Kim Sanho!

Kim Sanho, or as he signed his named "Sanho Kim" is a remarkable artist in many respects. According to some sources, he was the first Manga artist to break into the Western markets, and his distinctive style really gave a fresh flavor to many a Charlton comic book in the Bronze Age.


I first stumbled across Sanho Kim's work on Ghost Manor, the first version with The Old Witch as host. Kim did most of the stories and he did the covers for that run before the book was revamped and Winnie the Witch was brought in and the title was changed to Ghostly Haunts. A second Ghost Manor was started some time later with Mr.Bones as host.


Kim's most important and artistically successful effort though is likely House of Yang, a series spun off Yang a comic intended to capitalize on the Kung Fu craze in general and the success of the TV show Kung Fu in particular. Kim was slated originally to draw the Yang series though when he originally designed it was titled "Wrong Country", But something happened to the artwork, lost in the mail the story goes, and Warren Sattler and the ever ready Joe Gill filled in on that series for the whole of its run pretty much.


Kim was then given the spin off set in Asia. His art and this material were ideally suited. The lost artwork for "Wrong Country" later turned up and was printed in the third issue of CPL's Charlton Bullseye.


Kim also did work on the ghost books, and he had a lengthy run on Cheyenne Kid. Kim took over Thane of Bagarth after Jim Aparo, and I'll have to admit that was a dramatic shift in the look of the series. While his style might not have been as well suited to that material, there's no denying that Kim was an artist like no one else at the time.


Several years ago, Charlton fans were trying to find Kim, but he'd fallen out of touch. Then just last year this article was found and his whereabouts became known. Far from being a recluse, he's been a very successful artist, doing really significant work in his home country of Korea.

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