Editing Charlton Comics (section)

===Silver Age===
The company's most noteworthy period was during the [[Silver Age of Comic Books|"silver age" of comic books]], which had begun with [[DC Comics]]' successful revival of superheroes in 1956.<ref name="Power" /> In March 1960, Charlton's [[science-fiction]] [[anthology]] title ''[[Space Adventures (comics)|Space Adventures]]'' introduced [[Captain Atom]], by Gill and the future co-creator of [[Marvel Comics]]' [[Spider-Man]], [[Steve Ditko]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=McAvennie|first1=Michael |editor-last=Dolan |editor-first=Hannah |chapter= 1960s|title = DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |year=2010 |isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9 |page= 99 |quote = Captain Atom was born in a tale by artist Steve Ditko and writer Joe Gill.}}</ref> (After the mid-1980s demise of Charlton, Captain Atom went on to become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle, the old [[Fox Feature Syndicate|Fox Comics]] superhero revived by Gill and artists [[Bill Fraccio]] and [[Tony Tallarico]] as a campy, comedic character in ''Blue Beetle'' #1 [June 1964].) 

Charlton also had moderate success with [[Son of Vulcan]], its answer to Marvel's [[Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor]], in ''Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds'' #46 (May 1965).

During the Silver Age, Charlton, like Marvel and DC, published [[war comics]]. Notable titles included the "Fightin'" line of ''[[Fightin' Air Force]]'', ''[[Fightin' Army]]'', ''[[Fightin' Marines]]'', and ''[[Fightin' Navy]]''; the "Attack" line of ''Army Attack'' and ''Submarine Attack''; ''Battlefield Action'';  ''D-Day'', ''U.S. Air Force Comics'', and ''War Heroes''. Though primarily [[anthology|anthologies]] of stories about 20th-century warfare, they included a small number of recurring characters and features, including "The American Eagle",<ref>[http://www.toonopedia.com/ameagl3.htm American Eagle (1965)] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240525202635/https://www.webcitation.org/66ftATiK1?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/ameagl3.htm Archived] from the original on April 4, 2012.</ref> "[[Shotgun Harker and the Chicken]]", "[[Will Franz|The Devil's Brigade]]", "[[The Iron Corporal]]", and "[[Captain Willy Schultz|The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz]]". ''Army War Heroes'' and ''Marine War Heroes'' depicted stories based on actual [[Medal of Honor]] recipients. ''Space War'', first created in 1959 became ''[[Fightin' 5]]'' in 1964.

With the mid-1960s fad for [[James Bond]] secret agents such as ''[[Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (feature)|Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.]]'', Charlton turned their Vietnam veteran [[Mike Hammer (character)|Mike Hammer]] [[hardboiled detective]] ''[[Sarge Steel]]'' into a special agent after the sixth issue, later renaming the comic ''Secret Agent''.

Charlton threw itself into the resurgent [[horror comics]] genre during this period with such titles as ''[[Ghostly Tales]]'', ''[[The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves]]'', and ''[[Ghost Manor (comics)|Ghost Manor]]''. It also created a pair of identical horror-movie magazines: ''Horror Monsters'' (1961–1964) and ''Mad Monsters'' (1961–1965). Additionally, Charlton produced comics based on monsters featured in motion pictures such as ''[[Konga (film)|Konga]]'', ''[[Gorgo (film)|Gorgo]]'' and ''[[Reptilicus]]''.

Charlton continued its commitment to [[romance comics]] with such new titles as ''Career Girl Romances'', ''Hollywood Romances'' (later to change its name to ''For Lovers Only''), and ''Time for Love''.

In 1965, Charlton revived the Captain Atom character in ''[[Strange Suspense Stories]]'' numbers 75, 76, and 77, reprinting the Steve Ditko-illustrated stories that had originally appeared in ''Space Adventures'' in the early 1960s. Retitling the comic, ''[[Captain Atom]]'' Volume 2 #78 (cover dated Dec. 1965), Charlton began publishing newly created stories by Ditko of the superhero.  In 1967, Ditko stopped working at Marvel and returned to Charlton full-time. After his celebrated stint at Marvel, he had grown disenchanted with that company and his Spider-Man collaborator, writer-editor [[Stan Lee]]. Having the hugely popular Ditko back helped prompt Charlton editor Giordano to introduce the company's "Action Hero" superhero line, with characters including Captain Atom, Ditko's the [[Question (comics)|Question]], Gill and artist [[Pat Boyette]]'s [[Peacemaker (character)|The Peacemaker]], Gill and company [[art director]] [[Frank McLaughlin (artist)|Frank McLaughlin]]'s [[Judomaster]], [[Pete Morisi]]'s ''[[Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt|Peter Cannon... Thunderbolt]]'', and Ditko's new "Ted Kord" version of the Blue Beetle.<ref>McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 123: "After Ted Kord assumed the scarab as Blue Beetle in a back-up feature of ''Captain Atom'' #83, writer/artist Steve Ditko and co-writer 'D.C. Glanzman' (who was actually Ditko) launched the Blue Beetle into his own series."</ref> Because Giordano had a personal dislike for superheroes and wanted to keep them in a pulplike realm of relative believability, all the characters in his Action Hero line, except for Captain Atom, were ordinary humans which used their skills and talents instead of superpowers.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-SzGCgAAQBAJ&dq=Giordano+action+hero+pulp-like+realm&pg=PA6 The Phantom: The Complete Series: The Charlton Years: Volume One]</ref><ref>[https://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/01giordano.html Dick Giordano Interview - Comic Book Artist #1]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=RgVlCwAAQBAJ&dq=Giordano+tapped+Charlton+superhero+skills+talents&pg=PA98 The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes]</ref> The company also developed a reputation as a place for new talent to break into comics; examples include [[Jim Aparo]], [[Dennis O'Neil]] and [[Sam Grainger]]. As well, Charlton in the late 1960s published some of the first [[manga]] in America, in ''[[Ghost Manor (comics)|Ghost Manor]]'' and other titles (thanks to artist [[Sanho Kim]]), and artist [[Wayne Howard]] became the industry's first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror-anthology ''[[Midnight Tales]]'' blurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue—"a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time".<ref>Cooke, Jon B.,  "Lest We Forget: Celebrating Four that Got Away": ''[[Comic Book Artist]]'' #12 (March 2001), p. 112</ref>

Yet by the end of 1967, Charlton's superhero titles had been cancelled, and licensed properties had become the company's staples, particularly cartoon characters from [[Hanna-Barbera]] (''[[The Flintstones]]'', ''[[The Jetsons]]'', ''[[Top Cat]]'', [[Korg: 70,000 B.C.]], others). Charlton took over publication of a number of [[King Features Syndicate]] characters from that company's short-lived [[King Comics]], including ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'', ''[[Blondie (comic strip)|Blondie]] Comics'', ''[[Flash Gordon]]'', ''[[Jungle Jim]]'', ''[[The Phantom]]'', and  ''[[Popeye]]''. Charlton also published ''Bullwinkle and Rocky'', and ''Hoppity Hooper'', based on [[Jay Ward Productions]]' ''[[Hoppity Hooper]]'', and ''[[The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show|Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show]]''.

Charlton dabbled occasionally in adaptations of live-action TV comedies. The most successful was ''[[My Little Margie]]'', based on the 1952-55 network series starring [[Gale Storm]]; the Charlton version ran for a full 10 years (1954-64, 54 issues) and inspired two spinoffs, ''My Little Margie's Boy Friends'' (1955–58, 11 issues) and ''My Little Margie's Fashions'' (1959, five issues). ''Abbott and Costello'', debuting in 1968, was based on the syndicated [[Abbott and Costello]] animated cartoon series of 1967-68 and ran for 22 issues. ''[[Hee Haw]]'', a remarkably faithful rendition of the then-current [[Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS-TV]] series, bowed in 1970 but ran for only seven issues. Both the ''Abbott and Costello'' and ''Hee Haw'' comics were discontinued in the summer of 1971, although Charlton's ''Hee Haw'' was revamped for general audiences as a 50-cent magazine, printed in black-and-white with cast photos and jokes supplemented by advertising. The last of the comedy vehicles was ''[[The Partridge Family]]'', based on the then-current [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV]] [[sitcom]]; launched in 1971, the comic book ran for 21 issues until it was cancelled in 1973.