''Charlton Bullseye'' is a

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

showcase

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series that was published from June

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

through December

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. Several new stories using Charlton's "Action Heroes" appeared, before they were sold to

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

in 1983. After the cancellation of ''Charlton Bullseye'', stories intended for the title were published in ''

Scary Tales "Scary Tales" refers to several different versions of a Halloween-themed compilation of Walt Disney shorts, as well as an alternate and condensed version of "Disney's Halloween Treat" (1982) by the same name or derivation debuting in different ye ...

'' #36–40, which explains the superhero story "Mr. Jigsaw" in issue #38 and "Dragon Force" in issue #40. Several other unpublished stories for the title were published by

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

. According to the 1980 press release for the series, an artist showed up at the Charlton offices and offered to work for them for free in hopes of accumulating enough credits to get a job with one of the two leading comics publishers. ''Charlton Bullseye'' was based around this concept; contributors to the series were paid only in contributor copies, all original art was returned to the artists after publication, and contributors would hold the copyrights to any original characters they introduced.

Issues

Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes who appear in a number of American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939. The most recent of the companies to own rights to Blue Beetle is DC Comics, which bought the ri ...

and the

Question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...

. Art by Dan Reed. # "Funny animal" stories, featuring the first appearance of

Neil the Horse Neil the Horse is a comic book character created by Canadian cartoonist Katherine Collins (as "Arn Saba") in 1975. Neil is a happy, singing and dancing horse who likes bananas and milkshakes. Neil's adventures were syndicated in Canadian news ...

, by Arn Saba. # Swords and sorcery/science fiction # The Vanguards (all-woman super team), by Larry Houston. # The Barbarian, Warhund. Art by

Chas Truog Chas is a Municipal Corporation in the Chas subdivision of the Bokaro district in the state of Jharkhand, India. It is often referred to as a suburb of Bokaro Steel City, though it predates the steel plant. Chas is one of the fastest-growing u ...

and colors by Wendy Fiore. # Michael Mauser. Story by

Rick Burchett Rick Burchett (born March 9, 1952) is an American comic book artist known for his work on such characters as Batman and Superman. Career Burchett began his artistic career in St. Louis, Missouri, and did his early professional comics work at Fi ...

. #

Captain Atom Captain Atom is a superhero appearing in American comic books, first in the 1960s by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. Captain Atom has existed in three basic incarnations. Publication history Captain Atom was crea ...

, with art by Dan Reed; and Nightshade, by

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

. # Horror stories # "Bludd, the Ultimate Barbarian", a science fiction barbarian story. Art partially done by

Gene Day Howard Eugene Day (August 13, 1951 – September 23, 1982) was a Canadian comics artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' '' Star Wars'' licensed series and '' Master of Kung Fu''. He was considered a mentor by independent comic writer/ar ...

. #

Thunder Bunny Thunderbunny is a comic book about a boy who transforms into a superhero resembling a large pink humanoid rabbit. It was created by Martin Greim. Publication history Thunderbunny's first appearance published by a major company was '' Charlton Bull ...

, by Martin L. Greim.

Attempted revivals

In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editor T.C. Ford with a direct-market only version of ''Charlton Bullseye Special'', which featured work by then newcomers

Amanda Conner Amanda Conner is an American comics artist and commercial art illustrator. She began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics and Marvel Comics, before moving on to contribute work for Claypool Comics' '' Soulsearchers and Company'' and Har ...

, T.C. Ford, and Chris Pridgen. United Comics, T.C. Ford's publishing house, reprinted this edition as ''Shockwave'' #1 in 2016.

References

External links

''Charlton Bullseye'', Charlton, 1981 Series
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

* Charlton Comics titles 1981 comics debuts Golden Age comics titles {{Comics-stub