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

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

Ditko Cover Classics - Captain Atom #88!

Captain Atom #88 is by writer Dave Kaler and artists Steve Ditko and Frank McLaughlin. In a truly strange tale with a message, Captain Atom travels to a distant planet in answer to an S.O.S. from long ago. He finds a deadly menace in the form of giant insects. 

You can read it at this link. 

In a story by Kaler and artist Jim Aparo, Nightshade confronts the menace of The Image, who travels through mirrors. There's a distinct Alice in Wonderland aspect to this ongoing tale of Eve Eden. 

More Captain Atom tomorrow. 

Rip Off

Atomic Reactions - Action Hero!

Then came the "Action Heroes". When Dick Giordano took over the editorial reins of Charlton Comics in the late 60's from Pat Masulli, he wanted to make the comic line more exciting and in keeping with a then surge in comics interest as a result of the pop-culture hit Batman TV show. To that end he wanted to create more heroes, but not necessarily "super-heroes" but low-powered types who had to really struggle to defeat their enemies. Judomaster, Thunderbolt, and a soon to debut Peacemaker fit the bill snugly. But Captain Atom and the Blue Beetle were world-beaters - what to do.

Well Steve Ditko, fresh from his days as the drawer of all things spidery, took control. He completely revamped the Blue Beetle creating one of the most durable superhero designs of all time. As for Captain Atom, things were a little bit more convoluted.

Beginning with Captain Atom #83, the good Captain was de-powered by a complicated set of circumstances which caused him to max out his abilities to restrain the danger of an out-of-control nuclear core. At first he's without any powers, but slowly they return, but not in the same way or degree as before. Suddenly the hero who could fly to the end of the universe was limited. With the new powers came a new look as in the very next issue he doffs his gold costume and puts on for the first time my favorite Captain Atom look. Actually "putting on" is an ideal way of stating it as the costume is actually a few coats of a special metallic substance which protects the public from his radiation as well as serving as a handsome outfit. He eschews a mask as he'd previously been publicly un-masked, but no one seemed to connect the silver-haired Atom with the brown-haired Adam.

The new Atom battles a relative small-time thug Iron Arms before in the very next issue teaming again with Nightshade, who became something of a regular, to battle the criminal duo Punch and Jewelee, two small-time thieves who get their mitts on some other-dimensional weapons. After that the Ghost returns and we discover that he has connections with a mysterious cadre of green-haired gold-armored women from another dimension, the same from which the mysterious weapons appeared.

After that Captain Atom is on his own again as he battles the bluntly named Fiery-Icer, a criminal with basic motivations. This was the very first Captain Atom comic I ever read, the one that made me fall in love with the character. Then Cap goes on his strangest mission yet, aboard a time-warp ship built by the United States government he travels to the far reaches of outer space to answer a distress call from a mysterious planet assaulted by giant insects. He finds a world abandoned by its people and operating on automatic because they had become overcome by ennui when all the challenge in their lives was removed by conveniences.

Then Cap returns home in time to battle both the Ghost and a new foe called Thirteen, as these apparent criminals battle for control of a mysterious device Cap had unintentionally brought back to Earth with him. Thirteen has a fun cat familiar and uses seeming magic, but his secret is more complex still.

Then it ends...just like that. The "Action Hero" line folds, and soon both Dick Giordano and Steve Ditko are gone to DC.

But eventually another story drops, one plotted and drawn but not scripted when the axe fell. This story appeared many years later in the fanzine Charlton Bullseye in two parts, with a script by two fans and inks by an up-and-coming John Byrne. In the story Captain Atom and Nightshade fight their ultimate battle against the murderous Ghost and solve the mystery of the other-dimensional women who worship him. (More on this story next week.)

Soon after that DC acquires the rights to the Action Hero line, and Captain Atom joins Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman in a spanking new DC Universe. There's some success of course, but rarely does he achieve the sparkling heights he had at Charlton.

More Captain Atom tomorrow. 

Rip Off

Action-Heroes Day!

Dick Giordano was born on this date in 1932. Giordano began his career as an artist, working for Charlton Comics for many years. In the late 60's when superheroes were all the rage, he assumed the role of editor of the comics line. His goal was to create not "super-heroes" so much as what he called "Action-Heroes". These would be heroes, but people with skills and not so much power. Later Giordano was an editor at DC and was a partner with Neal Adams in the art firm Continuity Associates. 

Dick Giordano became editor of Charlton Comics after Pat Masulli. Giordano had made his mark with Sarge Steel, a hard-nosed detective turned super-spy. His artwork was always crisp and attractive. Shifting to the editor's desk, he surveyed the landscaped and decided that if Charlton were to make a move into the superhero market, they would need to find a way to make their heroes distinctive. Some heroes were already around and might need adjusting and new fresh heroes were needed. 

The line-up consisted of Frank McLaughlin's creation Rip Jagger, a WWII soldier who becomes a deadly master of martial arts Judomaster, who battles the Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater with his young partner Tiger. Peter Cannon - The Thunderbolt created by Pete Morisi, is a man trained by Tibetan monks and is possessed of fantastic skills and powers of the mind. Christopher Smith, the Peacemaker created by Pat Boyette and Joe Gill, is a diplomat who realizes that talk alone will fail to solve all problems and uses his technology to fight when necessary to preserve the peace. Giordano inherited Captain Atom, created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko a decade before. Giordano had the good Captain's vast powers muchly diminished, and Steve Ditko was all too happy to do so. Added to the Captain Atom cast was Charlton's lone female super-heroine of the era, Nightshade. We learn more about her when Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo take over. 

The line-up was completed by the arrival of Steve Ditko's "All-New" Blue Beetle. Ted Kord becomes a Blue Beetle who is not reliant on a magical scarab but who turns to modern technology and fisticuffs to bring villains to heel. With the arrival of Blue Beetle the "Action-Hero" line was complete, just in time for it all to end. Sales were not what everyone hoped for and the super-hero craze which allowed for this flowering of talent and creations withered. The arrival of a new fresh look for Charlton, the big "C" which would in a few years be replaced by the famous Charlton Bullseye badge, marked both the height and the end of the "Action-Hero" line.

Dick Giordano went to DC and took many of his most talented artists with him. He found great success at DC, sticking with the company for decades. DC purchased the "Action-Heroes", mostly as a gift to Giordano, the editor who had made these fondly remembered heroes possible. As we all likely know, the "Action-Heroes" formed the basis for Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbon's The Watchmen, which originally began as a vehicle for the classic Charlton characters, before DC decided to save them for other things. Hence the "Action-Heroes" live on. 

Rip Off 

Earth-Prime Day!

Julie Schwartz was born on this date in 1915. He was among the earliest science fiction fanboys and published a sci-fi fanzine called The Time Traveler with buddy Mort Weisinger. The two ended up working in the comics business as editors primarily for DC Comics. Schwartz oversaw the updating of the DC Universe in the Silver Age. 

When I was a new fan my comic book tastes were broad and inclusive, limited only by my meager cash resources. I read Marvel, Charlton, Harvey, Gold Key, Archie, and of course DC. The first DC character I latched onto was the Flash and the very first Flash story I read had him go to Earth Prime, and not only was I not confused by this parallel Earth story, I was utterly fascinated, and it remains one of my all-time favorite DC stories.

"The Flash--Fact or Fiction?" is not strictly a crossover tale, but this 1968 classic does introduce the world of Earth Prime, our world where comic book heroes are just that, the stuff of comics. The Flash ends up here after clashing with an alien creature named the "Nok" which has escaped from a space zoo transport. The Nok attacks the Flash propelling him into another dimension and another Earth on which he discovers he's just a comic book hero like Jay Garrick is on Earth-1. Flash needs his Cosmic Treadmill to return home but has no resources so he visits the DC Comics offices and meets up with Julie Schwartz. Schwartz is soon convinced of the fantastic situation and helps Flash, who quickly puts together a treadmill and rushes back to Earth-1 to defeat the Nok. I've not mentioned Schwartz in these reports, since his role as editor is largely an invisible one, but as it turns out none of the crossover stories would have happened without him. All of the stories I've taken a look at happened in books he edited and he had a hand in plotting all of them I'd reckon. So it's fitting that he actually turns up in one of the crossovers, and it all started so to speak with this Flash story.

 

Later in the Flash series, Cary Bates, the book's writer ends up on Earth-1 also, where he helps out the Flash too. This 1974 story sets up in a manner of speaking the big crossover which would happen only a few months later in 1975.

 

"Where On Earth Am I?" was written by Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin and drawn by the ever reliable Dick Dillin who is joined by his longtime inker Frank McLaughlin. The cover is by Ernie Chua/Chan. The story begins in the office of Julie Schwartz where Bates and Maggin are hashing out the latest Justice League plot. They are stuck but Bates remembers the Cosmic Treadmill that Schwartz has and soon enough has used it and has disappeared. He turns up on Earth-2 and he is changed, having villainous thoughts and superpowers as well. He uses his new powers to help some robbers escape Johnny Thunder and Robin. Back on Earth Prime Schwartz and Maggin decide to send Maggin to get Bates, but Maggin ends up in the ocean on Earth-1 where he is saved by Aquaman. Quickly Aquaman gets him to the League satellite headquarters where Maggin convinces the League members Batman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Black Canary of the truth of his story by revealing their secret identities. His story is confirmed by the Flash who turns up. On Earth-2 the Justice Society (Hourman, Wonder Woman, Dr.Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder, and Robin) are battling some out of control plants and defeated by same controlled by the evil Bates. The League meanwhile decides to go to Earth-2 after it is determined Bates has gone there and they immediately encounter six villains (Icicle, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Gambler, Shade, and Wizard) stealing some aircraft from a Navy carrier. They quickly subdue the villains only to discover that the baddies are the Justice Society members in disguise and further that the defeated heroes are dead. Cary Bates takes credit for the scheme in the final panel.

 

"Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!" is again by the Bates, Maggin, Dillin, and McLauglin team. Ernie Chua/Chan supplies one of his best ever covers for the series. The story picks up with the League members memorializing the fallen JSofA members. Cary Bates is still in the middle of his crime spree and we discover that he works for the six villains seen in part one. A mysterious misty presence though makes itself known and plans vengeance for the fallen Society. The League is filling in for the dead Society members until they can figure something else out. Elliot S! Maggin is captured by Bates and imprisoned in a gigantic bubble gum bubble. The League is attracted to a black portal which takes them to the villains while the Spectre makes his presence known. A battle rages between the heroes and the villains with the heroes losing because they are haunted by the guilt of the fallen Society members who they killed while in the guise of the very villains they now fight. The Spectre implores the highest powers to allow him to revive the fallen JSofA members while Maggin tries to undermine the powers of Bates by insulting his writing skills. The combined efforts weaken the effects of the guilt on the Leaguers and the Society members suddenly appear hale and hearty. Quickly the villains are beaten and even more quickly Bates and Maggin are sent back to Earth Prime where Julius Schwartz is waiting anxious to get the next story out.

This is not the greatest story ever told by any means. The writers seem a bit too intrigued with showing off their wit and not clearly hammering out the plot details such as they are. Perhaps they considered the story just so absurd that there was no need to sweat the small stuff, but it hurts. The motivations of the characters are poorly examined. It is the Wizard who is controlling Bates, but that is not at all really clear and is supposed more than stated. Further the League and the Society don't come off in these stories looking all that competent. The Spectre's role is very offbeat, with him essentially performing a deus ex machina ending which solve the whole mess. Maybe the writers were playing with the cliches of the storytelling and making these elements explicit, but the whole story is a jumble.

But that doesn't undermine for me, the sheer fun of Earth-Prime, the comic book universe that exists right out my window. 

 Rip Off

Charlton Meets The Multiverse!

I picked up Multiversity- Pax Americana for the very simple reason that I love the old Charlton Action-Heroes and this is as close as we're ever going to get to seeing new adventures featuring those awesome characters.

These characters, created largely under the aegis of editor Dick Giordano were a brief but brilliant attempt to mine the superhero market which blossomed briefly during the Silver Age. Captain Atom and Blue Beetle were dusted off and revamped with new heroes such as Peacemaker, Nightshade, The Question and Judomaster brought along to fill in the ranks.

These characters of course these days are mostly remembered as the inspirations for Alan Moore's iconic Watchmen series and many dismiss them beyond that point. Alas, in this story Grant Morrison, a storyteller with stones, tries to revisit these heroes but clearly through the goggles of the Watchmen variations.

We are invited into a complex story, told by Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, which travels back and forth through time and space with all sorts of visual hijinks, all serving to create some larger mystery and make some larger point. The heroes are not as developed as individuals but merely used as elements of the one-shot story which explores the nature of heroes and justice and how the society can best make use of them.

We get good looks at Captain Atom, a man removed from his fellows by the dint of awesome power and who seems lost inside himself and the universe he sees differently from everyone else. The lovely Nightshade is a very young government agent who seeks to find the right way, but seems out of her depth most of the time. Peacemaker is a man on a mission which makes little sense for most of the story. The Question as always seeks answers regardless, while the Blue Beetle is a loyal government man.

We get glimpses of Sarge Steel and while Rip Jagger the Judomaster doesn't make the cut, his sidekick Tiger is around for a few pages as a member of a superhero unit which has a lot of vintage fun picking out a sobriquet.

The story even has a reference to Charlton's first superhero, the Golden Age Yellowjacket.

(Frank Quitely)

This is a complicated yarn, a mystery which has an answer, but which demands mighty attention from the reader and frankly more than one pass through the material. 

At five bucks for a copy, I guess I should thank Morrison and Quitely for giving me a comic which demands to be read more than once, since the density makes the entertainment value rise.

This is a book any Charlton Action-Hero fan should read, if only to see some vintage imagery and old rather obscure Charlton references hanging around in various panels. It has been collected up a few times. 

Rip Off

Judomaster Day!

Frank McLaughlin was born on this date in 1935. McLaughlin of course created Judomaster, the mascot for this blog.  He worked with Dick Giordano at Charlton for some time.  When he shifted to Marvel and other publishers from time to time he mostly concentrated on inking, which he did with great aplomb. His sharp inks rescued many a tired layout. 

It will come as a surprise to no one that Judomaster is on this list of my favorite heroes given the name and longstanding design of this blog. Rip Jagger fell into my hands when I was a tyke when my grandmother gave me some comics she'd found somewhere. There were two issues of Judomaster in the batch, the two halves of the second Mountain Storm saga and I was pulled into McLaughlin's martial arts mania once and for all.

Frank McLaughlin is the man, a trained martial artist who sought to bring to the comic book page an accurate representation of the skills which have formed the basis for so much exploitation entertainment over the last many decades. The thrill of Judomaster is the novel setting -- World War II. What we have is a re-imagining of the Captain America story minus the super-soldier serum. Jagger is a capable U.S. soldier who due to circumstances becomes trained in martial arts and adopts a persona to better wage war on the Japanese threat in the Pacific Theater. He is joined by a young boy named Tiger and this ersatz Cap and Bucky proceed to kick butt. Judomaster's WWII setting is at once his blessing and his curse. His adventures felt like little else in the superhero universe at the time, but his isolation in time made his eventual teaming with other of Charlton's "Action Heroes" difficult.

Alas the line did not last long enough for that problem to really develop and eventually Judomaster like most of his Action Hero kin were snapped up by DC and blended into the background of that sprawling universe. Judomaster himself has been barely used but nonetheless multiple versions exist. But for me it will always be the original Rip Jagger stuff by McLaughlin which makes my heartbeat race a little more. Here are the covers from that brief but powerful run. 

Rip Off