This is a great, great comic that serves as an example of what Charlton could be when it was firing on all cylinders. We start off with a cool sci-fi monster cover by Joe Staton. This segues nicely to The Survivor, a space-based morality play by Steve Ditko. This is one of the best space stories I've read, from any company. So good, in fact, that I would not be surprised if it was swiped from EC. This middle story is another cautionary tale, this one with lovely Wayne Howard artwork. It involved a man seeking eternal life by constantly upgrading his body with artificial parts. Apparently, that's not a great idea. Finally, we sign off with Film Freak, a strange a superb story by the Staton/Cuti team. Imagine a mirror image of Purple Rose of Cairo, replace Jeff Daniels with a space monster and you've got a sense of what this one's all about. All in all, this issue featured entertaining tales and fantastic artwork, and it should please just about anyone. Thursday, February 04, 2010
Charlton Notebook: Haunted #18
This is a great, great comic that serves as an example of what Charlton could be when it was firing on all cylinders. We start off with a cool sci-fi monster cover by Joe Staton. This segues nicely to The Survivor, a space-based morality play by Steve Ditko. This is one of the best space stories I've read, from any company. So good, in fact, that I would not be surprised if it was swiped from EC. This middle story is another cautionary tale, this one with lovely Wayne Howard artwork. It involved a man seeking eternal life by constantly upgrading his body with artificial parts. Apparently, that's not a great idea. Finally, we sign off with Film Freak, a strange a superb story by the Staton/Cuti team. Imagine a mirror image of Purple Rose of Cairo, replace Jeff Daniels with a space monster and you've got a sense of what this one's all about. All in all, this issue featured entertaining tales and fantastic artwork, and it should please just about anyone. 
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I own that issue, totally agree. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but it seems to me like some effort was made to keep the level of quality in Haunted extra high--the 1st issue had 3 above average stories all by Steve Ditko, there was one issue that had a full-length Lovecraftian story by Tom Sutton, and there were many other excellent issues.
Neil Anderson
I still have my copy, and it's an all-time favorite. I totally agree with your review, Scott!
Post a Comment