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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 9, 2020 13:47:42 GMT -5
Trying to locate a Charlton horror comic I read when I was around 9. The story was called 'Murder by Proxy' and involved a deadly board game with several players. Whenever something happened in the game, someone, somewhere else would be killed in said fashion. I can't remember the cover, just that particular story. Is anyone familiar with it? I checked the GCD for that story title. There were four, but none appeared in a Charlton comic. www.comics.org/story/name/Murder%20by%20proxy/sort/alpha/Maybe figure out what year that would have been and start checking covers to see if anything jogs your memory. |
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 9, 2020 13:55:41 GMT -5
Trying to locate a Charlton horror comic I read when I was around 9. The story was called 'Murder by Proxy' and involved a deadly board game with several players. Whenever something happened in the game, someone, somewhere else would be killed in said fashion. I can't remember the cover, just that particular story. Is anyone familiar with it? I tried the GCD's Story Title search option, but no variation of that title is indexed in a Charlton book. I tried "Murder by Proxy", "By Proxy", and "Murder by". How sure are you that it was a Charlton book, and what year was this? |
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 9, 2020 16:43:55 GMT -5
Great thread & fantastic scans! Great artwork here. I was especially impressed by the art in some of the '70's Charlton Romance comics, which I normally wouldn't be into. Thanks for posting these. You’re welcome! Yeah, apparently Nieto wasn’t particularly into romance comics either, but still used them as a way to show off his skills to potential American employers (Just Married #104, February 1975):   |
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Post by rom on Apr 9, 2020 16:50:38 GMT -5
Yes, very cool - that's the type of art I was referring to. Really digging the '70's look/vibe of the artwork here, which now has a very interesting "retro" appearance. Especially like the colors, fashion, furniture, etc. I've always attested that the '70's & the '80's were the best decades for both comic books & movies, though I have a strong preference for the '70's.
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 9, 2020 17:01:48 GMT -5
Yes, very cool - that's the type of art I was referring to. Really digging the '70's look/vibe of the artwork here. I've always attested that the '70's & the '80's were the best decades for both comic books & movies, though I have a strong preference for the '70's. Well, I think it really depends what the artist chooses to try out and what can be accomplished, though I can agree that the more creatively colorful sort of designs didn’t really come about in comics until the 60s and 70s, notably because of artists such as Peter Max. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2020 17:55:09 GMT -5
I tried the GCD's Story Title search option, but no variation of that title is indexed in a Charlton book. I tried "Murder by Proxy", "By Proxy", and "Murder by". How sure are you that it was a Charlton book, and what year was this?
I do remember the 'Charlton' logo and I'm pretty certain it would have been a 70s / bronze age book. But that's where my vague memory ends, I can't even recall the cover, just the story that has stayed with me over the years. It was my first time with a horror comic and it was good reading material in the hospital at the time.
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 9, 2020 19:18:38 GMT -5
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Post by earl on Apr 11, 2020 11:30:01 GMT -5
That artwork is really amazing on those romance comics. Too bad they did not get that weird with the superhero titles.
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Post by beccabear67 on Apr 11, 2020 13:30:57 GMT -5
I wish so often I still had the '70s Charlton comics I once had: E-Man #1-10, Doomsday +1 #1-6, Space: 1999 #1-4 & 6, Charlton Bullseye magazine #4 & 5. Maybe even Wheelie & The Chopper Bunch #1 and Emergency #1. I was a fool to part with them! I did get the four late '70s Captain Atom Space Adventures comics, two of them 'again'... and three Modern reissues... maybe some day, or else it's better to have read and sold than never to have read at all? I remember I had this Zoo Funnies #1 reprint bought off a spinner-rack in a corner shop in the '80s... it was pretty cool to run across. I wish I'd had some Atomic Mouse that looks like were out at the same time to have gone with it.  |
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 11, 2020 13:34:28 GMT -5
That artwork is really amazing on those romance comics. Too bad they did not get that weird with the superhero titles. Well, in general, I recall Neal Adams “getting weird” on X-Men and Jim Steranko on Nick Fury, though I think Adams was allowed more free rein since X-Men got cancelled in 1970. In Charlton’s case, they didn’t really focus on superheroes as often, with exceptions like a Steve Ditko’s work on Captain Atom:  I wish so often I still had the '70s Charlton comics I once had: E-Man #1-10, Doomsday +1 #1-6, Space: 1999 #1-4 & 6, Charlton Bullseye magazine #4 & 5. Maybe even Wheelie & The Chopper Bunch #1 and Emergency #1. I was a fool to part with them! I did get the four late '70s Captain Atom Space Adventures comics, two of them 'again'... and three Modern reissues... maybe some day, or else it's better to have read and sold than never to have read at all? I remember I had this Zoo Funnies #1 reprint bought off a spinner-rack in a corner shop in the '80s... it was pretty cool to run across. I wish I'd had some Atomic Mouse that looks like were out at the same time to have gone with it. Ah yes, Zoo Funnies, which I remember for having the work of Ellis Chambers, who apparently tended to draw under the influence of drugs such as marijuana. Makes me wonder if that was partly why some of his characters tended to look as demented as they were (Zoo Funnies #8):  |
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Post by tartanphantom on Apr 11, 2020 22:33:26 GMT -5
Sorry I'm late to this thread, but I've got it bookmarked now.
Big Charlton fan here, regardless of genre. Call it weird, but there was something slightly other-worldly with Charlton books that you just couldn't find elsewhere. I think it was the melding of some really good art printed with the cheapest methods possible that gave the big C a bit of quirky charm that you just didn't see in the "big two" books.
One time, a fellow collector asked me why I even bothered with Charlton books. I explained that it probably had something to do with the fact that Charlton had the absolute WORST four-color separation of any books on the market-- with color shifts all over the map, and frequently completely missing their intended panel boundaries by as much as 1/4 inch. On top of that, the paper quality was just one step above Bounty paper towels. But man, some of the covers just grabbed you and sucked you in.
Some folks may find that weird, but I suppose it fits right in with my sometimes lowbrow tastes in other areas, such as my affinity for regional/local 60's garage bands, and B-grade "Psychotronic" movies of the Sci-fi, Horror, Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu genres.
It's sort of like seeing a really bad traffic accident-- you want to look away, but you just can't.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 12, 2020 11:43:24 GMT -5
Yeah, there is definitely a exploitation movie quality to Charlton, in the best and worst senses.
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Post by electricmastro on Apr 12, 2020 13:01:35 GMT -5
Sorry I'm late to this thread, but I've got it bookmarked now. Big Charlton fan here, regardless of genre. Call it weird, but there was something slightly other-worldly with Charlton books that you just couldn't find elsewhere. I think it was the melding of some really good art printed with the cheapest methods possible that gave the big C a bit of quirky charm that you just didn't see in the "big two" books. One time, a fellow collector asked me why I even bothered with Charlton books. I explained that it probably had something to do with the fact that Charlton had the absolute WORST four-color separation of any books on the market-- with color shifts all over the map, and frequently completely missing their intended panel boundaries by as much as 1/4 inch. On top of that, the paper quality was just one step above Bounty paper towels. But man, some of the covers just grabbed you and sucked you in. Some folks may find that weird, but I suppose it fits right in with my sometimes lowbrow tastes in other areas, such as my affinity for regional/local 60's garage bands, and B-grade "Psychotronic" movies of the Sci-fi, Horror, Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu genres. It's sort of like seeing a really bad traffic accident-- you want to look away, but you just can't. I think it was always interesting looking at Charlton simply because they were a more varied company than DC and Marvel, who mostly focused on superheroes while Charlton’s focused on all sorts of things, even companies like Dell, Harvey, and Archie arguably focused on one sort of comic as well. Now of course we see companies like Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and all the indie companies out there making all sorts of comics, though Charlton was arguably the main company from the 1940s through 1980s to have that varied approach and showcased a lot of talent, even if the higher-up execs didn’t really care about the content of their comics. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 13, 2020 11:25:30 GMT -5
Sorry I'm late to this thread, but I've got it bookmarked now. Big Charlton fan here, regardless of genre. Call it weird, but there was something slightly other-worldly with Charlton books that you just couldn't find elsewhere. I think it was the melding of some really good art printed with the cheapest methods possible that gave the big C a bit of quirky charm that you just didn't see in the "big two" books. One time, a fellow collector asked me why I even bothered with Charlton books. I explained that it probably had something to do with the fact that Charlton had the absolute WORST four-color separation of any books on the market-- with color shifts all over the map, and frequently completely missing their intended panel boundaries by as much as 1/4 inch. On top of that, the paper quality was just one step above Bounty paper towels. But man, some of the covers just grabbed you and sucked you in. Some folks may find that weird, but I suppose it fits right in with my sometimes lowbrow tastes in other areas, such as my affinity for regional/local 60's garage bands, and B-grade "Psychotronic" movies of the Sci-fi, Horror, Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu genres. It's sort of like seeing a really bad traffic accident-- you want to look away, but you just can't. I think it was always interesting looking at Charlton simply because they were a more varied company than DC and Marvel, who mostly focused on superheroes while Charlton’s focused on all sorts of things, even companies like Dell, Harvey, and Archie arguably focused on one sort of comic as well. Now of course we see companies like Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and all the indie companies out there making all sorts of comics, though Charlton was arguably the main company from the 1940s through 1980s to have that varied approach and showcased a lot of talent, even if the higher-up execs didn’t really care about the content of their comics. Depends on the era; DC had more variety for quite a while, including many of the same genres as Charlton. Superheroes were the bulk; but, they had a ton of mystery/horror, romance comics, war comics, westerns, sci-fi and more. Marvel had greater variety as Atlas, but still dabbled in westerns and war comics, through the 70s, and flirted with romance via Night Nurse. Charlton was one of the few to go in for things like hot rods and racing. |
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Post by rom on Apr 15, 2020 9:12:01 GMT -5
Definitely agree with this. I have dim memories of most Charlton comics since I read (or just flipped through) some of them when they were originally out, and haven't had an opportunity to read them since. I never had many of the original floppies, and AFAIK these haven't been reprinted to any extent. However, from what I do remember - the company did put out some very unusual (in a good way) books that the "big two" (Marvel & DC) wouldn't have touched at the time. I won't fault Charlton comics for poor colors/paper quality/print quality. A lot of comics from this era had crummy reproduction/quality. My take on this was that it was the nature of the paper/printing that was available at the time. And, it seems obvious that Charlton's publishers didn't have as much money as "the big two", so probably had to use cheaper paper & a cheaper production process. And, it really wasn't until the '80's when the direct market came about that the printing quality/colors/paper quality improved for comics in general. That all being said, if Charlton's comics were ever reprinted in CE's - they should be remastered/recolored. I suspect if a good job were done here, they would look a hell of a lot better than they did back in the day...since a lot of other older comics have benefited greatly from this remastering/recoloring. |
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