Fightin' Five (Charlton Comics 1966)

The Fightin' Five # 38 (Charlton Comics)

Joe Gill (w) Montes & Bache (a)

Charlton Comics were one of several major publishing companies churning out comics in the sixties. They were renowned for low quality production values, poor distribution and paid a pittance to their creators.  Nevertheless they did churn out of number of good titles, the horror comics probably being the best especially with Steve Ditko contributing a large amount of work.

In the sixties with the relaunch of Superheroes and action adventurers by both DC and Marvel, Charlton did turn their hands to producing it's own line of action heroes. Some were complete duds such as Son of Vulcan, remembered only because the last issue was the first professional work of a very young Roy Thomas.



Other comics in their line included the more famous Captain Atom and Blue Beetle (now owned by DC) and Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt.

There was one comic that does get overlooked even now. That of The Fightin' Five. These were a small group of elite fighting men who fought for the free world against all threats not just of super-villainy (S.A.T.A.N., D.E.A.T.H) but also communism.

Well this was the cold war.

Frankly although the stories are rather corny I did get a certain joy by reading these. There's not much in the way of characterisation and villains have absurd motivations. Add some wooden dialogue and you get pretty much the idea of what to expect.

In the following issue we meet Zeru. He's a commie and wants to wipe out the USA. Who do you call....