Fifty years ago this month, Charlton was still plugging along. Captain Atom's revival continued apace as he finds himself in space battling a despot who threatens not only his own people but Earth as well. The cover by Steve Ditko and Rocke Mastroserio is alas not their best effort. Sarge Steel, the hard-nosed detective from the hand of Dick Giordano continues a spin into the wacky world of espionage which was overtaking the country. This cover by Pat Masulli and Mastroserio for the final issue of the run, in particular looks like a poster for all the gimmicks which often identified the super-spy from the more hard-bitten variety of decades past. On that front the Fightin' Five also continued to battle to save the world from threats which looked pretty weak, but were worth the effort nonetheless. Here we see a rare cover from the regular team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache who delivered the adventures of the Five. (Actually the cover is a montage of material from inside the issue.) Mastroserio knocks out a very enticing cover for Billy the Kid and Charlton as always delivered up wartime adventure as represented by Fightin' Army. All in all a typical month for Charlton, though new titles were right around the corner.
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I need to get me some more Charlton comics. They weren't always great, but usually looked interesting.
ReplyDeleteThey have a character which is distinctive. Some of the particular comics can be real snores, there's no doubt, but they can deliver some dandy one-off adventures too.
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