It was more'n obvious that many a comic book publisher woulda swiped quite a few ideas from Marvel once the much-heralded "Marvel Age of Comics" drastically revolutionized the superhero concept (from stoic hero to piddling neurotic that is!). DC did well enough with DOOM PATROL while Archie flopped big time when they resurrected their Golden Age hero line, and whose idea at Tower Comics was it to create that beyond camp "Captain Marvel" character whose body would split up in a way that woulda even stymied Bloody Bill Anderson?
Not to be outdone in the idea snitching department, Charlton's SON OF VULCAN was that mobbed up company's attempt to recreate the MIGHTY THOR mythical god in a sixties comic setting look and feel that did so well for Marvel, along with the big bucks that went along with it of course. And although I gotta admit that these guys gave it the good ol' college try it's no wonder why this one flubbed the same way the rest of those nth-string efforts had. Not that the entire Charlton line wasn't without merit, but I think they shoulda just stuck to their comic strip renditions, Steve Ditko workouts and cowboy/hot rod books and left the majority of the superhero exploits to the smart ones. Nothing here is what I would call of a higher notch quality and not even in that good 'n CHEAP fashion that always delivered even without the finesse of the more "respected" titles.
Feh art and tiresome storylines don't contribute to the superhero canon of excitement and adventure, and I find the tale of a reporter given power by the Gods of Olympus themselves not as fine tuned as a crippled doctor finding a gnarly piece of wood, banging it on the ground and becoming the God of Thunder. SON OF VULCAN had the good intentions, but none of the swerve and sway that Stan Lee was exacting upon his dominion.
Interesting aside: the cover of the final ish sports this interesting hype: "ATTENTION FANZINE READERS!!! CHALLENGE HAS BEEN ANSWERED...THE STORY IN THIS ISSUE WAS WRITTEN BY ONE OF YOU!!! DON'T MISS!!!" Actually, none other than Roy Thomas of ALTER EGO renown who went from low man on the totem pole to pro thanks to his prowess in the fanzine world was the writer of this particular effort dealing with the filming of a Trojan War epic. It's OK though I find his Marvel efforts just a few years later somewhat better even if I never really could appreciate the guy's overall style (somewhat staid despite many a good saga). Still, seeing a lure to the comic book fanzine crowd smack dab on the front cover of a sixties-era title was somewhat of a surprise, but then again it was only a few short years until Marvel actually issued their own "fanzine" entitled FOOM! which I actually was not allowed to subscribe to because I was wasting way too many precious pennies on candy and tootsietoys already! (Charlton eventually followed suit with their own 'zine but by that time it was music for me, and not much else for that matter.)
1 comment:
carlton comic s ar the best comics ! by fart !
mayjor props to mort tood an his repins !
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