Short(est) Lived Comic Series #38 - Emergency Doctor (Charlton Comics)

Here's another one-issue series that should have had more issues.  It's a shame when you find a comic, you enjoy it, and you discover that it only had the one issue - and it seems that a number of the golden, silver, and bronze age independent companies (such as Gold Key, Dell, Charlton, and others) were infamous for this.  While I ignored the whole genre of medical comics (as well as romance comics) back when I was a kid, I have developed a new appreciation for these books as an adult.  I have discovered that they have some truly great art by some well-known comic artists who were just getting their start back in the day ... plus, the stories are actually pretty good, quite often episodic in nature like a daytime soap opera (in fact, Charlton published two short-lived titles that reprinted earlier work under soap opera names:  the five issue Soap Opera Romances and the three issue Soap Opera Love).  Alas, so few of those medical / romance titles lasted, and this one is certainly no exception.

 

Emergency Doctor was published in the summer of 1963, with the indicia indicating it was to be published on a quarterly basis.  While the title seems fairly generic, it actually refers to a specific doctor - one Dr. Jerry Starr, a resident doctor at the County General Hospital.  And, yes, if you look at the cover, you will see that his name is misspelled as "Terry" rather than "Jerry" in that caption under the title.  The cover art is allegedly by Dick Giordano, who was working at Charlton when this comic was published, so it the credit is potentially correct.  The cover depicts a rather dramatic scene of surgery being performed on a patient of indeterminable gender, which scene was taken from the second story in this issue to feature Dr. Starr and his faithful nurse, Anne Adair.  I find it amusing that the lower portion of the cover is taken up by an add for a contest being run by Bonomo Turkish Taffy, in which readers could potentially win "sensational prizes," with pictures of board games, a television, and a bicycle as what I am guessing to be potential prizes.  The details about this contest are in the middle of the comic, right across from a prose story entitled "Recluse Pattern" (whose author is unidentified and remains a mystery today).

 

This comic features two main stories starring Dr. Jerry Starr and Nurse Anne Adair.  The first 10-page story is titled "Fatal Holiday," and it opens with a scene of excitement and danger as the doctor is seen climbing a ladder to get into a burning building.  Readers are quickly taken back to the previous morning, when Jerry and Anne are preparing for the day ahead of them - the day before the Fourth of July!  From a drowning boy (who does not survive, which is surprising to see in a comic like this!) to a horrible car accident involving a pregnant woman about to give birth; from a child who burned her eyes to a gunshot victim who is bleeding out; from a man who swallowed his car keys to that final emergency of men trapped in a burning building - in which Dr. Starr must make a daring rescue that ultimately requires him to jump three stories before the building collapses - readers are given the reality of the lives of emergency room doctors and nurses, who are forever rushing to save one life after another!  Of course, there is time to sneak in a bit of romance, as Jerry more than hints that he would like to make Anne his wife!  Joe Gill is credited with the script for this story, and Norman Nodel is given credit for the art chores.  Gill is best known for co-creating Charlton heroes such as Captain Atom, Peacemaker, and Judo Master; Nodel is recognized for the large amount of work he did for Classics Illustrated comics.

 

The second story featuring Dr. Starr and Nurse Adair is another 10-pager that focuses more on romance than medical drama.  In "The Perfect Doctor's Wife," Jerry saves the life of a rather beautiful woman who turns out to be Sandra Rees, daughter of the industrialist Alvin Rees.  Mr. Rees is so grateful to Jerry that he offers to fund whatever dream Jerry has - which happens to be the establishment of small neighborhood clinics for the poor.  Before you know it, Jerry is swept into the world of the rich and powerful, and he finds himself drawn to Sandra (much to Anne's chagrin!).  Before the two can marry, however, Jerry learns exactly what it will cost him to marry into such a wealthy family, and he's unwilling to leave his desire to help other behind.  The story has a very strong lesson for its readers, and a happy ending for Jerry and Anne.  The last two panels feature an intercom page for Dr. Starr to report to surgery - and a final caption that reads, "He heard and he answered the call ... just as he does every time an ambulance rolls!  This is Dr. Starr, the Emergency Doctor ... and he's doing a hard, dangerous job ... and he loves it!"  Gill and Nodel are credited with the writing and art for this story as well.

 

In-between the two stories, there is a 3-page story that is a reprint from Sweetheart Diary (another Charlton title), issue 34 from July 1956.  The story is "Last Chance for Love," and it shows readers what could happen when a woman cannot make up her mind between two men that she would love to have for different reasons.  When she finally agrees to make a decision, it turns out both men walk away before she can decide!  There is uncertainty as to whether Joe Gill authored this tale, but the art chores are credited to Charles Nicholas (pencils) and Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio (inks), with lettering by Joe D'Agostino.  It's funny to think that an entire story can be told in three pages, when today's creators cannot seem to fit a complete story into just one full issue!

 

As indicated above, there is a two-page prose tale about a doctor at Mercy General Hospital who must take drastic action in order to convince a wealthy woman that she must eat in order to survive.  There is also a one-page comic strip at the end of the book titled "The Wilderness Scout," which provides some details about the life of Christopher "Kit" Carson.  The writer and artist are not identified, but online sources indicate Gill could have been the writer, and Maurice Whitman might have been the artist.

 

Overall, I would say this was a winning issue for me.  The two main stories kept my attention, with art that, while not exactly eye-catching by today's standards, definitely appeals to me as perfect for the content of the story.  The writing was a bit fast-paced, but Gill superbly integrates just enough of Jerry and Anne's personalities into the story that by the end of those first 10 pages, you feel like you know the characters, and by the end of the second 10-page tale, you are truly rooting for them.  I would have liked to have seen more stories with these two, but alas, that was not meant to be.

 

RATING:   9 cocktail parties in a hospital suite out of 10 for well-written and nicely drawn medical stories with just the right mix of drama and romance!

Love on the Racks - a History of American Romance Comics

I developed a love for comic books ever since my dad bought me my first comic book back in 1979 - an issue of Super Friends based on the Saturday morning cartoon.  For years after that, I can remember going to the nearby convenience store (Magik Mart, if I recall correctly), as well as the Walgreen's located in the local mall, to comb through all the comics on the spinner rack and pick out which ones I wanted to read next.  Needless to say, it was those colorful superhero titles that caught my eye and quickly filled up my ever-growing collection.  Never in a million years would I have considered buying, let alone even picking up and paging through, a romance comic.  Yuck!  Those were for girls!  So, flash-forward more than four decades, and suddenly I have discovered the beauty of the stories and art that fill the pages of many romance comics from the '50s, '60s, and into the '70s. With today's comics becoming more focused on splash pages and "pretty art," and less about the story, I find myself gravitating back to the yester-years of comic books, where each issue was filled with tons of story, making each comic book well worth the price paid.  In recent years, I've developed an interest in and appreciation for romance comics, which, often times, were written and drawn by talented creators who later went on to make a name for themselves in the industry - people like Dick Giordano, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Kurt Schaffenberg, Gil Kane, and countless others. So, this book offered me a chance to go beyond the stories themselves and find out more about the behind-the-scenes drama that went on with America's romance comics.

Love on the Racks is the first in-depth study of romance comics in America, looking at the entry of romance stories into comics in the late 1940s all the way through to the demise of romance comics in the late 1970s.  The author, Michelle Nolan, was a newspaper and magazine writer who has also spent time as a comic and pop culture historian.  With this book, Nolan offers fans of romance comics an opportunity to read a chronological history of the comics, learn about the driving force behind the expansion and collapse of the genre during the 1950s, see what affect the Comics Code Authority had on the books and their publishers, and consider the reasons why romance comics finally left the market entirely by the end of the 1970s.  The book also contains numerous examples of romance covers, as well as some interior pages, with eight color pages showcasing some of the important covers throughout the thirty-year period.

Nolan opens the book with a look at what existed before the advent of romance comics, to wit: the romance pulp!  I had already read about a lot of these romance pulps in The Art of Pulps Illustrated History book that I reviewed previously; but it was enlightening to see how a lot of these stories and magazines were just one step on the path to romance comics.  The next chapter gives readers a brief glimpse of the early teen humor comics (such as those published by Archie), as well as some of those early Marvel comics (such as Patsy Walker), which featured romance, but were more focused on the humor side of things.  It's eye-opening to see just how politically incorrect comic humor was back in the day, with Nolan showing "Moronica" (otherwise known as Miss Nitwit) as a prime example.  Personally, I think the strip still holds humor when read and appreciated for the time period it was created.  It's so easy to look at comics from the past through today's lens and condemn them; but it takes a true fan and collector to see and read the comics with an understanding of when it was written and drawn to be able to grasp the full impact of the strip.

Nevertheless, with Chapter Three, Nolan begins to study of romance comics with the publication of Young Romance #1 in 1947 from Crestwood Publications by two creators who eventually hit it big in the comics industry:  Joe Simon and Jack Kirby!  From this one comic spawned three-decade boom of romance comics that flooded the market (and perhaps over-saturated the market) and took the publishers, retailers, and fans by surprise.  Nolan goes into each of the first four issues of this comic, providing details of the stories contained within those issues.  Then she moves on to the second romance title, My Romance, which was published by Marvel Comics in 1948, who was hoping to cash in on the success it saw in Young Romance.  An odd romance comic also came out from Marvel that year called Venus, which starred the goddess of love herself; however, only certain issues actually fit into the romance genre.  Nolan indicates the title underwent numerous changes during its 19-issue run, from science-fiction to fantasy to others.  This was followed by Fawcett Comics, who published Sweethearts in late '48, oddly enough starting it with issue 68 (see below for a discussion on the whole numbering of romance comics during their heyday).  Sweethearts, it seems, was the first romance comic to be published monthly - its precursors were bi-monthly or quarterly.  This, according to Nolan, was a big chance to take, since the romance genre was still so new to comics.

 

Each chapter thereafter looks at the succeeding years and how the realm of romance comics grew exponentially, then contracted, and then expanded once again, gaining considerable popularity to the point where there were periods when nearly 1 in every 5 comic published was a romance title!   I have to say, Nolan educated me on quite a bit regarding the history of romance comics - I never realized just how many comic publishers existed at the time, and how many non-DC/Marvel publishers were out there, pushing out books each month.  It was surprising to learn that some smaller companies only published a few titles a month, and one company only published one book!  Yet, from 1947 to 1977, just about every company out there that published comics joined the bandwagon and pushed out title after title of romance books.  If one failed, they would throw another one out there.  Titles ranged from Secret Loves to Girls' Romances to Thrilling Romances to Love Diary to Sweet Love and so many others.  Of all the companies, though, it was Charlton comics, who entered the game late, that published the most romance comics of any company - more than 1,400 individual issues in all!  The only company who got anywhere close to that many was DC Comics, who came in at only 931 individual issues over the three decades.  

Thankfully, Nolan has a "Catalogue of Romance Comics" that she, along with other romance aficionados Dan Stevenson and Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., compiled, listing virtually every known romance comic to have ever been published.  The list is sorted by publisher, and it lists the titles, the number of issues published in each title, and the total number of individual issues published by each company.  This is an excellent guide, because as mentioned above, a number of companies did not start their series with issue 1; rather, if another series they published was cancelled, they would simply pick up the numbering with a new and different title, even if it was a completely different genre (for example, some companies switched science fiction or super hero titles to romance titles, continuing the number, but renaming the book and changing the content!).  According to Nolan, this happened many times because the publisher wanted to avoid having to set up new books with the postal mailing requirements; if they simply changed the title, but kept the numbering, they could try and slide it in under the old application with the post office and not have to pay any new fees for a new title!  I had always wondered why companies back in the day would do that.  This results in a number of romance titles that never saw an issue 1!  Charlton was really bad about this - Career Girl Romances began with issue 24; Romantic Secrets began with issued 5; Hollywood Romances began with issue 46; Summer Love began with issue 46; and so on. Today, with the internet, it's easy to find out exactly what issue a particular series started and ended with; but back when these comics were first published in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, I'm sure a lot of fans were frustrated when they could not find any "early issues" of these series!

I particularly enjoyed reading about how the implementation of the Comics Code Authority affected the stories and covers to the romance comics.  Nolan cites to a number of examples of how covers were changed, with woman no longer allowed to show cleavage, and how the "drama" depicted changed from physical altercations or sexual insinuations to the more generic girl crying as she sees her man being tempted by another woman (no sex indicated, of course!).  Nolan also provides an example of a story from First Love #27 (April 1953) titled "Sinful Surrender" was altered when it was reprinted just three years later in First Love #61 (February 1956) to "Foolish Dream," with certain suggestive dialogue removed to avoid any sexual context,.  And yes, as the romance period went on, it seems more and more comics began to reprint older stories in order to fill out content for the considerable numbers of books that were being published.  Gradually, though, the Code began to loosen its grip, as many of DC Comics' later titles in the '70s began to feature stories with what might be considered somewhat "risque" at the time, including the free-love of the hippie years, interracial romances, and even some darker teen angst.  

Sadly, by 1977, the romance genre had reached its ever-lovin' end, and DC Comics' Young Love #126 (July 1977) was the last romance comic to hit the stands.  Oddly enough, this book was one of the books DC purchased from Crestwood when that company went out of business, along with Simon and Kirby's Young Romance (the book that started it all!).  Young Love made its debut in 1949, and was a sister title to Young Romance.  It was created by Simon and Kirby as well, so I suppose it is only fitting that this tremendous team that created the first romance comic would have one of their original series also serve as a closing book end to the era.   

Nolan does an outstanding job of detailing the history of romance comics, and while there is a bit of repetition here and there throughout the book, as she mentions some of the same titles and publishers over and over, it does not get monotonous nor annoying - in fact, the repeated statistics and information serves as a great reminder as the reader is trudging through this thirty-year period of just how much these comics played an important part of comics history - even if they are nearly forgotten by today's fans!  And for a fan like me, who only recently came into the genre, this is a spectacular resource that will provide invaluable aid in my search for issues to complete various series.  This book is a definite must-have for any fan of romance comics!

RATING:  9 romantic photo covers out of 10 for providing unbelievable details about the nearly forgotten and sordid history of romance comics and the impact it had on the comics industry!

Short Lived Comic Series #26 - Soap Opera Romances (Charlton Comics)

While Charlton's other "Soap Opera" title only lasted three issues, this other "Soap Opera" comic book actually made it to give issues before it was cancelled.  And just as Soap Opera Love was a reprint title, so is Soap Opera Romances.  While Soap Opera Love reprinted stories from Charlton's earlier Just Married title, Soap Opera Romances reprinted tales of Nurse Betsy Crane, who had her own title some years prior.  Soap Opera Romances was actually the earlier of the two Soap titles, as it began its run in 1982, with its first issue boasting a July 1982 cover date.  It ran bi-monthly for five issues, ending with the March 1983 issue, which was just one month after Soap Opera Love premiered in February 1983.  Confused yet?  Well, it's obvious the comic world was not really open to romance titles in the early '80s, but I have to give Charlton kudos for least giving it a try.

 

Soap Opera Romances was headlined by Nurse Betsy Crane, a career nurse who seemed to have considerable difficulty when it came to romance.  Nurse Crane first appeared back in 1961 in My Teen Diary #11, and apparently was so popular, the next issue of that title was re-named Nurse Betsy Crane!  That book continued under her name from issue 12 all the way through issue 27 before it was cancelled in 1964.  She made a few appearances after that and then disappeared into comic book limbo until nearly 20 years later when Charlton tried to revive her stories and character with this book.

Because these are stories reprinted from the 1960s, they sadly do not provide the credits for writers and artists.  Some online searches revealed that Charles Nicholas provided pencils for some of the stories, and comic greats Dick Giordano and Vince Colletta provided some of the inking.  As far as the writing goes, that's a mystery.  Which is a shame, because the stories are not really all that bad (well, let me re-phrase that - the Nurse Betsy Crane stories are not that bad - some of the short stores and one-page tales are a bit over-the-top and cliche).  Yes, the stories feature standard romance comics fare, and they are fairly simple and straight-forward; but it's their simplicity that makes them enjoyable.

"Once in a great while ... there appears on the screen of life ... a person so exceptional ... so captivating ... so exciting ... that you can never forget her ... this is ...  NURSE BETSY CRANE"  This cover blurb on the first issue was obviously meant to draw readers in, advertising the main character of this series as an exciting, captivating person who could not possibly be forgotten.  And, perhaps, that is how the powers-that-be at Charlton felt, since this was a character that previously had her own series two decades prior.  Obviously someone at Charlton still remembered her, and with these reprints, hoped that they could bring the character back to life - or, simply cash on by reprinting old stories and not having to pay for new stories and art.  Whatever the reason, it obviously didn't work, as the cancellation after only five issues proves.

The first issue featured a 20-page lead story titled "Scratch of Death."  As many of the comic stories did back in the '60s, it opens with a splash page of danger - in this case, Nurse Diane Malvern bringing her boyfriend to Nurse Betsy Crane, holding him up as he seems about to collapse!  The next page flashes back to give readers the story leading up to that moment - an effective storytelling technique of capturing the readers' attention before providing the backstory that may not be as exciting as that moment.  In this case, we learn the story of how Diane met widower Jeff Wilson and his young daughter - and we see how Jeff gradually turns rude and downright mean, even to Diane, which seems quite out of character.  Of course, Nurse Crane is the one who realizes what is going on - Jeff has hydrophobia, which Diane recognizes as a symptom of rabies!  Nurse Betsy Crane saves the day, and Jeff and Diane walk into the sunset to live happily ever after.  This first issue also features a three-page promotion for nursing as a career, describing in text and pictures just how wonderful a career in nursing is for a woman (which goes to show just how outdated this reprint was, since by the1980s, men was entering the nursing career as well!).  The issue closes out with a one-page story titled "Lady in Distress," the art and story for which are so "totally" '60s, it makes the story comical.

Issue two features two, ten-page Nurse Crane stories:  "Rebound" and "Fight for Sight."  The first story finds Betsy falling for a doctor who is heartbroken when the woman he loves marries another.  Doctor and Nurse take off for Mussar for a tour of duty to help the natives in that far country, where he begins to fall for Betsy and even asks her to marry him! But Betsy is the one heartbroken when the doctor learns his former love's husband has died, and she is free to return to him.  "It's not easy to give up someone you love," Betsy thinks at the end of the tale, "but I have my life to live .. and now I must find a new love!"  The second tale finds Betsy working hard to help a nurse who only wants perfection in a man to see just how fortunate she is to have the love of a man who may be losing his eyesight - if only she could overcome her desire for perfection!  The stories are both very cliche, but definitely fit for the soap opera theme of the comic.  In this issue, we also get a three-page story about a married couple's first fight, as well as a one-page tale titled "destination Paradise" - which was actually rather cute, as it seems a bit stereotypical in the first couple of panels as a man and woman meet on a cruise ship and fall in love at first sight - but as the final panel reveals - it's a re-enactment of the couple's first meeting that they continue to celebrate every year.  I think in this one page there is more "romance" than any other story in the series!

The third issue definitely has my favorite cover (and probably my favorite story from this series).  With this issue, we return to the longer lead-in story, with Nurse Betsy Crane starring in a 20-page tale called "The Dark Closet."  The cover hearkens back to the old Gothic tales, with the shadowy figure coming in on Betsy, as she tries to help a man who is clearly troubled.  Even the cover blurb - "What was the secret of the Old Lange Mansion?  What terror lay hidden in The Dark Closet?" - is reminiscent of the Gothic comics of the past.  The story features Betsy heading up to the Lange mansion on a stormy night, alongside a young doctor (none of these stories have the same supporting cast - there are always different doctors and nurses with whom Betsy works), to provide medical attention to Mrs. Lange.  I found this melodrama at the beginning rather humorous, as the woman was merely having an asthma attack - and as one with asthma, I know what an attack can feel like, but I've never had one so severe that I needed a doctor and his nurse to come out to my house!  (Of course, the revelation about Mrs. Lange's illness at the end of the story explains the overly dramatic nature of Mrs. Lange.)  Nurse Betsy Crane remains at the house in case Mrs. Lange needs further help, and she quickly realizes something odd is going on between the woman and her son.  She eventually discovers that Mrs. Lange is faking all of these illnesses to keep her son at home and away from a woman he loves and wants to marry.  Betsy, as usual, opens everyone's eyes to the situation, and the son finally has the opportunity to chase after the love of his life.  The three-page tale in this issue is a bit weird - a flirtatious woman flirts with the wrong man; but even after he punches her boyfriend, she still walks off with him - and when she reunites with her boyfriend, instead of dumping her, he merely asks her to flirt with men his size so he has a fair chance to beat them up!  Definitely not a lesson you would want to teach young people about dating!  Even the one-page story is bizarre - "Happy Birthday" sees a women kissing the birthday boy - and when the date she came with tries to intervene, she brushes him off and returns to kissing the birthday boy!  Not sure what these writers were thinking, but the morals of these characters are definitely lacking!

Issue four has a rather interesting cover - instead of a single scene, it actually utilizes three panels from the story, dialogue and all!  Now, granted, it is a rather dramatic scene, with Nurse Betsy Crane and a military man trying to fight their way through a dangerous flooded area to rescue a man (lifted straight from page 15 of the story) - but it leaves me wondering if perhaps Charlton simply didn't have a cover for this issue in time for publication, so simply used the inside panels as a quick way of getting the issue out.  "Medals are for Heroes" is the 20 page story this time around, wherein Betsy and two other nurses head off to Harpersville to help out at an emergency center set up for the flood victims in the area.  Betsy, though, finds the problem is not with the victims or even the flood - rather, it is with Corporal Kalin, who spends more time distracting the nurses than anything else.  When she gets stuck with Corporal Kalin on a trip into town to help a young girl and search for her grandfather, Betsy learns there is more to Kalin than she first thought - and she ultimately helps him overcome a fear that has been causing him to act so recklessly.  This issue does not have the standard three-page and one-page tales; rather, it closes out with a four-page story titled "The End of Love."  With a title like that, one would expect a rather depressing tale (which it seems to be in the first three pages); however, the conclusion gives readers a great reminder that an ending of one story may only just be the beginning of a brand new one...

The fifth and final issue of this short-lived series has a story that is probably the closest to a soap opera storyline of any in this series.  "Memories of the Past" finds Nurse Betsy Crane acting uncharacteristically - because when she comes face-to-face with Dr. Gil Roberts, a man from her past, she doesn't know how to react!  Dr. Roberts is brought into the hospital where Betsy works with a life-threatening condition, and when Besty see him, her memories of him are triggered - and readers are treated to flashbacks of their whirlwind romance and how that relationship ended when they each had to chase after the careers of their dreams.  Now, with Dr. Roberts back in her life, Betsy isn't sure what to do.  The one thing she can do (and does!) is locate donors with his rare blood type so that he can undergo surgery to save his life.  Once he recovers, Betsy talks with him, and they both come to realize that despite their past love, they have both grown up and moved on, and that they both found happiness in their careers - which is a good thing for that hospital, because as the head nurse thinks in that last panel, "I don't know what I'd do without that girl..."  We see a return of the three-page and one-page back-up tales in this issue - the three-pager is nothing spectacular, with a girl from the States falling for a Londoner, who reveals in the end he is heading for the States and they can have a relationship there.  It's the one-pager, "Never Again," that features a great little moral - don't be too quick to judge someone's actions, because it might not be what you suspect!  

And with that, Charlton's first (second?) soap opera title reaches its conclusion.  At least this title, unlike Soap Opera Love, featured one-off tales and did not have an ongoing tale that was left unfinished (well, technically not unfinished, since I could go back and find the original comics from which those stories were taken and read the rest of the stories).  Nurse Betsy Crane kind of reminds me of Cherry Ames, a children's series (1943-68), which featured a nurse that job-hopped from one nursing position to another.  I'm not sure about the original Nurse Betsy Crane comics, but based on these few stories, it seems Betsy follows in that same tradition.  

It's a shame these titles didn't take off.  I can only guess that Soap Opera Love and Soap Opera Romance where an attempt to cash-in on the popularity of soap operas in the early to mid '80s (what with General Hospital, Santa Barbara, All My Children, and the others).  I'm not sure how many soap opera fans were actually reading comics in those days, and with all the super hero comics hitting the shelves at that time, as well as the rise of independent publishers and direct-market comics, these two titles really didn't stand much of a chance.  I would love to find out who authored these stories, just to see if we could get any insight as to whether the writer was just churning out stories for a paycheck, or if he (or she!) was writing stories he actually enjoyed writing.  I guess at this point (more than half a century later!) we will never know.

RATING:  7 infected scratches out of 10 for at least attempting to revive the romance genre in a time when superheroes had cornered the market!

Short Lived Comic Series #25 - Soap Opera Love (Charlton Comics)

As a kid, I remember my Mom watching General Hospital every afternoon when I would come home from school.  I also remember during the summers, when my grandparents would babysit my brothers and I, my grandmother would watch As the World Turns.  When I started to get near my teen years, I got hooked on General Hospital (the whole Cassadine weather-machine / Ice Princess story had me hooked!) and All My Children (I fell in love with Jenny Gardner!).  I started watching Loving when it premiered (the idea of watching a soap opera from the first episode thrilled me!), but the show was not overly exciting, and I gave up shortly after it started.  Later, my Mom and I watched the soap Santa Barbara from beginning to end (and I was ever-so-fortunate to get the opportunity to meet the cast on a cruise down to the Bahamas a few years back - such a treat - just wish my Mom could have shared that adventure with me), and not long after that ended, I watched Passions from beginning to end (which show had some elements that reminded me of Dark Shadows, a show that I LOVE and have also seen from beginning to end, but that I do not label a soap opera, even though technically it was - for me, the show was a Gothic suspense drama).  So, it's easy to see that I do enjoy a good soap opera.

Thus, when I was at a comic convention some years back and stumbled across an old Charlton comic in a back issue $1 bin called Soap Opera Love, my interest was piqued.  I picked it up (issue 3, I believe), and started my hunt for the other issues.  A search online revealed that there were only three issues to this series, so I figured they would not be too hard to find.  Well, color me surprised!  It took my a lot longer to find those first two issues than I thought, particularly at a reasonable price I was willing to pay.  It's unbelievable what old romance comics are selling for these days.  But, find them I did, and I was recently able to sit down and read all three issues of Soap Opera Love.

Now, a little backstory is probably warranted.  This series was published in 1983 (with cover dates of February, March, and June, respectively), and was one of Charlton's last titles published before it suspended publication in 1984.  The same year this series was published was the year DC Comics bought the line of super hero characters from Charlton (including Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Judo Master, Nightshade, the Question, Peacemaker, and others), so with their super hero line gone, I think Charlton lost some of its standing in the comic world.  Which is sad, because I have been learning in recent years, the company actually put out some pretty good comics - it's a shame that I didn't realize it back in the day (because I always viewed them as a second-rate company with inferior product - which, looking back, was silly of me, since I never picked up any of their comics back then, so how would I have known?).  

Soap Opera Love only lasted three issues, and the covers of all three issues promoted the love story of David and Eileen, which, as it turns out, was the only continuing story among the issues.  The other stories in each issue were single stories that appear to be reprints (based upon the story material, the clothes worn by the characters in them, and the vernacular used by the characters).  And it's funny, because when I saw the names "David" and "Eileen," my mind immediately went to Eileen Davidson, an actress who has starred on many soaps over the years, from Young and the Restless to Santa Barbara to Days of Our Lives, and others.  I have to wonder if the names of the characters happened to be a nod to this actress.  (Of course, they could not be for reasons mentioned later on in this post.)

In any event, the ongoing story of David and Eileen centers around the fact that David is Jewish and Eileen is Irish, and much like the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, their families do not want the two of them together - they only want them to date someone of their own heritage.  Needless to say, David and Eileen fall in love and despite their families' outrage, they race off to get married and start their life together.  The stories vary in length - from 12 pages (issue 1) to 10 pages (issue 2) to 9 pages (issue 3) - and each issue builds upon the story from the previous one.  In the first issue, David and Eileen meet, fall in love, and run away to elope in order to avoid their parents' disapproval.  The second issue finds the couple facing the decision of what kind of marriage ceremony to attend - one in a synagogue or one in a church?  The third issue features the couple's first argument, as they try and decide where they should go on vacation - Eileen wants to appease David's parents, while he wants to appease her parents - and ultimately, David wises up and decides to take his bride on the honeymoon they never got - to Honolulu!  

The third issue ends with the text box of Eileen thinking ... "Our troubles are over ... after all, what can go wrong on a honeymoon in Honolulu?  To find out ... buy the next issue at your favorite store!"  But, as we now know, that "next issue" never came out, and readers never did find out whether anything went wrong in Honolulu or if David and Eileen finally got their happily ever after.  Of course, this being a "soap opera," there is no doubt that the couple would have faced trouble in paradise!

Now, I found it strange that these stories did not give credit to any of the creators, although the artists were identified in some of the panels as A. Martinez and J. Zuniga - which is a funny coincidence, as "A. Martinez" also happens to be the name of the actor who played Cruz Castillo on the NBC soap, Santa Barbara!  Funny coincidence.  So, I started digging around online, and I discovered that all of the stories in Soap Opera Love were reprints - they were stories that were pulled from other romance comics previously published by Charlton years prior.  While it was evidence that the single issue stories were reprints, other than the whole Jewish-Irish conflict between the families, I did not realize that the David and Eileen serial was also a reprint.  It seems these stories were originally published in a Charlton book called Just Married, and that the serial ran for nine issues (93-101) - meaning that readers actually DID find out what happened to the young couple when they went off to Honolulu (which means if I want to know, I need to go track down those issues!).  I also found that A. Martinez was a rather popular artist at Charlton, having provided art not just for the romance titles, but also some of the war titles as well.

 

***NOTE - yes, I did see the blurb under the indicia on the first page of each issue that read, "ALL EDITORIAL MATERIAL HEREIN CONTAINED WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN, AND IS REPRINTED FROM, PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT 1970, 1973 BY CHARLTON PUBLICATIONS, INC."  However, I did not make the connection that "Editorial Material" meant all of the stories.  Guess I know better now!

The single issue stories were rather hit or miss, and they were definitely a product of the time.  From the slang used by the characters, to the domination of men over women in each tale, it was evident the stories were not from the '80s.  "I Know The Man I Want to Love" in the first issue features a young woman who wants to marry someone rich and business-oriented; but when she falls for a man who seems to have nothing, she has to fight her feelings for him - only to finally give in and run into his arms, only to discover he was not the poor man she had thought he was!  "A Quiet Place to Cry" in the second issue finds a young woman running away after the mean she loves marries another woman.  In the big city, she is befriended by her neighbor, who goes out of his way to be kind to her.  He is an artist, reluctant to see himself as a successful one - but she convinces him to try, and she even manages to take his art to a whole new level, right along with their budding relationship!  "Another Point of View" in the final issue is probably one of the most degrading stories when it comes to the view people take of women.  A happily married woman is thrilled at how men look at her when she goes out, especially at the pool.  As she begins to gain weight, she finds her husband's attention diverting to another woman, whose own husband is no catch.  She eventually starts dieting and exercising, slims down, and regains her husband's attention and love, which is all she wants.  I found this story to be distasteful, insomuch as it promotes solely outward beauty as the only thing needed to keep a husband's attention - for me, if that's the only thing that keeps him at home, then you need to get rid of him and find someone who loves you for you, not your outward appearance!  "Till Death Do Us Part," the second story in the final issue, was a bit more unique.  It deals with a woman who becomes so overcome with fear that her husband may have a heart attack and die like his father that she tries to prevent him from doing anything that might exert his heart, to the point it is an obsession.  She must learn to overcome the fear and live life to its fullest without worrying every second about what could happen.  (Side note - there is a character in this story called Dr. Timmons - which is the last name of Keith Timmons, yet another character from the NBC soap Santa Barbara.  Interesting the connections to that one soap from just three issues of this comic!)

Ah, well.  Reprints or not, the saga of David and Eileen, while a bit contrived by today's standards, was actually beautifully drawn and well-written (for its time), and definitely fit the right kind of theme for a soap opera, and as such, was the perfect fit for a title called Soap Opera Love.  And with my appetite properly whetted by these first three parts, I am desperate to go out there and find those nine issues of Just Married so I can get their complete story!  Because, let's face it - what's worse than having a soap opera start a story, and then just leave you hanging right in the middle without ever resolving the tale!

RATING:  8 servings of potato pancakes with apple sauce out of 10 for taking a chance on a different soap opera format and serving up a couple who you can't help but fall in love with!

Short Lived Comic Series #19 - Doomsday +1 (Charlton Comics)

The more comics I read published by Charlton Comics back in the '60s and '70s, the more I am truly beginning to appreciate them.  When I saw them on the comic racks or magazine shelves as a kid, I would just pass them over, seeing them as nothing more than "poor man" comics for kids who could not afford "real" comics, like DC Comics or Marvel Comics.  Little did I realize what great material I was overlooking at the time!  Comics like E-Man, Bionic Woman, Vengeance Squad, Haunted Love, just to name a few.  A lot of their really good books did not seem to last very long, despite the great writing and very talented artists.  Such as that little-known artist back in the day by the name of John Byrne...

Now, comic fans of today immediately recognize the name John Byrne.  But back when Doomsday +1 came out from Charlton, Byrne was not the household name that it is today.  And while his art today certain has become more refined, this 12-issue series definitely showcases the talent he was, even back at the start of his career.  Some research online reveals that Byrne had not done a lot of work prior to this Charlton book, but he definitely went on to do some great thing after (including some work on a number of other Charlton books, such as Emergency!, The Flintstones, Space: 1999, Valley of the Dinosaurs, among others).  When I first picked up this series, I did not even know Byrne was the artist of the book - but when I opened to that first page, I could tell right away it was him.  The man definitely has a distinctive style all his own!

Doomsday +1 was co-created by Byrne and writer Joe Gill.  The story is an apocalyptic tale of the planet Earth after the nuclear missiles are launched and devastate the planet with their destructive force and radioactive fallout.  First published in 1975-76 (***more on that later), the story opens on April 7, 1996 (which, coincidentally enough, was my mom's 56th birthday!) as three astronauts prepare to head into space on an important mission:  Captain Boyd Ellis of the U.S. Air Force; NASA scientist and radiation expert Jill Malden (who also happens to be Boyd's fiance!); and Ikei Yasida, a young Japenese scientist.  As the three begin their mission in orbit around the world, they are unaware that a dictator in an underdeveloped country (conveniently not named) has decided that if he cannot be ruler, then no one will be - and he launches two nuclear missiles - one hits Moscow and the other New York City!  Russia and the United States act without thinking, believing the other had initiated the attack, and they retaliate.  Before you know it, Rome ... Paris ... London ... Berlin ... the entire world is gone, destroyed by man's own hand!!  And that's all just within the first six pages!  Can you imagine what the rest of that first issue holds in store for the reader?!

Gill and Byrne slow the story down a bit here, as Boyd, Jill, and Ikei remain in space as long as their rations hold out (the length of time is not stated, only that an indeterminate amount of time had passed), but eventually they have to return to Earth.  They manage to land their spacecraft in Greenland, in the hopes that the radiation levels will have dissipated from that area faster than others. It is there they begin to discover the changes to the world when not only do they find a perfectly preserved wooly mammoth, frozen in the ice glaciers - but they come face to face with a live one!  And that's not all - they also meet a primitive man by the name of Kuno who speaks an ancient Germanic tongue and who quickly becomes a member of the group, bringing the total number of survivors of this nuclear holocaust to four!  After another indeterminate time passes, the four find a ship and set sale for Canada, where they hope to find an airbase and perhaps other survivors.  The first issue ends with their arrival at the Canadian airbase - but only after they are attacked by a fighter plane, whose pilot is a mystery!

The remaining five issues in this series take a more sci-fi turn to them, as the four survivors face down an army of robots led by a man-turned-cyborg, alien being sent to cleanse the Earth, undersea creatures fighting a civil war, a group of military men who threaten the four survivors' existence, and finally, a civilization from an alternate reality who use others as their slaves in their own so-called utopia.  The stories are very fantastic in nature, and being written in the 1970s, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the creators viewed 1996 as such a "far-flung future."  A seventh issue was actually written and drawn by Byrne, but it was not published in this series (although it did appear later on in a two-part tale in a Charlton fan magazine). That seventh story would have dealt with a time-traveler who came back in time to revisit Earth during this period, and it certainly would have prompted some interesting ideas had the series continued. This sixth and final issue of new stories was published in 1976 - but two years later, the series returned with issue seven, which sported the same cover as issue one, albeit with different coloring.  Inside was a reprint of that first issue from back in 1975!  Issues eight through twelves republished the stories originally printed in issues two through six, some sporting new covers (utilizing scenes of interior art), while others had reprints of the original covers with differently colored art.  I don't really know why they reprinted the series with the continued numbering, but it apparently did not pick up enough interest to continue the series, as it once again ended with that sixth story, issue twelve being the final issue printed.  Research reveals that Tom Sutton did write and draw and 15-page story that was intended to run as issue 13, but since sales dwindled, that issue never saw print.  (NOTE - apparently Fantagraphic Books re-published the six-issue series, along with the seventh story, in a mini-series re-titled The Doomsday Squad, from 1986-87.)

Flash forward 34 years (yes, 34 years!!!!), and John Byrne, one of the original co-creators of the series, decided to take another stab at the concept.  Indy publisher IDW provided him the opportunity, and Doomsday.1 was published with a cover date of May 2013 (which was, literally, 34 years after the cover date of the issue 12 of the original Charlton series, which was May 1979).  This new series was not a continuation or a retelling of Doomsday +1, but rather, a re-imagining of the series.  This time, the survivors are men and women aboard a space station when a giant solar flare hits the Earth, causing planet-wide devastation.  The story is much less science-fiction and instead a much darker reality-based tale of what the world would face after a doomsday event like this.  The storytelling style is also much different - what only took 6 pages in the first issue of the original series to tell takes Byrne the entire first issue to tell (which only strengthens my argument that today's comics are more focused on large panels of art and slower story-telling methods for purposes of stretching out stories over a certain number of issues to fit into a trade paperback for bookstore shelves...).  The remaining three issues of this series (it's only four-issue mini-series, although it ends with an open door for more stories in the future if Byrne ever wanted to re-visit the idea) follow the group of survivors from the space station who come back planet-side and find other people who managed to survivor the solar devastation.  They begin picking up the pieces, much in the vein of Kirkman's The Walking Dead series, they try to rebuild a community and fight off other factions who think they should be in control of this new world order.  Some of the characters die along the way, but honestly, I didn't get the real sense of character development in this series as I did with Boyd, Jill, Ikei, and Kuno in the original series.  I wish Byrne had taken this chance to tell a sequel - either with these four characters years later, or even with the offspring of these characters decades letter in a world still reeling from the nuclear destruction.  But, alas, since it was his creation in the first place, he did what he wanted to with it.

Clearly, Doomsday +1 is a series/title that just doesn't seem to die.  From its original run, to its republished run two years later, to its reprint series in the next decade, to a re-imagining some thirty years later - Byrne clearly has a creation that resonates with readers.  Let's face it - there are tons of apocalyptic comic stories out there, but few are truly as character-driven, yet as fantastic and fun to read as the Charlton series.  This is definitely a title worth picking up if you find it!

RATING:  9 E-Man Lives! Wall Posters out of 10 for showcasing just how talented John Byrne is, from nearly 50 years ago to today!

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!

Short Lived Comic Series #3 - The Bionic Woman (Charlton)

I can remember back in the mid- to late- 1970s seeing at grocery and convenience stores various comics published by a little company known as Charlton Comics.  They had characters I did not recognize (Judo Master, Captain Atom, Vengeance Squad, etc.) and, well, to be honest, their books just didn't have the flashy pizzazz that Marvel and DC comics did at the time.  To me (at that time), they appeared to be nothing but cheap knock-offs.

Now, looking back, I realize how wrong I was!

Charlton put out some very unique and actually fairly decent titles at the time.  I have since read the E-man series by Joe Staton and thoroughly enjoyed the humor in the series.  I've read some of the Blue Beetle issues and found them to also be pretty good.  And just recently, I finished reading the short-lived 5-issue run of The Bionic Woman by Charlton.

I remember watching The Bionic Woman as a child, and I absolutely loved the show.  Jaime Sommers rated right up there with Wonder Woman (another show of that era that I couldn't get enough of).  I tried watching that horrendous remake on NBC some years back, but it just didn't cut the mustard.  I did buy and read the entire series published by Dynamite Comics recently (both the Kevin Smith-related version, as well as the Season Four mini-series), and while they were enjoyable, they still didn't have the feel of the '70s television show.

This 5-issue run by Charlton, however - well, quite frankly, it felt closer to the original show tha any of the others.  Charlton doesn't seem to have been big on crediting their creators, and doing a search on the internet, I can't seem to find anywhere the identity of the author of these tales (although I did find that Jack Sparling provided the art for the series), so I'm not really sure who to thank for these entertaining tales.

The first couple of issues sported two illustrated tales, with a one or two page prose story at the end. The last few issues lengthened the illustrated story to just one tale per issue and a short prose story at the end.  The series maintains not only Jaime's involvement with the OSI, but also highlights her career as a teacher, as several of the tales center around her students.  One of the stories actually finds a student being kidnapped (along with Jaime), while another finds her as a substitute teacher in order to get close to a student's father who is holding government plans.

The author captures her personality pretty much dead-on, and the artist, while not exactly able to depict Lindsay Wagner, does manage to give us glimpses of the actress here and there (although he never does manager to depict Rudy Wells very well).  The stories are a close match to the television tales, with the exception of issue 4, which dealt with a man who created his own android female (perhaps this was a spin on the Fembots stories from the TV show - which, by the way, are still today my favorite episodes). The story was far more sci-fi than reality-based like the other issues of the series.

It's a shame the series only lasted five issues, but from what I can find online, it came to an end because Charlton pretty much ground to a halt at that point with publishing new material.  Truly a shame, as there was a lot of potential with this series and the character, even after the television show was cancelled.

RATING:  8 bionic sound effects out of 10 for giving me brand new tales of one of my favorite female television heroes.