E-Man was what remained of a larger proposal by Nicola Cuti to his bosses at Charlton Comics to revive the superhero genre. But the bosses were still stung by the collapse of Dick Giordano's "Action Hero" line and didn't give Cuti's proposal the green light...exactly. They did okay a single superhero title and Cuti enlisted Joe Staton, a talented artistic newcomer to comics who was learning with every job. Together they gave the world E-Man, who is actually an alien bundle of energy come to Earth and bewildered by what he found seeks guidance, which he finds in the lovely form of Nova Kane, a college student and sometime exotic dancer. The two find comfort in one another's company and romance to boot. The world has never been the same as they confronted all manner of baddies often aided by pint-size gumshoe Mike Mauser.
Now the E-Man saga, which has kindled here and there at different comic book publishers for four decades is apparently coming to an end. Joe Staton, who bought the rights to the character from First Comics has, along with his partner Nick Cuti, presented new E-Man stories when such things could be arranged. Now Staton says the story currently running in Charlton Arrow, put together by the folks at Charlton Neo and distributed by AC Comics could well be the final bow. (The third part of the story is scheduled to hit the stands this month.) But like that famous detective whose author tried to kill off so long ago, I hold out hope that maybe, just maybe there will be more. For now, I'll take what I have and treasure the rest. It's an ideal time to dig out the vintage appearances from the 70's, the 80's, the 90's, and beyond and give them all a loving re-reading.
So you don't want to be left out. Catch the last E-train for what might well be the final E-run. You know Nova would want you to do it.
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I've got the first two issues of The Charlton Arrow, so I'll have to try and get the rest. Although I like E-Man, I usually just found the stories a mildly entertaining read rather than a rollercoaster ride, but it'll still be a shame to see him come to the end of the road.
ReplyDeleteAlec Tronn is one of the best strangers in a strange land we've had in comics, not a morose knob like the Surfer could be but a light-hearted friendly visitor who wanted to be friendly.
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Well, the two characters were chalk and cheese really. Because of the humorous aspect to the E-Man strips, I never felt any real sense of danger in his adventures. However, they were a light-hearted, entertaining read and did what they were designed to do I suppose. The Surfer however (and I'm talking about the Lee/Buscema tales) had much more cosmic drama and were perhaps a more satisfying and memorable read. So I think anyway.
DeleteE-Man is one of my favourite characters and I have followed his adventures pretty regualarly since his Charlton debut, so I'm a bit sad this could be his swang song. I am enjoying the Charlton Arrow (in parts) nice to have an old style fun comic character but perhaps he's become old hat (like the rest of us lol).
ReplyDeleteThe Charlton Arrow is uneven, but that's just like old Charlton comics were. I've enjoyed it quite a lot.
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As I said, Rip, I'm going to do my best to get all the issues of his last adventure. I'd have to be 'high on a mountain in Mexico' to miss it. Do you know if the collected edition of his original issues is still available?
ReplyDeleteIt must be, because my researches into E-Man have allowed the bots to load up offers to buy it repeatedly. Good luck!
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