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Thursday, November 24, 2022

Favourite characters: E-Man (Charlton Comics)

It was around late February 1974 after a particularly bad day at school (for a reason that is now long forgotten) that I entered R S McColl’s (my newsagents of choice at this time) to buy a comic book to cheer myself up. It was there that I spied what was then a totally new superhero comic book character from a company (Charlton comics) that up until then I was unaware published superhero comics. I immediately purchased the comic called “E-Man” (issue 2) and was instantly enamoured by the story, the art and the character of Alec Tronn and his supporting cast. The success of E-Man was very much down to the characters creators, writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton. Cuti’s humorous and light-hearted writing quality just seemed to mesh perfectly with the exciting and fun art style of Joe Staton which made E-Man’s adventures and transformations great fun to read. Sadly, Charlton’s E-Man only lasted for 10 issues between October 1973 and September 1975 but in that short time the comic was for many fans one of the most creative and fun comics of the time.
Cover to E-Man issues 1 – I missed the first issue of E-Man at the time only purchasing my copy around 1987.
Originally the origin of E-Man was to be based around the story of a man who is caught in a factory explosion and becomes an energy being that could take any form of matter. However, when writer Nicola Cuti shared this idea with artist Joe Staton, he felt the origin was too similar to what had already been used many times in the past by both Marvel and DC comics. On hearing this Cuti created a new origin where E-Man was born from the energies of a star going nova (see origin page above from issue 1) and the resultant burst of pure energy gained sentience as it travelled through space in search of a home.
Cover to E-Man isues 2 (my first E-Man comic). As noted above, despite E-Man’s cult status among comic fans the Charlton series only lasted for 10 issues but in that time the comic not only produced the fun adventures of E-Man but it also featured some excellent backup strips including Steve Ditko's zany superhero "Killjoy" (page below from issue 2) the time-traveling "Travis", by Cuti and Wayne Howard; and the colour-comics debut of John Byrne's wonderful ROG-2000 character which I blogged about previously.
E-Man issues 3 introduced Michael Mauser (below) a scruffy, sarcastic private investigator who would become a regular character in E-Man's adventures.
E-Man issues 4 "City in the Sand" and issue 5 "The City Swallower" are my two favourite E-Man tales.
With issue 8 E-Man's girlfriend Katrinka Colchnzski, a brilliant college student by day, and sexy burlesque dancer Nova Kane by night, becomes the super-heroine Nova.
All things must come to an end and so it was with E-Man issue 10....well it wasn't really the end of E-man as noted in the letters page (E-Mails) E-Man would continue in the pages of the "Charlton Bullseye", a semi professional(and excellent) Charlton fan comic.
Above, the cover of the Charlton Bullseye issue 4 (cover from the Grand comicbook database) which featured the last Charlton E-Man strip by Cuti and Staton.
Of course E-Man was too good a character to keep down for long and during the independent comics boom of the 1980’S First comics produced a succesful 25 issue run of new E-Man stories. Since then E-Man has found a home with various other publishers including Comico, Alpha and Digital Webbing Press. However, all good things must finally come to an end and in 2018 Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton created the final E-Man story arc that appeared in the "Charlton Arrow". Sadly, in 2020 Nicola "Nick" Cuti passed away.
Above the final page of the last E-Man story featuring E-Man (Alex Tronn), Katrinka Colchnzski (Nova Kane) and regular back up characters Mike Mauser and Teddy Q.

10 comments:

  1. E-Man is my favorite superhero too.

    https://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2018/11/favorite-heroes-countdown-1-e-man.html

    The passing of Nick Cuti means that we've seen the last new E-Man story. I will point out that there was new E-Man artwork by Staton serving as the cover for the just published "Charlton Companion" from Twomorrows Publishing. Mine just arrived yesterday.

    https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_94&products_id=1675&number_of_uploads=0

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  2. Thanks for the link to the new Charlton Companion book Rip, I wasnt aware of that.

    E-Man never failed to make me smile when i read it, although I wasn't a fan of Martin Pasko's scripts when he wrote the first few issues of the First Comics E-Man comic . He changed the characters too much deciding that E-Man and Nova were no longer boyfriend/girl friend and having her take a new boyfriend almost every month etc. But Staton's art on that series, especially the first 10 or so issues was for me at least some of his best art.

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  3. E-Man is from Yorkshire (I once tried that joke on Kid Robson's blog and it wasn't funny there either).

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  4. l haven't heard that one before Colin :)

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  5. I had the first ish back in 1973 (may have had the 2nd, but not sure), bought from a newsagent's around the corner from the Barras on a dark and rainy night. Managed to obtain a replacement quite a number of years ago, and also bought the first 5 issues of First Comics' revival in the '80s. Plus, I've also got all 7 issues which reprinted the 10 Charlton issues, but RJ has a book which I'd like, so I think you should tell him to send it to me for Christmas. Managed to get the first 2 issues of The Charlton Bullseye a while back, so I'll have to see about obtaining 3 & 4.

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  6. I had all the First Comics E-Man titles at the time but I gave most of them away. I still have all my Charlton E-Man comics all of which bar issues 1 and 7 I bought at the time. I think I read about Rips E-Man book it's a cracker. I really enjoyed the Charlton Arrow it was a nice nostalgia comic.

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    1. Ah, right - Arrow, not Bullseye. I got confused by you saying Bullseye #4 contained the last Charlton Cuti and Staton E-Man story and Arrow having the Charlton name on it.

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  7. Both titles were really good especially "Bullseye" as it had some very nice Alex Toth and Steve Ditko art

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  8. A great choice for your blog. I loved E-Man when it first appeared and I believe that I collected all of the first run (long gone now). Joe Staton's artwork was so unique and the comic was just plain fun. I think that E-Man was the first Charlton comic that I didn't resent taking space away from DC comics on the spinner rack! Any idea if the Charlton Bullseye stories were simply printing unused material originally scheduled for the comic before its cancellation?

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  9. I think that most comic fans back in the day picked up the E-Man comic, sadly the casual readers didnt. Most of the material used in the CPL Charlton Bullseye fanzine was unused strips from cancelled books baggsey. The Ditko Captain Atom strip ( which John Byrne inked) was really impressive as was a great Alex Toth Question strip.

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