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Friday, April 1, 2016

Charlton Fools Day in the Reading Room UNLIKELY TALES "Time Machine"

When two Steves, a long-established pro and eager young up-and-comer, collaborate...
...you get this time-travel tale with a twist, set only 21 years from now!
It's amazing what the comics creators of 1967 thought 70 years later would look like.
Considering that we Baby Boomers thought by 2000 we'd have bases on the Moon and flying cars, it's not unreasonable...
Written by up-and-comer Steve Skeates and illustrated by Spider-Man and Dr Strange co-creator Steve Ditko, this never-reprinted story from the Unlikely Tales anthology collection in Charlton Premiere #4 (1968) offers a surprise twist on the usual "time-traveler from the future may change history" concept.
Two notes:
Skeates wrote all the stories in this issue, a rarity for someone just starting out in the industry.
All the stories were both penciled and inked by their respective artists, also a rarity in a business where, in order to meet deadlines, creators usually either penciled or inked, but not both.
And the list of creators in this issue included Ditko, as well as Pat Boyette, Jim Aparo, and Charlton mainstay Rocke Mastroserio.

This post is part of an informal blogathon entitled
Charlton Fools Day
conceived and organized by Kracalactaka to bring attention to Charlton Comics, often considered the "runt" of the comic book litter.
Visit his blog HERE and see a list of other participants as well as his own contributions
Also check out
ComicBook+
 a website featuring thousands (and I do mean thousands) of free, downloadable, public domain Golden Age and Silver Age comics with a HUGE Charlton Comics section!

3 comments:

  1. I love that Ditko basically told Marvel to GTH and joined Charlton for awhile.

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    1. Not just Charlton.
      He did, among others, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, and Nukla for Dell, as well as various T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent-related strips for Tower.
      Ditko had no problem keeping busy post-Marvel.

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  2. What strange run Charlton Premiere was. Great story, glad to see it. I rather like this more muscular Ditko style.

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Thanx for posting!