The Golden Derby - July 1965!

Fifty years ago Charlton comics was casting about as they always did, looking for the next big thing. Superheroes seemed to be catching on here and there, but it was a slow build as Charlton never ever seemed to be convinced that the underwear crowd was ever the way to great success. They always seemed to prefer their litany of genre comics in the areas of romance, war, sci-fi and western, areas other companies had diminished over the years giving preference to superheroes. But that was to change with the coming of the "Action Heroes".

In addition to Blue Beetle, Charlton under Pat Masulli was producing Son of Vulcan, a comic which seemed a variation of Marvel's Thor, featuring as it did a disabled human being who could transform into a mythic god. Also there was the rich genre of espionage which was charging through the culture thanks to the wild success of the James Bond movies. TV gave us Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Charlton offered up both the  Fightin' 5 and Sarge Steel who straddled the war and adventure arenas. One character who likewise seemed to exist in both the superhero genre and the western was Gunmaster, a surprisingly durable hero who had been published here and there at Charlton for several years. And then there was Gorgo, a comic developed from the outlandish and exquisite movie some years before and which had become a reliable arrival on the comic stands alongside its companion Konga. 

The time was coming closer when the heroes would take the center stage. But still in these early days the sense was that the folks at Charlton were still rather timid.

More next month.

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Gunmaster Gallery Part 2 - Bullet The Gun Boy!

Eventually the Gunmaster series in Charlton's Six-Gun Heroes was thought to require a boost, and it got it in the addition of the then-obligatory boy sidekick, another element which pushed the series to the superhero side of things. Bob Tellub (ahem...really?) learned of Gunmaster's dual identity and almost immediately was brought into the fold as "Bullet the Gun Boy". He did add a dash of action and the series featured some of the best covers Charlton had to offer thanks to the art of Dick Giordano, Rocke Mastroserio, Pete Morisi and others.

Eventually Gunmaster and Bullet were given their own self-titled comic which lasted four issues.

But given that this is a Charlton publication, it needed some added confusion to the numbering so without missing a beat nor a month, the series adopted the numbering of the old Six-Gun Heroes series in mid-stride.

The series came to an end in 1966 in time to make way for another master of fighting, a martial artist set in World War II by the name of Judomaster. We're familiar with him around these parts.

Gunmaster did not go gently into that goodnight though and one year later in 1967 one more issue of the series was published. And in vintage Charlton fashion they numbered it eighty-nine, a number they'd already used for the debut of the Judomaster series two years earlier.

Sigh. This did prove to be the last hurrah for the western superhero who had managed to eke out an existence on the comic racks for nearly a decade, no mean feat.

To read some delightful Gunmaster and Bullet Boy adventures go here.

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Gunmaster Gallery Part 1 - Six-Gun Hero!

Once upon a time western heroes ruled the day. Pulps, radio, films, and ultimately television and comics were dominated by the genre which generated hundreds of iterations of the western hero. One of the most distinctive to appear from Charlton Comics, one of the last bastions of the western was Gunmaster. A western hero with a superhero flavor, Gunmaster straddled the transition from the dominance of the one genre into the dominance of the the other.

He first appeared in the fifty-seventh issue of Charlton's Six-Gun Heroes which also starred Annie Oakley and Wild Bill Hickock, among others. Quickly though Gunmaster came to dominate the covers and eventually the entire comic. Gunmaster was the masked identity of Clay Boone, a gunsmith who traveled the western landscape plying his trade and seeking justice where he could. Eventually he would need help in this work. That will be the focus of a second gallery upcoming.

To read Gunmaster's origin story by Joe Gill, Dick Giordano, and Frank McLaughlin go here.

For now enjoy some vintage Charlton covers featuring one of their most distinctive heroes, one who doesn't get a lot of attention.

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