Short Lived Comic Series #15 - Vengeance Squad (Charlton Comics)

As a kid, I remember seeing Charlton comics on the bottom shelf of the magazine racks at convenient stores, but I never paid them much attention.  To me, they seemed like nothing more than cheap rip-offs of DC and Marvel, and they were basically the "poor man" comics (just like I always viewed Trixie Belden books in my youth as being "poor man" knock-offs of Nancy Drew).  Thus, I never picked any up or read them growing up.  Flash-forward to the present, and as comics have become more focused on flashy splash pages and are more focused on art and less on story, I have found myself searching for older comics from the 60s, 70s, and 80s to fill my desire for good comic reads.  I managed to get Charlton's Bionic Woman run a few years back, and it was actually not too bad.  This made me wonder if some of Charlton's other books might be good.  I remember enjoying E-Man during its First Comics run, so I tracked down the Charlton issues of that series and enjoyed them as well.  Thus, when I came across the entire run of Vengeance Squad at a convention a year or so ago, I figured I'd give it a chance.  Having finally pulled them out and read them, I can say I'm glad I did!

Vengeance Squad is a sort-of vigilante-style book about three friends who have learned that the only way to get true justice is by stepping outside the boundaries set by the law - Eric Redd, a treasury agent who was framed and put into a federal prison by the very man he was investigating; Candy Orr, a former police officer who learned that good does not always win when you follow the letter of the law; and Tulsa Coyle, an ex-military man who served in Vietnam, only to return and find that his proclivity for violence is best served by tracking down true villains.  The three form a team to help rid the world of criminals that the justice system can't seem to touch.

The series was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Frank Bolle (who stayed on the title for only one issue - starting with the second issue, the art chores were taken over by Pete Morisi (who was identified in the book solely as "PAM," which I can assume are his initials).  Unlike modern comics, where an origin story would be spread out over 6 to 12 issues, Joe and Frank basically introduce readers to the team on the very first page - from there, it's all action and story!  Each of the issues in this six-issue run is a self-contained story, and within each issue's 13 to 16 pages, Gill and Bolle/Morisi manage to pack in a heck of a lot of story!

In the first issue, the team must help rescue their neighbor in the Palisades who finds himself at the mercy of a criminal mastermind intent on taking his fortune.  Of course, Redd, Orr, and Coyle sneak their way onto the estate and save their neighbors from certain death.  The second issue finds the team working overtime to save the daughter of a mob informant, whose life is being threatened to keep the informant from testifying.  The third issue gets a little personal, as Orr returns home, only to find that her small hometown has been taken over by a villainous man known as the "Octopus." When her parents are threatened, she calls in Redd and Coyle to help her end the terror.  In the fourth issue, the story borders on science fiction, as a mysterious Princess Alexa, who never seems to age, invites the team to her island - only to reveal that Orr will be a part of an experiment that will prolong the princess's life!  The fifth issue has the team chasing after a hooded crime lord, whose identity is a mystery, and they travel around the globe chasing after this hooded criminal - and when he takes Orr captive, Redd and Coyle throw caution to the wind to rescue her!  In the sixth and final issue of the series, the team is called out to the island of the "Diamond Queen" to help protect the wealthy guests at a posh party - but when it turns out the staff are working for the criminals intent on robbing these rich society men and women, Redd and his team play along until they can turn the tables on the crooks and take back the fortune that the villains stole.

The stories are not complicated, and honestly, there are no major subplots that are threaded from issue to the next (with the minor exception of Orr's apparent interest in Redd, which goes unrequited). But the tales are fast-paced and fun, and they make for enjoyable reading.  You may be wondering, though, why the page count for the stories are less than the standard comic of the time?  Well, that would be because each issue has a 6 to 8 page back-up story starring none other than ... Michael Mauser, Private Eye!  Yes, it's the same Michael Mauser that first appeared in E-Man, and the stories are written and drawn by Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton, the character's creators.  And while those back-up tales may be short, they are gritty and goofy, in typical Cuti/Staton style, and inevitably, each story ends with a bit of irony.

But, wait!  That's not all!  In addition to the lead feature starring the title characters and the back-up tales featuring the diminutive detective, each issue also has a 1 to 2 page prose story.  These prose stories sometimes feature a character from the Vengeance Squad, or even Mauser, while others feature characters wholly unrelated to the other two features.  I'll be honest - I didn't take the time to read these (and I may do so at a later date) - I figured, I enjoyed the main stories and the back-up features well enough, that I'd save the prose tales for another day.

Running from mid-1975 to mid-1976 (Vengeance Squad was a bi-monthly title, published every other month), this series, as with most Charlton comics, does not have the best reviews online.  However, I would have to disagree with those findings, as I thought the series was actually pretty good.  In a few ways, it reminded me of the '70s television show, The Mod Squad - three outcasts of sorts (one woman, two men) who work outside of the law to mete justice.

For fans of '70s and '80s comics, I would definitely recommend this series.  It's not superheroes, it's not flashy, and it's not steeped in decades of continuity - it's simply some good, fun stories that make for great reading!

RATING:  9 grenades thrown in a safe out of 10 for good, clean comic fun with more than enough story to make the price worthwhile!