1970s comic book scans: Charlton #5 (and Harvey #1)
This issue is pretty action packed! In it, the gang visits a military base, a mummy's tomb, a casino, and a magic wishing well. And Fred has a bizarre identity crisis!
This issue was originally published in the 70s by Charlton Comics and then re-printed in the 90s by Harvey Comics (with a new cover and different inserts). Here's the story section and ads from the original 70s book:
Moral of the story: You can be granted incredible powers by the Gods themselves and still have a life that is totally lame.
And here's the 1990s Harvey re-print with a new (and, IMO, far less amusing) cover.
I think Scooby has the right idea! It's time he got some compensation for being dragged to haunted places against his will! XD
It's a bit odd that Scooby's "animal sixth sense" about stuff like this only kicked now and not on any of the thousands of other ghost investigations they went on. Maybe it only works on friendly ghosts.
This next story is odd because the writer and editor were clearly asleep at the wheel. In this story, the gang calls Fred "Mark". I have no idea why. Maybe he recently found out that the father who named him and raised him was a kidnapper and he found his real parents and changed his name to "Mark Chiles".
It's interesting that, in the Charlton Comic's canon, Shaggy can understand what Scooby says (as opposed to the old Gold Key version where Scooby spoke like a Pokemon and no humans could understand him). Maybe the comics wanted to show how he learned to speak over time?
Or Scooby could be evolving. Whatever.
"You call that a gun? THIS is a gun!"
I don't care who came up with that plan! It was badass!!
Also, did this comic just imply that being able to understand Scooby's speech is a sign of insanity? If it did, that is awesome (and also my new head canon)! XD
Next up is "The Wishing Well"
And we get another story where Scooby's animal intuition allows him to figure everything out before his human friends but his inability to communicate prevents him from doing anything about it.
EEEEEKKKK!!!
Why does the Mystery Machine have a face!!??!?!? And why is no one disturbed by it!?!?! WHY!!? O_o
I always thought that a person had to go through an election to become President of the United States. But apparently I was wrong. All you need is a top hat and sash with "President" written on it.
That ending was sweet but....
*sigh*
Seeing Velma's wish just made me sad. But I guess it's to be expected in a comic written back when the Women's Lib Movement was still new. Thank G-d we live in a more enlightened time where the sexist fat-shaming of a female character marketed to little kids wouldn't be tolerated! Surely, this kind of thing would be protested (and not heralded as "character development") if it happened today.
......oh, wait. It's worse now than it was in the 70s. F**k.
**burns bra**
On a cheerier note, here are some goofy ads from the 1990s Harvey Comics reprint.
Most un-sexy pin up EVER:
Letters to the editor:
TV listings (KCOP Los Angeles represent!!)
I played both of these video games when I was little. They were both awful.
And here are some ads for other Harvey licensed comics:
Holy Crap that Saved by the Bell comic looks horrifically bad.
.....I must own it someday! Mwa Ha Ha!! XD
And the rest...
That was interesting, wasn't it?
As always, I don't mind if people use these scans to make icons or whatever (I can't claim "ownership" of a book with characters that clearly aren't mine just because I scanned it). But credit would be much appreciated if you do opt to use them or show them off elsewhere. Thanks!