The Peacemaker stands out with me as a potentially great character ahead of its time. At a later date with a superior company this could have been a really prestigious superhero....if there truly could be such a thing. What a character it would have been for today’s filmmakers. Even this hero’s costume says: not your garden variety superhero.
@@Ouja Yes, but the character as originally created had SO much potential. It could have taken superhero comics to an unprecedented level. DC didn't REALLY get this done.
Yo I'm from the future and he's in the new Suicide Squad movie and I'd say Gunn did really well with him and John Cena portrayed him excellently. Gunn just really knows how to bring underappreciated characters into the spotlight. Am a little curious about that new show but we'll see I guess.
I always loved the Charlton superheroes. Of all the many comics in my collection, the bulk of them are Charltons. And I have nearly every book shown in this documentary. Thanks for the retrospective!
The Blue Beetle is one of my favorite heroes of all time. I wish the writers of JLI took him more seriously (and that he survived past Infinite Crisis)
it’s sad that he died but he did so in a lasting way that made them see that things were bad for everyone…it was the greatest praise for a character: a meaningful death.
@@johnminehan1148 They were in Iowa. I remember reading some of their titles back in the late 70s. Mostly the horror titles, but I loved The Question and Blue Beetle.
Nice montage and history piece on the Charlton characters and tie in to Watchmen. Thanks for the tip on the new movie. Considering the pay for artists was so low, I can see how the seeds of the publisher originated in a jail cell conversation.
Hi skrimshander! Thanks for noticing the montage! The owners of Charlton were always trying to do things on the cheap...cheap paper...cheap printing press...low wages. It's amazing they lasted as long as they did...but then, the magazines like Hit Parader kept them in business. I read that in the 1930s-60s, Hit Parader magazine was the leading mag in the music industry. It stayed on top until magazines like Rolling Stone came around in the 1970s.
@@FizzFop1 Machine lettering, too. Ditko loved working for them since editorial input was basically nonexistent. Joe Gill was among the most prolific comics writers of all time working for them, but the legend is that he made most of his money playing cards for money with the printers.
Alan Moore was not hired to do a Charlton-based mini. Watchmen was pitched as a separate idea, with Moore proposing using old, possibly public domain heroes. He actually suggested the MLJ/Archie line of heroes, though Archie was then trying to revive them with their Red Circle imprint. After DC bought the Charlton characters, it was suggested to use them for the characters in the Watchmen proposal, until the finality of the story was considered and they took that idea off the table. The Comedian started out as being Lancelot Strong, aka The Shield (the Simon & Kirby version), before becoming a takeoff on the Peacemaker. Ditko wrote his own material at Charlton; but, would use other people's names to cover the fact. Giordano and others have confirmed this. DC Glanzman, brother of artist Sam Glanzman, was used on several of Ditko's stories. Glanzman worked production for Charlton; but, never wrote material for Ditko. Thunderbolt's costume was inspired by Daredevil (and the Web, who did a similar spit design); but, the main basis for the character was Centaur's Amazing Man, from Bill Everett. He was trained by monks, in Tibet, and put through a series of trials, before being sent out into the world. Morisi confirmed this in the Comic Book Artist interview, from the issues shown at the end. Morisi started working in comics in the late 40s, but, things became tight and he became a police officer. He continued to moonlight doing comics, which is why he signed his material as PAM. He bought the rights to Thunderbolt, during the Charlton sell-off, and allowed DC to use it for a limited period of time, which ended up being a couple of panels in Crisis and a much later brief series (12 issues). The rights reverted back to him. Frank McLaughlin was the main force in Judomaster. He was the artist and a long time judo player. The character did appear in the DC Challenge and was intended for a Secret origins issue, as well as an anthology that was intended to showcase the Charlton heroes. The anthology was canceled before it was published. Judomaster and Tiger finally appeared in the LAW mini-series. Charlton could have been a real top player in the field, as they controlled the creation, editing, printing and distribution of their own comics. The only other company to do this was Western, who published the Dell and Gold Key comics. However, both were more focused on their other enterprises, which were far more lucrative. Charlton made way more money on their music magazines, while Western made more money, via the Whitman brand name, on puzzles and games, as well as the Little Golden Book line of children's books. Meanwhile, it is pronounced San-Tan-gelo, not San-Tangle-o, and Ge-or-dawn-o, not Gee-or-dane-o. Also, Oz-ee-man-dee-es
"However, both were more focused on their other enterprises, which were far more lucrative" Rather like British publisher DC Thomson, which released comics from the 1930s onwards but always made more money from printing wallpaper.
Heard that Peacemaker is going to be in the new Suicide Squad movie Also loved DC’s 80’s Captain Atom and Blue Beetle when he got paired with Booster Gold
I DO enjoy watching your videos explanations over and over! I really like the fact that you RESPECT your audience and don't start SCREAMING at any certain spot of your content!! Thank you so much for your effort and for keeping me ENTERTAINING while LEARNING something!
I'm glad you did an in-depth story on Charlton Comics Group as not many has done it. These characters were quite underrated until some of them were written in Justice League of America in the '90s which became my favorite due to the comedic dialogues.
Funny that one of the masterpieces of modern fiction only exists because DC wanted to do something with some characters that didn't even end-up getting used.
I really enjoy hearing about these heroes because besides just learning about heroes that aren't from Marvel and DC (well, they weren't originally), it also tells me why some things in Watchmen happened. After watching Linkara's retrospective on Blue Beetle, the fact that Nite Owl started to get fat made sense as it was likely in reference to Ted Kord gaining weight and now I also know why Silk Spectre was in a relationship with Dr. Manhattan, because their inspirations were too. I also learned which Charlton hero Ozymandias was based on as I could never recall that one. I knew all of them except him and Silk Spectre. As for if DC has done a good job, I'd say so for Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, The Question and Peacemaker. All four of them got more use once they were bought, Blue Beetle having a pretty decent run where he goes from a serious vigilante to a goofball to a good support role to dying a hero and having someone take on his mantle and respect it, Peace Maker became a supporting cast member for Jaime so he's still somewhat relavent and seemed cool in the Blue Beetle retrospective. Captain Atom seems to have gotten a really big power boost in DC and he seemed interesting in the Justice League cartoon. Question was AWESOME in the Justice League cartoon and that version is one of my favorite characters on that show because he's just a bad ass. I don't think they have done much with the rest of them, I have seen Judo Master, or at least a female version of him show up in the JSA but that's about it so I can't say if DC did good with them but the four I mentioned, they did.
I remember another Charleton book I loved, I think it was later than the others: E-Man. As in e=mc2. He was not a human at all, but a pure energy being that stumbled across this exotic dancer and they have adventures saving the world. I remember the funny screwball comedy dialog back and forth between the two, like the thin man films, or topper, or bringing up baby, or his girl friday. And of course a lot of cheesecake illustrations. Maybe it wasn't the dialog that attracted me after all...hmmmm.
At first, DC did an excellent job with these characters. Denny O'Neill's run on the Question was one of my favorites. Blue Beetle had a short solo run followed by a stint in the Justice League (where he became my favorite superhero). Captain Atom had a respectable run in solo adventures and became part of the Justice League. Pretty much most Charlton character were given a place in the DC Universe after "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Nightshade, Punch and Jewelly were in the Suicide Squad, Sarge Steel was part of Checkmate. ...And then Dan DiDio was put in charge of DC...
Blue Beetle was the single biggest character that got incorporated into DC, it was so integral to the Justice League of the 90s that they used him as the single linking spark for their 2005/2006 epic crisis event…he made it into multiple DC shows in the 2000s and is beloved enough to have sparked his own meme
Awesome video! I feel like DC could have done more with the characters. Charlton was sort of the Grindhouse of comics, but they still had some great books.
If Ted Kord's Blue Beetle had been part of the Marvel universe being done by Ditko, it would have been giant! He would have Marvel's Batman without the grimace and bad attitude. Unfortunately, Charleton didn't have the oomph or readership to produce high-quality comics and DC already had a batman. For all the push Kord was given in the DC universe (and it was substantial), the writers and editors just didn't know what to do with him and he was soon stripped of his riches, respect by others, self-esteem and finally his life as a result. Shameful! Wasteful! Disrespectful of the creator.
Excellent work! My wife & I love it! And the Watchman twist totally caught us off guard. Another fine job. 👍 One afterthought, we miss the cowboy at the end of your videos. 😉
Lol! Thanks Ryan! I didn't think anyone even noticed the cowboy! It's cool that you watch comic book videos with your wife. You are lucky to have her. A friend of mine dumped his comic book reading girl friend in college. He was your typical blond haired blue eyed surfer type and women threw themselves at him. He decided he wanted to "play the field" and dumped her. He's in his late 40s now and says that was the biggest mistake of his life.
FizzFop1 Right On. My wife reads comic books, watches all the comic book related movies, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc... It’s wonderful! Thanks again for all of the videos. We look forward to them and get “Christmas-style” excited when we find them in our notifications box. 👍
I really enjoyed this. I learned a few things that I didn't know. The Action Hero line had bad timing. They started at a time when the news stands were flooded with superhero comics and never really had a chance. Charlton's poor distribution certainly didn't help. One minor quibble, while Nightshade was co-created by Ditko, the pages from her backup strip you displayed were drawn by Jim Aparo. He was another major talent to get his start at Charlton. A quick mention of his name would have been nice. You did a great job here.
Hi Calvin, I can't believe I didn't mention Aparo. He's one of my favorite artists. Ditko did Nightshade in the Captain Atom stories...Aparo drew the back up stories where she appeared as a solo character. I should have mentioned that.
That's because it was originally intended for Watchmen to be about the Charlton heroes but the DC higher ups said no. So Alan Moore created various versions of them for his graphic novel.
The Charlton Heroes line is what got me into comics really. First comics I bought with my own money were Modern Comics reprints in the three packs they sold for a dollar. What made Ted Kord Blue Beetle my favorite character of all time. You did miss one of the heroes that was not really part of the Action Hero line. E-man who also deserves special mention.
I remember seeing these comics in the 70's, "left behind" in used book stores and old comic racks... remember thinking the art on "Captain Atom" looking reminiscent of "Spiderman" LMAO I was like 8/9 yrs old, didn't know any better. Loved the look, and characters like Night Shade and Punch and Jewley.
My all-time favorite DC artist, Jim Aparo--renowned for his work with The Spectre, Aquaman and multiple Batman titles--got his start at Charlton too! (The video shows his work on Nightshade.) I never knew the fascinating story behind Charlton. These mini-documentaries are great, thank you so much! How has DC handled the Action-Heroes, you ask? Terribly. There seems to be a strange hate-on among DC staff for properties obtained from other companies, a desire to kill them off and replace them with "pure DC" alternatives whenever possible. Nightshade's a relatively lucky one; she was placed in minor roles in Suicide Squad and Shadowpact, but at least she didn't wind up in the refrigerator (yet). Ted Kord got his brains blown out and replaced (although they can't stop bringing him back), The Question died of cancer and was replaced, an entire string of Peacemakers have been blown away, and an aborted attempt was made to turn Captain Atom into a villain and replace him with an alternate version named Breach (ugh). This was after DC failed to imitate the success of "Watchmen" with a terrible miniseries featuring the actual Charlton characters ("The L.A.W."). I'm so glad DC didn't get their hands on E-Man, easily my favorite Charlton superhero (although other companies would do their damnedest to ruin the property). Mike Mauser's adopted daughter would turn out to be the villain behind the murder of Nova Kane and Teddy Q or some other sick grimdark edgelord nonsense.
Hi Screaming Scallop! I agree. DC really hasn't done a good job on these characters. Jim Aparo is one of my all time favorite artists. His work on Spectre (I think that was in Adventure Comics?) was awesome. E-Man is a quirky character. I can't imagine what some lame brain mainstream writer would do to him...whatever they would do, it would be awful.
Wow! I have an old black and white book called the "Encyclopedia of Superheroes" that had only small descriptions of some of the heroes on this chanel. It's great to finally see colored featurettes!
@@PurpleWarlock yeah, no attack directed at her could hit her but if you tossed a grenade in her general direction the explosion could hurt her since it wasn’t aimed.
I have always had a soft spot for Charlton's Action Hero Line's characters, especially the ones where Steve Ditko was involved (Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Question and Nightshade). When DC launched their version of the Blue Beetle in the post-crisis universe of 1980's, writer Len Wein wanted to do an old school fun type of superhero adventure in a DC universe that was then slowly getting darker and serious. Paris Cullins, who had gained some recognition for his work on Blue Devil, was perfect choice for this. The tone was very different for DC's Captain Atom who was more like the rest of the post-crisis DC universe. Still, I liked the first two years or so of the title then dropped out. DC's Question written Denny O'Neil was not just dark, but depressing and I didn't liked it at all with terrible art by Denys Cowan who was trying to be a poor man's Bill Sienkiewicz. Loved Nightshade in the much underrated Suicide Squad run scripted by John Ostrander. All this time, I kept hoping that DC would get a decent creative team behind a team book that would bring all the Charlton heroes together. At the height of the popularity of the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League (with three regular titles Justice League, JLE, Justice League Quarterly, plus annuals, mini-series, etc.), I was always hoping for the Charlton heroes to get their own chapter.
Hi Rangersly! I loved the first ten issues of that DC Blue Beetle revival with Len Wein. There was some seriously good stories there. For some reason, DC just doesn't know what to do with these guys. I think they would be better as a stand alone line than mixing them into the DC Universe at this point.
I thought O'Neil's Question was a great book, but it has always bothered me that it exists as a repudiation of Steve Ditko. It was basically Vic Sage being "educated" out of his Ditko-era beliefs, which I found very disrespectful to Ditko. I mean, like Denny O'Neil, I'm not an objectivist either (though I agree with them on some things), but I'm open-minded enough that I can read about an objectivist-inspired hero without denying him his basic ideological foundation.
I can't remember the name of it, but DC did release a 6 issue mini series with alll the characters working together. When you laid all the covers together side by side, it made a huge collage of them all in one expanded picture. I've always liked how many of them became naturals in the DC universe, and how effortlessly they fit in with Crisis On Infinite Earths (not to mention great Charlton villains like The Ghost and Punch and Jewelle).
@@dfcsons Yeah, I remember as well. But the creative team didn't interest me, the art was bland, and the reviews were nor good. I would have loved to see John Byrne tackle this project.
Right. Do you want your comic book characters to be pretty good, or do you want them to be great? Underselling your characters can harm the bottom line,
After a 20-year hiatus I finally got back into collecting comics again. But I'm only collecting Golden age books and I really enjoy your channel thus far. Subscribed
There was a radio commercial for Salada Tea around that time that described the drink as “not half bad.” Giordano would have heard it-in ran in NYC-and probably liked its understatement. Thanks for mentioning the Sentinels. Sam Grainger was a terrific artist who deserves to be remembered.
This was fascinating. So much I never knew. I had the Space 1999 Charlton Comics and a I think a random issue or two of Thunderbolt. Had no idea that it was the same publisher of Hit Parader which I used to read religiously during the late 70s into early 80s. Also did not know that these heroes were the template for the WATCHMEN. Great video! Thank you!
Loved what Charlton did with the "Watchman" inspiration characters, and I do think DC look those characters to new heights. However, the Charlton Blue Beetle is a fun read. Very much like a Spider Man story.
Really enjoy your videos on the lesser known comic heroes, it's obvious you do it with alot of love and respect. Hope you'll do one on Gold Key comics soon. Dr. Solar, Turok, Son of Stone, Samson. Magnus, Robot Fighter. Keep up the great work. Fair Winds
I have been a fan of the Charlton characters for many years, thanks for producing such an informative video. I knew very little in regards to the history of the company, very cool!
Hi Surly Tim!!! I only touched the surface of the company. If you watched past the credits, I plugged the Charlton Film that's being made. They have a RUclips channel and interview a lot of the people who worked there. Check it out...it's a bit of a tease, but it's great stuff.
The Stardust comparison is a good one. I never thought about that one. I haven't read anything about Alan Moore talking about Stardust. I wonder if he knew about that character at the time?
@@FizzFop1 honestly I'm not sure, to me it seems like something he would have been kinda familiar with like the kinda thing he skimmed over once because a friend recommended it and then although he remembered the basic jist of the character he over all forgot it so when he created Dr Manhatten he attributed more of his creation to captain atom and was subconsciously influenced by stardust. Like how comedians here a comedy proformance sometimes and like it but forget about it consiously and end up re hashing it as there own thing because they still remember it subconsciously. If that all makes sense
Thanks for these videos on these vintage Glad that their ties to Alan Moore's Watchmen was noted. I think only Marvel/DC/Fawcett really got the superhero genre right. Charlton's lacked... pizzazz? Still, I did have several Charlton books like Judo Master. And I liked the Sarge Steel strip.
I think the thing was they had all this talent there before they totally crafted their skills. Fredrich went on to Marvel, and with Stan Lee as editor, his writing really took off. At Marvel, he won writing awards for Sgt. Fury and went on to create the updated Ghost Rider. Dick Giordano went to DC and took half of Charlton's talent pool with him. All of those guys took their skills to another level there.
Hi Andrew, I know. It's a cool concept...it could easily be updated for modern audiences. It would start somewhere in the middle east at the ruins of a Temple of Apollo that had been desecrated by ISIS. That story writes itself! Vulcan gives Mann updated looking armor and weapons. That would be a sweet re-telling.
I know that DC at one point had somewhat of a newer story at one point, in the early 2000s, but I don't remember much of it. I think it was by Keith Giffen, but it might have been similar only in name (Been a while since I saw it)!!! @@FizzFop1
In case you didn't already know, DC Comics published a six issue mini series in 1999-2000 called L. A. W. (Living Assault Weapons) that kind of served as a launching point for many of the newly acquired Charlton heroes including: Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Judomaster, Nightshade, The Peacemaker, The Question and Sarge Steel. Pretty cool series if you can find it.
What DC did initially with Blue Beetle was good. Later on, no. Captain Atom. Ehhh. Not so good. Question. Nope. They changed him then killed him off. Tho the version in Justice League Unlimited was good
Blue Beetle number one is public domain, just the name is trademarked. But that only applies to covers. I dont get the current DC Blue. Beetle with the weird super suit. Isn't it just a knockoff of a minor Marvel character?
@@johnnyplunkett8532 I Know how to use blue beetle , is very simple , I will give him a name like : Dark Beetle. Is the same carachter ,same history but he changes his name .
@@JoaoGabriel-et4kq That would work, they have done the Golden Age Daredevil as RedDevil and some other variations by minor companies. Stan Lee swiped the DD concept of an acrobat with a boomerang. They just gave him a new outfit and radar sense. Shakespeare swiped, all great writers do. Alan Moores Nightowl swiped the look from an old Worlds FInest villain more than from the Golden Age Owl characters. I always liked the look of that WF bad guy whose name escapes me.
Mr. Giordano was one of my instructors at Parsons School of Design. Not only was he a fantasic illustrator and a great teacher, he was one of the nicest people I ever met.
Hi Steve, did I have a conversation with you before about that? I can't remember if it was you or someone else who said something very similar. That must have been awesome to learn from someone like him.
Holy cow! Has no one ever pointed out the similarity of Captain Atom and Doctor Manhattan? (Later) Holy COW! I should watch the entire video before commenting!
Question about the question: some of the characters from this company are in the public domain, is the question in the public domain as well? Cant find any answers by looking it up so i thought i would ask here
Hi the gaming doge! Thanks for watching! The Question is owned by DC Comics. He's appeared in animation and has had his own series under the DC banner.
I had a chance to talk to Mr Giordano at Hero Con in Charlotte NC some time ago before he passed away. He was a delight to talk to about Chalton comics and other topics. He will be missed.
Hi Gerald, I never got a chance to see him speak at a con or meet him. Wish I had. I always heard he was a great guy and great with the fans. I've also heard he was really good with aspiring comic writers/artists.
I remember getting Blue Beetle vibes from that character in The Watchmen; now, I know why. I've always thought that I was the only person who ever read Charlton comics.
Hi varanid9! When I was a real little kid (5-8 years old), I bought mostly horror, war, and western books. I thought Charlton was bigger than Marvel.lol
I've Read Charlton Comics, Dell comics, Tower Comics, Harvey Comics, Image comic, Archie Comics, etc. lots of other comics beside DC and Marvel comics.
@@hydrolito Harvey comics, weren't they the ones that published Sad Sack, Richie Rich, Spooky, the Tuff lil' Ghost, Casper, The Ghostly Trio, Wendy, the Good lil' Witch, etc.? Never bought any Archie comics, but, I had plenty of Dell, though, I often confuse their titles with Charlton's, now.
@@FizzFop1 Was it Charlton or Dell that published 'Ghost Stories'? I think it was Dell that published a UFO comic that printed supposedly true flying saucer encounters.
Charlton (almost) always came off as what it turned out to be in reality, an incidental, fill-in-the-gap comic line that was not wholly committed to its largely derivative characters. There were exceptions that managed to shine from time to time, like Capt Atom, which was kind of like Gold Key comics (using a lot of established works from TV) but had some interesting characters of their own. For me, Gold Key character of Dr. Spektor and Magnus, Robot Fighter stood out.
Magnus Robot Fighter is a fantastic character and concept. I bought a graphic novel that was only produced a couple years ago (I think by Dynamite) with all new stories, and loved it. Those covers back in the day were gorgeous too.
Alright Fizz if you had to build a comic company using only reclaimed heroes from the Public Domain Heap which do you use? Yes you can redesign them or even rewrite their origins but they must be recognizable as a Old School Hero
Hi Kid Coheed! Funny you should mention that. I'm recovering from cancer surgery...and I've had a lot of down time to think about what I'm going to do the rest of my life. I've always wanted to do a graphic novel-so I started working on one. My story is using the Lev Gleason characters. It's featuring the original DareDevil (I have to change the name of course) and he's going to fight one of Lev Gleason's biggest villains Iron Jaw. In the og DareDevil letter pages, there's letter after letter from fans asking for a DareDevil vs. Iron Jaw battle. It never happened...so, my concept is that this battle takes place after World War II. Iron Jaw is a war criminal on the run. Crimebuster finds out that he is planning on having plastic surgery to hide his looks...Crimebuster approaches DareDevil. From there, they assemble a squad that is made up of Silver Streak, Captain Battle, and the Ghost. The final battle takes place in Cleveland. My rename for DareDevil right now is Devil-Dare. I'm still trying to think up a better name. I think someone might have already revived the character by this name, but I can't seem to confirm that.
I remember getting a fevv Charlton comics as a kid in the 70's, but they vvere vvar comics & I stopped getting them after discovering Sgt. rock & DC's line of vvar comics but gave them up for star vvars ,, &then finally "matured" into superhero comics.
@@FizzFop1 Thanks, I think the change happened vvhen my mom brought home Heavy Metal Magizine , kick started my interest to dravv & began to raise my reading scores in school
WOW, this brought back memories. I was reading comics during this time and I was a huge fan of Charlton. I remember I’d started to find Marvel was becoming repetitive and predictable in their stories. I also think I remember that Kirby and Ditko had both left Marvel. What I liked about Charlton was that each character seemed to be unique. Looking back I think all the Marvel stuff had Stan Lee’s stamp on them, while the Charlton stuff was the individual creation of writer and artist. In fact, when Charlton quit the comic business (1969?) I quit comics!
DC wrecked the Question by taking the character away from his original role as Steve Ditko's Objectivist mouthpiece. And Alan Moore's Rorschach, while a brilliant creation, also showed Moore's misunderstanding of Steve Ditko's thinking. Mr. A is more or less an uncensored version of the Question, but Ditko was smart enough to retain ownership of that later character.
Charlton's reason for printing comics (to keep the presses running) wasn't exactly unique. From what I've heard the Pulps of the 30's were created for the same purpose and then led to the first comic books on the same presses for the same reasons - to keep the presses running.
Nope. First off, the pulps weren't created in the 1930s, but in 1890s. The pulps were created because the paper was very cheap, so the cost of creating them was less. They sold a LOT of them, and some publishers ONLY did pulps, but other publishers were part of conglomerates like Charlton that did other magazines, comics, and sometimes books. Tho not sure if they used the same presses. Not all publishers owned their own presses. I know Street & Smith did. But I doubt that was true of Popular, Thrilling, Dell, Fiction House, and others.
In gauging the relative popularity of Charlton Comics vs Dell, DC, and later Marvel, it's important to consider how comic books were sold and marketed circa 1960. At that time, there were no Saturday morning superhero cartoons, no syndicated superheroes in Sunday newpaper comic strip sections, and no superhero movies. Everyone (i.e. adolescent boys) had seen the Superman TV show with George Reeves, and that was enough to make Superman the most popular superhero of the era, with his stablemate Batman a close second. Comic books were not promoted in other media, they were sold mostly on rotating wire racks in drug stores, or displayed along with monthly magazines by larger newsstand vendors. Malls had not yet conquered suburbia, most people went to local shopping centers that typically had at least one large supermarket and a drug store. This is where suburban moms would park their adolescent kids while they went grocery shopping on Saturdays, and that's how we discovered comic books. The comic book racks in drug stores were mostly unattended, and we could read comics free so long as we didn't make trouble. The drug store clerks didn't care because the racks and comics were provided and stocked on commission by local rack-jobbers, who had distribution contracts with regional comic book distributors. In a typical drug store, there was room for two or maybe three vertical rotating racks, one for Dell and one for DC. Dell comics (Disney etc) were read by children and adolescent girls. DC superhero comics were made for adolescent boys. Archie comics were an exception to this rule, and could sometimes be found at supermarket check-out aisles, but at that point were regarded as a teenage hold-over from the 50's. The drug store rack-jobber system largely accounts for the lack of visibility and popularity of Charlton comics back in the day. The racks were monopolized by Dell and DC and drug store owners were happy to leave comics selection to the rack-jobbers. I saw Charlton comics at the big newsstand downtown, but it was obvious they were off-brand. All my friends were into Superman and Batman, and we stuck with DC. That mindset persisted until the Batman TV show turned things upside down, and gave Marvel a chance to springboard off the new trend. But by that time, Charlton was a lost cause.
Hi Risebell! I don't know if I mentioned this before...but Catman was one on the first list of ten superheroes I planned on doing. When I was younger, I heard a really great story (a number of times from different people) about Catman...and I can't find any version of that story today. Not finding any other re-telling of that story has sort of stopped me from doing the video...maybe I will make the video and tell the story as a legend...or tall tale.
I don't want to give it away before making the video but...It's a story about Bob Kane going to the Holyoke offices and giving them a peace of his mind about them copying Batman. It's hysterical!
@@elfascisto6549Cohesive? By that logic wouldn’t marvel be more cohesive if every superhero was a mutant? Or if every superhero got their powers from the same thing?
Very interesting. It should be noted that Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and Peacemaker were all ported over into the DCU. Blue Beetle had a spot in the Justice League comics of the 1980s and a new version has been in the Young Justice animated series and a recent movie (and probably other places). Captain Atom was part of the Justice League animated series by Bruce Tim and probably in comics as well. And Peacemaker was recently in the Suicide Squad movie and has his own, live action TV series. Again, I'm sure there are more appearances of these characters elsewhere. It's very interesting to see Charlton's influence on the DCU and to comics in general.
What I find funny about the Blue Beetle from a more modern lenses is that it's a character that flip flops between being more science and magic based. When the character started out, he was magic based. Then the publishers forced him to be science based like Batman. With Jaime, it was revealed that the original scarab was alien technology made by The Reach that worked like the Iron Man armour. With DC Rebirth, it's based to magic based again for some reason. It's like, "Make up your minds!" xP
Good and interesting video. Thank you! Two characters you missed were E-Man and Killjoy (a backup feature in the _E-Man_ comic). They came after all the ones you talked about and probably didn't exist when that "not half-bad" ad came out. E-Man was created by Nicolas Cuti and Joe Staton. He was a superhero in stories that were lightly humorous and satiric. Killjoy was another philosophy-based hero from Ditko, in the same vein as his Mr. A and The Question. Killjoy was more satiric, though.
Hi r0kus! Yeah, I wanted to focus on the 60s Action Hero line...Charlton did some amazing stuff in the time period when E-Man and Killjoy came out. They began publishing Manga. They were printing Doomsday +1 plus all those horror titles. They were doing painted covers. A lot of that great stuff is just overlooked by everyone.
The owners of Charlton had a cooler back-story than the characters did.
Needs to be a movie!
@@TheMrPeteChannel I was like "how has someone not written a movie about this...should I!?"
I never really felt like Charlton tried too hard with their hero titles, but I did like their slogan, BUY CHARLTON COMICS, WE NEED THE MONEY!!
Don't give up your day job.
Ditko's Blue Beetle design is one of the best superhero designs of all time. And the Question is another! What a genius!
He NEVER seemed to get the credit he deserved IMO. The guy was amazingingly creative.
SPIDER-MAN and DR. STRANGE were excellent creations too...
Way preferred BB to Spiderman design...
I just watched "The Incredibles 2", and a background character had a costume very similar to the Ted Kord Blue Beetle's.
And neither of Capatain Atom's costumes are half bad. either . . . .
The Peacemaker stands out with me as a potentially great character ahead of its time. At a later date with a superior company this could have been a really prestigious superhero....if there truly could be such a thing. What a character it would have been for today’s filmmakers. Even this hero’s costume says: not your garden variety superhero.
Yup. Sadly poorly served by DC.
I enjoyed DCs portrayal of Peacemaker in the Vigilante comics.
@@Ouja Yes, but the character as originally created had SO much potential. It could have taken superhero comics to an unprecedented level. DC didn't REALLY get this done.
He's getting a tv show
Yo I'm from the future and he's in the new Suicide Squad movie and I'd say Gunn did really well with him and John Cena portrayed him excellently. Gunn just really knows how to bring underappreciated characters into the spotlight. Am a little curious about that new show but we'll see I guess.
I always loved the Charlton superheroes. Of all the many comics in my collection, the bulk of them are Charltons. And I have nearly every book shown in this documentary. Thanks for the retrospective!
steve ditko 's version of the blue beetle was my favorite .
Blue Beetle and Captain Atom were pretty cool.
raydeen2k - they sure were. Loved the 80s DC portrayal of both those characters.
The Blue Beetle is one of my favorite heroes of all time. I wish the writers of JLI took him more seriously (and that he survived past Infinite Crisis)
I'm with you on that Vagajammer!
it’s sad that he died but he did so in a lasting way that made them see that things were bad for everyone…it was the greatest praise for a character: a meaningful death.
Blue beetle graduation day
They should have promoted the comics as "Charlton Action Heroes, you could always do way worse with other comics. Why not read ours?".
Hi RanstheNameCom! That would have worked better.
I liked the Charlton Comics as a kid. I'm from Eastern NYS, so they were on the stands where I grew up. I'm not sure they were in, say, Nebraska.
@@johnminehan1148 They were in Iowa. I remember reading some of their titles back in the late 70s. Mostly the horror titles, but I loved The Question and Blue Beetle.
John Minehan NYS?🤔
@@kjk7611 "New York State," basically upstate, as opposed to "NYC," "New York City."
Nice montage and history piece on the Charlton characters and tie in to Watchmen. Thanks for the tip on the new movie. Considering the pay for artists was so low, I can see how the seeds of the publisher originated in a jail cell conversation.
Hi skrimshander! Thanks for noticing the montage! The owners of Charlton were always trying to do things on the cheap...cheap paper...cheap printing press...low wages. It's amazing they lasted as long as they did...but then, the magazines like Hit Parader kept them in business. I read that in the 1930s-60s, Hit Parader magazine was the leading mag in the music industry. It stayed on top until magazines like Rolling Stone came around in the 1970s.
@@FizzFop1 Machine lettering, too. Ditko loved working for them since editorial input was basically nonexistent. Joe Gill was among the most prolific comics writers of all time working for them, but the legend is that he made most of his money playing cards for money with the printers.
Alan Moore was not hired to do a Charlton-based mini. Watchmen was pitched as a separate idea, with Moore proposing using old, possibly public domain heroes. He actually suggested the MLJ/Archie line of heroes, though Archie was then trying to revive them with their Red Circle imprint. After DC bought the Charlton characters, it was suggested to use them for the characters in the Watchmen proposal, until the finality of the story was considered and they took that idea off the table. The Comedian started out as being Lancelot Strong, aka The Shield (the Simon & Kirby version), before becoming a takeoff on the Peacemaker.
Ditko wrote his own material at Charlton; but, would use other people's names to cover the fact. Giordano and others have confirmed this. DC Glanzman, brother of artist Sam Glanzman, was used on several of Ditko's stories. Glanzman worked production for Charlton; but, never wrote material for Ditko.
Thunderbolt's costume was inspired by Daredevil (and the Web, who did a similar spit design); but, the main basis for the character was Centaur's Amazing Man, from Bill Everett. He was trained by monks, in Tibet, and put through a series of trials, before being sent out into the world. Morisi confirmed this in the Comic Book Artist interview, from the issues shown at the end. Morisi started working in comics in the late 40s, but, things became tight and he became a police officer. He continued to moonlight doing comics, which is why he signed his material as PAM. He bought the rights to Thunderbolt, during the Charlton sell-off, and allowed DC to use it for a limited period of time, which ended up being a couple of panels in Crisis and a much later brief series (12 issues). The rights reverted back to him.
Frank McLaughlin was the main force in Judomaster. He was the artist and a long time judo player. The character did appear in the DC Challenge and was intended for a Secret origins issue, as well as an anthology that was intended to showcase the Charlton heroes. The anthology was canceled before it was published. Judomaster and Tiger finally appeared in the LAW mini-series.
Charlton could have been a real top player in the field, as they controlled the creation, editing, printing and distribution of their own comics. The only other company to do this was Western, who published the Dell and Gold Key comics. However, both were more focused on their other enterprises, which were far more lucrative. Charlton made way more money on their music magazines, while Western made more money, via the Whitman brand name, on puzzles and games, as well as the Little Golden Book line of children's books.
Meanwhile, it is pronounced San-Tan-gelo, not San-Tangle-o, and Ge-or-dawn-o, not Gee-or-dane-o. Also, Oz-ee-man-dee-es
"However, both were more focused on their other enterprises, which were far more lucrative"
Rather like British publisher DC Thomson, which released comics from the 1930s onwards but always made more money from printing wallpaper.
Excellent video. Really enjoyed it. Wonderful coverage on my favorite characters. Well done. Best/Steve
Thanks Steve!!!
Nicely done! I knew about Charlton as a kid, but never knew all the details. Excellent mini-documentary!
Heard that Peacemaker is going to be in the new Suicide Squad movie
Also loved DC’s 80’s Captain Atom and Blue Beetle when he got paired with Booster Gold
Dodged a bullet there.
DC has used him poorly
I DO enjoy watching your videos explanations over and over!
I really like the fact that you RESPECT your audience and don't start SCREAMING at any certain spot of your content!!
Thank you so much for your effort and for keeping me ENTERTAINING while LEARNING something!
I'm glad you did an in-depth story on Charlton Comics Group as not many has done it. These characters were quite underrated until some of them were written in Justice League of America in the '90s which became my favorite due to the comedic dialogues.
Hi kirby march barcena! Me too...I loved the Blue Beetle on the Justice League back then.
But they had some cool superheroes ,I didn't know about the watchmen connection ,great video bro.
Funny that one of the masterpieces of modern fiction only exists because DC wanted to do something with some characters that didn't even end-up getting used.
I really enjoy hearing about these heroes because besides just learning about heroes that aren't from Marvel and DC (well, they weren't originally), it also tells me why some things in Watchmen happened. After watching Linkara's retrospective on Blue Beetle, the fact that Nite Owl started to get fat made sense as it was likely in reference to Ted Kord gaining weight and now I also know why Silk Spectre was in a relationship with Dr. Manhattan, because their inspirations were too. I also learned which Charlton hero Ozymandias was based on as I could never recall that one. I knew all of them except him and Silk Spectre. As for if DC has done a good job, I'd say so for Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, The Question and Peacemaker. All four of them got more use once they were bought, Blue Beetle having a pretty decent run where he goes from a serious vigilante to a goofball to a good support role to dying a hero and having someone take on his mantle and respect it, Peace Maker became a supporting cast member for Jaime so he's still somewhat relavent and seemed cool in the Blue Beetle retrospective. Captain Atom seems to have gotten a really big power boost in DC and he seemed interesting in the Justice League cartoon. Question was AWESOME in the Justice League cartoon and that version is one of my favorite characters on that show because he's just a bad ass. I don't think they have done much with the rest of them, I have seen Judo Master, or at least a female version of him show up in the JSA but that's about it so I can't say if DC did good with them but the four I mentioned, they did.
I remember another Charleton book I loved, I think it was later than the others: E-Man. As in e=mc2. He was not a human at all, but a pure energy being that stumbled across this exotic dancer and they have adventures saving the world. I remember the funny screwball comedy dialog back and forth between the two, like the thin man films, or topper, or bringing up baby, or his girl friday. And of course a lot of cheesecake illustrations. Maybe it wasn't the dialog that attracted me after all...hmmmm.
At first, DC did an excellent job with these characters. Denny O'Neill's run on the Question was one of my favorites. Blue Beetle had a short solo run followed by a stint in the Justice League (where he became my favorite superhero). Captain Atom had a respectable run in solo adventures and became part of the Justice League. Pretty much most Charlton character were given a place in the DC Universe after "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Nightshade, Punch and Jewelly were in the Suicide Squad, Sarge Steel was part of Checkmate.
...And then Dan DiDio was put in charge of DC...
Who do you think is worse: DiDio or Jim Lee
@@jaredgarcia8638 DiDio.
@jaredgarcia Which is worse, brain tumor or heart attack?
Blue Beetle was the single biggest character that got incorporated into DC, it was so integral to the Justice League of the 90s that they used him as the single linking spark for their 2005/2006 epic crisis event…he made it into multiple DC shows in the 2000s and is beloved enough to have sparked his own meme
Loved the history of Charlton Comics....many of my heroes from DC and Marvel, when I first started reading comics in the 1970s.
I remember reading these comics, a long, long time ago.
The good old days of buying 3 comic books in a plastic bag with the covers pulled off
Awesome video! I feel like DC could have done more with the characters. Charlton was sort of the Grindhouse of comics, but they still had some great books.
I remember having a copy of that new Blue Beetle. he was like Bruce Wayne. That design is the best.
If Ted Kord's Blue Beetle had been part of the Marvel universe being done by Ditko, it would have been giant! He would have Marvel's Batman without the grimace and bad attitude. Unfortunately, Charleton didn't have the oomph or readership to produce high-quality comics and DC already had a batman. For all the push Kord was given in the DC universe (and it was substantial), the writers and editors just didn't know what to do with him and he was soon stripped of his riches, respect by others, self-esteem and finally his life as a result. Shameful! Wasteful! Disrespectful of the creator.
Excellent work! My wife & I love it! And the Watchman twist totally caught us off guard. Another fine job. 👍
One afterthought, we miss the cowboy at the end of your videos. 😉
Lol! Thanks Ryan! I didn't think anyone even noticed the cowboy! It's cool that you watch comic book videos with your wife. You are lucky to have her. A friend of mine dumped his comic book reading girl friend in college. He was your typical blond haired blue eyed surfer type and women threw themselves at him. He decided he wanted to "play the field" and dumped her. He's in his late 40s now and says that was the biggest mistake of his life.
FizzFop1 Right On. My wife reads comic books, watches all the comic book related movies, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc... It’s wonderful! Thanks again for all of the videos. We look forward to them and get “Christmas-style” excited when we find them in our notifications box. 👍
I really enjoyed this. I learned a few things that I didn't know. The Action Hero line had bad timing. They started at a time when the news stands were flooded with superhero comics and never really had a chance. Charlton's poor distribution certainly didn't help.
One minor quibble, while Nightshade was co-created by Ditko, the pages from her backup strip you displayed were drawn by Jim Aparo. He was another major talent to get his start at Charlton. A quick mention of his name would have been nice. You did a great job here.
Hi Calvin, I can't believe I didn't mention Aparo. He's one of my favorite artists. Ditko did Nightshade in the Captain Atom stories...Aparo drew the back up stories where she appeared as a solo character. I should have mentioned that.
God that original captain atom is exactly like Dr Manhattan. Well similar
That's because it was originally intended for Watchmen to be about the Charlton heroes but the DC higher ups said no. So Alan Moore created various versions of them for his graphic novel.
Because Dr Manhattan was based on Captain Atom. As been noted in many places, the Watchmen are based on the Charlton characters that DC had purchased.
The Charlton Heroes line is what got me into comics really. First comics I bought with my own money were Modern Comics reprints in the three packs they sold for a dollar. What made Ted Kord Blue Beetle my favorite character of all time.
You did miss one of the heroes that was not really part of the Action Hero line. E-man who also deserves special mention.
Hi Robert! E-Man came out a few years later after this line had come to an end.
@@FizzFop1 I know but still deserves a mention. I loved Charlton heroes.
I had over 1,200 Charlton comics . All titles 1-25 some more issues. 32 titles from 1945 until the early 80's.
Awesome collection. Not a lot of collectors had that much of a serious Charlton collection.
I remember seeing these comics in the 70's, "left behind" in used book stores and old comic racks... remember thinking the art on "Captain Atom" looking reminiscent of "Spiderman" LMAO I was like 8/9 yrs old, didn't know any better. Loved the look, and characters like Night Shade and Punch and Jewley.
My all-time favorite DC artist, Jim Aparo--renowned for his work with The Spectre, Aquaman and multiple Batman titles--got his start at Charlton too! (The video shows his work on Nightshade.) I never knew the fascinating story behind Charlton. These mini-documentaries are great, thank you so much!
How has DC handled the Action-Heroes, you ask? Terribly. There seems to be a strange hate-on among DC staff for properties obtained from other companies, a desire to kill them off and replace them with "pure DC" alternatives whenever possible. Nightshade's a relatively lucky one; she was placed in minor roles in Suicide Squad and Shadowpact, but at least she didn't wind up in the refrigerator (yet). Ted Kord got his brains blown out and replaced (although they can't stop bringing him back), The Question died of cancer and was replaced, an entire string of Peacemakers have been blown away, and an aborted attempt was made to turn Captain Atom into a villain and replace him with an alternate version named Breach (ugh). This was after DC failed to imitate the success of "Watchmen" with a terrible miniseries featuring the actual Charlton characters ("The L.A.W.").
I'm so glad DC didn't get their hands on E-Man, easily my favorite Charlton superhero (although other companies would do their damnedest to ruin the property). Mike Mauser's adopted daughter would turn out to be the villain behind the murder of Nova Kane and Teddy Q or some other sick grimdark edgelord nonsense.
Hi Screaming Scallop! I agree. DC really hasn't done a good job on these characters. Jim Aparo is one of my all time favorite artists. His work on Spectre (I think that was in Adventure Comics?) was awesome. E-Man is a quirky character. I can't imagine what some lame brain mainstream writer would do to him...whatever they would do, it would be awful.
They're all awesome. I was so thrilled when first I saw them grafted in amongst DC universe characters.
Wow! I have an old black and white book called the "Encyclopedia of Superheroes" that had only small descriptions of some of the heroes on this chanel. It's great to finally see colored featurettes!
Hi jravage77! I have the Encyclopedia of Superheroes also...funny you should mention that...my next video is a story about the author of that book!
Judo Master could be like Iron Fist.
wasn't a japanese Judomaster lady added to the JLA or JSA line-up? they probably rebooted it like 10 times already
Conrado Javier ,triple threat match Judo Master vs Iron Fist vs Karate Kid!!😎😎😎
Or Karate Kid.
@@PurpleWarlock yeah, no attack directed at her could hit her but if you tossed a grenade in her general direction the explosion could hurt her since it wasn’t aimed.
I really enjoy characters like these. Thanks for the great vids all these years !
I have always had a soft spot for Charlton's Action Hero Line's characters, especially the ones where Steve Ditko was involved (Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Question and Nightshade). When DC launched their version of the Blue Beetle in the post-crisis universe of 1980's, writer Len Wein wanted to do an old school fun type of superhero adventure in a DC universe that was then slowly getting darker and serious. Paris Cullins, who had gained some recognition for his work on Blue Devil, was perfect choice for this. The tone was very different for DC's Captain Atom who was more like the rest of the post-crisis DC universe. Still, I liked the first two years or so of the title then dropped out. DC's Question written Denny O'Neil was not just dark, but depressing and I didn't liked it at all with terrible art by Denys Cowan who was trying to be a poor man's Bill Sienkiewicz. Loved Nightshade in the much underrated Suicide Squad run scripted by John Ostrander. All this time, I kept hoping that DC would get a decent creative team behind a team book that would bring all the Charlton heroes together. At the height of the popularity of the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League (with three regular titles Justice League, JLE, Justice League Quarterly, plus annuals, mini-series, etc.), I was always hoping for the Charlton heroes to get their own chapter.
Hi Rangersly! I loved the first ten issues of that DC Blue Beetle revival with Len Wein. There was some seriously good stories there. For some reason, DC just doesn't know what to do with these guys. I think they would be better as a stand alone line than mixing them into the DC Universe at this point.
I thought O'Neil's Question was a great book, but it has always bothered me that it exists as a repudiation of Steve Ditko. It was basically Vic Sage being "educated" out of his Ditko-era beliefs, which I found very disrespectful to Ditko. I mean, like Denny O'Neil, I'm not an objectivist either (though I agree with them on some things), but I'm open-minded enough that I can read about an objectivist-inspired hero without denying him his basic ideological foundation.
@@wk3820 Very Good point! That might have been one of the reason I didn't like his Question.
I can't remember the name of it, but DC did release a 6 issue mini series with alll the characters working together. When you laid all the covers together side by side, it made a huge collage of them all in one expanded picture.
I've always liked how many of them became naturals in the DC universe, and how effortlessly they fit in with Crisis On Infinite Earths (not to mention great Charlton villains like The Ghost and Punch and Jewelle).
@@dfcsons Yeah, I remember as well. But the creative team didn't interest me, the art was bland, and the reviews were nor good. I would have loved to see John Byrne tackle this project.
"Not half bad" is an old idiom that meant something was pretty good.
Right. Do you want your comic book characters to be pretty good, or do you want them to be great? Underselling your characters can harm the bottom line,
I love Charlton's comics. Great work sir! This video wasn't half bad!
Hi Shane! Not half bad is all that I'm shooting for!
After a 20-year hiatus I finally got back into collecting comics again. But I'm only collecting Golden age books and I really enjoy your channel thus far. Subscribed
Hi My eXtreme PC...I was in and out of collecting since the 1990s. Now, all I buy are old books.
There was a radio commercial for Salada Tea around that time that described the drink as “not half bad.” Giordano would have heard it-in ran in NYC-and probably liked its understatement.
Thanks for mentioning the Sentinels. Sam Grainger was a terrific artist who deserves to be remembered.
This was fascinating. So much I never knew. I had the Space 1999 Charlton Comics and a I think a random issue or two of Thunderbolt. Had no idea that it was the same publisher of Hit Parader which I used to read religiously during the late 70s into early 80s. Also did not know that these heroes were the template for the WATCHMEN. Great video! Thank you!
Loved what Charlton did with the "Watchman" inspiration characters, and I do think DC look those characters to new heights. However, the Charlton Blue Beetle is a fun read. Very much like a Spider Man story.
Really enjoy your videos on the lesser known comic heroes, it's obvious you do it with alot of love and respect.
Hope you'll do one on Gold Key comics soon.
Dr. Solar, Turok, Son of Stone, Samson. Magnus, Robot Fighter.
Keep up the great work.
Fair Winds
I have been a fan of the Charlton characters for many years, thanks for producing such an informative video. I knew very little in regards to the history of the company, very cool!
Hi Surly Tim!!! I only touched the surface of the company. If you watched past the credits, I plugged the Charlton Film that's being made. They have a RUclips channel and interview a lot of the people who worked there. Check it out...it's a bit of a tease, but it's great stuff.
@@FizzFop1 I will have to do that... thanks again.
Honestly the ideas are there! If reworked like they did for watchmen they can be epic!
I used to read E-MAN and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN from Charlton back in the 70's.
Hi anonymous! Good Stuff!
Just discovered your channel, I really, really like it :)
Great video! Really learned a lot about this semi-forgotten publisher.
Oooooooo. Two videos so close together. Awesome video as always my friend and I'm excited to see what you have what you have up your sleeve next.
Also I have to say in alot of ways I think that Dr Manhattens personality and body language was more influenced by stardust then captain atom
The Stardust comparison is a good one. I never thought about that one. I haven't read anything about Alan Moore talking about Stardust. I wonder if he knew about that character at the time?
I have a couple of videos in the works...but I have surgery tomorrow, so I'm going to be slowed up getting them out.
@@FizzFop1 I hope you get through it with style my friend
@@FizzFop1 honestly I'm not sure, to me it seems like something he would have been kinda familiar with like the kinda thing he skimmed over once because a friend recommended it and then although he remembered the basic jist of the character he over all forgot it so when he created Dr Manhatten he attributed more of his creation to captain atom and was subconsciously influenced by stardust. Like how comedians here a comedy proformance sometimes and like it but forget about it consiously and end up re hashing it as there own thing because they still remember it subconsciously. If that all makes sense
Thanks for these videos on these vintage Glad that their ties to Alan Moore's Watchmen was noted.
I think only Marvel/DC/Fawcett really got the superhero genre right. Charlton's lacked... pizzazz?
Still, I did have several Charlton books like Judo Master. And I liked the Sarge Steel strip.
I think the thing was they had all this talent there before they totally crafted their skills. Fredrich went on to Marvel, and with Stan Lee as editor, his writing really took off. At Marvel, he won writing awards for Sgt. Fury and went on to create the updated Ghost Rider. Dick Giordano went to DC and took half of Charlton's talent pool with him. All of those guys took their skills to another level there.
This is my second video I've watched from your channel....GREAT content!!..thank you!!
Great video, as a Charlton fan I really enjoyed it. I wish the Son of Vulcan got more exposure, always liked the idea!!!
Hi Andrew, I know. It's a cool concept...it could easily be updated for modern audiences. It would start somewhere in the middle east at the ruins of a Temple of Apollo that had been desecrated by ISIS. That story writes itself! Vulcan gives Mann updated looking armor and weapons. That would be a sweet re-telling.
I know that DC at one point had somewhat of a newer story at one point, in the early 2000s, but I don't remember much of it. I think it was by Keith Giffen, but it might have been similar only in name (Been a while since I saw it)!!!
@@FizzFop1
Great vid. You should mention that charlton comics has been brought back as charlton neo.
Hi Mitchell! I sure should have. I haven't read Charlton neo. It's been on my radar for sometime. Maybe I will come back and do a video just about it.
@@FizzFop1 have you ever done a video on black super heroes who proceeded black panther?
...cool video...Charlton Super Heroes are my favorite heroes
I had these comics in my collection in the 80s. Still do.
What could have been had they put more effort into these characters. Great topic, fantastic presentation and awesome channel.
MARVELOUS !!!! A big hug from BRAZIL (South America). Pop Art i love it !
In case you didn't already know, DC Comics published a six issue mini series in 1999-2000 called L. A. W. (Living Assault Weapons) that kind of served as a launching point for many of the newly acquired Charlton heroes including: Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Judomaster, Nightshade, The Peacemaker, The Question and Sarge Steel. Pretty cool series if you can find it.
I like what. DC has done with Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom. The Question, too.
Yeah, too bad they decided to kill Ted Kord at One point...
What DC did initially with Blue Beetle was good. Later on, no.
Captain Atom. Ehhh. Not so good.
Question. Nope. They changed him then killed him off. Tho the version in Justice League Unlimited was good
Blue Beetle number one is public domain, just the name is trademarked. But that only applies to covers. I dont get the current DC Blue. Beetle with the weird super suit. Isn't it just a knockoff of a minor Marvel character?
@@johnnyplunkett8532 I Know how to use blue beetle , is very simple , I will give him a name like : Dark Beetle. Is the same carachter ,same history but he changes his name .
@@JoaoGabriel-et4kq That would work, they have done the Golden Age Daredevil as RedDevil and some other variations by minor companies. Stan Lee swiped the DD concept of an acrobat with a boomerang. They just gave him a new outfit and radar sense. Shakespeare swiped, all great writers do. Alan Moores Nightowl swiped the look from an old Worlds FInest villain more than from the Golden Age Owl characters. I always liked the look of that WF bad guy whose name escapes me.
I’d definitely watch a whole episode on Captain Atom.
Any chance of you doing an episode on the very short-lived (only one issue) duo of Scarlet Nemesis and Black Orchid?
Mr. Giordano was one of my instructors at Parsons School of Design. Not only was he a fantasic illustrator and a great teacher, he was one of the nicest people I ever met.
Hi Steve, did I have a conversation with you before about that? I can't remember if it was you or someone else who said something very similar. That must have been awesome to learn from someone like him.
LOL!!! It MIGHT have been me! I'm getting senile. Thanks for the great video, BTW.@@FizzFop1
How did he pronounce his name?
Holy cow! Has no one ever pointed out the similarity of Captain Atom and Doctor Manhattan? (Later) Holy COW! I should watch the entire video before commenting!
This was known by mainy people from day one of Watchmen...
All the characters in this got something unique
Question about the question: some of the characters from this company are in the public domain, is the question in the public domain as well? Cant find any answers by looking it up so i thought i would ask here
Hi the gaming doge! Thanks for watching! The Question is owned by DC Comics. He's appeared in animation and has had his own series under the DC banner.
@@FizzFop1 thanks!
All ideas for this concept are great👍
Love your review stuff. Keep it up. Do a marvel horror review. Or a Warren review. Thanks.
Hi ricky todd Botelho! I've been wanting to do an EC or a horror host top ten list for a long time...so many great subjects and so little time.
I had a chance to talk to Mr Giordano at Hero Con in Charlotte NC some time ago before he passed away. He was a delight to talk to about Chalton comics and other topics. He will be missed.
Hi Gerald, I never got a chance to see him speak at a con or meet him. Wish I had. I always heard he was a great guy and great with the fans. I've also heard he was really good with aspiring comic writers/artists.
I bought some of these when I was a kid.. blue beetle and judo master were the two I liked.
The run of blue nettle on DC was pretty decent too...
I think there All great Charlton comics will be missed
love these mini documentaries!
Thanks Luther!
I used to have a copy of Charlton’s Captain Atom origin issue. What I remember about his origin was that his costume was made of asbestos.
LOL! Captain Atom getting a sleazy lawyer from daytime tv to sue the asbestos companies would be a story that no one would like to see...except me.
And the poor fellow passed away....mesothelioma. RIP...I would have thought the Atomic Radiation got him first.
I remember a Charlton comic, Hercules, which was entirely in the mythological setting. Sam Glanzman was the artist, and I loved it.
The editing on this video is great. Great story too.
Thank You Bones!
Could you not use scanned pages from their comics. Great drawings but i just wondered why?
Thanks for the heads up dude
Good work! Thanks so much for this!
Good job. Thank you!
I remember getting Blue Beetle vibes from that character in The Watchmen; now, I know why. I've always thought that I was the only person who ever read Charlton comics.
Hi varanid9! When I was a real little kid (5-8 years old), I bought mostly horror, war, and western books. I thought Charlton was bigger than Marvel.lol
I've Read Charlton Comics, Dell comics, Tower Comics, Harvey Comics, Image comic, Archie Comics, etc. lots of other comics beside DC and Marvel comics.
@@hydrolito Harvey comics, weren't they the ones that published Sad Sack, Richie Rich, Spooky, the Tuff lil' Ghost, Casper, The Ghostly Trio, Wendy, the Good lil' Witch, etc.? Never bought any Archie comics, but, I had plenty of Dell, though, I often confuse their titles with Charlton's, now.
@@FizzFop1 Was it Charlton or Dell that published 'Ghost Stories'? I think it was Dell that published a UFO comic that printed supposedly true flying saucer encounters.
@@hydrolito good point but dc and marvel are the juggernauts of the comic book world.
Charlton (almost) always came off as what it turned out to be in reality, an incidental, fill-in-the-gap comic line that was not wholly committed to its largely derivative characters.
There were exceptions that managed to shine from time to time, like Capt Atom, which was kind of like Gold Key comics (using a lot of established works from TV) but had some interesting characters of their own.
For me, Gold Key character of Dr. Spektor and Magnus, Robot Fighter stood out.
Magnus Robot Fighter is a fantastic character and concept. I bought a graphic novel that was only produced a couple years ago (I think by Dynamite) with all new stories, and loved it. Those covers back in the day were gorgeous too.
My introduction to the work of Steve Ditko was through the artwork on the monster comics of Charlton.:)
Alright Fizz if you had to build a comic company using only reclaimed heroes from the Public Domain Heap which do you use?
Yes you can redesign them or even rewrite their origins but they must be recognizable as a Old School Hero
Hi Kid Coheed! Funny you should mention that. I'm recovering from cancer surgery...and I've had a lot of down time to think about what I'm going to do the rest of my life. I've always wanted to do a graphic novel-so I started working on one. My story is using the Lev Gleason characters. It's featuring the original DareDevil (I have to change the name of course) and he's going to fight one of Lev Gleason's biggest villains Iron Jaw. In the og DareDevil letter pages, there's letter after letter from fans asking for a DareDevil vs. Iron Jaw battle. It never happened...so, my concept is that this battle takes place after World War II. Iron Jaw is a war criminal on the run. Crimebuster finds out that he is planning on having plastic surgery to hide his looks...Crimebuster approaches DareDevil. From there, they assemble a squad that is made up of Silver Streak, Captain Battle, and the Ghost. The final battle takes place in Cleveland. My rename for DareDevil right now is Devil-Dare. I'm still trying to think up a better name. I think someone might have already revived the character by this name, but I can't seem to confirm that.
I remember getting a fevv Charlton comics as a kid in the 70's, but they vvere vvar comics & I stopped getting them after discovering Sgt. rock & DC's line of vvar comics but gave them up for star vvars ,, &then finally "matured" into superhero comics.
Hi roger, the same thing happened to me...I got into comics through war and horror. I had to get a little older before I got into superheroes.
@@FizzFop1 Thanks, I think the change happened vvhen my mom brought home Heavy Metal Magizine , kick started my interest to dravv & began to raise my reading scores in school
WOW, this brought back memories. I was reading comics during this time and I was a huge fan of Charlton. I remember I’d started to find Marvel was becoming repetitive and predictable in their stories. I also think I remember that Kirby and Ditko had both left Marvel. What I liked about Charlton was that each character seemed to be unique. Looking back I think all the Marvel stuff had Stan Lee’s stamp on them, while the Charlton stuff was the individual creation of writer and artist. In fact, when Charlton quit the comic business (1969?) I quit comics!
DC wrecked the Question by taking the character away from his original role as Steve Ditko's Objectivist mouthpiece. And Alan Moore's Rorschach, while a brilliant creation, also showed Moore's misunderstanding of Steve Ditko's thinking. Mr. A is more or less an uncensored version of the Question, but Ditko was smart enough to retain ownership of that later character.
Charlton's reason for printing comics (to keep the presses running) wasn't exactly unique. From what I've heard the Pulps of the 30's were created for the same purpose and then led to the first comic books on the same presses for the same reasons - to keep the presses running.
Nope.
First off, the pulps weren't created in the 1930s, but in 1890s. The pulps were created because the paper was very cheap, so the cost of creating them was less. They sold a LOT of them, and some publishers ONLY did pulps, but other publishers were part of conglomerates like Charlton that did other magazines, comics, and sometimes books. Tho not sure if they used the same presses.
Not all publishers owned their own presses. I know Street & Smith did. But I doubt that was true of Popular, Thrilling, Dell, Fiction House, and others.
In gauging the relative popularity of Charlton Comics vs Dell, DC, and later Marvel, it's important to consider how comic books were sold and marketed circa 1960. At that time, there were no Saturday morning superhero cartoons, no syndicated superheroes in Sunday newpaper comic strip sections, and no superhero movies. Everyone (i.e. adolescent boys) had seen the Superman TV show with George Reeves, and that was enough to make Superman the most popular superhero of the era, with his stablemate Batman a close second.
Comic books were not promoted in other media, they were sold mostly on rotating wire racks in drug stores, or displayed along with monthly magazines by larger newsstand vendors. Malls had not yet conquered suburbia, most people went to local shopping centers that typically had at least one large supermarket and a drug store. This is where suburban moms would park their adolescent kids while they went grocery shopping on Saturdays, and that's how we discovered comic books.
The comic book racks in drug stores were mostly unattended, and we could read comics free so long as we didn't make trouble. The drug store clerks didn't care because the racks and comics were provided and stocked on commission by local rack-jobbers, who had distribution contracts with regional comic book distributors. In a typical drug store, there was room for two or maybe three vertical rotating racks, one for Dell and one for DC. Dell comics (Disney etc) were read by children and adolescent girls. DC superhero comics were made for adolescent boys. Archie comics were an exception to this rule, and could sometimes be found at supermarket check-out aisles, but at that point were regarded as a teenage hold-over from the 50's.
The drug store rack-jobber system largely accounts for the lack of visibility and popularity of Charlton comics back in the day. The racks were monopolized by Dell and DC and drug store owners were happy to leave comics selection to the rack-jobbers. I saw Charlton comics at the big newsstand downtown, but it was obvious they were off-brand. All my friends were into Superman and Batman, and we stuck with DC. That mindset persisted until the Batman TV show turned things upside down, and gave Marvel a chance to springboard off the new trend. But by that time, Charlton was a lost cause.
amazing video as usual. Thanks for keeping this legacy alive.
I collected the reboot from back in the 80's. Those were the good old days.
Hi Elvys Pena! I really liked the Blue Beetle series...at the time I think I bought the first ten or so issues.
The blue beetle and the question weren't half bad lol but the rest were god awful.
Great video, i cant get enough of your content.
I've seen Blue Beetle and Atom on a few Warner Brother shows in the last decade. But I had never heard that they had a connection to the Watchmen.
Still waiting for a catman episode, but I've still really been enjoying the other videos you've been making thus far
Hi Risebell! I don't know if I mentioned this before...but Catman was one on the first list of ten superheroes I planned on doing. When I was younger, I heard a really great story (a number of times from different people) about Catman...and I can't find any version of that story today. Not finding any other re-telling of that story has sort of stopped me from doing the video...maybe I will make the video and tell the story as a legend...or tall tale.
FizzFop1 well? What’s the story?
I don't want to give it away before making the video but...It's a story about Bob Kane going to the Holyoke offices and giving them a peace of his mind about them copying Batman. It's hysterical!
FizzFop1 WOAH that sounds worth the wait! Happy hunting for that tale!
that non fantasy rule really sucked. there are tons of editors who had weird hangups that held there companies back.
I share his non-fantasy sentiment. Marvel, for example, would feel much more cohesive with zero fantasy characters and all sci-fi imo
@@elfascisto6549, what does that make of Thor?
@@elfascisto6549Cohesive? By that logic wouldn’t marvel be more cohesive if every superhero was a mutant? Or if every superhero got their powers from the same thing?
Very interesting. It should be noted that Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and Peacemaker were all ported over into the DCU. Blue Beetle had a spot in the Justice League comics of the 1980s and a new version has been in the Young Justice animated series and a recent movie (and probably other places). Captain Atom was part of the Justice League animated series by Bruce Tim and probably in comics as well. And Peacemaker was recently in the Suicide Squad movie and has his own, live action TV series. Again, I'm sure there are more appearances of these characters elsewhere. It's very interesting to see Charlton's influence on the DCU and to comics in general.
Thanks a million Fizzfop 1
What I find funny about the Blue Beetle from a more modern lenses is that it's a character that flip flops between being more science and magic based. When the character started out, he was magic based. Then the publishers forced him to be science based like Batman. With Jaime, it was revealed that the original scarab was alien technology made by The Reach that worked like the Iron Man armour. With DC Rebirth, it's based to magic based again for some reason. It's like, "Make up your minds!" xP
I think I had 1 or 2 of the Ditko Captain Atom; great art!
Good and interesting video. Thank you! Two characters you missed were E-Man and Killjoy (a backup feature in the _E-Man_ comic). They came after all the ones you talked about and probably didn't exist when that "not half-bad" ad came out. E-Man was created by Nicolas Cuti and Joe Staton. He was a superhero in stories that were lightly humorous and satiric. Killjoy was another philosophy-based hero from Ditko, in the same vein as his Mr. A and The Question. Killjoy was more satiric, though.
Hi r0kus! Yeah, I wanted to focus on the 60s Action Hero line...Charlton did some amazing stuff in the time period when E-Man and Killjoy came out. They began publishing Manga. They were printing Doomsday +1 plus all those horror titles. They were doing painted covers. A lot of that great stuff is just overlooked by everyone.
This video was about the dock Giordano line, E man and I think killjoy came much later when everyone had revamped to DC or marvel.
Son of Vulcan sounds like a great villain/rival for Wonder Woman.
Also, the movie sounds like a blast