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Thursday, 12 October 2017

Atom The Cat #09 - #17 (1957) Complete Series, The Charlton Comics Story Part 04 [Charlton Comics Collection]



Atom the Cat 
 (Charlton, 1957 series)
 
Publication Dates: October 1957 - August 1959 
Number of Issues Published:   9 (#9 - #17) 
Color:Color 
Dimensions: Standard Silver Age US 
Paper Stock:
    Glossy cover; newsprint interior 
Binding:  Saddle-stitched 
Publishing Format:Was Ongoing 
Publication Type:  magazine 
Pages: 36     Indicia Frequency: Bimonthly

Authors:

Script: Joe Gill?
Pencils: Maurice Whitman (signed), George Wildman 
Inks: Maurice Whitman (signed), George Wildman
Letters: Jon D'Agostino 

Tracking

numbering continues from Tom Cat (Charlton, 1956 series)  #04 - #08




























The Charlton Comics Story,  Part 04
Bullseye logo, used from Sept./Oct. 1973

Bronze Age

Nicola Cuti made creative improvements to Charlton's line in the early 1970s Bronze Age of comic books as assistant editor under George Wildman, who was occupied primarily with administrative duties. Cuti brought Mike Zeck, among others, into Charlton's roster of artists, and his writing enlivened the Ghostly titles, now including Ghostly Haunts. Other Bronze Age Charlton horror titles included Haunted, Midnight Tales, and Scary Tales.

In 1973, Charlton debuted the Gothic romance title Haunted Love, but this same period saw the mass cancellation of almost all of Charlton's vast stable of traditional romance titles, including such long-running series as Sweethearts, Romantic Secrets, Romantic Story, I Love You, Teen-Age Love, Just Married, and Teen Confessions, all of which dated from the 1950s.

In the mid-1970s, there was a brief resurgence of talent, energized by Cuti, artist Joe Staton and the "CPL Gang"—a group of writer/artist comics fans including John Byrne, Roger Stern, Bob Layton, and Roger Slifer, who had all worked on the fanzine CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature). Charlton began publishing such new titles as E-Man, Midnight Tales and Doomsday + 1. The CPL Gang also produced an in-house fanzine called Charlton Bullseye, which published, among other things, such commissioned but previously unpublished material as the company's last Captain Atom story. Also during this period, most of Charlton's titles began sporting painted covers.


Early in 1975, Cuti, already writing freelance for the company in addition to his staff duties, quit to write freelance exclusively for Charlton when its line expanded to include black-and-white magazines in addition to the King Features and Hanna-Barbera franchised titles. He was replaced by Bill Pearson, who became assistant editor after promoting Don Newton as the new Phantom artist and writing scripts for that title.

Charlton's black-and-white comics magazines were based upon current television series and aimed at older readers. One of these was The Six Million Dollar Man #1–7 (July 1976 – August 1977). Retailing for $1, it featured art by Neal Adams' studio, Continuity Associates, as well as some stories by veteran illustrators Jack Sparling and Win Mortimer. Also published in magazine form were adaptations of The Six Million Dollar Man spinoff The Bionic Woman, Space: 1999, and Emergency!, as well as a comic based on teen heartthrob David Cassidy, then starring in the musical sitcom The Partridge Family.


By 1976, however, most of these titles had been canceled,[10] and most of the company's remaining titles went on hiatus during the period January to August 1977. Much of the new talent took the opportunity to move on to Marvel and D.
 (To be continued...)


2 comments:

  1. Oh goodness gracious! The Atom the Cat link has been atomized!!! Could you re-create its molecular cohesion, please? Fondly going back in time on your wonderful website, Your friendly Neighbourhood Neutrino

    ReplyDelete
  2. And they say atomic fusion isn't ready for mass consumption - your fusionic talents are in full display here! Thank you for the atomic repair! Yours, onirtueN

    ReplyDelete