5 out of 5

While revivalist comics have always been kicking around, that we’re in an age that offers more DIY visibility and options than ever – thanks to social media, crowd funding, and cheaper technologies – and that the silver age is now far enough in the rearview to start actually fading into the horizon, has prompted some incredibly impressive and endearing efforts, both of which I have to thank Comic Shop News for drawing my attention to: The Creeps, and now Charlton Arrow.  The former focuses on replicating the Warren mag vibe, and the latter the whole kit and kaboodle of the scattershot “let’s do it all!” company Charlton, which was around forever but shuttered in the 80s, never quite making it out of the also-rans territory.

Both of these titles have attracted original contributers to their inspirations, as well as captured their intended zeitgeists.  For Arrow, starting out as a blog and Facebook fan group and gaining steam, they’re now up to six issues of their main title – the anthology Arrow – plus a slew of other books starting or in the works.

I fall into a class of reader who wasn’t around for much of Charlton’s original run, but randomly procured a few copies of things along the way as a youth (primarily Atomic Mouse) that made me aware enough to intuit their vibe, or to have an opinion on it at least.  Did it make me Charlton fan?  Nah, and the Arrow isn’t going to make me a retroactive one by any means.  But: the spirit of this thing is infectious, and comes across on every page and via every aspect of its publication, and that has turned me into an instant ‘Charlton Neo’ fan.  Which the leading crew – Mort Todd, Paul Kupperberg, Fester Faceplant – seem to get, and it’s what made me a Neo convert almost before I’d seen a single issue: that this isn’t exactly retro so much as embracing the spirit of the company and characters.  The Arrow thus freely bounces between stories continuing from way old Charlton issues, spruced up reprints, and plenty of awesome originals, with loving colors and lettering that straddle both a classic and modern sensibility, i.e. bright and professional but with a willful looseness a la Charlton’s off-brand methods – all without missing a beat or seeming cluttered or confusing.  We get goofy comedy, romance, interviews, and horror, all under one roof and it works because of how on the same page everyone is with their intentions.

For an anthology that contains so much variation, I’ve sincerely never seen something executed so flawlessly, and I’ve loved every page.

A skim online convinced me to go whole hog and pickup all their (at this point) back issues.  Not a speck of regret, and I’d encourage anyone whose interests are even slightly piqued to try the same.