Charlton Classics #1 Presents Hercules !

[dhennen]

Here's a recent find I thought at least one board member would be interested in. It's from 1980 with a Don Newton art backup story

when I think of Charlton usually I think of books from the 1960's and 70s, when did they go under?

Dave H

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/dhennen/Indy/charclassics1.jpg

[jaydeebee]

From Wikipedia (So you know it has to be true!)

By the 1980's , 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 press was deteriorating towards uselessness, and the company did not have the resources to replace it. There was yet another attempt at new material, with a comic-book version of Charlton Bullseye (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Bullseye_%28comic%29) serving as a new-talent showcase that actively solicited submissions by comic book fans, and an attempt at new Ditko-produced titles. A number of 1970s-era titles were also reprinted under the Modern Comics imprint and sold in bagged sets in department stores (in much the same way Gold Key Comics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Key_Comics) were published under the Whitman Comics branding around the same time). In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editor T.C. Ford with a direct-market Charlton Bullseye (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Bullseye_%28comic%29) Special. But in 1986, Charlton Comics went out of business; Charlton Publications followed suit in 1991, and its building and press were demolished in 1999. Editor Robin Snyder oversaw the sale of some properties to their creators, though the bulk of the rights was purchased by Canadian entrepreneur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur) Roger Broughton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Broughton). He would produce several reprint titles under the company name of ACG (having also purchased the rights to the old American Comics Group (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Comics_Group) properties), and announced plans to restart Charlton Comics. This had yet to occur as of the mid-2000s, beyond a few reprints.
Charlton's most enduring legacy is its superhero characters, most of which were acquired in 1983 by DC Comics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Comics), where Giordano was then managing editor. These "Action Hero" characters were originally going to be used in the landmark Watchmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen) limited series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_series) written by Alan Moore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Moore), but DC then chose to save the characters for other uses; Moore instead developed new characters loosely based on them. The Charlton characters were incorporated into DC's main superhero line, where some of them enjoyed renewed popularity, most notably Blue Beetle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beetle), Captain Atom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Atom) and The Question (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_%28comics%29), who had languished in obscurity for years before being reintroduced in DC's epic Crisis on Infinite Earths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths) limited series; Blue Beetle subsequently joined a version of the Justice League of America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League_of_America) and played a major role in the events leading up to Infinite Crisis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Crisis) in 2005-2006; The Question played a key role in the subsequent year-long series 52 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52_%28comics%29). The team of Charlton characters first planned for Moore's Watchmen became reality in 1999 with the DC limited series L.A.W (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A.W._%28comics%29).
Charlton's longest-running character, the funny animal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_animal) superhero Atomic Mouse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Mouse), was licensed by the furry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom) comic company Shanda Fantasy Arts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanda_Fantasy_Arts) in 2001.

[The Charlton Guy]

Here's a recent find I thought at least one board member would be interested in. It's from 1980 with a Don Newton art backup story

when I think of Charlton usually I think of books from the 1960's and 70s, when did they go under?

Dave H


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v434/dhennen/Indy/charclassics1.jpg



Hey Dave! #hello#

That is a great run of books.

The artwork is quite interesting and the story line rings pretty true to the original mythos of Hercules.

I have a hardbound book of the complete run for this series that was very generously given to me by a fellow Corraler.
It has a place of honor in my Charlton collection. #allhailme#