From: "Ronald A. Evry" <[r--v--y] at [pen.k12.va.us]>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 96 10:26:37 EST
Subject: Re: Whatever happened to...

[Steve MacDonald] at [notes.pw.com]:
> Whatever happened to Charlton Comics?  I used to read their cheaply done 
> horror/ghost books back in the early 70's and then they disappeared into 
> oblivion.  The stories were fun, some even pretty good, I remember, if you like 
> that kind of thing.  But the art and quality of the books was el cheapo.  Had a 
> huge collection of them and got my folks reading them.  So much for taste, eh?  
> Does anyone know of their fate?  Enquiring minds want to know.

Charlton Comics was a family run business out of Derby CT. They
produced a lot of magazines from the 40s through the 60s that
printed the lyrics of pop tunes. Since they owned their own
printing press, they went into the comics business to keep the
presses running around the clock.

They were notorious for paying the lowest rates in the
business, but occasionally produced some terrific stuff.

Steve Ditko worked there a lot in the late 50s/early 60s when
he created Captain Atom. Later on, he returned there after
leaving Marvel, where he created The Question and the "new"
Blue Beetle. Of course, he turned out a number of great sci-fi,
horror and movie monster books there as well. Waaay back in the
50s, he worked on a book called "Tales of the Mysterious
Traveller," based on a then defunct radio show! He also worked
on the Konga and Gorgo books.

Other notable artists there included Rocke Masteroserio, who
was a truly talented and relatively unsung great in the
business, as well as the team of Montes and Bache, who did
great war stories and "The Fightin' Five," Nicholas and
Alascia, the less said, the better, Dick Giordano, who did
terrific covers for years, and eventually became editor there,
where he created an intriguingly terrific but short lived line
of experimental books.

Also working there were people like Pete Morisi ("P.A.M.") and
the incomparable Sam Glanzman, who did the highly collectible
"Jungle Tales of Tarzan" series, "Hercules""The Iron Corporal,"
"Devil's Brigade" and the ultimate masterpiece of comic book
story telling, "Thje Lonely War of Willy Shulz."

Jim Aparo started there, as did Sam Grainger.

Much later on,Joe Staton created E-Man there, which remained
his property. Also towards the end were Morisi's "Vengeance
Squad," and an assortment of very early John Byrne comics such
as "Doomsday + 1" and "Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch".

Towards the end, in the early eighties, Charlton was reduced to
reprinting old stuff and digging out unpublished garbage from
their back stock. Distribution got more and more difficult, and
the line folded. Around a year or so ago, their printing plant
in Connecticut was demolished, ending an era in comic history.

- -=- Uncle Ron -=-