Exit Stage Left: Sweethearts #137

Like many Charlton series, Sweethearts has a long and strange history. This was one of many Fawcett titles taken over by Charlton in early 1954. Did you know that Sweethearts can trace its roots all the way back to Captain Midnight #1 (September, 1942)? The series came to Charlton with issue #122. Of course, since we're dealing with Charlton it makes perfect sense that they renumbered the series with the second Charlton issue as issue #22. Yup, there really was something in the water in Derby. Anyhow, this series kept chugging along for another two decades before signing off with this issue. The series actually maintained a decent level of quality throughout the years and this one is another, slightly better than average romance book. I love how they managed to incorporate another of Charlton's go-to subgenres (Hot Rods) into this book. Anyone know who drew the cover? The inking is really quite nice.

Add It to My Want List: Upcoming Phantom Collections

Ok, I will be the first to admit that I do not stay on top of what 'new' releases are on the way, so this may be very stale news. I was on Amazon's website, and it mentioned that I may be interested in some keen looking Phantom collections. Might I? It looks as the stories from the Gold Key years, the King years and the Charlton years are all being reprinted and released next month. I own over half of the Charlton books, but it would be sooo nice to have them all in one place so I can see the crazy variations in artists from Aparo to Sherwood to Newton. Kudos for Hermes Press for putting these together - I just hope it's not some sort of hoax. On a related topic, I am still trying to figure out the ID of Norm di Pluhm as Steve Skeates apparently said it wasn't him.