Black and White Wednesday: Sanho Kim's Wrong Country

Hi-YAH, Groove-ophiles! Didja know that Charlton's first attempt at a Kung Fu comic was NOT Yang? 'Tis true! When the powers-that-were at Charlton first decided to enter the martial arts arena, they handed the creative duties to the legendary Sanho Kim. Kim had been a Charlton mainstay for many moons, and his manga-esque style was thought to be perfect for their new martial arts mag. Kim went to work creating, writing, and drawing the first adventure of a young Korean martial artist for a mag that was to be called Wrong Country. According to Roger Stern's article in the third issue of Charlton Bullseye, the postal service lost the original pages for Wrong Country. Kim was in the process of moving to the U.S. making him impossible to contact as the deadline for the new comic loomed near. Fearing the deadline would be missed, editor George Wildman called on writer Joe Gill and artist Warren Sattler to create another martial arts mag--you guessed it--Yang. When Kim got to the states, it was too late to add Wrong Country to the schedule. They did give him the reins of House of Yang, which spun off from Yang (no duh!), everything turned out okay. Even for for Wrong Country. Bullseye publisher Bob Layton was eventually granted permission to publish the tale--and you, you lucky Groove-ophile, you get to read it right now!