantom comic was issue #66 (ironically, the year of my birth)... The art is by Don Sherwood and is nothing spectacular and the story is kind of generic Phantom. However, at the time, I didn't realize that. The only Phantom I had seen was on Saturday morning, on the ABC Superstar Movie, which featured cartoon pilots and specials from several animation houses. One episode in particular was Popeye and the Man Who Hated Laughter. It features Popeye and just about all of the major King Features comic strip characters, including the Phantom. The animation is a bit cut rate; but, the tale was exciting enough to make me want to see more of the Phantom. This fulfilled that. My local newspaper didn't carry it, though I could see the Sundays, when I visited my grandparents. That was the long era of Sy Barry; and, though his material was quite good, Jim Aparo and Don Newton gave the strip so much more atmosphere. Now, thanks to Hermes, you can enjoy the Charlton Phantom comics, with a special volume devoted to Jim Aparo, as well as the entire run of Pat Boyette and others, and the Don Newton material. If you like great adventure comics, those are worth the investment. Next time, we venture into the world of comics aimed at girls: Charlton's romance comics. Get your cootie shots and come on back!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 14, 2018 2:04:24 GMT -5
I like the script credit in the last story - "Norm di Pluhm". The GCD says it was D.J. Arneson who wrote all of the Bikini Luv stories, but only the last three were credited this way. The earlier ones had no script credit at all. It appears that Norm Di Pluhm was Don James Arneson, who definitely used it in a few Phantom stories and is believed to have been the one in Go-Go and Abbott and Costello, as well as Ghostly Tales. Many thought it was Steve Skeates; but, he denied it. Of course, Denny O'Neil was Sergius O'Shaugnessy and used the pseudonym Jim Dennis (in conjunction with co-author Jim Berry) on the Richard Dragon novel, Kung Fu Master.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 2:10:31 GMT -5
codystarbuck ... I just loved the Phantom from Charlton Comics and the great pages too ... I wished that I had those books back and I regretted getting rid of them 8-10 years ago.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 15, 2018 2:12:32 GMT -5
Alright, before we get started, let's put on a little mood music... So, in days of yore, girls read comics. Lots of them. Oh, they tended to outgrow them faster than the boys; but, they read them. Quite often, they started with stuff like Harvey or other humor titles (depending on the era) and might graduate to Archie and the gang. Some stuck around a bit longer, thanks to romance comics. Now, some bailed fast on the romance comics, after getting some of the rather chauvinistic nonsense in some of them shoved down their throats. Like any comic genre, there was good and bad material. Unlike the superhero comics, though, you generally didn't get the bad artists. Romance comics may not have had the best writing in comics (though many were a cut above the adventure material); but they did boast some of the best artists in the field. Charlton wasn't one to pass something like that by and they fielded plenty of romance comic, some featuring better artwork than a lot of their other titles. Some of the artists featured in them are a no brainer, some will surprise you. Charlton's first romance comic was Pictorial Love Stories, which picked up the numbering from Tim McCoy, a western. It didn't last long; but, Charlton would try more. In the 50s, when Charlton picked up the leftovers from other companies, they got a few romance titles. From Fawcett, they picked up Cowboy Love (no, we are not talking Brokeback Mountain), Romantic Secrets, Romantic Story, and Sweethearts. Both Romantic Story and Sweethearts lasted into the early 1970s, lasting nearly 20 years. That's not a bad run under any standard; but, especially for Charlton. From Simon & Kirby's Mainline, they acquired In Love, which changed it's name to I Love You, and lasted until 1980,; 25 years. There were medical romances... These weren't necessarily romances, per se; but, romance was a strong element and the audience tended to be female, though neither of these lasted long. Marriage was a biggie... There was teen-age love and young love... There was even Haunted Love... There was even bubblegum pop stuff, aimed at teenagers and preteens... Romance comics always drew great artists, as it gave them a chance to draw real people, not just exaggerated characters (well, superhuman exaggeration). Dick Giordano did plenty of work there, especially covers... Jim Aparo did a bit of work there... In fact, Aparo did one of the more interesting genre mash-ups at Charlton, Tiffany Sinn, The CIA Sweetheart... Tiffany started out in Career Girl Romances #38, with art by Nicholas and Alascia... She got the cover in #39. here's a look at one of her earlier stories... The Aparo tale was a back-up story, in the last issue of Sarge Steel. Aparo gives it a bit more oomph... It's not exactly Honey West or Modesty Blaise; but, it had potential. Alas, it came at the end of the Giordano era and departed with Aparo, when he went to DC. Even Steve Ditko did a few romance comics for Charlton... Ditko didn't do many romance stories, which isn't that surprising, when you look over the body of his work. It would seem to be a realm in which he wasn't terribly comfortable, though it is hard to say, since he avoids discussing his work. Haunted Love was an experiment in doing gothic romances, mixing in elements of horror. Tom Sutton did some of the covers and interiors, as did Joe Staton, Charlton's two go-to horror artists, in the Wildman and Cuti era... The truly gorgeous art, though, for the romance comics, came from some of the Spanish artists, especially Argentine artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (praise be his name)... Romance comics had been a staple of the industry since created by Simon & Kirby; but, their days were waning by the 70s. Both DC and Marvel cut back heavily on them, before shutting them down completely. Charlton stuck it out for a while; but had discontinued most by the mid-70s. Newsstand woes hurt everyone and fewer and fewer coomics were selling. One of the few genres that did well was horror/mystery and everyone was concentrating on that. Girls and kids were abandoned, more and more, especially after the advent of the direct market, which catered to the fan community, where superheroes were dominant. Despite the booming romance novel industry, comics publishers just couldn't be made to see the potential, since they couldn't seem to see beyond their existing (and shrinking market). Louise Simonson tried to get Marvel to bite and she was looking to develop something with Harlequin; but, it never came about. Although there were strong female audiences for certain titles (such as Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Love & Rockets, and Elfquest), there wasn't a large presence, until the manga boom of the late 90s and new millennium. However, that audience didn't seem to carry over, as much, into American comics. Manga embraced romance, as well as strong female adventure characters, while the mainstream American comics continued, mostly, to be a boys' club. Next time, dust off your saddles, we're headin' west!
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 15, 2018 3:03:20 GMT -5
Just as I'd love an omnibus or something collecting all of Aparo's work at Charlton, I'd love something similar for Garcia-Lopez (PBHN) - which would mainly be romance comics as far as I know. By the way, good point about the top-notch art that could often be found in romance comics. The DC and Marvel (in particular) romance comics often had stellar art. Another gem that appeared in a Charlton romance comic, featuring art by either Enrique or Jorge Badia Romero, can be seen at Diversions of the Groovy Kind - in a story called "Second-Rate Wife?" Actually, anyone who's interested in seeing more samples of romance stories, with art by Staton, Sutton, DeZuniga, John Buscema and others, can just click the "romance comics" label at that same site.
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