DC Comics has a long history of picking up characters from other publishers and folding them into its universe. Quality Comics and Fawcett Comics are two of the better-known examples, but they’re not the only ones. Charlton Comics published from the mid-1940s until the mid-1980s, and in 1983, it sold its Action Heroes line to DC. This tour is going to focus on the former Charlton heroes that DC actually decided to bring into its own books and make part of the DCU. Click through if you'd like the full story!
Charlton Comics was the comic-book arm of Charlton Publications, based out of Derby, Connecticut. It got started in the mid-1940s (depending on how you count the early company names, you’ll see 1945 or 1946 listed as the official start) and kept going until 1985. What made Charlton different from most other publishers was that it did pretty much everything under one roof... writing, art, printing, the whole works. They put out just about every kind of comic that was popular at the time: war books, westerns, funny animals, horror, romance, licensed cartoon characters, you name it.
Their biggest moment in the spotlight, at least for superhero fans, came in the mid-to-late 1960s with the Action Heroes line. That’s when characters like Captain Atom, the Blue Beetle (Ted Kord version), the Question, and a handful of others got their own books, a lot of them featuring Steve Ditko’s art and Dick Giordano’s editorial touch. After that wave faded, Charlton leaned harder into licensed titles and the cheaper genre books. By the early 1980s, the company was struggling, sales were down, costs were up, and the comics line was on its last legs. Publication wound down in 1985, and that was pretty much the end of Charlton as a comics publisher.
Around 1983, while things were falling apart, DC stepped in and bought the Action Heroes characters. The story goes that Paul Levitz picked them up (reportedly for about five grand a character) as a kind of gift for Dick Giordano, who had worked at Charlton years earlier and was by then a key editor at DC. Once the deal was done, those characters officially belonged to DC. A couple of years later, they started showing up in the main DC Universe, most notably beginning during Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985/1986).
Just to be clear, this tour will only be covering the Charlton characters that DC actually chose to publish and work into its own continuity. DC legally acquired others but never really did anything with them (folks like Mr. Muscles and Nature Boy, for example). Those guys are sitting on the shelf, so we’re leaving them there!
No particular order here. Grab a snack, get comfortable, and let’s start the tour!
The QUESTION
First Appearance: Blue Beetle (vol. 4) #1 (June 1967) Created by: Steve Ditko First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
Okay, let’s talk about the guy with no face. Vic Sage started out as an aggressive, no-nonsense investigative reporter in the wonderfully miserable Hub City. When he needed to dig into stories that regular journalism couldn’t touch, he teamed up with his old professor, Aristotle “Tot” Rodor. Tot had invented this weird artificial skin called Pseudoderm. Vic started using a mask made of the stuff that completely blanked out his features, turning him into the Question—a faceless, trench-coated detective who left behind blank business cards that smoked into question marks.
Originally, he was pure Ditko: black-and-white morality, hard-edged Objectivist vibes, the kind of hero who’d knock crooks into a sewer and shrug if they maybe didn’t make it out. When DC picked him up and folded him into the DCU during Crisis, he got a major glow-up, and it turns out that Vic Sage was an alias he had assumed. His birth name was actually Charles Victor Szasz. Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan gave him a near-death experience at the hands of Lady Shiva, sent him off to train with Richard Dragon, and turned him into this thoughtful, Zen-influenced street-level crusader who still punched corruption in the face but spent a lot more time wrestling with the gray areas.
In the maxi-series, 52 (2006/2007), Vic recruits and trains Detective Renee Montoya to be his replacement as Question, before he dies of lung cancer.
PEACEMAKER
First Appearance: Fightin’ 5 #40 (November 1966)
Created by: Joe Gill and Pat Boyette
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985) Christopher Smith started out as a high-minded diplomat and pacifist who really, really believed in peace. When talk and treaties weren’t cutting it, he’d suit up in a distinctive costume complete with that iconic (some might say toilet-seat-looking) helmet packed with gadgets, a jetpack, and an arsenal of specialized weapons, then go out and force the issue. His whole motto was basically “a man who loves peace so much he is willing to fight for it.” He operated out of his swanky Peace Palace and spent his early Charlton days stopping arms dealers, warmongers, and assorted international troublemakers. Pure Silver Age earnestness with a weird edge. When DC brought him over during Crisis, things got a lot darker and messier. The post-Crisis version reveals that Chris is the son of an Austrian industrialist who turned out to have been a Nazi death-camp commandant. Dad killed himself right in front of young Christopher, and that trauma stuck. Suddenly Peacemaker isn’t just fighting for peace... he’s haunted by his father’s ghostly voice pushing him toward extremes, and he becomes the kind of guy who will straight-up kill if that’s what it takes to keep the peace. He ends up tangled with government outfits like the Agency and Checkmate, deals with some serious mental-health issues (including believing the souls of the dead live in his helmet), and even “dies” in a big fight against Eclipso with the Shadow Fighters before eventually popping back up. He’s the ultimate walking contradiction: a peace-obsessed warrior in a helmet who somehow keeps finding new ways to be both ridiculous and weirdly compelling. The Charlton version was earnest; the DC version is unhinged in both a tragic and compelling way.
First Appearance: Fightin’ 5 #40 (November 1966)
Created by: Joe Gill and Pat Boyette
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985) Christopher Smith started out as a high-minded diplomat and pacifist who really, really believed in peace. When talk and treaties weren’t cutting it, he’d suit up in a distinctive costume complete with that iconic (some might say toilet-seat-looking) helmet packed with gadgets, a jetpack, and an arsenal of specialized weapons, then go out and force the issue. His whole motto was basically “a man who loves peace so much he is willing to fight for it.” He operated out of his swanky Peace Palace and spent his early Charlton days stopping arms dealers, warmongers, and assorted international troublemakers. Pure Silver Age earnestness with a weird edge. When DC brought him over during Crisis, things got a lot darker and messier. The post-Crisis version reveals that Chris is the son of an Austrian industrialist who turned out to have been a Nazi death-camp commandant. Dad killed himself right in front of young Christopher, and that trauma stuck. Suddenly Peacemaker isn’t just fighting for peace... he’s haunted by his father’s ghostly voice pushing him toward extremes, and he becomes the kind of guy who will straight-up kill if that’s what it takes to keep the peace. He ends up tangled with government outfits like the Agency and Checkmate, deals with some serious mental-health issues (including believing the souls of the dead live in his helmet), and even “dies” in a big fight against Eclipso with the Shadow Fighters before eventually popping back up. He’s the ultimate walking contradiction: a peace-obsessed warrior in a helmet who somehow keeps finding new ways to be both ridiculous and weirdly compelling. The Charlton version was earnest; the DC version is unhinged in both a tragic and compelling way.
YELLOWJACKET
First Appearance: Yellowjacket Comics #1 (September 1944)
Created by: Uncredited (art commonly attributed to Ken Battefield)
First DC Appearance: The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1 (January 2015)
Here’s a deep cut for the tour, Charlton’s very first original superhero, way before the Action Heroes lineup of the ’60s. Vince Harley was a successful crime writer and amateur beekeeper living a quiet-ish life… until a gang of jewel thieves decided the best way to silence him was to dump a box of angry yellowjackets on the guy. Instead of dying a painful, stinging death, Vince discovered he could actually control the insects. He slapped on a bright yellow costume with a black-and-yellow striped cape (bee chic, if you will) and became Yellowjacket, a street-level vigilante who sicced swarms of bees on crooks while punching his way through Golden Age pulp adventures. He starred in his own short-lived anthology title (and a couple of one-shots) before fading into obscurity by the mid-1940s.
Unlike most other Charlton heroes, Yellowjacket wasn’t part of the 1983 Action Heroes package DC bought. He had already slipped into the public domain, so when Grant Morrison needed a “first superhero” for the Charlton-inspired Earth-4 in The Multiversity, he dusted Vince off and gave him a bigger, and darker, role. On that world, Yellowjacket is the original costumed hero of the 1970s, a genuine independent vigilante in a landscape full of government-backed types, and the father of the future President of the United States. His story ends in tragedy (no spoilers here), tying him into the larger, twisted history of that Earth’s “Pax Americana.”
Charlton started with this guy, and decades later DC finally gave him a spotlight in the multiverse. Not bad for a hero most people have never heard of!
First Appearance: Yellowjacket Comics #1 (September 1944)
Created by: Uncredited (art commonly attributed to Ken Battefield)
First DC Appearance: The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1 (January 2015)
Here’s a deep cut for the tour, Charlton’s very first original superhero, way before the Action Heroes lineup of the ’60s. Vince Harley was a successful crime writer and amateur beekeeper living a quiet-ish life… until a gang of jewel thieves decided the best way to silence him was to dump a box of angry yellowjackets on the guy. Instead of dying a painful, stinging death, Vince discovered he could actually control the insects. He slapped on a bright yellow costume with a black-and-yellow striped cape (bee chic, if you will) and became Yellowjacket, a street-level vigilante who sicced swarms of bees on crooks while punching his way through Golden Age pulp adventures. He starred in his own short-lived anthology title (and a couple of one-shots) before fading into obscurity by the mid-1940s.
Unlike most other Charlton heroes, Yellowjacket wasn’t part of the 1983 Action Heroes package DC bought. He had already slipped into the public domain, so when Grant Morrison needed a “first superhero” for the Charlton-inspired Earth-4 in The Multiversity, he dusted Vince off and gave him a bigger, and darker, role. On that world, Yellowjacket is the original costumed hero of the 1970s, a genuine independent vigilante in a landscape full of government-backed types, and the father of the future President of the United States. His story ends in tragedy (no spoilers here), tying him into the larger, twisted history of that Earth’s “Pax Americana.”
Charlton started with this guy, and decades later DC finally gave him a spotlight in the multiverse. Not bad for a hero most people have never heard of!
CAPTAIN ATOM
First Appearance: Space Adventures #33 (March 1960)
Created by: Joe Gill and Steve Ditko
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
In the original Charlton version, Allen Adam was a brilliant Air Force technician and rocket expert working on an experimental missile at Cape Canaveral. He got trapped inside during a test launch; the thing exploded high in the atmosphere with an atomic warhead, and instead of being vaporized into nothing, he somehow pulled himself back together… with a whole suite of nuclear powers. He suited up in a distinctive red-and-yellow costume designed to contain his radiation and became Captain Atom, a Cold War-era hero who flew around stopping spies, aliens, and later actual supervillains. Ditko’s art gave him that classic, slightly eerie edge, and he even shared some adventures (and mutual attraction) with Nightshade before Charlton’s Action Heroes line wound down.
When DC bought the rights and folded the Charlton crew into the DCU during Crisis, they kept the atomic vibe but completely rebuilt the guy for the modern era. Now he’s Nathaniel Christopher Adam, a Vietnam-era Air Force officer framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Facing the death penalty, he volunteers for a secret military experiment involving an alien metal ship and a nuke. The explosion “kills” him… only for him to reappear nearly two decades later, bonded to the alien metal, able to tap into the Quantum Field, and sporting that sleek silver skin we all know. The government (especially the scheming General Wade Eiling) immediately puts him to work as their controlled superhero asset under the cover identity of Cameron Scott.
From there, he’s been a Justice League member, a government pawn, a time-displaced man out of his era, and one of the most powerful (and often under-used) heavy-hitters in the DCU. He’s the guy who can absorb energy, fly at insane speeds, and casually operate on a near-Superman power level… while constantly wrestling with the fact that the military still owns a piece of him.
BLUE BEETLE (the first of two)
First Appearance: Mystery Men Comics #2 (September 1939)
Created by: Joe Gill, Bill Fraccio, and Tony Tallarico
First DC Appearance: Secret Origins #2 (May 1986)
Alright, let’s talk about the original Blue Beetle (Dan Garret), the one who started it all. His adventures began in publication in Fox Comics. He was popular enough to also have a newspaper strip and radio serial. He was a rookie cop who used a special vitamin to give him super energy. When Fox closed its doors, Blue Beetle was acquired by Charlton Comics, but at first they only published repeat adventures. Then, from 1954 through 1956, they published original tales of their blue acquisition. In 1964, the character was revived, but this time spelling his last name Garrett. His origin was updated to being a college professor who finds an Egyptian scarab that grants him superpowers.
Dan Garrett was a brilliant archaeologist who, while exploring the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Kha-Ef-Re, stumbled across a mysterious blue scarab. When the tomb started collapsing, the scarab bonded with him and granted him a whole suite of powers: super-strength, flight, invulnerability, energy blasts, the works. All he had to do was say the magic words “Kaji Dha!” and he transformed into the Blue Beetle. Instant costume, instant powers, classic Silver Age magic.
He spent the mid-’60s punching monsters, stopping evil scientists, and generally being a straightforward, two-fisted hero with a mystical edge. Eventually, he took on a young student named Ted Kord. When Dan was mortally wounded battling Ted’s uncle (the villainous Jarvis Kord) and a collapsing cave, he made Ted promise to carry on the Blue Beetle legacy. Ted did. We'll cover Ted's version of Blue Beetle shortly!
When DC brought the Charlton heroes over, Dan Garrett became the foundational “first” Blue Beetle in the DCU continuity, the mentor whose death (and scarab) set the stage for both Ted Kord and, much later, Jaime Reyes. He’s the classic “noble archaeologist finds ancient artifact and becomes a hero” package, and he remains the guy who started the whole Blue Beetle mythos that Charlton (and then DC) ran with.
First Appearance: Mystery Men Comics #2 (September 1939)
Created by: Joe Gill, Bill Fraccio, and Tony Tallarico
First DC Appearance: Secret Origins #2 (May 1986)
Alright, let’s talk about the original Blue Beetle (Dan Garret), the one who started it all. His adventures began in publication in Fox Comics. He was popular enough to also have a newspaper strip and radio serial. He was a rookie cop who used a special vitamin to give him super energy. When Fox closed its doors, Blue Beetle was acquired by Charlton Comics, but at first they only published repeat adventures. Then, from 1954 through 1956, they published original tales of their blue acquisition. In 1964, the character was revived, but this time spelling his last name Garrett. His origin was updated to being a college professor who finds an Egyptian scarab that grants him superpowers.
Dan Garrett was a brilliant archaeologist who, while exploring the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Kha-Ef-Re, stumbled across a mysterious blue scarab. When the tomb started collapsing, the scarab bonded with him and granted him a whole suite of powers: super-strength, flight, invulnerability, energy blasts, the works. All he had to do was say the magic words “Kaji Dha!” and he transformed into the Blue Beetle. Instant costume, instant powers, classic Silver Age magic.
He spent the mid-’60s punching monsters, stopping evil scientists, and generally being a straightforward, two-fisted hero with a mystical edge. Eventually, he took on a young student named Ted Kord. When Dan was mortally wounded battling Ted’s uncle (the villainous Jarvis Kord) and a collapsing cave, he made Ted promise to carry on the Blue Beetle legacy. Ted did. We'll cover Ted's version of Blue Beetle shortly!
When DC brought the Charlton heroes over, Dan Garrett became the foundational “first” Blue Beetle in the DCU continuity, the mentor whose death (and scarab) set the stage for both Ted Kord and, much later, Jaime Reyes. He’s the classic “noble archaeologist finds ancient artifact and becomes a hero” package, and he remains the guy who started the whole Blue Beetle mythos that Charlton (and then DC) ran with.
SON OF VULCAN
First Appearance: Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965)
Created by: Pat Masulli and Bill Fraccio
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 (August 1985)
Here’s one of the more obscure (and mythologically fun) Charlton guys.
Johnny Mann was a scrawny, one-legged reporter for a news syndicate — he’d lost the leg serving in the Korean War. While covering a nasty civil war on the fictional Mediterranean island of Cyprete, he wandered into the ruins of an ancient temple and started loudly complaining about how the gods just sit around while mortals suffer through endless war and crime. Bad move. The Roman gods overheard him, zapped him up to Mount Olympus, and put him on trial for mouthing off.
Mars wanted him dead on the spot. But Vulcan (the lame god of the forge) and Venus took a liking to the gutsy little guy. Vulcan basically adopted him as a son and shared his powers; Venus fixed his body and bulked him up. From then on, whenever Johnny needed the boost, he’d call out to Vulcan and transform into the Son of Vulcan — a muscular demigod in Roman-style armor who could fly, shrug off fire, summon weapons straight from Vulcan’s forge, and generally smash evil like a classical myth come to life. (The gods could yank the powers anytime if they decided he wasn’t worthy, so no pressure.)
His Charlton run was short and sweet — a handful of issues before the title got rebranded for Peter Cannon… Thunderbolt. When DC bought the Charlton characters, he came along for the ride, popped up briefly during Crisis, and later got a more substantial (and fatal) spotlight in George Pérez’s War of the Gods event. Not the most famous Action Hero, but definitely one of the more unique ones in the bunch.
JUDOMASTER
First Appearance: Special War Series #4 (November 1965)
Created by: Joe Gill and Frank McLaughlin
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
Hadley “Rip” Jagger was a tough U.S. Army sergeant fighting in the Pacific theater. When his unit got wiped out on a Japanese-occupied island, Rip was the sole survivor. He saved a local girl from a sniper, and in return her grandfather (the village Sensei) taught him the secrets of judo. Rip turned out to be a natural. He mastered the art in record time, got a distinctive red-and-white costume, and became Judomaster, leading the island’s guerrilla fighters against the occupiers. Once the island was free, he went back to the Army and kept right on fighting the good fight as a costumed commando.
He later picked up a kid sidekick named Tiger (a young Japanese-American martial artist), and the two of them became a dynamic duo tearing through the Pacific. No superpowers... just elite judo skills, military training, and a whole lot of determination. His Charlton series (which took over the numbering from an old western title) ran for about a year and a half of pure two-fisted, period-piece action.
When DC scooped up the Charlton characters, Judomaster came along for the ride. He popped up during Crisis, got retroactively folded into the All-Star Squadron era of WWII heroes, and later showed up with the other Charlton vets in the L.A.W. miniseries.
NIGHTSHADE
First Appearance: Captain Atom #82 (September 1966)
Created by: David Kaler and Steve Ditko
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
The "Darling of Darkness" was Charlton's main superheroine from the Action Heroes lineup.
Eve Eden is the daughter of a U.S. Senator (and, as later stories revealed, a princess from another dimension). Blonde in her civilian life, she slips on a black wig and a sleek dark costume to become Nightshade. Her powers let her melt into shadows, become a living two-dimensional shadow, and travel through darkness... perfect for stealth, surprise attacks, and general cool mysterious vibes. In the Charlton days, she was mostly a supporting player and occasional romantic interest for Captain Atom, teaming up with him against threats like The Ghost. She eventually got her own short backup series (beautifully drawn by a young Jim Aparo) before the whole Action Heroes line wrapped up.
When DC brought her over, they expanded her backstory in a big way: her mother was a royal refugee from the interdimensional Land of the Nightshades who fled an evil entity called the Incubus. Eve inherited the shadow powers, trained hard in martial arts (with a little help from Tiger, Judomaster’s old sidekick), and became a government operative while still carrying the weight of a promise to rescue her kidnapped brother someday. She’s since bounced between the Suicide Squad, the L.A.W. team of fellow Charlton survivors, Shadowpact, and various other groups, always bringing that mix of shadow magic, spy skills, and quiet intensity.
PETER CANNON… THUNDERBOLT
First Appearance: Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965)
Created by: Pat Masulli and Bill Fraccio
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 (August 1985)
Here’s one of the more obscure (and mythologically fun) Charlton guys.
Johnny Mann was a scrawny, one-legged reporter for a news syndicate — he’d lost the leg serving in the Korean War. While covering a nasty civil war on the fictional Mediterranean island of Cyprete, he wandered into the ruins of an ancient temple and started loudly complaining about how the gods just sit around while mortals suffer through endless war and crime. Bad move. The Roman gods overheard him, zapped him up to Mount Olympus, and put him on trial for mouthing off.
Mars wanted him dead on the spot. But Vulcan (the lame god of the forge) and Venus took a liking to the gutsy little guy. Vulcan basically adopted him as a son and shared his powers; Venus fixed his body and bulked him up. From then on, whenever Johnny needed the boost, he’d call out to Vulcan and transform into the Son of Vulcan — a muscular demigod in Roman-style armor who could fly, shrug off fire, summon weapons straight from Vulcan’s forge, and generally smash evil like a classical myth come to life. (The gods could yank the powers anytime if they decided he wasn’t worthy, so no pressure.)
His Charlton run was short and sweet — a handful of issues before the title got rebranded for Peter Cannon… Thunderbolt. When DC bought the Charlton characters, he came along for the ride, popped up briefly during Crisis, and later got a more substantial (and fatal) spotlight in George Pérez’s War of the Gods event. Not the most famous Action Hero, but definitely one of the more unique ones in the bunch.
JUDOMASTER
First Appearance: Special War Series #4 (November 1965)
Created by: Joe Gill and Frank McLaughlin
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
Hadley “Rip” Jagger was a tough U.S. Army sergeant fighting in the Pacific theater. When his unit got wiped out on a Japanese-occupied island, Rip was the sole survivor. He saved a local girl from a sniper, and in return her grandfather (the village Sensei) taught him the secrets of judo. Rip turned out to be a natural. He mastered the art in record time, got a distinctive red-and-white costume, and became Judomaster, leading the island’s guerrilla fighters against the occupiers. Once the island was free, he went back to the Army and kept right on fighting the good fight as a costumed commando.
He later picked up a kid sidekick named Tiger (a young Japanese-American martial artist), and the two of them became a dynamic duo tearing through the Pacific. No superpowers... just elite judo skills, military training, and a whole lot of determination. His Charlton series (which took over the numbering from an old western title) ran for about a year and a half of pure two-fisted, period-piece action.
When DC scooped up the Charlton characters, Judomaster came along for the ride. He popped up during Crisis, got retroactively folded into the All-Star Squadron era of WWII heroes, and later showed up with the other Charlton vets in the L.A.W. miniseries.
First Appearance: Captain Atom #82 (September 1966)
Created by: David Kaler and Steve Ditko
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
The "Darling of Darkness" was Charlton's main superheroine from the Action Heroes lineup.
Eve Eden is the daughter of a U.S. Senator (and, as later stories revealed, a princess from another dimension). Blonde in her civilian life, she slips on a black wig and a sleek dark costume to become Nightshade. Her powers let her melt into shadows, become a living two-dimensional shadow, and travel through darkness... perfect for stealth, surprise attacks, and general cool mysterious vibes. In the Charlton days, she was mostly a supporting player and occasional romantic interest for Captain Atom, teaming up with him against threats like The Ghost. She eventually got her own short backup series (beautifully drawn by a young Jim Aparo) before the whole Action Heroes line wrapped up.
When DC brought her over, they expanded her backstory in a big way: her mother was a royal refugee from the interdimensional Land of the Nightshades who fled an evil entity called the Incubus. Eve inherited the shadow powers, trained hard in martial arts (with a little help from Tiger, Judomaster’s old sidekick), and became a government operative while still carrying the weight of a promise to rescue her kidnapped brother someday. She’s since bounced between the Suicide Squad, the L.A.W. team of fellow Charlton survivors, Shadowpact, and various other groups, always bringing that mix of shadow magic, spy skills, and quiet intensity.
PETER CANNON… THUNDERBOLT
First Appearance: Thunderbolt #1 (January 1966)
Created by: Pete Morisi
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
Peter Cannon was the orphaned son of American medical workers who died fighting a plague in the Himalayas. Grateful Tibetan monks at a remote lamasery took the infant in and raised him, training him to the absolute peak of human physical and mental perfection. When he came of age, they entrusted him with their most sacred ancient scrolls, the ones that taught how to unlock and harness the unused portions of the human brain. Basically: mind over matter, extreme concentration, and a whole combination of near-superhuman abilities without any actual superpowers.
He returned to America with his loyal friend and companion Tabu, looking for a new purpose. After stepping in during a crisis, a newspaper reporter dubbed him “Thunderbolt,” and the name stuck. He adopted a distinctive red-and-blue vertically split costume (a nod to the Golden Age Daredevil) and became a globe-trotting adventurer and crimefighter who relied on discipline, intellect, and those hard-earned mental disciplines rather than radiation accidents or magic scarabs.
His Charlton series (which took over the numbering from Son of Vulcan) was one of the more thoughtful and distinctive books of the Action Heroes line, written and drawn by Morisi himself (a New York cop moonlighting under initials so his bosses wouldn’t find out). When DC acquired the Charlton characters, he showed up during Crisis, later got his own short-lived series in the early ’90s, and remains one of the more unique and cerebral entries in the whole bunch.
Created by: Pete Morisi
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 (September 1985)
Peter Cannon was the orphaned son of American medical workers who died fighting a plague in the Himalayas. Grateful Tibetan monks at a remote lamasery took the infant in and raised him, training him to the absolute peak of human physical and mental perfection. When he came of age, they entrusted him with their most sacred ancient scrolls, the ones that taught how to unlock and harness the unused portions of the human brain. Basically: mind over matter, extreme concentration, and a whole combination of near-superhuman abilities without any actual superpowers.
He returned to America with his loyal friend and companion Tabu, looking for a new purpose. After stepping in during a crisis, a newspaper reporter dubbed him “Thunderbolt,” and the name stuck. He adopted a distinctive red-and-blue vertically split costume (a nod to the Golden Age Daredevil) and became a globe-trotting adventurer and crimefighter who relied on discipline, intellect, and those hard-earned mental disciplines rather than radiation accidents or magic scarabs.
His Charlton series (which took over the numbering from Son of Vulcan) was one of the more thoughtful and distinctive books of the Action Heroes line, written and drawn by Morisi himself (a New York cop moonlighting under initials so his bosses wouldn’t find out). When DC acquired the Charlton characters, he showed up during Crisis, later got his own short-lived series in the early ’90s, and remains one of the more unique and cerebral entries in the whole bunch.
TIGER
First Appearance: Judomaster #91 (October 1966)
Created by: Joe Gill and Frank McLaughlin
First DC Appearance: History of the DC Universe #2 (February 1987)
Tiger was the kid sidekick who brought youthful energy (and serious martial-arts skill) to the Judomaster stories.
Tiger was a young Japanese-American orphan during World War II, already pretty damn good at martial arts despite his age. He crossed paths with Sgt. Rip Jagger (Judomaster) during one of Rip’s missions, got impressed by the guy’s skill and guts, and basically attached himself to the cause. Rip nicknamed him “Tiger,” the name stuck, and before long the kid had his own costume and was riding shotgun as Judomaster’s official partner.
The two of them tore through the Pacific landscape as a dynamic duo, pure two-fisted, period-piece action with plenty of wartime grit. Tiger didn’t have a secret identity; he was just Tiger whether he was in costume or hanging around the base. His Charlton appearances were short but memorable, running through the end of the Judomaster series.
When DC brought the Charlton characters over, Tiger came along for the ride. He got retconned into the All-Star Squadron era, and years later showed up as an adult who had trained Nightshade in the martial arts. In the late-’90s L.A.W. miniseries, he took a darker turn, becoming the villain Avatar after a falling-out with his old mentor and a deep dive into some mystical immortality nonsense. He was also finally given a real name; Tiger was actually Masi Tanaka.
SARGE STEEL
First Appearance: Sarge Steel #1 (December 1964)
Created by: Pat Masulli, Joe Gill and Dick Giordano
First DC Appearance: Legends #3 (April 1998)
Here’s the hard-boiled guy with the steel fist, one of Charlton’s toughest and most grounded characters.
Sarge Steel (sometimes treated as a nickname from his old rank, sometimes as his actual first name being “Sargent”) is a Vietnam veteran. He's cited as the first civilian private-eye character in comics (or detective fiction in general) to carry that background. While serving in Special Forces / Army Intelligence, he lost his left hand grabbing a sticky grenade that enemy agents tossed into a room. Army surgeons replaced it with a solid steel prosthetic fist, which turned out to be pretty useful for punching through doors and general intimidation.
Back in the States, he set up shop as a private detective, complete with a secretary named Bess (or Bessie) Forbes. His cases quickly slid from regular gumshoe work into international intrigue, spies, leftover Nazis, and communist agents. By the middle of his run, he was openly operating as a special agent for the U.S. government. The series started under his own name, later got retitled Secret Agent, and he also popped up in backups (including in Judomaster) with the occasional self-defense tips feature.
When DC bought the Charlton characters, Sarge came along and got elevated into a high-level government operative, the kind of guy who ends up running or working with agencies that deal with metahumans and superhero-related threats (CBI, Checkmate, Department of Metahuman Affairs, the L.A.W. team, etc.). Not a flashy costumed hero, but one of the most durable and useful Charlton characters once he landed in the DCU.
BLUE BEETLE (the second of two)
First Appearance: Captain Atom #83 (November 1966)
Created by: Steve Ditko
First DC Appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (April 1985)
Time for the second Blue Beetle... the gadgeteer, wisecracker, and pure heart of the Charlton Action Heroes lineup!
Theodore “Ted” Kord was a brilliant young science student and inventor who became a protégé of the original Blue Beetle, archaeologist Dan Garrett. When Ted’s uncle Jarvis turned out to be a madman building an android army to take over the world, Ted and Dan teamed up to stop him. Dan was fatally wounded in the fight. With his dying breath, he passed the responsibility of being Blue Beetle to Ted… but he couldn’t get the magical scarab to work for the younger man.
So Ted did it the hard way. He trained himself into peak physical condition, designed a sleek blue costume, built a bunch of high-tech gadgets (including his signature BB gun that could fire blinding flashes or compressed-air blasts), and constructed the iconic flying “Bug” aircraft. No superpowers, just brains, athleticism, and a whole lot of determination. He fought crime in Hub City (and beyond), often crossing paths with the Question, and brought a lighter, more acrobatic, quip-filled energy to the role.
His Charlton run was short, a few backup stories in Captain Atom followed by a brief solo series, but it established the version of Blue Beetle that stuck. When DC acquired the Charlton characters, Ted came over during Crisis and really took off, especially once he joined Justice League International and formed his legendary friendship with Booster Gold.
Ted was murdered by Maxwell Lord in 2005. The role of Blue Beetle was then passed on to a young man named Jaime Reyes. During the DC Rebirth (a 2016 relaunch of DC's universe), Ted was brought back to life. He's an inventor and mentor to the current Blue Beetle.
As we near the end of this particular tour through the Charlton crew who actually got the full DC treatment, here’s a quick bonus detour that feels too good to skip! A handful of these Action Heroes didn’t just get folded into the DCU; they also served as the secret sauce for one of the most influential comic stories ever created. When Alan Moore was cooking up his groundbreaking 12-issue series Watchmen in the mid-1980s, he originally planned to use the Charlton characters themselves. DC had other plans for them (hello, Crisis and beyond), so Moore and Dave Gibbons created close analogs instead. The result is a set of uncanny spiritual cousins you can spot once you know the lineage:
With that little side trip complete, it’s time to bring the main tour in for a landing. The Charlton Action Heroes who made the jump didn’t just survive the sale; they got second (and third, and fourth) lives in the DCU, complete with darker edges, bigger teams, and the occasional tragic exit. Some became household names, others stayed cult favorites, and a few still pop up when DC needs a solid supporting player or a deep-cut cameo. Not every character from that Derby, Connecticut warehouse got the spotlight, but the ones who did helped shape corners of the DC Universe in ways that still feel surprisingly fresh.
Thanks for riding along! We'll be warming up things for another tour very soon!
- The Question → Rorschach
- Captain Atom → Doctor Manhattan
- Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) → Nite Owl
- Nightshade → Silk Spectre
- Peacemaker → The Comedian
- Peter Cannon… Thunderbolt → Ozymandias
With that little side trip complete, it’s time to bring the main tour in for a landing. The Charlton Action Heroes who made the jump didn’t just survive the sale; they got second (and third, and fourth) lives in the DCU, complete with darker edges, bigger teams, and the occasional tragic exit. Some became household names, others stayed cult favorites, and a few still pop up when DC needs a solid supporting player or a deep-cut cameo. Not every character from that Derby, Connecticut warehouse got the spotlight, but the ones who did helped shape corners of the DC Universe in ways that still feel surprisingly fresh.
Thanks for riding along! We'll be warming up things for another tour very soon!
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