Atomic Reactions - In The Bullseye!

The Captain Atom saga stopped abruptly with the publication of the eighty-ninth issue of the comic, but there had been more work done as so often happened in those halcyon days of comics. The story of Captain Atom, Nightshade, and The Ghost was not finished. But it had been plotted and drawn by the team of Dave Kaler and Steve Ditko. It rested dormant until George Wildman gave some fans the golden opportunity to take the penciled story and apply the finishing touches. The group was the CPL Gang (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) who had proven their worth by publishing the one-shot Charlton Portfolio magazine. Charlton wanted a fan mag like Marvel's FOOM and DC's Amazing World of DC Comics, and so they let the CPL Gang do the honors. So, it came to pass that in the mid 70's the final Captain Atom story "Showdown in Sunuria" was at long last published in two issues of The Charlton Bullseye. The inking was done by John Byrne and the final scripting was done by Jon Michaels and Roger Stern. The outstanding black and white cover was drawn by Al Milgrom. 

So, without further ado, here is the belated "Showdown in Sunuria".  Enjoy! 

Here is the Joe Staton cover of Charlton Bullseye #2 which featured the second half of the story. I finally added this to my collection only this year, completing a search of decades. 

The story was reprinted in the second volume of DC's The Action Heroes. 

Here's a poster image by a young John Byrne and Jo Duffy. 

Here's an outstanding poster image of the good Captain by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom. That Captain Atom was an inspiration for Starlin's Captain Marvel is all too evident in this magnificent image. 

As the fires of Charlton Comics dwindled, the fate of their properties, in particular the high profile heroes such as Captain Atom and Blue Beetle became uncertain. Prodded by fanboy interest the company published a last-ditch effort in the early 80's called Charlton Bullseye. This second volume of the title featured work by fans using existing Charlton heroes as well as brand new characters. This was primarily a showcase for new up and coming talents, but along the way we got two new action hero stories.

And that was it. DC took over the character and after the Crisis On Infinite Earths (more on that next month) the Charlton characters (who lived on Earth-4 in the DC multiverse, albeit briefly) were fused into the DCU. Blue Beetle got his own series which lasted a few years then he joined the Justice League.

Captain Atom proved to be the most successful of the batch, with a run of his own title which approached sixty issues. He too joined the Justice League and was even a leader of sorts for different versions of the team. The folks at DC seemed oddly ashamed of Cap's origins and wrote off the Charlton stories as mere fantasies concocted by the military to hide the true nature of Captain Atom who was a much more grim character in the slightly darker DC Universe.

Captain Atom remains a reasonably potent part of the DC Universe, getting his own title from time to time. I don't follow these new adventures, so the details are a mystery to yours truly, but the images in which his classic look still supplies the inspiration sure can be compelling.

Rip Off

Sarge Steel And The Sensational Sentinels!

Above is a delicious pin-up shot of Sarge Steel by co-creator Dick Giordano, from the 1974 CPL Gang's Charlton Portfolio which also sported a wraparound Don Newton cover. Just wanted to share this nugget before we dive into our main course today. 

Thunderbolt #57 is dated May 1967. The Sensational Sentinels appear again in a story titled "If This Be Triumph!". The story is plotted by D.C.Glanzman and the script and the art are by Sam Grainger. Lettering is by A.Machine. The story begins soon after the battle from the previous issue where we find Brute, Mentalia, and Helio in their apartment recovering. Brute apparently survived the fall from the roller coaster by landing in some water. Rick still has amnesia. The android Titan breaks into the apartment to continue the battle and he and Brute exchange blows, with Titan eventually flinging Brute toward a window. But Mentalia exerts her thoughts and is able to stop Brute in mid-air revealing for the first time not only an ability for telepathy but telekinesis as well. The Titan captures Mentalia and climbs down the building with her in tow. Brute follows using his great hand strength to grip the bricks on the side of the building. He and Titan again mix it up until Brute realizes that he was granted great strength over other men and not androids, so he changes tactics and uses a light pole to attack Titan to great effect. Then Brute leaps to attack Titan and Mentalia adds her telekinetic might to the thrust and they severely damage the android who ultimately collapses. 

Returning to their apartment the find Rick still confused but just they are dealing with what that means for the team Sarge Steel appears and announces that the Mind-Bender and Titan were creations of the C.I.A. and that Dr.Kolotov who gave them their powers was a Soviet spy. As the story ends, he is taking the team into custody in order for them to make statements.

 

Thunderbolt #58 is dated July 1967. The Sensational Sentinels return in a story titled "Into the Lair of the...Mind-Bender!". The story features artwork by Sam Grainger, but writing this time is by Sergius O'Shaughnessy a pseudonym for Denny O'Neil. The story picks up with Sarge Steel arresting the trio for spying, saying that Dr. Kolotov who gave them their powers was a Soviet agent. But Steel's aggressive nature and his attempt to shoot the trio in an alley convince them he is being controlled and Mentalia uses her ESP powers to overcome him. 

Then Brute and Mentalia are attacked by a hotdog vendor who they realize must be the Mind-Bender. They repel the attack, but he escapes. They then take both Sarge Steel and Rick Strong, also known as Helio to the hospital where the reports are good for both that they will recover. Then Crunch Wilson and Cindy Carson resume their roles as two-thirds of the Protesters, a singing group and try to perform. But they are attacked by a very hostile crowd clearly under the sway of the Mind-Bender. Helio returns just in time to save them using his flying belt and the trio escape. Later that evening Helio gets a call from Crunch and goes to the location only to find that he and Mentalia are taken prisoner by Brute who is under the power of the Mind-Bender. As the story closes, Helio and Mentalia are strapped to tables while Brute pushes a button which will kill them. 

This saga has a third chapter, but we never see Sarge Steel again. 

More Sarge Steel to come. 

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

 Rip Off

Sanho Kim's Wrong Country!

Before Yang there was Wrong Country. In an singular example of catching a trend before it really caught fire, Charlton commissioned notable Korean artist Sanho Kim to create his own very legit martial arts comic saga. He did just that in the story of a misplaced  Korean master of Tae Kwon Do in the Old West titled Wrong Country. The first part of Wrong Country was written and fully drawn before it was entrusted to the sprawling mail services which were the arteries of publication in those halcyon pre-internet days. And for a time it was lost in that abyss. Having made room for the title on its publishing schedule and not wanting to miss a beat in that relentless process (for Charlton it was publish or die almost) the editors decided to enlist Charlton iron man writer Joe Gill to whip up an alternative and then got reliable Warren Sattler to draw it. The result was Yang.   Later Sanho Kim was put to work on a Yang spin-off titled House of Yang, but more on in later posts.

Wrong Country did eventually emerge from the depths of the postal depths, too later to be fitted into its original publishing slot, so this remarkable piece of art languished. It languished until some few years later when the CPL Gang, a clutch of Charlton fans led by Boy Layton and numbering among their ranks such talents as Roger Stern, John Byrne, and Duffy Vohland expressed a desire to include the unlucky story in a special "Kung-Fu" edition of their fanzine Charlton Bullseye. They got that permission and so belatedly Wrong Country found an audience at last, if an extremely limited one.

Here are a few pages of the glory that Sanho Kim wrought. He is a remarkable artist who pioneered early "graphic novels" and worked for Marvel, celebrated in his own land but alas still little known these days in this country.

To read the complete first part of Sanho Kim's Wrong Country check out this exceedingly groovy link. Special shout out to Dojo reader Russ for reminding me of Wrong Country and its singular role in the development of Yang, one of my favorite Charlton comics.

Rip Off

Dojo Classics - Charlton's E-Man In The Bullseye!

As promised several months after the cancellation of the E-Man regular series, stories did begin to appear in The Charlton Bullseye. After a cover-shot on The Charlton Bullseye Volume 3 Number 2 he would get a full story eventually.

The Charlton Bullseye Volume 3, issue 4 of the fanzine published by CPL/Gang Publications showed up in the spring of 1976. The fanzine was edited by Bob Layton. The color cover for this black and white magazine is by Joe Staton.

"...And Why the Sea is Boiling Hot" was written by Nicola "Nick" Cuti and drawn by Joe Staton. The story begins with E-Man and Nova on duty disguised as water buoys in the ocean. They are part of an investigation in conjunction with Michael Mauser and the military to investigate the disappearance of ships and aircraft in this area of the ocean. They soon detect what seems to be a ghostly galleon flying the Jolly Roger, the symbol of piracy. They board the ship and discover that it is powered by alien technology but then they are attacked by classic pirates armed with rayguns which send them both confused and dazed into the sea. Nova recovers and spies a weird submarine which she follows into a cavernous dock and to escape detection she pretends to be a bat, but not before she is slightly wounded. After some confusion E-Man appears and the two of them join forces to fight off the aliens who seem to want only Earth's resources as any pirate might. Implementing Plan 25 Nova and E-Man bond their mass to become a great cannon which allows them to fight through to the ghostly alien galleon. They commandeer the craft but are chased by the alien subs. They lead the aliens into the air above the ocean where Mauser is waiting as well as General Dove along with a squadron of military fighters who engage the aliens. The Earth appears to be save again but as Mauser notes man continues to pollute this world he claims to treasure.

To read this story in its original form see this groovy link.


This story was reprinted by First Comics in 1986 and later in E-Man - The Early Years. But there was another story included in these reprints.

There is a blurb in the "The Charlton News" section that E-Man will appear in every other issue but alas this single story is the only one to see print since The Charlton Bullseye ceases publication after the very next issue.

But another story was already prepared for publication. It would not see print for many years.

In 1985 and 1986 First Comics made an effort to put all of the E-Man material into print again in a series of comics which combined stories from the E-Man title and also Michael Mauser stories from Vengeance Squad. The stories done for The Charlton Bullseye were also included and that counted a story done for the Bullseye but never published.


That story titled "Vamfire" was written by Nicola Cuti and drawn by Joe Staton. Bob Layton is listed as editor and Wendy Fiore did the colors for the reprint, though the original would've been published in black and white.

The tale begins way back when E-Man himself was first created when a distant sun went nova and spewed out the energy packet which would become E-Man. Another packet of energy was also released, this one of a more "vampiric" nature which followed the first through space eating up the trail of energy left behind. Eventually after a vast number of years the second packet finds its way to Earth and trails the energy to a meager dinner named "Joe and Nicks" run by two familiar faces and who cater to Nova Kane who powers up their neon sign with her energy powers. Thinking this is the energy trail it has been following for so long the alien assumes a shape similar to Nova's and adopts the name "Vamfire".

Vamfire

New York City is struck by a plague of power outages caused by the alien. But when Vamfire tries to feed from an atomic energy plant at Minnesota Flats she runs into Nova who is trying to locate the cause of the power failures. The two fight and Vamfire learns that Nova is not the energy creature she had followed all those years, but an Earth woman who as it turns out has a stiff uppercut which stuns Vamfire. E-Man appears and applauds Nova's handling of Vamfire's threat and realizes that she must be something akin to his sister, a thought that disturbs Nova and bemuses Vamfire.

To learn more about Vamfire check out this link.

These final E-Man stories done in some manner under the Charlton banner have a more tongue-in-cheek character than the original ones in the regular series. Nick Cuti seems to know of course that he's now writing to a pure fanboy audience and that he can play even more with the conventions of the form.

The Vamfire story seems very much a story for fans, with Nick Cuti and Joe Staton even making cameos in the story. Vamfire seems not so much an actual threat as an excuse to concoct a tale. The story lack any of the real tension that even the funniest of the originals had in some small measure. But it's still a hoot of a story.

One of the clearest examples of playing to the fanboy audience is in the first story from Bulleye in which Nova responds to a comment E-Man makes about the color of some object being confusing because they are now in black and white. I noted that when this story was reprinted in the First Comics series with color, that comment and the bubble it was contained in were eliminated, the only change of such a type that I noticed in those reprints. This wording was returned in the E-Man trade reprint.


It's too bad that Bullseye couldn't have continued and so give us more E-Man stories. But then if Charlton hadn't collapsed then the property wouldn't have been available for First to make use of. While most fans think the 80's E-Man series is inferior to the Charlton run (myself included) it did free E-Man from the servitude in endless cheap reprints most of the Charlton canon fell into when the properties were sold off to Richard Broughton and his ACG/Avalon brands. Along with the "Action Heroes" which went to DC and a few others like Thunderbolt which fell to its creator PAM, E-Man found a way to stay alive popping up every few years here and there. First, Comico, Alpha, Digital Webbing, Twomorrows, and most recently AC Comics under the Charlton Neo brand, have all taken a swing at an E-Man story. In addition E-Man has shown up in all sorts of benefit books over the years. The character is a bit of an icon to indie comics, a pioneer project which seems never to quite thrive, but never quite disappear, though reports indicate the last E-Man story has dropped.

The character touched a nerve with us happy lucky few who stumbled across him all those decades ago now. His smiling mug gave superheroes a happy face when one was sorely needed, in a decade which reminds me much of modern times. A war which seems to grind on ceaselessly and an economy which teeters day to day are stresses which make readers relish a sunny diversion. E-Man by Cuti and Staton is the very tonic!

"E is for Engery...E is for E-Man - From the awesome...to the ridiculous, from hurling pure energy with his bare hands...to lurking in a light bulb/ E-Man's fantastic ability to all the forms of energy makes him a formidable foe of Evil!!"

Thanks Nick! Thanks Joe!

SPECIAL NOTE: This concludes our E-Man coverage for this month. I had originally planned to continue reviewing (albeit less comprehensively) the E-Man stories from First, Comico, Alpha, and others, but frankly I'm enjoying reading these stories and will finish the run, but I don't at this moment have much more to say. These E-Man comics are among my most prized and the E-Man books that have dribbled out over the decades are remarkable in many respects. Maybe later I'll feel like tearing into them with more vigor. But right now, my mind is on other things. More tomorrow.

Rip Off