Once upon a time, comic books were a niche for kids and nerds. Now they are mainstream culture. "The Avengers" is the number three all-time worldwide grossing movie.
I would like to pause, and say that I owned, as a kid, issue number one of The Avengers. I remember distinctly where I got it, and how I felt about it. I do not remember distinctly what happened to it.
Literary novelists, like Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem, have worked comic books into their fiction. Parodies of comic book culture are so plentiful that it's hard to think of a new joke. In "Mystery Men," William Macy played the Shoveler, and JaneaneGarofalo played the Bowler. In "The Tick" one of the heroes was Bi-Polar Bear.
Today we tell you a less familiar story about where those comic books came from.
Listen to the second half of our interview with Frank McLaughlin, a former freelance comic artist who worked for Charlton Comics. He currently teaches at Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut
Filmmaker Helder Mira and Rabbit Ears Media bring you Royal Comics.
GUESTS:
- Helder Mira is a filmmaker for Rabbit Ears Media
- Angi Shearstone is an independent comic book creator of Blood Dreams
- Mort Todd is a former editor at Cracked and Marvel Comics, and it publisher and co-editor of The Charlton Arrow
- Paul Kupperberg is a freelance writer and editor, a former editor at DC Comics, and works for Archie Comics
- Frank McLaughlin is one of the few surviving artists from the era of Charlton Comics
