We've gone over the history of CHARLTON BULLSEYE in prior installments of this feature, but just to quickly summarize once again for newcomers: at the very start of the 1980s, longtime publisher Charlton was nearing the end of its time producing new material for comic books. One of the final things they attempted was a … Continue reading Brand Echh: Americomics #3
The Blue Beetle is one of the longest running character-concepts in the world of comic books. The character was initially conceived in 1939 as a take-off of the Green Hornet, but the approach swiftly changed to better suit the needs of a burgeoning marketplace. The Beetle got a regulation super hero costume and even a … Continue reading The Last Blue Beetle Story
We've talked a bit here about CHARLTON BULLSEYE, Charlton's last gasp attempt at producing new content by soliciting work gratis from fans and would-be creators. Publication would be the only compensation that such hopefuls would receive--but undaunted, and sensing an opportunity to have their work distributed from coast to coast, the response was overwhelming. Honestly, … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Bullseye #7
AC/Americomics (occasionally known as Paragon Publications) is a long running independent comic book publisher, one that is still releasing new issues even today. Their main stock-in-trade has become reprints of Golden Age characters whose work had lapsed into the public domain, but they do occasionally release wholly original comic book properties. Probably the thing they … Continue reading Brand Echh: Americomics Special #1
Charlton had been a player in the comic book marketplace going back to the days of the Golden Age of Comics. They were widely regarded as the shlockiest of publishers, whose paper and printing was markedly inferior to that of the competition. There was some very good work buried among the many Charlton publications, but … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Bullseye #1
Woweekazowie #4, produced by Phil Iro, was really a pretty good fanzine. It contained a balanced mix of text features and fan-created comic strips, with the emphasis more on the latter. A number of creators who would later work in and around the industry produced their own home-grown strips for Woweekazowie. It's another one of … Continue reading More Woweekazowie #4
In the early 1980s at the beginning of the end of their tenure as a publishing house, Charlton came up with a way to produce a book more cheaply. They outsourced the creation of the content to fans and would-be professionals and paid not a penny--publication itself would be the only compensation these creators would … Continue reading Brand Echh – Charlton Bullseye #4
CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4 November, 1981 Charlton was pretty much indisputably the cheapest comic book publisher around for most of its life. It’s page rates were bottom of the barrel, its paper stock was crumbly and often poorly trimmed, and its printing was rough and unattractive. Charlton published comics all the way through the mid-80s, largely … Continue reading BHOCOS: CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4
The Tom Brevoort Experience 