Charlton Comics: History and Legacy

Charlton Comics might be the most important comic book company in comics history. Who? Why? Follow me here. Charlton Publishing, originally T.W.O. Charles Company, was founded by John Santagelo, Sr. and Ed Levy in Derby, Connecticut in 1940. In 1946, they started Charlton Comics. Derby is just an hour and half from New York City-the United States’ heartland for Comic Publishers.

Charton published A LOT of comics in their era from 1946-1985. They published popular licences like Abbott and Costello, The Bionic Woman, Flash Gordon, The Six Million Dollar Man, Ronald McDonald, Bullwinkle and Rocky  and Hanna Barbera properties like The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and The Jetsons. They took advantage of all the trends in comics, too. Military Books- War, Army Attack, Fightin’ Air Force, Fightin’ Army, Fightin’ Five, Fightin’ Marines, and Fightin’ Navy, among others; Love and relationship books: Teen Confessions, For Lovers Only, In Love, I Love You, Brides In Love…;Cowboy/Westerns like Billy the Kid and Davey Crockett. They took advantage of the space age and the atomic age with Atomic Mouse(and Bunny, and Rabbit), Outer Space and The Great Gazoo.  They were also participating in the popular horror genre which lead to the strict regulation of the Comics Code Authority (Creepy Things, Ghostley Takes, and Haunted). Charlton Comics created new highbrid comics combining two genres which catered to interesting crowds: Cowboy Love and Haunted Love.

But Charlton’s biggest claim to fame is their superhero books. They created characters like The Question, The Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, The Peacemaker, Nightshade…among others. After Charlton closed its doors, the superhero characters were bought by DC Comics. Alan Moore wanted to use the newly acquired characters for a graphic novel. He tweaked the characters a little and changed their names and appearances and Watchmen was born. 

Watchmen was released in 1986 as a 12 issue maxi-series and collected in 1987. Illustrated by Dave Gibbins, Watchmen ushered in the “graphic novel” quality that all publishers strove for and garnered public attention. It landed on Times Magazine’s 100 Greatest NOVELS list, with competition from any and all novels published…ever. In 2009, Fox and Zach Snyder released a major motion picture based on the series. According to DC’s contract with Alan Moore, they own the rights to Watchmen as long as it is in print. The series has never gone out of print since publication, with new editions  and sets every few years. In 2012, DC published a series of prequels titled Before Watchmen.

But DC didn’t purchase the whole Charlton catalog. A group of fans and creators are getting together to publish The Charlton Arrow- a 44 page tribute available only through mail order. The group is selling trading cards and the comic (#1 with the possibility of more) on the Charlton Arrow website. The Arrow promises stories about superheroes, humor, horror, western, and romance.

According to the website: “ The comic will be released in March 2014, but not available in stores, only through mail order. The comic is $6.99 with an additional $2.95 charge for shipping & handling. For orders shipping outside the US, please include $4.95. You will get a confirmation email from the publisher Comicfix via morttodd.com. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.

    Order your copy NOW for $9.95 (including s&h) by securely paying via Paypal to charlton@morttodd.com or get two copies for $15.95 (inc. s&h) and save even more! Note: For shipping outside the US, it is $11.95 U$D for one, $17.95 for two! For more information, to pay with credit card or money order, and for bulk discount rates, contact charlton@morttodd.com”