For "Watchmen" fans: The overloooked history of Charlton Comics

[DinahMoeHum]

and it's role in the creation of Alan Moore's graphic novel:
http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/article.cfm?aid=11965

FYI, Charlton Comics was based in the town of Derby, CT.

(snip)
Mentioning the link between Watchmen and Charlton Comics is almost taboo. Long before the much-awaited movie was underway, the 1986 comic book series had become the graphic novel for people who didn't read comics, the comic book for those who did to hold up as a validation of the medium as a real art form and even the text for pop scholars in particularly open-minded liberal arts programs to dig into for a thesis.

Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, the 1986 "graphic novel" (originally printed in 12 comic books) has been lauded as a "deconstruction" of the superhero character and an examination of its long, uniquely American history — by the sort of people who laud these things. There's so much about Watchmen that is smart, original and well-constructed that it's difficult to mention it in the same breath as Charlton, a Derby-based publisher whose comics that were dumb, derivative and made quickly and cheaply throughout its awkward 50-year existence.

Yet what became Watchmen started as a proposal from Moore, the young British writer whose sense of sophistication revived the horror series Swamp Thing, on the desk of DC managing editor (and former Charlton editor) Dick Giordano that would bring back six of the Charlton "Action Heroes" in one epic story. DC, the comics conglomerate that owned Batman, Superman and others, denied Moore the right to use the Charlton characters, which they had recently purchased, but Giordano suggested Moore retool the story with six new characters. To fit into the established story, each was based on a Charlton hero and had some of their predecessor's attributes in their DNA.

The rest is history; Watchmen became a classic and Moore became the bearded godfather of smart comics.

Only some of it is overlooked history.
(snip)

(much more at the link above)

:smoke: