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Charlton Comics (Yellowjacket Comics, Space Adventures, The Thing, etc.)
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Started by Electricmastro,

129 posts in this topic

50YrsCollctngCmcs

50YrsCollctngCmcs

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On 3/18/2020 at 1:50 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Sorry to keep putting SA in here, but here's 3 more...

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Charltons were really plentiful in stacks at the discount department stores back east. These were stores that would buy stuff that didn't sell and mark it down and try to move volume. You would find piles of comics in these places for a nickel each or something like that. My brother and I picked up some of the classic Giant Monster reprint issues that way. Every now and then a Marvel would be there; not as often as Charltons though.

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50YrsCollctngCmcs

50YrsCollctngCmcs

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On 4/9/2020 at 8:08 PM, BOOT said:

Peter Paul Candy Company (Mounds, Almond Joy) of New Haven working with Charlton of Derby. Two Connecticut companies teaming up for the good of children everywhere!

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I think it was an issue of Comic Book Marketplace that had a pretty detailed story of the Charlton offices and printing plant. Most interesting was one year when the Connecticut River flooded and all hell broke loose. Don't remember what year that was but it made for interesting reading.

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Dr. Love

Dr. Love

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"At approximately 10:00 a. m., Friday, August 18th, 1955, a natural disaster struck that changed everything for the staffers at Charlton, and even threatened to close the company's doors down permanently. The aftermath of Hurricane Diane cut a swath of destruction through the Carolinas, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and, of course, Connecticut. Eleven inches of rainfall caused massive flooding that claimed the lives of hundreds of victims in the Connecticut Valley area. All 129 acres of the Charlton grounds were submerged in 18 feet of water. $300, 000 worth of paper inventory, mats, comics art work, and plates, among other things, were destroyed by the flood in minutes.

"When the flood came through," Burton N. Levey, cousin to co-owner Ed Levy and Charlton executive, said, "we had to get on top of the building because the water was rising, and a helicopter landed on the roof and took us off—that's how I got out of there! I watched my car float down the river."

"The press was entirely underwater, the building was underwater," Joe Gill said. "[Artist] Maurice 'Reese' Whitman had to be taken off the roof by helicopter. Cars were washed away. When the smoke cleared, Santangelo called a meeting of the artists and myself. He was an inspired speaker in his broken English, and said he was going to carry on (though, in the meanwhile, the guy had gotten umpteen dollars in flood relief from the government, for free; this was an enormous boost for him), but he couldn't continue to pay us the same 'high rates. ' He said that we could all continue working at half of what we had been working before. I was dropped to two dollars a page [a quarter of what the major companies were paying at the time]."

According to the Oct. 1955 issue of Newsdealer, the springing-back of Charlton was "a story of employee personal contribution which defies the imagination." The article says how the employees and community dug Charlton out of the wreckage, ultimately running the presses again in ten days, though staffer Giordano doesn't recall "it being that quick." Nor did Burt Levy: "It was a disaster and it took us a long time to get going again." "No," Ed Konick said, "it took several months to recover; we were operating but using outside printers. It took a long time to clean up that mess." Despite notice that the company maintained "a full payroll," there is no mention of either Santangelo's disaster relief money, or the pay-cut employees suffered.

"If I didn't write fast, I wouldn't be able to get along under that price structure," Gill said. "So, we were working for those rates, and the artists were only getting $13 a page. What could you expect from an artist with a wife and child, and how much time and care could you expect him to put into a page? There was the pride of doing good work, but it was impossible to do our best work consistently over a period of time. I did a lot of garbage, and some good work—not much, but some. Charlton got a helluva lot more than they paid for out of me. People who are critical of Charlton artists and writers have to remember that the price structure of the company was a big factor." Giordano said the regular rate for art—pencils and inks—was $13 a page. "After the flood, it was halved to $6. 50; later it went up to $10; later still back to $13."

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BOOT

BOOT

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On 4/12/2020 at 12:08 PM, Dr. Love said:

Giordano said the regular rate for art—pencils and inks—was $13 a page. "After the flood, it was halved to $6. 50; later it went up to $10; later still back to $13."

Great story - thanks for sharing this!

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RICK STARR

RICK STARR

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On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 12:08 PM, Dr. Love said:

"At approximately 10:00 a. m., Friday, August 18th, 1955, a natural disaster struck that changed everything for the staffers at Charlton, and even threatened to close the company's doors down permanently. The aftermath of Hurricane Diane cut a swath of destruction through the Carolinas, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and, of course, Connecticut. Eleven inches of rainfall caused massive flooding that claimed the lives of hundreds of victims in the Connecticut Valley area. All 129 acres of the Charlton grounds were submerged in 18 feet of water. $300, 000 worth of paper inventory, mats, comics art work, and plates, among other things, were destroyed by the flood in minutes.

"When the flood came through," Burton N. Levey, cousin to co-owner Ed Levy and Charlton executive, said, "we had to get on top of the building because the water was rising, and a helicopter landed on the roof and took us off—that's how I got out of there! I watched my car float down the river."

"The press was entirely underwater, the building was underwater," Joe Gill said. "[Artist] Maurice 'Reese' Whitman had to be taken off the roof by helicopter. Cars were washed away. When the smoke cleared, Santangelo called a meeting of the artists and myself. He was an inspired speaker in his broken English, and said he was going to carry on (though, in the meanwhile, the guy had gotten umpteen dollars in flood relief from the government, for free; this was an enormous boost for him), but he couldn't continue to pay us the same 'high rates. ' He said that we could all continue working at half of what we had been working before. I was dropped to two dollars a page [a quarter of what the major companies were paying at the time]."

According to the Oct. 1955 issue of Newsdealer, the springing-back of Charlton was "a story of employee personal contribution which defies the imagination." The article says how the employees and community dug Charlton out of the wreckage, ultimately running the presses again in ten days, though staffer Giordano doesn't recall "it being that quick." Nor did Burt Levy: "It was a disaster and it took us a long time to get going again." "No," Ed Konick said, "it took several months to recover; we were operating but using outside printers. It took a long time to clean up that mess." Despite notice that the company maintained "a full payroll," there is no mention of either Santangelo's disaster relief money, or the pay-cut employees suffered.

"If I didn't write fast, I wouldn't be able to get along under that price structure," Gill said. "So, we were working for those rates, and the artists were only getting $13 a page. What could you expect from an artist with a wife and child, and how much time and care could you expect him to put into a page? There was the pride of doing good work, but it was impossible to do our best work consistently over a period of time. I did a lot of garbage, and some good work—not much, but some. Charlton got a helluva lot more than they paid for out of me. People who are critical of Charlton artists and writers have to remember that the price structure of the company was a big factor." Giordano said the regular rate for art—pencils and inks—was $13 a page. "After the flood, it was halved to $6. 50; later it went up to $10; later still back to $13."

I grew up in a small town just outside Philly. I faintly remember this storm but remember the flooding through town from  the swollen creeks which almost destroyed the restaurant (along a large creek) that my mom worked at. Almost forgot about .

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