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
E-MAN was a short-lived but well-remembered (and often revived) Charlton title of the early 1970s, representing a last gasp on the part of that firm to establish a presence in the super hero marketplace. E-Man was a bit of a throwback character, crafted in the mold of Plastic Man or Captain Marvel. A super hero … Continue reading Brand Echh: E-Man #6
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
We've spoken before about the launch of Captain Atom in the pages of Charlton's SPACE ADVENTURES series at the very beginning of the 1960s. The character failed to catch on at that point, and was eventually pulled from the series. That perhaps should have been the end of things. But the super hero fad just … Continue reading The First New Captain Atom Story
At the beginning of the Silver Age, super heroes were making a comeback. This trend would blossom into a full-on fad mid-decade thanks to the release of the BATMAN television show--positively everybody went super hero crazy there for a year or so. But even before that, there was a sense throughout the industry that costumed … Continue reading Brand Echh: Space Adventures #33
We've talked about CHARLTON PREMIERE in the past. It was Charlton's attempt at a SHOWCASE-style series that would debut a different character or concept every issue. A try-out comic, in other words. No series that appeared in CHARLTON PREMIERE ever graduated into its own book, but a few of the stories are noteworthy in some … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Premiere #3
This was another book that I dug up in my local drugstore's Big Bin of Somewhat-Older Comic Books, books that were reported as having been destroyed but were instead being sold off the back of the truck at five for a dollar--a great bargain for me. I was continuing to explore different avenues in the … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL PREMIERE #25
This obscure issue of Charlton's BLUE BEETLE series--not the version re-conceptualized by Steve Ditko but the earlier, super-powered version, seems like any other throw-away Charlton comic of the era--good for a few moments of entertainment, but not at all memorable for any particular reason. But this issue is noteworthy for being one of the earliest … Continue reading Brand Echh – Blue Beetle #54
I'm pretty certain that it was Fred Hembeck who turned me on to this super-cool short story buried in this obscure issue of Charlton's mystery anthology series THE MANY GHOSTS OF DOCTOR GRAVES. Series such as this one were plentiful in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, each issue filled to the brim with … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: THE MANY GHOSTS OF DOCTOR GRAVES #5
Dell was a powerhouse in the industry from the mid-1940s all the way up to the start of the 1960s when a series of bad decisions cost them their market share and also bifurcated the company into two competing operations, Dell and Gold Key. Their big money was made on their Disney comics, and they … Continue reading Brand Echh – Nukla #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 