If you've ever chatted with me about funnybooks, you know very well that I'm a huge Charlton apologist. I find something to love in just about ever book put out my the Little Publisher that Could. All of that being said, even I cannot find the silver lining in this one. I've actually been on the look out for a copy for quite some time, because I've always thought the Rocke cover looked cool. There was a good chance of solid comic book fun as this was the period in which you were likely to find Aparo and Ditko in the same book, and maybe a Denny O'Neill or Steve Skeates story.
Well, now I feel like a bait and switch victim. This is about as bad a Charlton book as I've ever read, and certainly well below the late 60s standards. I like Pay Boyette, but his art on the lead story has none of the charm I've come to expect and comes across as just plain ugly. The next two tales are pretty much 'scripts by numbers' featuring poorly designed robots and fascist angels. I'm guessing Joe Gill wrote them, but I can't say for sure. The Nicholas/Alascia team never does much for me personally, and these stories are now exception. in conclusion, the idiom 'Never judge a book by its cover' has never been more apropos.
3 comments:
Hi Kimosabe;
"I've always thought the Rocke cover looked cool"
It is a nice cover. That's my silver lining for this particular comical book. But the interior work is nothing special. By the same token, the two previous issues (60 and 2), are special in the way the creative talent splits an overall story arc across several short stories with various talent.
There was also some interesting experimentation, including the black and white (no color) segments of one of the Ditko stories.
And since I can't seem to remember anything about the details of this comic, only my general flat feelings, indicates my being aligned with your review pretty doggone closely.
-jb the ib -
This is the Sal Gentile era of Charlton, where there are plenty of hit-or-miss stuff on the line-up!
Charlton moved up when George Wildman became editor in 1973!
J.A.P.
I know that cover is signed "Rocke' and maybe it's just me but I seem to detect a little Jim Aparo in it. The background rocks, the legs...like I said, could be just me.
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