The Other Guys-Non-DC & Marvel Reviews
Jan 29, 2018 1:57:39 GMT -5
berkley, EdoBosnar, and 1 more like this
Post by codystarbuck on Jan 29, 2018 1:57:39 GMT -5
So, when Charlton decided to produce their own comics in-house, they hired away Al Fago from Funnies, Inc to be the editor. When he left in 1955, the job was handed to Pat Masulli. Dick Giordano was made Masulli's assistant, as he was also overseeing the magazine line. Eventually, Giordano took over the comics line and brought about a renaissance, with the likes of Ditko, Aparo, Boyette, Skeates, O'Shaugnessy, McLaughlin, Morisi and Glanzman elevating Charlton's material with some quality stories and a superhero revival. However, Giordano grew tired and frustrated by the fight to push Santangelo to open up the purse strings and go deeper into producing the material that was resonating. They only cared about keeping the presses going. Ditko put the word in about Giordano, at DC and he was hired away to be an editor. He took his talent with him. Aparo took on Aquaman and would soon land Batman, on The Brave and the Bold. O'Shaugnessy would change his name to O'Neil and work with Neal Adams revamping Batman and produce the cult Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Skeates joined Aparo on the classic Aquaman run. Boyette would handle a variety of material for Giordano, including Blackhawk. Ditko was producing his own material already. McLaughlin stuck around Charlton for a bit; but, came over to become the chief inker for Dick Dillin on Justice League and on Irv Novick on Flash. Morisi did bits and pieces at DC; but, didn't really enjoy the restrictions there. He was still a full-time cop and was only freelancing. Glanzman was enticed to take on some of the war material and had a long run on Haunted Tank, while also producing the classic USS Stevens material.
Sal Gentile took over as editor and just kind of rode the waves, sticking to what Charlton had been doing all along. Charlton had picked up some licenses from King Features and they did well enough that they started to focus on that material more. They would soon pick up the Hanna-Barbera license, which Western/Gold Key had held, plus, several others (Jay Ward, Total Television and Underdog). Gentile was not a particular force at Charlton and only lasted from 1969 to 1971, as the editor. At That point, George Wildman, who was doing Popeye and some other material, was offered the job. Wildman took it, on condition he be allowed to continue on Popeye. King Features was very happy with his material and Charlton let him do both. Wildman came from the world of commercial art, running his own advertising business, producing material for catalogs and other printing for local clients. He ended up taking a staff position at Charlton after he lost a couple of big clients, who relocated to California. He was able to pick up enough work in volume that it was financially viable. Now, with the editorship and Popeye, he was doing alright. However, he was itching to push Charlton into more successful areas.
One of the first things Wildman did was try to establish a brand identity for Charlton. For many years, readers had no idea who published Charlton's comics, as they didn't have a noticeable logo (which wasn't much different than companies like Atlas or Standard or Avon). Eventually, Charlton comics started to Carry the stylized "C" logo, by the time of Giordano. Wildman decided to give this an update and the Charlton bullseye logo was born...
![](https://sngpod.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/charlton-bullseye-logo.png)
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This stood out more on Charlton's covers and helped give them an identity, similar to the DC "bullet." Wildman also decided to focus more on areas being neglected by the big two: horror/mystery, westerns and adventure. There was an explosion of horror and mystery titles during this era, as well as the continuation of things like The Phantom and the introduction of adventure material like Yang and Vengeance Squad. When Charlton okayed re-entering the superhero market, Wilman greenlit Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton's E-Man. Cuti had been an assistant to Wally Wood, working on Cannon and Sally Forth, as well as creating material for Warren. He signed on as Wildman's assistant editor and wrote a great deal of material, on his own (especially for the horror and sci-fi books). Wildman and Cuti became a recognizable team and made a presence at comic conventions across the country (which were starting to grow, expanding into more cities). While making the rounds of conventions, they kept an eye out for new talent, such as the aforementioned Joe Staton. For the young guys, it was hard to break in at DC or Marvel; but, you might be able to pick up an assignment or two from Charlton. This was how Skeates and Aparo had gotten noticed at DC. Into Charlton came an influx of new talent. Tom Sutton, who had worked for Warren came on to do horror comics (and some war ones, too). Sanho Kim produced horror, western and adventure material for them. They recruited artists from Spain and Latin America, including Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (PBHN). Mike Zeck came in contact with them, via the CPL Gang and started working on horror material. Then, there was the CPL Gang, themselves.
![](http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/uploads/EricWhite/2010-08-14_081924_CPL11.jpg)
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The CPL Gang was a group of fans from the Midwest (Ohio, primarily, I believe) who put together a fanzine known as Contemporary Pictorial Literature. It was a showcase for some tremendous work from both seasoned pros and up and comers. The group was founded by Bob Layton and Roger Stern who would use it and Charlton as a springboard into Marvel and DC. Others from the group included Roger Slifer, Duffy Vohland, Tony Isabella, Don Maltz, Michael Uslan, Steven Grant and Canadian John Byrne. Mike Zeck got his in to Charlton after meeting up with the CPL Gang. At its height, CPL had a circulation of 5-6,000, according to Bob Layton.
The GPL Gang were big fans of Charlton, especially the Giordano material and issue ( and 10 of CPL was a double issue, devoted to the Charlton Action Heroes, called the Charlton Portfolio...
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vX6tRxe5I/AAAAAAAACVc/nOMXUcUGYNw/s400/Portfolio+Back.jpg)
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Inside were fan and professional illustrations of the characters, as well as features about them and the creators.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vYlmu5jbI/AAAAAAAACW8/qvG_-H6NB9I/s400/Sarge.jpg)
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Several pros provided illustrations for the fanzine, including Alex Toth, who did the cover of issue 11, which also featured a Rich Buckler Deathlok poster...
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/TG467cWLmfI/AAAAAAAAHM0/v_R-l8gdpvk/s1600/cpl11_covers.jpg)
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Wildman and Cuti came in contact with the CPL Gang and a rare deal was made, via Duffy Vohland: CPL would publish the unused material intended for Blue Beetle #6, which never saw the light of day. The group was given the reprint rights for free, with no strings attached. Layton didn't know exactly how it came about; but, believed that Wildman and Cuti were enthusiastic about generating fan interest in a revival of the Action Hero line. The material was included in the Charlton Portfolio and in convinced Wildman and Cuti that an in-house fanzine, similar to Marvel's FOOM and The Amazing World of DC could be viable. Both those fanzines had proven popular with fans. So, the gang was recruited to launch the Charlton Bullseye fanzine.
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ozK4CKt-Yug/WgQBE3cfljI/AAAAAAABSFk/SUQO-G2LcKInm6kmDh-H6ZGbTk3uwqNYwCLcBGAs/s1600/CB%2B1%2B75.jpg)
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6dAtBsxH-SI/TkY3CbXCnUI/AAAAAAAAOqc/yHYNAbgSzLM/s400/Bullseye%2B2.jpg)
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Issue one featured the unpublished Captain Atom story, intended for Captain Atom #90, with John Byrne finishing Steve Ditko's art.
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The issue also featured an interview with Nick Cuti, which goes in depth into his background and he also talks about upcoming comics at Charlton. Joe Staton has art throughout and John Byrne has a Rog 2000 feature (Rog 2000 debuted in CPL). Issue two finishes the story, has an interview with George Wildman, a Ditko story ("Moonshift"), and ad for the Charlton Portfolio, an article on the Nature Boy feature, a Doomsday +1 pin-up and more about some of Charlton's upcoming horror titles.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OD7vZopovhM/Tr2KjwqBJGI/AAAAAAAADxU/dn0w1Ngm4xU/s1600/2beye21.jpg)
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Issue three is a kung fu issue, with features on Judomaster (which isn't kung fu; but, whatever...) and Yang, the publication of Sanho Kim's Wrong Country (which had previously gone missing).
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1RNBJns8C5o/T9n0SOYABJI/AAAAAAAAFtk/hyqepx_QlI4/s1600/b8.jpg)
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Issue four features an unpublished E-Man story, an interview with John Byrne (conducted by Rog 2000), a Frank Thorne E-Man pin-up, Walt Simonson's Peacemaker pin-up, and an unpublished Doomsday +1 story (which was later reprinted by Fantagraphics, under the name Doomsday Squad).
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6NqOJZ_j99I/UG8JOsu-FMI/AAAAAAAAHd8/AtGxdqJ_1Aw/s1600/3.jpg)
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Issue five would be the last, with the second part of the Doomsday +1 story, Alex Toth's brand new Question story, and a sample page of the Phantom, done by Pete Morisi.
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5q_EKRsXLt0/Ufb40O8qbBI/AAAAAAAA0sU/HlVrt1AVAzA/s1600/CharltonBullseye05_07.jpg)
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4EF3DlrV7U/TmciYnQyMiI/AAAAAAAAPG4/MUrf7s7WCXk/s1600/Phantom%2BPAM.jpg)
Oh, man, a Pete Morisi Phantom would have been awesome! The Toth Question story came about as he had done a cover for CPL #11 and they asked if he would like to do a new Question story. The fee was low; but, he liked the idea of working on a Ditko character. The story was written by Michael Uslan, from a plot idea by Roger Stern.
The Bullseye was a fine piece of work; but, it didn't make any money and was shelved. Some of the CPL Gang picked up other work at Charlton, especially John Byrne, who worked on Emergency!, Space: 1999, Wheely and the Chopper Bunch, Rog 2000 (in E-Man) and Doomsday +1. Bob Layton picked up a few jobs, including inking a Byrne horror story; but, there weren't many inking obs at Charlton. Layton had connections o Wally Wood, which led to some inking jobs at DC and Layton was off to the races, including his long stint on Iron Man and his Hercules mini-series. Duffy Vohland picked up bits and pieces of work, but had a bit of a reputation as a screwup, and didn't do anything of major impact (mostly production work). Don Maltz went on to work in fantasy and science fiction illustration, as well as commercial art, where he created the "Captain," figure, which became the symbol of Captain Morgan rum. Tony Isabella and Roger Stern broke into Marvel. Michael Uslan wrote some for DC and packaged some of their reprints for Fireside Books, Including Army At War and Mysteries In Space. Steven Grant went on to work at Marvel, First, DC and created the character Whisper at Capital (which moved to first Comics, when Capital shut down their comic line). John Byrne faded into obscurity.![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
Like many things at Charlton, the Bullseye wasn't quite done yet. The name was revived for a color comic, that would be used to showcase young talent, without actually paying them, with the exposure helping to land them jobs elsewhere. The idea wasn't Wildman and Cuti, trying to exploit hungry talent; it actually came from one of the wannabes. Fan artist Dan Reed was itching to get into DC or Marvel; but, received very nice rejections. So, he approached Charlton, who was producing only reprints, by that point. he offered material to them for free, to insert wherever they wanted. The end result was the new Charlton Bullseye comic book.
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Reed produced a Blue Beetle/Question story for the first issue and would return in issue 7 with Captain Atom. Issue 2 featured Arn Saba's Neil the Horse. Issue 3 has work from Gary Wray, Gary Kato and Ron Fortier. Issue 5 has early Chas Truog, has Martin Greim, Mike Machlan, Jerry ordway and Rick Burchett. Issue 8 has work from AC Comics stalwart Mark Heike (Bill Black had a story in issue 7) and issue 9 has work from Gene Day and Jerry Ordway. Martin Greim returns for issue 10, the last.
And that would pretty much be the end of Charlton. By the 1980s, they were on their last legs. Their once vaunted all-in-one production facility had fallen on hard times. The printing presses were out of date and the costs of replacing them were too steep. Their magazine line had fallen off, with the recession of the 70s and early 80s. The briefly printed the early issues of Hustler, before Larry Flint went with someone else. Their distribution had always been feeble and the continued loss of newsstands took away clients. By 1978, they were producing nothing but reprints. They did try marketing reprints of some of their old material, under the name Modern Comics, with new cover logos, packaging them in bagged sets of 3 comics, sold to toy and department stores.
![](http://www.ramonschenk.nl/charltoncomics/achtergronden/modernlogo.jpg)
These sets were sold to stores on a non-returnable basis and were often used for promotions, where they were premium items given away with purchases. However, they were also sold as I bought one, myself, with E-Man #1, Attack #13 and Hercules #10. You can see some of the reprint covers here.
However, these were bought in units, with little repeat business, similar to the problem that afflicted Western, with their Whitman sets. As time wore on, they dried up. Finally, in 1984, Charlton suspended all publications. There was one final attempt at new material, in 1985.
TC Ford was an apprentice for Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin. He heard about the new Charlton Bullseye color comic and submitted a story that was published in issue #4. By 1985, he was publishing some black & white comics, under the name Total Comics Group. He approached Charlton about publishing a black & white quarterly comic with some of their characters. Charlton had already sold most of the Action hero characters to DC (apart from Peter Cannon, who was purchased by Pete Morisi); but, were interested in seeing if other companies might be interested in purchasing remaining characters. Robin Snyder was handling that for them. Ford's proposal was met favorably and he was given the guarantee that they would reserve the characters he supplied on a list, which included Vengeance Squad, Atomic Mouse, Fightin' 5 and Yang. He put together material for a Charlton Bullseye Special, which included art from Amanda Connor. Then, rumors started flying. Charlton was going out of business, the new line wasn't happening, everything was up for sale, etc. Ford would squash one rumor, then another would appear. Robin Snyder was quoted in CBG saying that all of Charlton''s properties were for sale. Ford tried to contact Snyder; but, he wouldn't return his calls. Finally, others at Charlton confirmed the story to Ford, who walked away from the project. The Special did see the light of day, with an extremely small number of copies printed at Charlton (original plan was to print elsewhere).
In 1985, Charlton officially closed shop. The magazine side, Charlton Publications, went bankrupt in 1991. The plant was picked apart and demolished and later redeveloped as retail space. Charlton's titles and original art were sold off, which will be covered next time, as we look at the aftermath of Charlton's demise. Come on back for tales of Roger Broughton, John Lustig's Last Kiss, The Americomics Special, First Comics, and Blockbuster Weekly, the DC title that was to showcase the Charlton Action heroes.
Sal Gentile took over as editor and just kind of rode the waves, sticking to what Charlton had been doing all along. Charlton had picked up some licenses from King Features and they did well enough that they started to focus on that material more. They would soon pick up the Hanna-Barbera license, which Western/Gold Key had held, plus, several others (Jay Ward, Total Television and Underdog). Gentile was not a particular force at Charlton and only lasted from 1969 to 1971, as the editor. At That point, George Wildman, who was doing Popeye and some other material, was offered the job. Wildman took it, on condition he be allowed to continue on Popeye. King Features was very happy with his material and Charlton let him do both. Wildman came from the world of commercial art, running his own advertising business, producing material for catalogs and other printing for local clients. He ended up taking a staff position at Charlton after he lost a couple of big clients, who relocated to California. He was able to pick up enough work in volume that it was financially viable. Now, with the editorship and Popeye, he was doing alright. However, he was itching to push Charlton into more successful areas.
One of the first things Wildman did was try to establish a brand identity for Charlton. For many years, readers had no idea who published Charlton's comics, as they didn't have a noticeable logo (which wasn't much different than companies like Atlas or Standard or Avon). Eventually, Charlton comics started to Carry the stylized "C" logo, by the time of Giordano. Wildman decided to give this an update and the Charlton bullseye logo was born...
![](https://sngpod.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/charlton-bullseye-logo.png)
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6uedhkr-lCo/V0KiYFtdQvI/AAAAAAABDbo/vH7In2eR7Gc2dypyP68lLFeSIqAjUC3UgCLcB/s400/5e4a139823e0f0528ae4d9a4fec05695.jpg)
This stood out more on Charlton's covers and helped give them an identity, similar to the DC "bullet." Wildman also decided to focus more on areas being neglected by the big two: horror/mystery, westerns and adventure. There was an explosion of horror and mystery titles during this era, as well as the continuation of things like The Phantom and the introduction of adventure material like Yang and Vengeance Squad. When Charlton okayed re-entering the superhero market, Wilman greenlit Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton's E-Man. Cuti had been an assistant to Wally Wood, working on Cannon and Sally Forth, as well as creating material for Warren. He signed on as Wildman's assistant editor and wrote a great deal of material, on his own (especially for the horror and sci-fi books). Wildman and Cuti became a recognizable team and made a presence at comic conventions across the country (which were starting to grow, expanding into more cities). While making the rounds of conventions, they kept an eye out for new talent, such as the aforementioned Joe Staton. For the young guys, it was hard to break in at DC or Marvel; but, you might be able to pick up an assignment or two from Charlton. This was how Skeates and Aparo had gotten noticed at DC. Into Charlton came an influx of new talent. Tom Sutton, who had worked for Warren came on to do horror comics (and some war ones, too). Sanho Kim produced horror, western and adventure material for them. They recruited artists from Spain and Latin America, including Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (PBHN). Mike Zeck came in contact with them, via the CPL Gang and started working on horror material. Then, there was the CPL Gang, themselves.
![](http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/uploads/EricWhite/2010-08-14_081924_CPL11.jpg)
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/THobFPqZ3jI/AAAAAAAAHdQ/WPxxMj2QtT8/s1600/cpl12_cover_afront.jpg)
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The CPL Gang was a group of fans from the Midwest (Ohio, primarily, I believe) who put together a fanzine known as Contemporary Pictorial Literature. It was a showcase for some tremendous work from both seasoned pros and up and comers. The group was founded by Bob Layton and Roger Stern who would use it and Charlton as a springboard into Marvel and DC. Others from the group included Roger Slifer, Duffy Vohland, Tony Isabella, Don Maltz, Michael Uslan, Steven Grant and Canadian John Byrne. Mike Zeck got his in to Charlton after meeting up with the CPL Gang. At its height, CPL had a circulation of 5-6,000, according to Bob Layton.
The GPL Gang were big fans of Charlton, especially the Giordano material and issue ( and 10 of CPL was a double issue, devoted to the Charlton Action Heroes, called the Charlton Portfolio...
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vX6tRxe5I/AAAAAAAACVc/nOMXUcUGYNw/s400/Portfolio+Back.jpg)
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vYwa5AM8I/AAAAAAAACXE/KPeqf_-_HvI/s400/charltonportfolio910.gif)
Inside were fan and professional illustrations of the characters, as well as features about them and the creators.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vYlmu5jbI/AAAAAAAACW8/qvG_-H6NB9I/s400/Sarge.jpg)
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2voUGRoldI/AAAAAAAACXM/NrdTQasdCOE/s400/Thunderbolt.jpg)
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vYNRBQ7DI/AAAAAAAACWc/y91HiUHxssQ/s400/Atom.jpg)
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vYM3yc1fI/AAAAAAAACWE/Dlz6jJd7KJU/s400/Sentinels.jpg)
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/S2vX7ZxGxWI/AAAAAAAACV0/zLFJB3US7oo/s400/Question.jpg)
Several pros provided illustrations for the fanzine, including Alex Toth, who did the cover of issue 11, which also featured a Rich Buckler Deathlok poster...
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0WGbbAaNY6w/TG467cWLmfI/AAAAAAAAHM0/v_R-l8gdpvk/s1600/cpl11_covers.jpg)
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Wildman and Cuti came in contact with the CPL Gang and a rare deal was made, via Duffy Vohland: CPL would publish the unused material intended for Blue Beetle #6, which never saw the light of day. The group was given the reprint rights for free, with no strings attached. Layton didn't know exactly how it came about; but, believed that Wildman and Cuti were enthusiastic about generating fan interest in a revival of the Action Hero line. The material was included in the Charlton Portfolio and in convinced Wildman and Cuti that an in-house fanzine, similar to Marvel's FOOM and The Amazing World of DC could be viable. Both those fanzines had proven popular with fans. So, the gang was recruited to launch the Charlton Bullseye fanzine.
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Issue one featured the unpublished Captain Atom story, intended for Captain Atom #90, with John Byrne finishing Steve Ditko's art.
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The issue also featured an interview with Nick Cuti, which goes in depth into his background and he also talks about upcoming comics at Charlton. Joe Staton has art throughout and John Byrne has a Rog 2000 feature (Rog 2000 debuted in CPL). Issue two finishes the story, has an interview with George Wildman, a Ditko story ("Moonshift"), and ad for the Charlton Portfolio, an article on the Nature Boy feature, a Doomsday +1 pin-up and more about some of Charlton's upcoming horror titles.
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Issue three is a kung fu issue, with features on Judomaster (which isn't kung fu; but, whatever...) and Yang, the publication of Sanho Kim's Wrong Country (which had previously gone missing).
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Issue four features an unpublished E-Man story, an interview with John Byrne (conducted by Rog 2000), a Frank Thorne E-Man pin-up, Walt Simonson's Peacemaker pin-up, and an unpublished Doomsday +1 story (which was later reprinted by Fantagraphics, under the name Doomsday Squad).
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Issue five would be the last, with the second part of the Doomsday +1 story, Alex Toth's brand new Question story, and a sample page of the Phantom, done by Pete Morisi.
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Oh, man, a Pete Morisi Phantom would have been awesome! The Toth Question story came about as he had done a cover for CPL #11 and they asked if he would like to do a new Question story. The fee was low; but, he liked the idea of working on a Ditko character. The story was written by Michael Uslan, from a plot idea by Roger Stern.
The Bullseye was a fine piece of work; but, it didn't make any money and was shelved. Some of the CPL Gang picked up other work at Charlton, especially John Byrne, who worked on Emergency!, Space: 1999, Wheely and the Chopper Bunch, Rog 2000 (in E-Man) and Doomsday +1. Bob Layton picked up a few jobs, including inking a Byrne horror story; but, there weren't many inking obs at Charlton. Layton had connections o Wally Wood, which led to some inking jobs at DC and Layton was off to the races, including his long stint on Iron Man and his Hercules mini-series. Duffy Vohland picked up bits and pieces of work, but had a bit of a reputation as a screwup, and didn't do anything of major impact (mostly production work). Don Maltz went on to work in fantasy and science fiction illustration, as well as commercial art, where he created the "Captain," figure, which became the symbol of Captain Morgan rum. Tony Isabella and Roger Stern broke into Marvel. Michael Uslan wrote some for DC and packaged some of their reprints for Fireside Books, Including Army At War and Mysteries In Space. Steven Grant went on to work at Marvel, First, DC and created the character Whisper at Capital (which moved to first Comics, when Capital shut down their comic line). John Byrne faded into obscurity.
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Like many things at Charlton, the Bullseye wasn't quite done yet. The name was revived for a color comic, that would be used to showcase young talent, without actually paying them, with the exposure helping to land them jobs elsewhere. The idea wasn't Wildman and Cuti, trying to exploit hungry talent; it actually came from one of the wannabes. Fan artist Dan Reed was itching to get into DC or Marvel; but, received very nice rejections. So, he approached Charlton, who was producing only reprints, by that point. he offered material to them for free, to insert wherever they wanted. The end result was the new Charlton Bullseye comic book.
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Reed produced a Blue Beetle/Question story for the first issue and would return in issue 7 with Captain Atom. Issue 2 featured Arn Saba's Neil the Horse. Issue 3 has work from Gary Wray, Gary Kato and Ron Fortier. Issue 5 has early Chas Truog, has Martin Greim, Mike Machlan, Jerry ordway and Rick Burchett. Issue 8 has work from AC Comics stalwart Mark Heike (Bill Black had a story in issue 7) and issue 9 has work from Gene Day and Jerry Ordway. Martin Greim returns for issue 10, the last.
And that would pretty much be the end of Charlton. By the 1980s, they were on their last legs. Their once vaunted all-in-one production facility had fallen on hard times. The printing presses were out of date and the costs of replacing them were too steep. Their magazine line had fallen off, with the recession of the 70s and early 80s. The briefly printed the early issues of Hustler, before Larry Flint went with someone else. Their distribution had always been feeble and the continued loss of newsstands took away clients. By 1978, they were producing nothing but reprints. They did try marketing reprints of some of their old material, under the name Modern Comics, with new cover logos, packaging them in bagged sets of 3 comics, sold to toy and department stores.
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These sets were sold to stores on a non-returnable basis and were often used for promotions, where they were premium items given away with purchases. However, they were also sold as I bought one, myself, with E-Man #1, Attack #13 and Hercules #10. You can see some of the reprint covers here.
However, these were bought in units, with little repeat business, similar to the problem that afflicted Western, with their Whitman sets. As time wore on, they dried up. Finally, in 1984, Charlton suspended all publications. There was one final attempt at new material, in 1985.
TC Ford was an apprentice for Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin. He heard about the new Charlton Bullseye color comic and submitted a story that was published in issue #4. By 1985, he was publishing some black & white comics, under the name Total Comics Group. He approached Charlton about publishing a black & white quarterly comic with some of their characters. Charlton had already sold most of the Action hero characters to DC (apart from Peter Cannon, who was purchased by Pete Morisi); but, were interested in seeing if other companies might be interested in purchasing remaining characters. Robin Snyder was handling that for them. Ford's proposal was met favorably and he was given the guarantee that they would reserve the characters he supplied on a list, which included Vengeance Squad, Atomic Mouse, Fightin' 5 and Yang. He put together material for a Charlton Bullseye Special, which included art from Amanda Connor. Then, rumors started flying. Charlton was going out of business, the new line wasn't happening, everything was up for sale, etc. Ford would squash one rumor, then another would appear. Robin Snyder was quoted in CBG saying that all of Charlton''s properties were for sale. Ford tried to contact Snyder; but, he wouldn't return his calls. Finally, others at Charlton confirmed the story to Ford, who walked away from the project. The Special did see the light of day, with an extremely small number of copies printed at Charlton (original plan was to print elsewhere).
In 1985, Charlton officially closed shop. The magazine side, Charlton Publications, went bankrupt in 1991. The plant was picked apart and demolished and later redeveloped as retail space. Charlton's titles and original art were sold off, which will be covered next time, as we look at the aftermath of Charlton's demise. Come on back for tales of Roger Broughton, John Lustig's Last Kiss, The Americomics Special, First Comics, and Blockbuster Weekly, the DC title that was to showcase the Charlton Action heroes.