Here's a great example of the fact that you never know what's going to become a successful property over time. This issue of Charlton's FIGHTIN' 5 comic--a series that featured the adventures of a group of Blackhawk-like non-powered adventurers--also showcased, unheralded, the first appearance of a character who remained a footnote in comic book history … Continue reading Brand Echh – Fightin’ 5 #40
Picking up from last week's theme, the creative and editorial team of Denny O'Neil, Jim Aparo and Dick Giordano created another lost gem series in the back pages of the final issue of THUNDERBOLT. It was this strip which replaced the Sentinels, about whom we've spoken before. Unfortunately, there was only a single story ever … Continue reading Brand Echh – Thunderbolt #60
As we've spoken about in the past, Charlton went through a tiny and short-lived creative renaissance in the mid-late 1960s under the editorial auspices of Dick Giordano. While the outfit that he was working for continued to crank out comic books merely as to keep their big in-house printing presses operating, Giordano actually possessed some … Continue reading Brand Echh – Cheyenne Kid #66
It's well-known that Steve Ditko, the formative Marvel creator, left that company in 1966 after broken promises and worsening relationships with the people at the outfit, notably editor Stan Lee. It's also well-known that, for all that Ditko's most popular and lasting creation for Marvel is Spider-Man, his work on the mystic series Doctor Strange … Continue reading Brand Echh – The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #12
Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby famously introduced the mighty Thor in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83 in 1962. But before that, there were a number of antecedents for that story and that character, based as he was on actual Norse mythology. For example, here's an obscure story from OUT OF THIS WORLD #11 in … Continue reading The Hammer of Thor
It's been a little while, but who could ever forget our old friend Ego-Man, the ridiculously inside baseball strip parodying Stan Lee in the pages of SICK Magazine in the late 1970s. Exactly who these stories were meant for (apart from creators Arnold Drake and Jack Sparling) is anybody's guess, but they didn't run for … Continue reading Brand Echh – Sick #124 – The Death of Ego-Man
In 1973, Charlton took one last late stab in getting a foothold into the super hero market with the publication of E-MAN, a light-hearted and whimsical super hero series about an energy being birthed in a star who came to Earth and became a costumed adventurer. It was a fun title and well-remembered, but it … Continue reading Brand Echh – E-Man #2
It seems as though--for good reason or bad--people got a kick out of seeing the Ego-Man story parodying Stan Lee from SICK magazine last week. And so, since there were a number of these done, I thought I would show you another one. In this case, the inaugural installment, from SICK Magazine #120. The Grand … Continue reading Brand Echh – Sick #120 – Ego-Man
In 1978, presumably because Stan Lee had begun to break through into the mainstream with his comic book huckster routine, writer Arnold Drake created the running character Ego-Man in the pages of SICK magazine, then published by Charlton. It was anything but a loving parody of the field and those in it, in particular Stan, … Continue reading Brand Echh – Sick #123 – Ego-Man
For whatever reason, while they would dabble with the genre from time to time, Charlton never quite took the leap into publishing super hero comics on a full-time basis. They seemed content to fill their racks with war, mystery, western, hot rod, romance and even comedy books. But super heroes were an ill-fit for them, … Continue reading Brand Echh – Charlton Premiere #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 