Charlton's "Son of Vulcan" feature debuted in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 in Mar. 1965. It was retitled Son of Vulcan with #49 and ended with #50 in Nov. During the run the title appeared bimonthly.
In this period Thor's title was still Journey into Mystery. Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 coincided on the stands with Journey into Mystery #116, the Trial of the Gods issue, and Son of Vulcan #50 with Journey into Mystery #124, the start of the Hercules storyline. Thor's title became Thor two issues later.
Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 has an ad for Charlton's action heroes titles. It has an image of Son of Vulcan that takes up a bit under half the page. The other features listed are "Captain Atom", "Blue Beetle", "Jungle Tales of Tarzan", "Sarge Steel" and "The Fightin' 5".
At that point "Captain Atom" hadn't quite been revived. Reprints commenced in Strange Suspense Stories the next month, and the character's new series started in Oct. The star of "Blue Beetle" was the scarab-powered one. He had debuted nine months earlier, in Jun. 1964. Jungle Tales of Tarzan quickly ended. The title was unauthorised, and Tarzan wasn't in the public domain.
Judomaster made his first appearance in Special War Series #4 the month Son of Vulcan ended. Charlton's next mythological hero series was Hercules, but it didn't commence until Aug. 1967.
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DC never quite figured out what to do with Son of Vulcan, did they? I think he would be a great character in the modern day. I remember for a little while there he was treated like he was going to be a big deal.
Side note: In this comic, was Tarzan played by Johnny Cash?
Interestingly, the title didn't end with issue #50. It was re-titled Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt and starred Pete Morisi's character. This was preceded by a Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt #1 one-shot, and the series ran until issue #60.
Son of Vulcan can be remembered for a few other reasons. The cover of #49 notes that his new costume was designed by Dave Cockrum, and #50 features Roy Thomas first professional script (I can’t remember if it was his first sale or the first to be printed). Charlton seems very fan friendly.
Wow! I even own that top book, but haven’t looked at it in probably 40 years.
Today Son of Vulcan is best known as the Charlton Guy NOT put into Watchmen!
I know you're joking, Philip, but there are actually a lot of Charlton characters that weren't used in Watchmen -- which I think is important to remember, because they are available for TV's Watchmen or Doomsday Clock. The latter, for example, snapped up Punch and Jewelee and gave them the Watchmen treatment as Mime and Marionette.
I've long wanted to make a list of available Charlton characters, and this is as good a time as any.
USED CHARLTON CHARACTERS
Captain Atom (Dr. Manhattan)
Blue Beetle I (Nite-Owl I)
Blue Beetle II (Nite-Owl II)
Peacemaker (Comedian)
Thunderbolt (Ozymandias)
Nightshade (Silk Spectre)
The Question (Rohrshach)
Punch and Jewelee (Mime & Marionette)
Minutemen (Sentinels of Liberty)
OTHER WATCHMEN CHARACTERS WHOSE ORIGIN IS UNCERTAIN
Captain Metropolis
Hooded Justice (Black Hood? Hangman?)
Sally Jupiter (Phantom Lady? Black Fury? Lady Luck? Woman in Red?)
Dollar Bill
Mothman (Hawkman? The Fly?)
Silhouette (Phantom Lady? Black Fury? Lady Luck? Woman in Red?)
Moloch (Wotan?)
Big Figure (Doctor Psycho?)
UNUSED CHARLTON CHARACTERS
Atomic Mouse (cartoon character)
Countess R.H. Von Bludd (host of Scary Tales)
Diana the Huntress
Dr. Graves
Dr. Spectro (Captain Atom villain)
E-Man
Eye of Horus (Blue Beetle I villain)
Fiery-Icer (Captain Atom villain)
Fightin' 5
Ghost (Captain Atom villain)
Giant Mummy, The (Blue Beetle I villain)
I.M. Dedd (host of Ghostly Tales)
Impy the Ghost (host of Haunted)
Iron Arms (Captain Atom villain)
Judomaster and Tiger
Kuno (a third century Goth released from suspended animation in Doomsday + 1; the other three members of the team are Captain Boyd Ellis, Jill Malden and Ikei Yashida)
Liberty Belle (Golden Age)
Madmen (Bl;ue Beetle II villains)
Magno (Blue Beetle I villain)
Men of the Mask (Blue Beetle II villain)
Mentor the Magnificent (Blue Beetle I villain)
Mercury Man (Golden Age)
Mr. Bones (host of Ghost Manor)
Mr. Muscles (Golden Age)
Mr. Thunderbolt (Blue Beetle I villain)
Mysterious Traveler (Golden Age)
Nature Boy (Golden Age)
Old Witch (host of Ghost Manor)
Prankster, The (one appearance in Thunderbolt)
Praying Mantis-Man (Blue Beetle I villain)
Professor Coffin and Arachne (hosts of Midnight Tales)
Red Knight (Blue Beetle I villain)
Rog 2000
Sarge Steel
Scorpion, The (Blue Beetle I villain)
Squids, The (Blue Beetle II villain)
Son of Vulcan
Thirteen (Captain Atom villain)
Winnie the Witch (host of Ghostly Haunts)
Yellowjacket (Golden Age)
Zaza the Mystic (Golden Age)
Ghost, Dr. Spectro and Iron Arms had more than one appearance in Captain Atom, so they are "major" villains. Also, Charlton bought a bunch of properties from Superior Comics, Mainline Publications, St. John Publications and Fawcett in 1951 -- most of which were war, Western and romance, but I don't really know what all was in those packages. Also, some of these characters are marked "Golden Age" when "1950s" would be more accurate, but I didn't distinguish because I don't care. Finally, I included Ditko's Mysterious Traveler, butdon't know if he created any other horror hosts for Charlton -- I feel one scratching at the back of my brain, but it may have been for another company.
I didn't include licensed characters, but those include The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Flash Gordon.
Additions/corrections to this list are welcome!
Atomic Rabbit
Baron Weirwulf (horror host)
Colonel Whiteshroud (horror host)
Gunmaster & Bullet (imagine them transported to the 20th/21st Century)
Killjoy (from E-Man)
The Knight (C.H.E.S.S.) (from E-Man)
Nature Girl
The Shape (Charlton Premiere)
Sinestro, Boy Fiend (including Captain USA, Green Spider, Superguy) (Charlton Premiere)
The Spookman (Charlton Premiere)
Spurs Jackson & His Space Vigilantes
Tiffany Sinn
Travis (time traveler) (from E-Man)
Tyro Team (Charlton Premiere)
At the time (1973), I thought Sewer Patrol could be expanded into a series.
Here's another group of characters in the Silver Age:
Archie tip-toed back into superheroes (after the MLJ superheroes disappeared in the '40s) in 1959 with:
But in 1965 Archie decided to jump into superheroes in a big way -- which, after the success of the Batman show (1966-69) quickly became super-camp. Mostly written by Jerry Siegel and mostly drawn by Paul Reinman, the new superhero line was soon named Archie Adventure, and then Mighty Comics. And it was quickly canceled. Titles included:
Are there others?
Hmmm, “Sewer Patrol” doesn’t show up on my iPad. Here it is again.
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