Charlton Comics' Haunted #12: The Egg!

Ol' Groove is back! Cain thinks he's bad, but I taught that horn-haired, jive-time-turkey a thing or two. He did pick a good story, though, didn't he? Ah, well, that's all behind me now, so let's delve ever so deeply into the depths of my musty museum of the macabre for another trip into...Charlton Comics. Savor that name, Groovester! While Young Groove loved his superheroes, whenever there was an extra quarter (or so) to be found, he'd nab one of Charlton's creepy comics off the spinner rack. While Charlton might not have had much luck with superheroes (they created some great ones--they just didn't know what to do with 'em!), they cornered the market on horror/mystery comics. Beyond the Grave, Creepy Things, Ghost Manor, Ghostly Haunts, Ghostly Tales, Haunted, the Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves, Midnight Tales, Monster Hunters, Scary Tales...well, you get the picture. Charlton rocked the Groovy Age with its mystery (that's what they called 'em; we called 'em "scary") mags.

A lot of folks put Charlton down. Yeah, the comics were cheap. They paid their talent low rates, printed the comics on cheap presses with the cheapest paper and ink, and the mags sometimes looked like they'd been hand trimmed with a saw. But, they gave pretty much free creative reign to folks like Steve Ditko, Pat Boyette, Pete Morisi, Joe Gill, Neal Adams, Don Newton, John Byrne, and many others, especially my favorite Charlton writer/artist combo of the Groovy Age, Nick Cuti and Joe Staton. When Nick and Joe got together, it was magic, baby! See for yourself! Here's, "The Egg" from Haunted #12. Can you dig it?