Wayne's Worlds!

Wayne Howard is one of those eccentric talents who tapped into something special. An acolyte of Wally Wood, there's no denying Howard's debt to the work of Wood. He was an assistant to the great man himself for a time. But then he went and took that Woodesque approach and carved out his own niche.

At Charlton he found a place he could thrive. His earliest work has a really full-bodied character to it. In later years his work became a bit flatter in its way, losing some of the vitality of the early days. But he never lost the charm that infused his characters. They always had distinct qualities that enlivened them.

Howard found some small success as an inker for the Big Two, but his work is mostly found at Charlton where he even created his own title Midnight Tales. For eighteen glorious issues he oversaw a ghostly book like few others. Talents like Joe Staton and Don Newton contributed regularly and along with Howard gave this book its own distinctive flavor.


Wayne Howard passed away a few years ago, too young. He'd left comics behind and avoided talking about them. But those of us who are his fans will never forget them.

Above is a gallery of some of Howard's finest Charlton covers. Here's a link to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories Blog where Mr.Door Tree presents some of those great stories.

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