The Summer Of The Action-Heroes!

We looked at Steve Ditko's Captain Atom a few months ago. Now it's finally time to check out the rest of Charlton's "Action-Heroes" including Ditko's greatest creation for this era -- the "New" Blue Beetle. The Action-Heroes were a concoction of editor Dick Giordano, a longtime artist at Charlton who assumed the duties in the late 60's replacing Pat Masulli. Many of the heroes actually started their runs during Masulli's tenure, but it was Giordano who pulled them together and gave them focus as a line. Superheroes were hot, and Charlton had bitten hard with the introduction of Sarge Steel, The Fightin' Five, Blue Beetle, Son of Vulcan, and a revival of Captain Atom. They added to this roster Thunderbolt and Judomaster and Peacemaker. The group reached its apogee when Ditko revised Blue Beetle into a form more fitting to Giordano's vision of low-powered heroes, and finally the addition of The Question. 

Not unlike Tower's THUNDER Agents (which will be getting a glimpse this summer - more below), the "Action-Heroes" was an attempt to make the stories more immediate and close-to-home, response to the wild and wacky Silver Age DC material and the increasingly cosmic Marvel epics which were dominating the comic racks. This was an attempt to carve out a niche, and it was a successful one, at least critically. Eventually the line failed to find sufficient sales, but Giordano had been noticed by DC, and they scooped him up and added him to their editorial line-up as well as the artistic one. Along with him they took on talents Steve Ditko, Pat Boyette, Frank McLaughlin, Steve Skeates, Denny O'Neil, and Jim Aparo. More on this later. 

Years later DC would scoop up the actual "Action-Heroes" themselves and make them a part of the larger DCU. So that's the plan. I want to look at the characters who inspired this blog to begin with, yet again.

And as an added bonus, the THUNDER Agents will be on hand on Saturdays through June and July. The Tower Comics and the Charlton Comics of this time were among the most creative and ultimately successful of the cavalcade of wannabe heroes who arrived in the wake of Marvel's success and the earth-shaking TV hit Batman.  

So prepare for the "Summer of the Action-Heroes"! 

Rip Off

Steve Ditko In The 1960's!

Steve Ditko in the 1960s is a delightful tome assembled by J. Ballman. He researched and gathered most all of the surviving fanzine responses, reviews, and interviews concerning Steve Ditko and his work, most notably The Amazing Spider-Man from the decade. There is some minor coverage of Captain Atom and other work at Charlton as well as a peek at what Ditko got up to at DC after he left Marvel, but the overwhelming majority of the material is about Spidey. We begin with announcements of a new comic book character from Marvel and follow the fan response as Ditko wins over the community with his dedication and with is willingness to engage the fanzine makers on their terms. He responds to written interviews with terse but clear answers, and we see him withdraw from that practice as the decade develops. Finally, we see him reflected by the fans as the only artist for Spider-Man, the most sensational creation of the decade. 

The heart of this package though is a piece titled "Steve Ditko and Memories of Another Day" by Bernie Bubnis who shares with the reader his earliest contacts with Ditko in those bygone days of 1962 and after when the artist shared a studio with Eric Stanton. Bubnis became a regular visitor to the studio, finding in the somber and quiet Ditko a man he could respect, more than he could respect his gangster father. Ditko's fiery sense of injustice is seen ablaze when he learns that Bubnis has been beaten, but that fire is tempered by the streetwise advice of Stanton who knows that it will only be worse for Bubnis if they intercede. Not only does Bubnis share these recollections of early days, but he also frames those tales with a visit he made to Ditko's studio in 2017 with his wife. Great stuff and for someone who has been a Ditko fan as long as I have been, it's fantastic to finally get a glimpse of the real flawed man beneath the reputation. 

 

This volume is an absolute treasure trove for any Marvel fan of the era when comics were more important than movies, and Steve Ditko was an idol. 

Rip Off

Captain Atom In The Rough!

This gorgeous cover shows off Steve Ditko's watercolor conceptual artwork for the "new" Captain Atom costume which debuted in Captain Atom #84. I might be in a distinct minority on this, but this is my favorite Captain Atom look, distinctive, colorful and cheery! His old gold costume was pretty dang good, but this one was better. And sadly, nothing they've designed at DC (and there have been oodles) has surpassed either of these two originals. The artwork here is used as a cover for an issue of the fan published CAPA-Alpha. 

(Denys Cowan & Rick Magyar)

(George Perez & Dick Giordano)

Here's that classic costume used for Captain Atom's DC's Who's Who entry. The actual entry is by artists Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar who attempt to evoke Ditko's classic feel. I like the way George Perez and Dick Giordano render him on the cover. (There's very little that Perez drew that I didn't like to be truthful.)

(Steve Ditko & Rocke Mastroserio)
But nothing beats the classic. It's been grand fun revisiting Captain Atom these past several weeks. More radioactivity from Charlton tomorrow as we wrap up the month. 
Rip Off

Captain Atom In Space Adventures!

I first read Captain Atom's earliest adventures in these four issues of Space Adventures published by Charlton Comics in 1978. I still have fond memories of finding these issues on the newsstand, back in those days when grocery stores were still a primary location for getting hold of comics. Charlton was raiding its backlog to keep afloat during a grim time in the comic book marketplace. I fell in love with the charming Joe Gill and Steve Ditko stories and have never looked back. I've since purchased these stories in the original as well as copious reprintings since. 

Rip Off

Atomic Reactions - In The Bullseye!

The Captain Atom saga stopped abruptly with the publication of the eighty-ninth issue of the comic, but there had been more work done as so often happened in those halcyon days of comics. The story of Captain Atom, Nightshade, and The Ghost was not finished. But it had been plotted and drawn by the team of Dave Kaler and Steve Ditko. It rested dormant until George Wildman gave some fans the golden opportunity to take the penciled story and apply the finishing touches. The group was the CPL Gang (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) who had proven their worth by publishing the one-shot Charlton Portfolio magazine. Charlton wanted a fan mag like Marvel's FOOM and DC's Amazing World of DC Comics, and so they let the CPL Gang do the honors. So, it came to pass that in the mid 70's the final Captain Atom story "Showdown in Sunuria" was at long last published in two issues of The Charlton Bullseye. The inking was done by John Byrne and the final scripting was done by Jon Michaels and Roger Stern. The outstanding black and white cover was drawn by Al Milgrom. 

So, without further ado, here is the belated "Showdown in Sunuria".  Enjoy! 

Here is the Joe Staton cover of Charlton Bullseye #2 which featured the second half of the story. I finally added this to my collection only this year, completing a search of decades. 

The story was reprinted in the second volume of DC's The Action Heroes. 

Here's a poster image by a young John Byrne and Jo Duffy. 

Here's an outstanding poster image of the good Captain by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom. That Captain Atom was an inspiration for Starlin's Captain Marvel is all too evident in this magnificent image. 

As the fires of Charlton Comics dwindled, the fate of their properties, in particular the high profile heroes such as Captain Atom and Blue Beetle became uncertain. Prodded by fanboy interest the company published a last-ditch effort in the early 80's called Charlton Bullseye. This second volume of the title featured work by fans using existing Charlton heroes as well as brand new characters. This was primarily a showcase for new up and coming talents, but along the way we got two new action hero stories.

And that was it. DC took over the character and after the Crisis On Infinite Earths (more on that next month) the Charlton characters (who lived on Earth-4 in the DC multiverse, albeit briefly) were fused into the DCU. Blue Beetle got his own series which lasted a few years then he joined the Justice League.

Captain Atom proved to be the most successful of the batch, with a run of his own title which approached sixty issues. He too joined the Justice League and was even a leader of sorts for different versions of the team. The folks at DC seemed oddly ashamed of Cap's origins and wrote off the Charlton stories as mere fantasies concocted by the military to hide the true nature of Captain Atom who was a much more grim character in the slightly darker DC Universe.

Captain Atom remains a reasonably potent part of the DC Universe, getting his own title from time to time. I don't follow these new adventures, so the details are a mystery to yours truly, but the images in which his classic look still supplies the inspiration sure can be compelling.

Rip Off

Ditko Cover Classics - Captain Atom #89!

Captain Atom #89 is by scripter Dave Kaler and artists Steve Ditko and Frank McLaughlin. The Captain Atom series comes to an abrupt halt with this final issue in the 60's run. Captain Atom must confront his old enemy The Ghost as well as a new magic foe called Thirteen who is aided by his talking cat Faustus. 

You can read it at this link. 

The Nightshade feature closes out as well as we see our heroine battle old foe Jewelee in a story by Kaler and artist Jim Aparo. 

But it's not over, not quite. More Captain Atom this weekend. 

Rip Off