Ghostly Haunts #49: "Doorway to Hell" and "The Edge of Fear"

Download Ghostly Haunts #49



Here's some pre-Halloween horror to whet your appetites for tomorrow's big scary one!

The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #54: "The Last Whale" (Steve Ditko art)

Download Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #54


Sporting a John Byrne cover painting, I read this story and thought it was pretty decent. Script by Joe Gill and art by Steve Ditko.

Remembering Pat Boyette: July 27, 1923 - January 14, 2000

Download Ghost Manor v2 #27





Former actor, TV anchorman, and low-budget movie director, Pat Boyette switched careers again in the middle 1960s. Also an artist, he went to work for Charlton Comics. An avowed Texan, he stayed home in San Antonio and worked through the mail for the Connecticut-based publisher. "Although Charlton was not known for paying big fees," he once admitted, "it gave me an opportunity that the other companies didn't offer and that was the freedom to experiment, to do as I wanted, to make changes, to be happy."

During his nearly two decades with the company, Boyette produced an impressive amount of work for such titles as Ghostly Tales, Billy the Kid, Flash Gordon, Fightin' Marines, The Phantom, and Peacemaker, whose description was "A Man Who Loves Peace So Much That He Is Willing TO FIGHT FOR IT!"

When Charlton editor Dick Giordano moved to DC, he invited Boyette to work for them. He drew two issues of Blackhawk before returning to Charlton—"DC at the time demanded a regimentation that I wasn't readily eager to adhere to."

Boyette, while he did now and then work in a cartoony style, usually drew in an attractive illustrative style. His favorites were Roy Crane, Milton Caniff, and his friend Alex Toth, whose work he felt was "a perfect marriage of the attitudes of Caniff and the attitudes of Roy Crane." Boyette, who drew also for the Warren black-and-white titles, even published a few comic books of his own. At one point he went so far as to draw a revived Spencer Spook.

Space: 1999 #1-7

Download Space: 1999 #1



Download Space: 1999 #2



Download Space: 1999 #3



Download Space: 1999 #4



Download Space: 1999 #5



Download Space: 1999 #6



Download Space: 1999 #7

Special surprise bonus treat: Space: 1999 article in Starlog #2.

Download Starlog #2





When it comes to Science Fiction, I cut my eyeteeth on Robert A. Heinlein novels, Star Trek reruns (including the very underrated novelized adaptations by James Blish) and comic books. However, when Space: 1999 hit the airwaves back in the 1970s, I watched every episode I could with rapt attention. After all, I was planning on still being alive in 1999 so this could affect me, or so I dreamed. We should have had a pioneering base on the moon by 1999 and our space program is woefully behind what 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted, but that's another subject I will go into in a future posting. Space: 1999's second season would go on to be hated as they apparently decided to go with B-movie monster schlock instead of hard science, but one good season is better than none at all. I was far more impressed with Charlton Comics' treatment of Space: 1999 than I was with ITC Entertainment's of their second season, but being the comic book fanatic I was back then I was, of course, biased.

The art quality went up and down in the magazine as the first two issues were drawn by Joe Staton, but then we are treated to John Byrne's fantastic interpretations in issues #3-#6 while Pat Boyette book-ended the final issue in #7. The very talented Nicola Cuti, who won this year's Inkpot Award, wrote issues #1-#5, John Byrne wrote #6 and Mike Pellowski wrote #7. While I prefer Byrne's art for the most part, I must say that Joe Staton provided the best-looking cover with issue #1. But enough reminiscing, please feel free to download all seven issues using the links provided below for your personal enjoyment.

Midnight Tales #12: "The Medallion"

Download Midnight Tales #12

Download a sample of Nicola Cuti's Spanner's Galaxy





Here, There Be Dragons Dept. Midnight Tales #12 is of more beloved nostalgic value to me than my issues of Hulk #180 and #181 combined, both of which contain Wolverine's first appearances. I think that this was the very first Charlton comic book that I ever bought and, once again, it was the cover that caught my eye. I mean, isn't that one of the baddest-ass drawn dragons you've ever seen? I do know that it's the first cover that I tried to copy by hand with pencil and paper, but no Wayne Howard am I.

I recall being disappointed by much of the interior artwork as I'm not a Steve Ditko fan, but I thought that having a comic book with three vignettes that tied things up nicely on the last page was one of the cleverest story telling devices that I ever ran across. Wayne Howard was never formulaic and Nicola Cuti always told the best rip-snortin' stories around. I went on to purchase Spanner's Galaxy on the strength of Nick Cuti's name alone. I even became obsessed with tracking down all of the back issues and was genuinely disappointed when it was canceled after issue #18 was published . Over the years, I managed to pick up most of the back issues and I noticed in the mail columns that there were some lucky stiffs who caught on to the cleverness of this magazine since issue #1, like Ken Meyer Jr. from Hill AFB, ha ha! I wonder whatever became of Ken Meyer, the letter writer who claimed to be the biggest fan of Professor Coffin and his pretty niece Arachne? If you're out there, Ken, drop me a line! We can debate who really was the midnight philosopher's biggest fan.

Midnight Tales #12 isn't by any means the best issue out of the entire 18 issue run as that honor goes to issue #14's "The Time Machine," but there's just something about that beautiful Wayne Howard cover that seems almost magical to me. I'll stop jabbering here for now, but I plan to come back and edit this post and add more as there's more to tell. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the entire line of Charlton Comics to this day and Midnight Tales was my personal favorite for years. The download link for the .cbr file is just below the cover, but if you'd like to see more of this very unique comic book then please let me know.