CHARLTON COMICS GIVE YOU MORE! (Charlton Fools' Day 2017)

Well folks here we are a year later and we are doing it again. Last year's Charlton Fools' Day was a hit so why not do it again this year? There are more new scans than last year. Over 70 fresh scans of public domain Charlton books are on Comic Book Plus! Just go to the latest uploads section to see what is new. And also be sure to check out the Charlton section at CB+  to see all of their Charlton holdings.  Additionally the pre-1960s books are also hosted at Digital Comic Museum.

Over 70 new scans have been added to Comic Book Plus today. Most of the scanning done by my scanning colleague, Titansfan, with plenty from me and there is even a JVJ Collection book scanned by Soothsayr. Edits were contributed ably by a nonny moose, D Miles, CBpop & DaveH.  Here is a sample selection of what went up:

Masked Raider 5

Nurse Betsy Crane 22

Masked Raider 5 is an action packed western from the mid-1950s and Nurse Betsy Crane 22 is a medical romance/drama from the early 1960s

Crime & Justice 25

My Little Margie 22

Crime & Justice 25 is a post code crime comic and My Little Margie 22 is a late 1950s humor title similar to Archie Comics' Katy Keene.

Reptisaurus 3

Fightin' Marines 26 (JVJ)

 Reptisaurus 3 is an early 1960s sci-fi/monster monster title of the Godzilla ilk and Fightin' Marines 26 is your typical late 1950s war comic, in this case a 100 pager!

Fightin' Navy 112

Hot Rods & Racing Cars 71

 Fightin' Navy 112 is an early 1960s war comic and Hot Rods & Racing Cars 71 is a 1960s car comic that that I am fond of because it evokes good memories of playing with Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars in my youth, and then again later with my own kids.

Career Girl Romances 32

U.S. Air Force Comics 32

Elvis sighting! Yep that is Elvis on the cover of Career Girl Romances 32 from the mid-1960s (unfortunately he only appears on the cover) and from 1964 we have U.S. Air Force Comics 32

Feddy 45

Atomic Mouse 18

1964's Freddy 45 is a typical teen-humor comic that is an obvious knock-off of Archie and Atomic Mouse 18 is a mid-1950s Funny Animal/Superhero mash-up that definitely takes its cue from the more well known, Mighty Mouse.

Sweethearts 46

Gunmaster 84

Sweethearts 46 is your typical post-code late 1950s romance fare and the ridiculous Gunmaster 84 is a mid-1960s western offering that seems pretty much like Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson have been transported back in time to the Old West to be a gun toting Dynamic Duo.

And now for our feature presentations:

1st up is Law Breakers Suspense Stories #11 scanned by Fett who is the top scanner when it comes to 1950s Charlton books. This book is everything old Doc Wertham warned us about! Classic pre-code gory crime/horror with the infamous severed tongues cover! The entire book can be read HERE

Law Breakers Suspense Stories 11

Next up is an offering from Titansfan, who has become a prolific Charlton scanner himself. From the later part of Charlton's run we have 1981's Charlton Bullseye #1 featuring a team-up of Blue Beetle & The Question in their pre-DC days. There is even a robot shark!, so what's not to love?
Check out the book HERE

Charlton Bullseye 1

And our third main feature is from yers trooly with some able editing from CBpop. Space: 1999 #4 with art by John Byrne. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid. This book can be read HERE.
(And the rest of the series here. Thanks to CBpop for most of these!)

Space: 1999 4

And just because it is so darn much fun here some more Charlton offerings:

Dino 1

Flintstones 1

Yabba, Dabba, Doo! it's Dino #1 and Flintstones #1

Hong Kong Phooey 8

Speed Buggy 8

And more Hanna Barbera goodness with Hong Kong Phooey #8 and Speed Buggy #8

Outlaws of the West 76

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? 6

More western action with Outlaws of the West 76 and it is everyone's favorite crime fighting talking dog in Scooby-Doo, Where are You? #6

Haunted 9

Monster Hunters 8

For our horror fix we have Haunted #9 and Monster Hunters #8

Hi & Lois 1

Space Adventures 4

Comic strip family humor from Hi and Lois #1 and Sci-Fi adventure with Space Adventures #4


Enjoy!

Its CHARLTON FOOLS' DAY! because...

 No fooling! What better way to celebrate April 1st than with Charlton Fools' Day!  Kracalactaka does more than just glue comics to things to make them look cool . I'm also a scanner at Comic Book Plus. Where our mission is to scan every public domain comic book we can get our hands on. This is a 100% all volunteer enterprise and it is actually quite stunning to see the thousands upon thousands of comics that have been uploaded. The server bills are funded via a wee bit of an ad banner and the donations of our readers. It is a lot of dedicated work by a relative handful of people that get all this done. I've only been doing it for several months, others have been doing it for many years and have racked up thousands of scans. Additionally we have scans of pulp magazines, mp3 downloads of old time superhero radio programs and videos of old movie theater serials & TV shows and more.

But I digress, today we are here to celebrate the comics monstrosity that was Charlton Comics.

UPDATE APRIL 1st 2017: PLEASE ALSO CHECK OUT THE 2017 CHARLTON FOOLS' DAY POST HERE

Charlton books used to be things that I ignored at garage sales and comic shop bargain bins. But since I became involved with CB+  I have come to enthusiastically appreciate Charlton a lot. The sheer volume and variety of their output were really something to behold.  Yes, they were cheaply made and written, often being no more than cheap rip-offs of stuff by other publishers, but they also had many, many gems and most of the top talent in the industry passed through Charlton at one point or another.

Now to the good stuff:

1st PLEASE stop by Comic Book Plus' latest uploads section and check out the ginormous pile of fresh scans of pre-1968 Charlton books that me and the other intrepid scanners have cooked up. Just below this paragraph is a small sampling of the offerings. Also be sure to check out the Charlton section at CB+ to see all our Charlton scans.

 Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds 39           Peacemaker 6 (unpublished)                   Shadows from Beyond 50  

Love Diary 49                                         Confidential Diary 12                              Nurse Betsy Crane 19

Six-Gun Heroes 57                               Submarine Attack 51                                Hot Rod Racers 4 

I'm also being joined in this endeavor by Lloyd "The Groovy Agent" Smith over at Diversions of the Groovy Kind.  Ol' Groov hosts my favorite comics blog that is just chock full of Bronze Age comic goodness. Today Groov has a special Charlton edition for you. And be sure to browse his old posts for other Charlton delights. Groov has been no stranger to Charlton's wonders.

But wait! There's more! The Atomic Kommie himself, Britt Reid, who hosts a multitude of awesome comics blogs is celebrating Charlton Fools' day with us on Atomic Kommie Comics  and  Hero Histories.  Brit has also been no stranger  to the mind-altering delight that is Charlton over the years.

Additionally, I have more Charlton goodness posted on my old ComicVine blog :

Hercules 5                                                     Just Married 94                                       Creepy Things 2 

Hot Rods & Racing Cars 112                    Charlton Bullseye 4                                    Career Girl Romances 67

Soap Opera Romances 5                                   The Phantom 31                                 Career Girl Romances 66  


And you can see more Charlton here and here.  And if you are Romantically inclined be sure to check out Jacque Nodell's Sequential Crush, probably the best Romance Comic blog around.

And it is never too late to join a Charlton Party! So get on over to Rip Jagger's Dojo another very cool comics blog. And naturally he has imbibed in Charlton's wonders on more than one occasion.

Also, be sure to check out Mort Todd's, The Charlton Arrow, modern comics made in the Charlton style & tradition.

Last but not least, do be sure check out the blog where it is Charlton Fools' Day every day! Get on over to The Charlton Comics Reading Library.

 
Without further ado we get to the main attraction: A Double dose of Saturday Morning Cartoon goodness adapted to comics by those comic magicians at Charlton. Two of my favorite Saturday Morning Cartoon Shows Hong Kong Phooey (I wish I still had that lunch box) & Speed Buggy.

1st up is Hong Kong Phooey #4:

(to view the scanned pages at full size please "right click" on them and view them in a new tab)

I always loved his convert-able car. It's like the Batmobile, Bat-Plane & Bat-Boat, etc all in one

                                                                    Space: 1999, Oh yeah!

Well that was fun, I can't help but hear the HK Phooey show's theme song in my head every time I look at one of these comics.

Moving on we Go to Speed Buggy #1 from a show that copied the Scooby-Doo formula down to using what sounds to me like the same voice-actors, just replace the talking dog with a talking car. But darn if I didn't love it when I was a kid.

Makes you want eat a bowl of cereal (2 feet) in front of the TV huh?

More?  Well Okay we'll make it a Triple Feature. Get your picinic baskets ready for Yogi Bear #33

Well that's it for now, time to turn the TV off. Overall, I think Charlton did a great job with their Cartoon adaption comics. All three books capture the feel of the shows they are based on. 

And please remember to visit the links above.