I really loved finding any Charlton comics (few and far between here in Phoenix) when hitting stores. Problem was reliability from the Distribution out here prevented my ever finding more than the occasional issue. Oh look, there is issue 3 of six Million Dollar Man as it sits there the lone Charlton comic on the rack. Or wow look at that, I found a Space: 1999 issue and then never to find another. Dang hard enjoying their stuff when I was young except for the occasionally found bagged versions at the local K-mart or Woolworth's. And those were usually broken open with the issues laying loose on the shelf in the toy aisle. 

So my love was limited. My hopes always high for finding ANYTHING! So my collection all through the 70's was a few solitary issues I would read over and over. I had 1 Six Million Dollar Man magazine and 1 comic. 1 Bionic Woman. A Star Trek Log book (#3 if I can remember correctly), 2 Space: 1999, 2 Doomsday +1, a coverless Judo Master from my uncle's barber shop and from a K-Mart bag I had a copy of Captain Atom, Space Adventures and Charlton Bullseye featuring Blue Beetle and the Question with the Modern Comics circle in the corner.

Then along comes the LCS in the 80's and I was able to find a few cost friendly torn up reader issues now and then. I learned more of the Charlton History and that they had Westerns, War, Romance, Horror, Science-Fiction along with other goodness. Still, the problem was availability since I found out the Distribution here in Phoenix was REALLY REALLY LOUSY, meaning there was not much here in the state until the LCS owner's could begin buying from other states and shops around the USA via conventions. Then the Internet started up and the LCS owners were able to begin actively buying more Charlton back issues for resale.

Now in the present day, over the last 2-3 years and my Charlton collection has grown considerably fuller, enriched with $1-3 aged, yellowing and loved copies I have collected. Mostly from $1 boxes during the annual Phoenix Comicon and especially the last year from Lonestar/MyComishop.com providing me with access for finding many Westerns and War comics. Too many to list and I have not as yet expanded my exploration into Horror and Heroes and Romance via Charlton. I also have electronic versions of the Charlton Phantom series which I greatly enjoy. 

So there is lots more for me to discover and hunt for but I will share my adoration with posts as I can...

I have a decent size collection of Charlton romance comics, but it still only scratches the surface. Charlton published more romance comics than any other company, even DC, and it's not even close, with over 1200 issues. They put out some really cool, very underrated romance comics!

Yeah, I came across a lot of creative 70s romance covers actually, worked on by artists such as Tony Tallarico, Art Cappello, Enrique Nieto, Demetrio Sánchez Gómez, Joe Staton, Don Newton, Francisco Pujalte, Tom Sutton, and Mike Vosburg:

Teen-Age Love #68 (January, 1970):



Teen-Age Love #85 (July, 1972):



Teen Confessions #76 (October, 1972):



Haunted Love #7 (January, 1975):



Love and Romance #20 (January, 1975):



Secret Romance #30 (January, 1975):



Time for Love #40 (February, 1975):



For Lovers Only #78 (April, 1975):



Teen Confessions #89 (June, 1975):



Teen Confessions #90 (August, 1975):



For Lovers Only #81 (October, 1975):



I Love You #114 (October, 1975):



Love Diary #95 (October, 1975):



My Only Love #3 (November, 1975):



Secrets of Young Brides #4 (January, 1976):



For Lovers Only #83 (February, 1976):



I Love You #116 (February, 1976):



Love Diary #97 (February, 1976):



Time for Love #46 (February, 1976):



Secrets of Young Brides #5 (March, 1976):



Teen Confessions #94 (May, 1976):



I Love You #118 (June, 1976):



Love Diary #99 (June, 1976):



Secrets of Young Brides #6 (June, 1976):



Teen Confessions #95 (July, 1976):

As a kid in the early 80s, you'd sometimes find the odd Charlton comic in the school "rainy day comic box", and I always thought they sucked compared to Marvel and DC. The paper was inferior, the art often looked unpolished, the superhero characters seemed lame, the print quality sucked, and the lettering was often ugly (especially that typewritten font). Marvel and DC really were head and shoulders above Charlton in every way.

As an adult, I'm much more forgiving of some of Charlton Comics' shortcomings. I have an interest in their Ditko stuff, like The Question or Blue Beetle, although both are pretty unreadable, in all honesty. And I find the fact that their superheroes were the character archetypes that Alan Moore based his Watchmen characters on to be rather interesting.

But the only Charlton stuff that I've ever read that I liked enough to track down and buy was the original early 70s run of E-Man. Those comics are great, but with that one exception, I still regard Charlton as being a woefully substandard comic company, I'm afraid.

Charlton also did some pretty decent cartoon and humor comics, with various tv cartoon licenses and their own stuff.



I covered Charlton in my Other Guys thread, with thoughts on various comics.

My first Charlton was The Phantom, #66, just before Don Newton came on board the book...



At that point, I had only seen the character in the Saturday Superstar Movie episode, Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter, with other King Features characters (we didn't get the newspaper strip). That started a love affair with the character.

My cousin had a bunch of Charlton's, which is where i got some of my early exposure, plus a neighbor's sister, who had some of the tv comics and romances. I had some of the Mighty Comics reprints, from the bagged sets, then started buying up certain titles, when I could find them, in my collecting days.

Fightin' Army, with The Lonely War of Captain Willy Schultz, from Will Franz and Sam Glanzman is a big favorite, as is Shotgun Harker and Chicken, from Fightin' Marines. Sanho Kim's Yang and western stories are also big favorites.

Charlton also did some damn good westerns, like Cheyenne Kidd, Billy the Kid and Kid Montana.

My main interest at the moment is Bronze Age, as I find the stories more intresting. But Charlton's books were always more daring and edgier than anything from Atlas or DC. Here's an early 60's book from my collection with a suggestive cover you'd never find at DC:





Some early Charlton romance books from the 50's are very hard to find indeed, especially in any kind of decent shape. And this may shock Marvel fans, but Charlton's top romance artist at the time was Vince Colletta, who did a lot of really great covers that were heavily influenced artistically by the great Matt Baker, who worked closely with Colletta for a time in the 50's.

Here's a nice copy from my collection of a late 50's Charlton romance with a great Colletta cover featuring a Baker inspired male figure and face: