Megaton Archives captures a moment (or two) in time. A time in the 80's when comic books shops exploded, and an avalanche of material was available to the comic book reader. But it proved to be overwhelming for everyone involved and the majority of these comics, nearly all black and white books disappeared when the marketplace could not support so many players. The story of Megaton Comics is a little more complicated and has a rather happy ending for a company which shut down just before its much ballyhooed "explosion".
Gary Carlson was the name behind Megaton, an anthology comic which showcased superheroes first and foremost. The main character unsurprisingly was named "Megaton", an unfortunate choice simply because of the presence of Megaton Man by Don Simpson. The similarity was unintentional. Things are also a bit confusing since "Megaton" is the name of the company, the comic, and the lead hero.
The debut issue of Megaton landed on the direct-sales stands in 1983 and clocked in at over sixty pages with stories in many genres, but generally superheroes and sci-fi. The first issue featured the writing of editor Gary Carlson and the art of Butch Guice, Erik Larsen, Mike Gustovich, Gene Day, Dan Reed, Ken Landgraf, Frank Fosco and others. We meet heroes such as Megaton, a black man who is dying until a weird experiment grants him immense powers; Vanguard, an alien in Earth's orbit looking out for mankind and forced to get involved; and Ethrian, a hero who arises when a distant planet is overrun by hostile alien forces. There are others, but these three and a young woman named Ultragirl are the ones who will go forward.
The second issue of Megaton takes a while to reach the readers, two years in fact. So long that more than a few of the talents have gotten jobs with the Big Two. Erik Larsen is still around and Clarke Hawmaker shows up to fill in the spaces alongside folks like Frank Fosco. Gary Carlson suffered a medical situation which hurt the progress of the series at a critical time.
With the third issue the page count drops and features a new hero called simply The Dragon. Erik Larsen is most generous in bringing his many creations to the Vanguard storyline. This issue feels more professional in many ways than the first two, partly because of the improving craftsmanship but also it seems the book has found a focus -- superheroes. I love this cover.
Finding new talent seems to have been Gary Carlson's main job on the book and he found a humdinger in Angel Medina who goes on to draw four installments of the lead feature Megaton, and gives the storytelling a big jump up. For some reason too, the characterization of the series seems to improve. The Vanguard stories by Carlson and Larsen are quite good, and the arrival of Grass Green's Wildman and Rubberboy adds quite a bit of zest to a darn good comic package. This issue also features a portfolio by Frances Mao, a talented artist I personally worked with in the late 70's when I was running an APA for a time.
The book keeps on buzzing along with issue number five. The Megaton story dominates the issue and moves the story along quite a bit with decent effect. Grass Green is back with a hilarious Wildman and Rubberboy story in which they battle an angry Snowman.
I am a big Grass Green fan and already own the Wildman and Rubberboy comics which were published by Carlson around this time.
Ethrian is featured on the cover of the sixth issue and returns inside the comic as the space saga hurtles along, but hits a snag when it finishes on a cliffhanger which promises to be developed more in the debut of Ethrian's own comic, a comic which never ever arrives. Sadly, this is also Angel Medina's last issue drawing the Megaton feature.
Under a pretty dang good cover by Butch Guice, a new artist takes the reins in issue seven, a fellow named Gary Thomas Washington. His style is lighter than what had come before and is a slight drop unfortunately, though still interesting. Ultragirl returns, not seen since issue one and gets in volved in the Megaton storyline. Artist John Thompson also draws a solo outing for the returning heroine and Bill Willingham proves a bit of spot art.
Megaton ends its run with issue eight which landed on the stands in 1987. It was always intended to be the final black and white issue as Carlson had big plans to launch a color reboot as well as several new comics featuring Vanguard and along with a few others. This issue is also notable in that Rob Liefeld supplies a back-up story with Megaton and Ultragirl and brings romance into the picture. But the big plans don't develop and along with many other comics which had in some ways overwhelmed the young direct sales market, Megaton disappeared with a snap of the fingers.
Years later the characters morphed into what we know as Big Bang Comics, a series I mightily enjoyed for quite a while. The Image boys appreciated Carlson's early efforts to use their work, and some see Megaton as a precursor to the Image Comics brand itself.
The fascinating thing about this collection is not just that you get the comics, but you get lots of information and opinion from Carlson himself about the series as it developed and the talents that helped to make it so. Reading this collection was not unlike watching a movie with an audio commentary, something I love to do. There is a suggestion a second volume will emerge publishing material for the first time which was caught in the collapse and giving us all more of an insight into what it was like to make comics in the 1980's. I'll buy it and I highly recommend this volume to one and all.
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