E-Man #1, Charlton Comics, October 1973
Charlton’s super hero dreams ended in the late 1960s with the cancellation of all their hero titles (Captain Atom, The Question, Peacemaker etc.). The company leaned heavily on licensed titles like The Flintstones and Jetsons to supplement their stable of War and Romance titles.
Charlton had a creative resurgence in the early 1970s with writer and later editor Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton leading the charge. This period saw Charlton churn out fresh creative properties like Doomsday +1, Midnight Tales and our pick of the week, E-Man. The launch of E-Man #1, dated October 1973, also coincided with the launch of Charlton’s then new and now famous “Bullseye Logo”.
E-Man was a hero who could transform into anything. The book did not take itself too seriously and won fans immediately with its humor and terrific art courtesy of Mr. Staton.
The Overstreet Price Guide shows a $16/$22/$28 split at the 8.0/9.0/9.2 grades.
Strengths that make this comic book a good long term investment are:
– Very, very collectible run all with great cover appeal, they’re like Lays chips, you can’t stop at one
– E-Man is an original creation with the great Joe Staton doing art duties
– 1973 puts this book in the thick of the Bronze Age – a very collectible age
– Back up story “the Knight” drawn by the equally great Tom Sutton
– Super low guide values make E-Man a bargain at guide in high grade
Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
