Hee-Haw #1 (Charlton Comics, 1970)

When I was akid growing up in the sticks, this television show seemed to be required viewing amongst folks of my parents and grandparents age. Now, I was a kid that stuck out like a sore thumb amongst my peers....and sought a means to escape my rural farmland hometown via education. I thought further education was a means of escaping the stereotypes that had been thrusted upon my peers. And I succeeded...somewhat.

Then, a weird thing happened in my twenties, after graduating college.

I started to become nostalgiac for this odd culture...the so-called "hill-billy" lifestyle, that I struggled to leave behind. It's weird the things one finds comfort in as they grow older, I guess.

Anyways....I love oddball comics. I love Charlton books. And, just to show you that Charlton would license anything....here's 1970's Hee-Haw #1.

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B-Movie Madness: Gorgo (Charlton, 1961-64)

I love this book....not only is it an adaptation of the 1961 British attempt at ripping off Godzilla (I'm a HUGE fan of the Toho Titan), but it features a ton of great art by Steve Ditko.

Download Link (Issues #1-12)

Download Link (Issues #13-23)

Hee-Haw (Charlton Comics)

Just proof that Charlton would license anything, here's two issues of their comic book adaptation of a television comedy/variety show that is near and dear to my heart: HEE-HAW

Dr. OldSchool from a forum I frequent had this to say:
"The comic ran for 7 issues starting July 1970 until August 1971."

#3 Download Link

#5 Download Link

Thane of Bagarth (Charlton Comics)

To continue with this lazy day of multiple post, I present some reprints from Charlton's great "Last Gasp" period of publishing (around 1985, after one last attempt at comic book publishing, Charlton finally gave up the ghost). This time it's Thane of Balgarth, a neat little sword and sorcery title with early work by Jim Aparo...

#24 Download Link

#25 Download Link

Speed Buggy #2, #3, & #5 (Charlton Comics)

Thanks to Zen Tiger for these great CBR files....

One of my favorite Hanna Barbera properties as a kid was Speed Buggy, and I've found as a comic book collector that his short-lived book published by Charlton in the 1970s is like hen's teeth trying to find....

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Charlton Bullseye #5: WarHund (Charlton Comics, 1982)

From Wikipedia:

Charlton Bullseye was the title of a Charlton Comics short-lived showcase comic series published in 1981. Several new story using their "Action Heroes" appeared, before they would sell them to DC Comics. After the cancellation of this title, stories intended for it would be published in "Scary Tales" #36-40, which explains the superhero story "Mr. Jigsaw" in #38 and "Dragon Force" in #40.Contents: 1/ Blue Beetle and The Question with art by Dan Reed. 2/"Funny Animal" stories featuring the first appearance of Neil the Horse by Arn Saba. 3/Swords and Sorcery/Science Fiction 4/The Vanguards by Larry Houston. (All-woman super team) 5/The Barbarian, Warhund with art by Chas Truog and colors by Wendy Fiore. 6/Thunder Bunny by Martin L. Greim. (first appearance) Mike Mauser story by Rick Burchett. 7/Captain Atom with art by Dan Reed and Nightshade by Bill Black. 8/Horror stories 9/"Bludd, the Ultimate Barbarian" a science fiction barbarian story. Art partially done by Gene Day. 10/Thunder Bunny In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new Editor T.C. Ford with a direct-market only version of Charlton Bullseye Special which featured work by then newcomers Amanda Conner, T.C. Ford and Chris Pridgen. United Comics, T.C. Ford's publishing house, plans to reprint this edition as Shockwave #1 in 2008.

I recently picked up a copy of Charlton Bullseye #5 featuring Warhund at a local dirtmal/fleamarket, amongst a stack of about 30 various Bronze Age oddball books and early/mid 1980s indy books for 50 cents apiece. Then, a weird coincidence happened...

I was bored one night, and after having finished reading the final issue of the recent DC Comics miniseries, The Last Days of Animal Man, I decided to break out my copies of Grant Morrison's run of the character's series and re-read them. In Animal Man #23, I ran across the following two panels (during Morrison's "Second Crisis" storyline)....

Seems that the artist of that particular run of Animal, Chas. Truog...the creator of Warhund.

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The Six Million Dollar Man/ The Bionic Woman (Charlton Comics 1976-78)

Inspired by my recent purchase of the DVD set of the first season of the new Bionic Woman revamp (and from what the buzz sounds like, the only season....looks as if it's gonna be one of the casualties of the 2007 Writer's Strike), I figured I'd offer up scans of the 1970s Charlton Comics adaptation of the Six Million Dollar Man franchise...



If I remember properly, these were some of the first Charlton books I ever read, along with their adaptation of Space: 1999....

The Six Million Dollar Man #1-#4

The Bionic Woman #1-#5

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Doomsday +1 #1-#6 (Charlton Comics, 1975/76)

Being a child of the 1980s, I have this incredible love for the post-apocalyptic sci-fi genre that's probably of unhealthy proportions, and I absolutely love this little Kamandi rip-off that Charlton published in the 1970s.

Lasting 12 issues, it's of note because it's some of the earlier professional work of writer/artist John Byrne's that was published (prior to this, he'd done some Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch issues, of all things, for Charlton)....also, issues #7 through #12 are reprints of issues #1 through #6....

From Wikipedia:

The series takes place in a near future in which a South American despot named Rykos launches his sole two atomic missiles on New York City in the U.S. and Moscow in the U.S.S.R. The two superpowers, each believing the other has launched a first strike, retaliate. By the time American president Cole and a Russian premier with the first name Mikhail have realized their errors, their fully automated nuclear-missile systems can not be countermanded.

Only hours before the apocalypse begins, a Saturn VI rocket launches bearing three astronauts: Captain Boyd Ellis, United States Air Force; his fiancée, Jill Malden; and Japanese physicist Ikei Yashida. Weeks later, after the post-apocalyptic radiation has subsided to safe levels, their space capsule lands upon a melting Greenland ice field, where the three ally themselves with Kuno, a 3rd century Goth revived from his ice-encased suspended animation.

The four encounter a Russian scientist/cyborg in Canada, where they commandeer a futuristic jet plane; undersea dwellers; and brutish U.S. military survivors, among others.

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Gorgo #2 (Charlton Comics, 1961)

This book combines two things I love: Steve Ditko and giant monsters. Charlton adapted the 1961 British attempt at kaiju, and it lasted for 23 issues...

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