Wikipedia

Charlton Comics

Charlton Comicswas an Americancomic-bookpublishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name:T. W. O. Charles Company,in 1940. It was based inDerby, Connecticut.The comic-booklinewas a division ofCharlton Publications,which published magazines (most notably song-lyric magazines), puzzle books, and briefly, books, under the imprintsMonarchandGold Star.It had its own distribution company,Capital Distribution.[1]

Charlton Comics
IndustryComics
Founded1945;80 years ago(1945)
Founder
  • John Santangelo Sr.
  • Ed Levy
Defunct1986;39 years ago(1986)
FateLibrary absorbed byDC Comics,including theFawcett Comicscharacters that were purchased by Charlton Comics.
HeadquartersDerby,Connecticut
Key people
OwnerCharlton Publications
Divisions
  • Frank Comunale Publications
  • Children Comics Publishing
  • Frank Publications
  • Modern Comics

Charlton Comics published a wide variety ofgenres,includingcrime,science fiction,Western,horror,war,andromance comics,as well astalking animalandsuperherotitles. The company was known for its low-budget practices, often using unpublished material acquired from defunct companies and paying comics creators among the lowest rates in the industry. Charlton was also the last of the American comics publishers still operating to raise its cover prices from 10 to 12 cents in 1962.

It was unique among comic-book companies in that it controlled all areas of publishing – from editorial to printing to distribution – rather than working with outside printers and distributors, as did most other publishers. It did so under one roof at its Derby headquarters.[2]

The company was formed by John Santangelo Sr. and Ed Levy in 1940 as T. W. O. Charles Company, named after the co-founders' two sons, both named Charles, and became Charlton Publications in 1945.

History

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Early years

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Charlton published a wide variety ofgenres,includingromance,crime,satireandhorror.

In 1931, Italian immigrant John Santangelo Sr., a bricklayer who had started a construction business inWhite Plains, New York,five years earlier, began what became a highly successful business publishing song-lyric magazines out of nearbyYonkers, New York.Operating in violation ofcopyrightlaws, however, he was sentenced in 1934 to a year and a day at New Haven County Jail inNew Haven, Connecticut,near Derby, where his wife and he by then lived. In jail, he metWaterbury, Connecticutattorney Ed Levy, with whom he began legitimate publishing in 1935, acquiring permissions to reproduce lyrics in such magazines asHit ParadeandBig Song Magazine.Santangelo and Levy opened a printing plant in Waterbury the following year, and in 1940, founded the T.W.O. Charles Company, eventually moving its headquarters to Derby.[3]Charlton purchased the company Song Lyrics, Inc., which publishedSong Hitsmagazine and was owned byLyle Engelin 1949.[4]

Following the adoption of the Charlton Comics name in 1946,[2]the company over the next five years acquired material from freelanceeditorandcomics packagerAl Fago (brother of formerTimely ComicseditorVincent Fago). Charlton additionally publishedMerry Comics,Cowboy Western,the Western titleTim McCoy,andPictorial Love Stories.

The company used a second-hand press originally used for printing cereal boxes.[5]These large presses were very costly to both stop and start, which only happened twice a year when they had to be cleaned, and so they started publishing comics as a mean to keep the presses going.[6]After the entry into the comic business, the company's first comic book wasYellowjacket,an anthology of superhero and horror stories launched September 1944 under the imprint Frank Comunale Publications, with Ed Levy listed as publisher.[2]Zoo Funnieswas published under the imprint Children Comics Publishing;Jack in the Box,under Frank Comunale; andTNT Comics,under Charles Publishing Co. Another imprint was Frank Publications.

In 1951, when Al Fago began as an in-house editor, Charlton hired a staff of artists who included its future managing editor,Dick Giordano.Others (staff or freelance) who eventually worked with Charlton includedVince Alascia,Jon D'Agostino,Sam Glanzman,Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio,Bill Molno,Charles Nicholas,andSal Trapani.The primary writer was the remarkably prolificJoe Gill.The same year the company created an in-house comics department, where comics would make up 25% of Charlton.[7]

The company began a wide expansion of its comics line, which included notoriously gory[citation needed]horror comics (the principal title beingSteve Ditko'sThe Thing!). In 1954–55, it acquired a stable of comic-book properties from the defunct Superior Comics,Mainline Publications,St. John Publications,and most significantly,Fawcett Publications,[2]which was shutting down itsFawcett Comicsdivision. Charlton continued publishing two of Fawcett's horror books—This Magazine Is HauntedandStrange Suspense Stories—initially using unpublished material from Fawcett's inventory.[8]Artistic chores were then handed to Ditko, whose moody, individualistic touch came to dominate Charlton's supernatural line. Beset by the circulation slump that swept the industry towards the end of the 1950s,[citation needed]Hauntedstruggled for another two years, published bimonthly until May 1958.Strange Suspense Storiesran longer, lasting well into the 1960s before "giving up the ghost" in 1965.

Charlton published a wide line ofromancetitles, particularly after it acquired the Fawcett line, which included the romance comicsSweethearts,Romantic Secrets,andRomantic Story.Sweetheartswas the comic world's first monthly romance title[9](debuting in 1948), and Charlton continued publishing it until 1973. Charlton had launched its first original romance title in 1951,True Life Secrets,but that series only lasted until 1956. Charlton also picked up a number ofWesterntitles from the defunct Fawcett Comics line, includingGabby Hayes Western,Lash LaRue Western,Monte Hale Western,Rocky Lane Western. Six-Gun Heroes,Tex Ritter Western,Tom Mix Western,andWestern Hero.

Seeking to save money on second-class postage permits, Charlton, like many comic-book publishers of the era, frequently changed the titles of their comics, rather than start new ones at number 1 (a new publication required a new postal permit, while an existing publication that just changed its name could use its existing permit).[10]Notable examples of this practice include the titlesBilly the Kid(originallyMasked Raider),Blue Beetlevol. 2 (originallyThe Thing!),Blue Beetlevol. 3 (originallyUnusual Tales),Fightin' Air Force(originallyNever Again),Fightin' Army(originallySoldier and Marine Comics),Fightin' Marines(originallyThe Texan),Fightin' Navy(originallyDon Winslow of the Navy),Ghostly Haunts(originallyGhost Manor),Ghostly Tales(originallyBlue Beetlevol. 3),I Love You(originallyIn Love), andSweethearts(originallyFawcett'sCaptain Midnight).

Al Fago left in the mid-1950s, and was succeeded by his assistant,Pat Masulli,who remained in the position for 10 years. Masulli oversaw a plethora of new romance titles, including the long-runningI Love You,Sweetheart Diary,Brides in Love,My Secret Life,andJust Married;and the teen-oriented romance comicsTeen-Age Love,Teen Confessions,andTeen-Age Confidential Confessions.

On August 19, 1955, the company was hit hard by aflood.The water was rising so fast that vital office records was all that could be saved. $300,000 in paper inventory, plates, mats and original comics artwork were lost, including the artwork the company had bought fromFawcett Comics,in addition to printing presses and typesetting machines. Several issues of comics were destroyed, and some titles abandoned completely.[11][12]Due to the shutdown following the flood, the comics were outsourced to outside presses for some months.[13]

Superheroes were a minor part of the company. At the beginning, Charlton's main characters wereYellowjacket,not to be confused with the later Marvel character, and Diana the Huntress. In the mid-1950s, Charlton briefly published aBlue Beetletitle with new and reprinted stories, and in 1956, several short-lived titles written bySupermanco-creatorJerry Siegel,such asMr. Muscles,Zaza the Mystic,andNature Boy(the latter with artist Mastroserio).[14]

Silver Age

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The company's most noteworthy period was during the"silver age" of comic books,which had begun withDC Comics' successful revival of superheroes in 1956.[2]In March 1960, Charlton'sscience-fictionanthologytitleSpace AdventuresintroducedCaptain Atom,by Gill and the future co-creator ofMarvel Comics'Spider-Man,Steve Ditko.[15](After the mid-1980s demise of Charlton, Captain Atom went on to become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle, the oldFox Comicssuperhero revived by Gill and artistsBill FraccioandTony Tallaricoas a campy, comedic character inBlue Beetle#1 [June 1964].)

Charlton also had moderate success withSon of Vulcan,its answer to Marvel'sThor,inMysteries of Unexplored Worlds#46 (May 1965).

During the Silver Age, Charlton, like Marvel and DC, publishedwar comics.Notable titles included the "Fightin'" line ofFightin' Air Force,Fightin' Army,Fightin' Marines,andFightin' Navy;the "Attack" line ofArmy AttackandSubmarine Attack;Battlefield Action;D-Day,U.S. Air Force Comics,andWar Heroes.Though primarilyanthologiesof stories about 20th-century warfare, they included a small number of recurring characters and features, including "The American Eagle",[16]"Shotgun Harker and the Chicken","The Devil's Brigade","The Iron Corporal",and"The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz".Army War HeroesandMarine War Heroesdepicted stories based on actualMedal of Honorrecipients.Space War,first created in 1959 becameFightin' 5in 1964.

With the mid-1960s fad forJames Bondsecret agents such asNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.,Charlton turned their Vietnam veteranMike Hammerhardboiled detectiveSarge Steelinto a special agent after the sixth issue, later renaming the comicSecret Agent.

Charlton threw itself into the resurgenthorror comicsgenre during this period with such titles asGhostly Tales,The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves,andGhost Manor.It also created a pair of identical horror-movie magazines:Horror Monsters(1961–1964) andMad Monsters(1961–1965). Additionally, Charlton produced comics based on monsters featured in motion pictures such asKonga,GorgoandReptilicus.

Charlton continued its commitment toromance comicswith such new titles asCareer Girl Romances,Hollywood Romances(later to change its name toFor Lovers Only), andTime for Love.

In 1965, Charlton revived the Captain Atom character inStrange Suspense Storiesnumbers 75, 76, and 77, reprinting the Steve Ditko-illustrated stories that had originally appeared inSpace Adventuresin the early 1960s. Retitling the comic,Captain AtomVolume 2 #78 (cover dated Dec. 1965), Charlton began publishing newly created stories by Ditko of the superhero. In 1967, Ditko stopped working at Marvel and returned to Charlton full-time. After his celebrated stint at Marvel, he had grown disenchanted with that company and his Spider-Man collaborator, writer-editorStan Lee.Having the hugely popular Ditko back helped prompt Charlton editor Giordano to introduce the company's "Action Hero" superhero line, with characters including Captain Atom, Ditko's theQuestion,Gill and artistPat Boyette'sThe Peacemaker,Gill and companyart directorFrank McLaughlin'sJudomaster,Pete Morisi'sPeter Cannon... Thunderbolt,and Ditko's new "Ted Kord" version of the Blue Beetle.[17]Because Giordano had a personal dislike for superheroes and wanted to keep them in a pulplike realm of relative believability, all the characters in his Action Hero line, except for Captain Atom, were ordinary humans which used their skills and talents instead of superpowers.[18][19][20]The company also developed a reputation as a place for new talent to break into comics; examples includeJim Aparo,Dennis O'NeilandSam Grainger.As well, Charlton in the late 1960s published some of the firstmangain America, inGhost Manorand other titles (thanks to artistSanho Kim), and artistWayne Howardbecame the industry's first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror-anthologyMidnight Talesblurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue— "a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time".[21]

Yet by the end of 1967, Charlton's superhero titles had been cancelled, and licensed properties had become the company's staples, particularly cartoon characters fromHanna-Barbera(The Flintstones,The Jetsons,Top Cat,Korg: 70,000 B.C.,others). Charlton took over publication of a number ofKing Features Syndicatecharacters from that company's short-livedKing Comics,includingBeetle Bailey,BlondieComics,Flash Gordon,Jungle Jim,The Phantom,andPopeye.Charlton also publishedBullwinkle and Rocky,andHoppity Hooper,based onJay Ward Productions'Hoppity Hooper,andRocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show.

Charlton dabbled occasionally in adaptations of live-action TV comedies. The most successful wasMy Little Margie,based on the 1952-55 network series starringGale Storm;the Charlton version ran for a full 10 years (1954-64, 54 issues) and inspired two spinoffs,My Little Margie's Boy Friends(1955–58, 11 issues) andMy Little Margie's Fashions(1959, five issues).Abbott and Costello,debuting in 1968, was based on the syndicatedAbbott and Costelloanimated cartoon series of 1967-68 and ran for 22 issues.Hee Haw,a remarkably faithful rendition of the then-currentCBS-TVseries, bowed in 1970 but ran for only seven issues. Both theAbbott and CostelloandHee Hawcomics were discontinued in the summer of 1971, although Charlton'sHee Hawwas revamped for general audiences as a 50-cent magazine, printed in black-and-white with cast photos and jokes supplemented by advertising. The last of the comedy vehicles wasThe Partridge Family,based on the then-currentABC-TVsitcom;launched in 1971, the comic book ran for 21 issues until it was cancelled in 1973.

Bronze Age

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Nicola Cutimade creative improvements to Charlton's line in the early 1970s, which had been referred to ascomics' Bronze Age,during which he worked as assistant editor underGeorge Wildman,who was occupied primarily with administrative duties. Cuti broughtMike Zeck,among others, into Charlton's roster of artists, and his writing enlivened theGhostlytitles, now includingGhostly Haunts.Other Bronze Age Charlton horror titles includedHaunted,Midnight Tales,andScary Tales.

In 1973, Charlton debuted thegothic romancetitleHaunted Love,but this same period saw the mass cancellation of almost all of Charlton's vast stable of traditionalromancetitles, including such long-running series as;Sweethearts,Romantic Secrets,Romantic Story,I Love You,Teen-Age Love,Just Married,andTeen Confessions,all of which dated from the 1950s.

Bullseye logo, used from Sept./Oct. 1973

In the mid-1970s, a brief resurgence of talent occurred, energized by Cuti, artistJoe Staton,and the "CPL Gang"– a group of writer/artist comics fans includingJohn Byrne,Roger Stern,Bob Layton,andRoger Slifer,who had all worked on the fanzineContemporary Pictorial Literature.Charlton began publishing such new titles asE-Man,Midnight Tales,andDoomsday + 1.The CPL Gang also produced an in-house fanzine calledCharlton Bullseye,which published, among other things, commissioned but previously unpublished material; including the company's lastCaptain Atomstory. Also during this period, most of Charlton's titles began sporting painted covers.

Early in 1975, Cuti, already writing freelance for the company in addition to his staff duties, quit to write freelance exclusively for Charlton when its line expanded to include black-and-white magazines in addition to the King Features and Hanna-Barbera franchised titles. He was replaced byBill Pearson,who became assistant editor after promotingDon Newtonas the newPhantomartist and writing scripts for that title.

Charlton's black-and-white comics magazines were based upon currenttelevision seriesand aimed at older readers. One of these wasThe Six Million Dollar Man#1–7 (July 1976 – August 1977). Retailing for $1, it featured art byNeal Adams' studio,Continuity Associates,as well as some stories by veteran illustratorsJack SparlingandWin Mortimer.Also published in magazine form were adaptations ofThe Six Million Dollar ManspinoffThe Bionic Woman,Space: 1999,andEmergency!,as well as a comic based on teen heartthrobDavid Cassidy,then starring in the musicalsitcomThe Partridge Family.

By 1976, however, most of these titles had been cancelled,[22]and most of the company's remaining titles went on hiatus during the period January to August 1977. Much of the new talent took the opportunity to move on to Marvel and DC.

Final years

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By the 1980s, Charlton was in decline. The comic-book industry was in a sales slump, struggling to reinvent a profitable distribution and retail system. Charlton's licensed titles lapsed, its aging presses were deteriorating towards uselessness, and the company did not have the resources to replace them. In 1981, yet another attempt was made at new material, with a comic-book version ofCharlton Bullseyeserving as a new-talent showcase that actively solicited submissions by comic-book fans,[23]and an attempt at new Ditko-produced titles. A number of 1970s-era titles were also reprinted under the Modern Comics imprint and sold in bagged sets in department stores (in much the same wayGold Key Comicswere published under theWhitman Comicsmoniker around the same time). None of these measures worked, and in 1984, Charlton Comics suspended publication.[24]

In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editorT. C. Fordwith a direct-to-marketCharlton Bullseye Special.[25][26]Later that same year, though, Charlton Comics went out of business;[27]Charlton Publications followed suit in 1991, and its building and presses were demolished in 1999.

EditorRobin Snyderoversaw the sale of some properties to their creators, though most of the rights were purchased by CanadianentrepreneurRoger Broughton.[28]He produced several reprint titles under the company name ofAvalon Communicationsand its imprintAmerica's Comics Group(ACG for short, Broughton having also purchased the rights to the defunctAmerican Comics Groupproperties), and announced plans to restart Charlton Comics. This did not occur beyond its publishing a number of reprints and changing his company name toCharlton Media Group.[29]

Most of Charlton's line of action heroes were acquired in 1983 for $5000 a character byPaul LevitzatDC Comics,as a gift to managing editor and former Charlton editorDick Giordano.[30]These "Action Hero" characters were proposed to be used in the landmarkWatchmenminiserieswritten byAlan Moore,but DC then chose to save the characters for other uses. Moore instead developed new characters loosely based on them.[2]The Charlton characters were incorporated into DC's main superhero line, starting in the epicCrisis on Infinite Earthsminiseries of 1985.

Charlton's original strength, doing everything in-house, like art, lettering, editorial, printing, packaging and distribution, had helped them survive when America's largest distributor,American News Company,closed its doors.[31]But this gradually turned into a weakness as their old equipment was stuck in the past, while other companies used more modern equipment that was faster, had higher quality and was more efficient, which contributed to their decline and fall.[32]

Fan revivals

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In 2000,Charlton Spotlight,afanzinedevoted to Charlton, began publication.

In 2014, comics writersMort Todd,Paul Kupperberg,andRoger McKenziefounded a revival imprint named Charlton Neo, which relied heavily oncrowdfunding,and printed stories featuring Charlton characters and titles not owned by DC.[33]In May 2017,AC Comicsannounced that they had entered into an agreement to bring print versions of Charlton Neo's comics to the direct-sales comic shop market, starting withCharlton Arrow#1 in September.[34]The Charlton Arrow,an anthology series featuring many Charlton characters, was the company's main product and only title sold in stores, but the company ran a number of other titles through mail-order and digital sales.[35]In January 2018, citing poor sales and "a variety of financial calamities,"[36]Todd launched aGoFundMecampaign to "help save" the company.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Eury, Michael.Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time(TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003), p. 42.
  2. ^abcdefDuncan, Randy and Smith, Matthew J."The Charlton Comics Story".Archived2010-08-05 at theWayback Machine.The Power of Comics: History, Form & Culture(Continuum, 2009).
  3. ^Archive of"Charlton Comics: A Brief History",The Connecticut Historical Society.Original site.WebCitation archive.
  4. ^"Charlton Acquires Engel's Lyric Mags, Marking End of an Era".Billboard.December 24, 1949. p. 20.
  5. ^Watchmen Comic Has Roots in Connecticut - Central Recorder
  6. ^The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz
  7. ^The Charlton Empire - Comic Book Artist #9
  8. ^Charlton ComicsatDon Markstein's Toonopedianotes that Charlton's acquisition included unused artwork from a number of Fawcett titles.Archivedfrom the original December 6, 2011.
  9. ^Nolan, Michelle (2008).Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics.McFarland & Company, Inc.. pp. 30, 210.ISBN978-0-7864-3519-7.
  10. ^Michael C. Weisenburg (February 19, 2020)."America's Postwar Fling with Romance Comics".Brewminate.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
  11. ^The Coming of Charlton Comics - Issuu
  12. ^Charlton Neo Media/Charlton Comics: The Movie Panel at CT ComiCONN
  13. ^Learn How a 1955 Hurricane Changed Marvel Comics History Forever
  14. ^Bails, Jerry."SIEGEL, JERRY".Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999.Retrieved6 April2021.
  15. ^McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1960s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.).DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle.Dorling Kindersley.p. 99.ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9.Captain Atom was born in a tale by artist Steve Ditko and writer Joe Gill.
  16. ^American Eagle (1965)atDon Markstein's Toonopedia.Archivedfrom the original on April 4, 2012.
  17. ^McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 123: "After Ted Kord assumed the scarab as Blue Beetle in a back-up feature ofCaptain Atom#83, writer/artist Steve Ditko and co-writer 'D.C. Glanzman' (who was actually Ditko) launched the Blue Beetle into his own series. "
  18. ^The Phantom: The Complete Series: The Charlton Years: Volume One
  19. ^Dick Giordano Interview - Comic Book Artist #1
  20. ^The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes
  21. ^Cooke, Jon B., "Lest We Forget: Celebrating Four that Got Away":Comic Book Artist#12 (March 2001), p. 112
  22. ^"Charlton Has Suspended Publication Indefinitely",The Nostalgia Journal#29, October 1976, p. 14.
  23. ^"Charlton to Publish Aspiring Pro's Work for Free,"The Comics Journal#59 (Oct. 1980), p. 14.
  24. ^"Charlton Comics Suspends Publication,"The Comics Journal#94 (Oct. 1984), p. 18.
  25. ^"From the Ashes: Charlton and Harvey to Resume Publishing This Spring,"The Comics Journal#97 (Apr. 1985), pp. 15–16.
  26. ^"Charlton Back from the Dead,"The Comics Journal#101 (Sept. 1985), pp. 22–23.
  27. ^"Charlton Goes Down for the Count,"The Comics Journal#103 (Sept. 1985), pp. 10–11.
  28. ^"Charlton Rights Sold,"The Comics Journal#122 (June 1988), p. 26.
  29. ^Irving, Christopher. "Charlton Twilight & Afterlife: the Final Days of Charlton Publications and Beyond,"Comic Book Artist#12 (Mar. 2001), p104-108.
  30. ^COMICS' BRONZE AGE AND BEYOND! - Previews World
  31. ^Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas
  32. ^The Charlton Empire - Comic Book Artist #9
  33. ^Wickline, Dan."The Charlton Arrow – A Tribute to Charlton Comics",Bleeding Cool,19 March 2014, retrieved on 30 May 2014.
  34. ^"AC Comics July 2017 Previews for September 2017 Ship".AC Comics.May 15, 2017. Archived fromthe originalon August 21, 2017.RetrievedMay 25,2017.
  35. ^"CHARLTON NEO COMICS".morttodd.Retrieved2018-07-06.
  36. ^"Click here to support Help Save Charlton Neo Comics! organized by Mort Todd".gofundme.Retrieved2018-07-06.
edit
  • Comic Book Artist#9, August 2000: "The Charlton Comics Story: 1945–1968". Online portions:
Cooke, Jon B., & Christopher Irving."The Charlton Empire: A Brief History of the Derby, Connecticut Publisher",Comic Book Artist.Access date 2010-04-27.WebCitation archive.
Interview withJim Aparo.WebCitation archive.
  • Comic Book Artist#12, March 2001: "The Charlton Comics Story: 1972–1983" Online portions:
Interviews withJohn Byrne(WebCitation archive);Joe Staton(WebCitation archive); andRoger Stern(WebCitation archive)
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