Charlton Comics
Industry | Comics |
---|---|
Founded | 1945 |
Founder |
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Defunct | 1986 |
Fate | Library absorbed by DC Comics, including the Fawcett Comics characters that were purchased by Charlton Comics. |
Headquarters | Derby, Connecticut |
Key people |
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Owner | Charlton Publications |
Divisions |
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Charlton Comics was an American
Charlton Comics published a wide variety of
titles. The company was known for its low-budget practices, often using unpublished material acquired from defunct companies and paying comics creators among the lowest rates in the industry.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
Early years
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2010) |
In 1931, Italian immigrant John Santangelo Sr., a bricklayer who had started a construction business in White Plains, New York, five years earlier, began what became a highly successful business publishing song-lyric magazines out of nearby Yonkers, New York. Operating in violation of copyright laws, however, he was sentenced in 1934 to a year and a day at New Haven County Jail in New Haven, Connecticut, near Derby, where his wife and he by then lived. In jail, he met Waterbury, Connecticut, attorney Ed Levy, with whom he began legitimate publishing in 1935, acquiring permissions to reproduce lyrics in such magazines as Hit Parade and Big 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 published Song Hits magazine and was owned by Lyle Engel in 1949.[4]
Following the adoption of the Charlton Comics name in 1946,
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 was Yellowjacket, an anthology of superhero and horror stories launched September 1944 under the imprint Frank Comunale Publications, with Ed Levy listed as publisher.[2] Zoo Funnies was published under the imprint Children Comics Publishing; Jack in the Box, under Frank Comunale; and TNT 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 included Vince Alascia, Jon D'Agostino, Sam Glanzman, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, Bill Molno, Charles Nicholas, and Sal Trapani. The primary writer was the remarkably prolific Joe 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 being Steve Ditko's The 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 its Fawcett Comics division. Charlton continued publishing two of Fawcett's horror books—This Magazine Is Haunted and Strange 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] Haunted struggled for another two years, published bimonthly until May 1958. Strange Suspense Stories ran longer, lasting well into the 1960s before "giving up the ghost" in 1965.
Charlton published a wide line of
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 titles Billy the Kid (originally Masked Raider), Blue Beetle vol. 2 (originally The Thing!), Blue Beetle vol. 3 (originally Unusual Tales), Fightin' Air Force (originally Never Again), Fightin' Army (originally Soldier and Marine Comics), Fightin' Marines (originally The Texan), Fightin' Navy (originally Don Winslow of the Navy), Ghostly Haunts (originally Ghost Manor), Ghostly Tales (originally Blue Beetle vol. 3), I Love You (originally In Love), and Sweethearts (originally Fawcett's Captain 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-running I Love You, Sweetheart Diary, Brides in Love, My Secret Life, and Just Married; and the teen-oriented romance comics Teen-Age Love, Teen Confessions, and Teen-Age Confidential Confessions.
On August 19, 1955, the company was hit hard by a flood. 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 from Fawcett Comics, in addition to printing presses and typesetting machines. Several issues of comics were destroyed, and some titles abandoned completely.[11][12]
Superheroes were a minor part of the company. At the beginning, Charlton's main characters were Yellowjacket, not to be confused with the later Marvel character, and Diana the Huntress. In the mid-1950s, Charlton briefly published a Blue Beetle title with new and reprinted stories, and in 1956, several short-lived titles written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, such as Mr. Muscles, Zaza the Mystic, and Nature Boy (the latter with artist Mastroserio).[13]
Silver Age
The company's most noteworthy period was during the
Charlton also had moderate success with Son of Vulcan, its answer to Marvel's Thor, in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965).
During the Silver Age, Charlton, like Marvel and DC, published
With the mid-1960s fad for
Charlton threw itself into the resurgent horror comics genre during this period with such titles as Ghostly Tales, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves, and Ghost Manor. It also created a pair of identical horror-movie magazines: Horror Monsters (1961–1964) and Mad Monsters (1961–1965). Additionally, Charlton produced comics based on monsters featured in motion pictures such as Konga, Gorgo and Reptilicus.
Charlton continued its commitment to romance comics with such new titles as Career Girl Romances, Hollywood Romances (later to change its name to For Lovers Only), and Time for Love.
In 1965, Charlton revived the Captain Atom character in
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 from
Charlton dabbled occasionally in adaptations of live-action TV comedies. The most successful was
Bronze Age
In 1973, Charlton debuted the
In the mid-1970s, a brief resurgence of talent occurred, energized by Cuti, artist
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 by
Charlton's black-and-white comics magazines were based upon current
By 1976, however, most of these titles had been cancelled,[21] 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
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 of
In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editor T. C. Ford with a direct-to-market Charlton Bullseye Special.[24][25] Later that same year, though, Charlton Comics went out of business;[26] Charlton Publications followed suit in 1991, and its building and presses were demolished in 1999.
Editor
Most of Charlton's line of action heroes were acquired in 1983 for $5000 a character by Paul Levitz at DC Comics, as a gift to managing editor and former Charlton editor Dick Giordano.[29] These "Action Hero" characters were proposed to be used in the landmark Watchmen miniseries written by Alan 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 epic Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries 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.[30] 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.[31]
Fan revivals
In 2000, Charlton Spotlight, a fanzine devoted to Charlton, began publication.
In 2014, comics writers Mort Todd, Paul Kupperberg, and Roger McKenzie founded a revival imprint named Charlton Neo, which relied heavily on crowdfunding, and printed stories featuring Charlton characters and titles not owned by DC.[32] In May 2017, AC Comics announced that they had entered into an agreement to bring print versions of Charlton Neo's comics to the direct-sales comic shop market, starting with Charlton Arrow #1 in September.[33] 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.[34] In January 2018, citing poor sales and "a variety of financial calamities,"[35] Todd launched a GoFundMe campaign to "help save" the company.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Eury, Michael. Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003), p. 42.
- ^ a b c d e f Duncan, Randy and Smith, Matthew J. "The Charlton Comics Story". Archived 2010-08-05 at the Wayback Machine. The Power of Comics: History, Form & Culture (Continuum, 2009).
- ^ Archive of "Charlton Comics: A Brief History", The Connecticut Historical Society. Original site. WebCitation archive.
- ^ "Charlton Acquires Engel's Lyric Mags, Marking End of an Era". Billboard. December 24, 1949. p. 20.
- ^ Watchmen Comic Has Roots in Connecticut - Central Recorder
- ^ The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz
- ^ The Charlton Empire - Comic Book Artist #9
- ^ "Charlton Comics at Don Markstein's Toonopedia notes that Charlton's acquisition included unused artwork from a number of Fawcett titles. Archived from the original December 6, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-3519-7.
- ^ Michael C. Weisenburg (February 19, 2020). "America's Postwar Fling with Romance Comics". Brewminate. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ The Coming of Charlton Comics - Issuu
- ^ Charlton Neo Media/Charlton Comics: The Movie Panel at CT ComiCONN
- ^ Bails, Jerry. "SIEGEL, JERRY". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9.
Captain Atom was born in a tale by artist Steve Ditko and writer Joe Gill.
- ^ American Eagle (1965) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
- ^ McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 123: "After Ted Kord assumed the scarab as Blue Beetle in a back-up feature of Captain Atom #83, writer/artist Steve Ditko and co-writer 'D.C. Glanzman' (who was actually Ditko) launched the Blue Beetle into his own series."
- ^ The Phantom: The Complete Series: The Charlton Years: Volume One
- ^ Dick Giordano Interview - Comic Book Artist #1
- ^ The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes
- ^ Cooke, Jon B., "Lest We Forget: Celebrating Four that Got Away": Comic Book Artist #12 (March 2001), p. 112
- ^ "Charlton Has Suspended Publication Indefinitely", The Nostalgia Journal #29, October 1976, p. 14.
- ^ "Charlton to Publish Aspiring Pro's Work for Free," The Comics Journal #59 (Oct. 1980), p. 14.
- ^ "Charlton Comics Suspends Publication," The Comics Journal #94 (Oct. 1984), p. 18.
- ^ "From the Ashes: Charlton and Harvey to Resume Publishing This Spring," The Comics Journal #97 (Apr. 1985), pp. 15–16.
- ^ "Charlton Back from the Dead," The Comics Journal #101 (Sept. 1985), pp. 22–23.
- ^ "Charlton Goes Down for the Count," The Comics Journal #103 (Sept. 1985), pp. 10–11.
- ^ "Charlton Rights Sold," The Comics Journal #122 (June 1988), p. 26.
- ^ Irving, Christopher. "Charlton Twilight & Afterlife: the Final Days of Charlton Publications and Beyond," Comic Book Artist #12 (Mar. 2001), p104-108.
- ^ COMICS' BRONZE AGE AND BEYOND! - Previews World
- ^ Comics through Time : A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas
- ^ The Charlton Empire - Comic Book Artist #9
- ^ Wickline, Dan. "The Charlton Arrow – A Tribute to Charlton Comics", Bleeding Cool, 19 March 2014, retrieved on 30 May 2014.
- ^ "AC Comics July 2017 Previews for September 2017 Ship". AC Comics. May 15, 2017. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
- ^ "CHARLTON NEO COMICS". morttodd.com. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
- ^ "Click here to support Help Save Charlton Neo Comics! organized by Mort Todd". gofundme.com. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
External links
- 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 with Jim Aparo. WebCitation archive.
- Comic Book Artist #12, March 2001: "The Charlton Comics Story: 1972–1983" Online portions:
- Interviews with John Byrne (WebCitation archive); Joe Staton (WebCitation archive); and Roger Stern (WebCitation archive)
- Charlton Comics at An International Catalogue of Superheroes. WebCitation archive
- Schenk, Ramon (ed.). "Charlton Characters & Features". Archived from the original on May 28, 2014.
- Nesteroff, Kliph (April 8, 2007). "In Celebration of Crud: The Charlton Comics Story". Beware of the Blog (column), WFMU (radio station). Archived from the original on May 15, 2011.
- Keppler, Nick (March 5, 2009). "Secret Origins! Connecticut-based Charlton Comics' Link to the First Blockbuster of 2009". ) Additional on June 11, 2011
- Schenk, Ramon (ed.). "Charlton Personnel". Archived from the original on March 5, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2011.Additional made June 15, 2010.
- FBI file on Charlton Publications
- Deep Dish Radio podcast on the history of Charlton Comics with the documentarians making Charlton The Movie[permanent dead link]