Two things I was surprised I didn’t know about comics

Posted by: Scott    Tags:  , , ,     Posted date:  March 25, 2012  |  3 Comments


I thought I pretty much knew everything about comics. But thanks to The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes, I just learned a couple of things more. And in case you didn’t know these two facts either …

Charlton Comics was created by two guys who met in jail

Charlton was the home of such superheroes as Captain Atom (co-created by Steve Ditko years before he went on to co-create Spider-Man), The Question (where I got my first taste of Ditko’s Ayn Randian pontificating long before I ever encountered his Mr. A), and others.

But it all began because someone got arrested for copyright infringement:

In the early 1930s, Italian immigrant John Santangelo, a bricklayer, was encouraged by a girlfriend to produce a magazine that printed the lyrics to popular songs. His effort landed him behind bars for copyright infringement. In jail, he got a crash course in copyright law, courtesy of fellow inmate Edward Levy, a disbarred lawyer, and they joined forces upon their release to start a legitimate publishing house, Charlton.

Which basically means, no copyright infringement—no Watchmen!

Metal Men was only dreamed up because someone else screwed up

I always loved Metal Men, and not just because my wife was once name-checked in its pages.

But even as I enjoyed their robotic adventures, I never knew the whys and wherefores of how they came about:

The strip was created over the course of one weekend in 1962 by writer/editor Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru, to fill the pages of Showcase #37, when a previously scheduled feature suddenly fell through.

I love the idea that if not for someone else dropping the ball, we’d never have heard of this superteam. But learning of this circumstance raises an interesting question: Whose screw-up allowed the Metal Men to be born? What writer or artist failed to deliver, creating the circumstance for Kanigher and Andru to do their rush job?

Anyone know who the culprits were?





3 Comments for Two things I was surprised I didn’t know about comics


Michael Walsh

“Which basically means, no copyright infringement—no Watchmen!”
That’s amusing. Droll even.

As for “Metal Men” … wow, I had forgotten about them. I do remember reading the series – with enjoyment … way back then.

Thanks for the brief trip down Memory Lane.

Paul Kupperberg

I believe the culprit was the Tommy Tomorrow strip, although I’m not sure what the problem was. Metal Men ran in SHOWCASE #37-40, ahead of the first two of five Tommy Tomorrow appearances, which did NOT run consecutively, as was S.O.P. with SHOWCASE features. #41& 42 features Tommy, then #43 was Dr. No (based on the James Bond movie, a story originally prepared for CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED!), followed by another Tommy Tomorrow in #44, with yet another interruption with #45’s Sgt. Rock, before getting the last two Tommy Tomorrows in #46-47. I’m GUESSING artist Lee Elias–who was also working in syndicated strips at the time–was the hold-up, since there was a similar interruption after his first two Cave Carson stories in SHOWCASE #48 & 49 (with #50 – 51’s “I–Spy” reprints) before finishing the trio of Cave Carson issues in #52.

I AM a geek!

Tony Isabella

Actually, the Showcase culprit was Legion of Super-Heroes. There’s a Supermen of America coded message around that time that mentioned the Legion appearing in Showcase. But it never happened. If I were to speculate, I would suggest that Superman editor and notorious douche bag Mort Weisinger was just being Mort. Maybe it was some sort of power play. Maybe it was a hissy fit. Maybe he decided he wouldn’t do the extra work.