Midnight Tales

    (Charlton, 1972-1976)
Charlton

In the early 1970s, Charlton comics were sold in polybagged three-packs at airports, so that Mom and Pop could give junior his comics fix to keep him quiet on the plane ride to visit the grandparents in Florida. This was shrewd marketing because it assumed that, to parents, a comic book was a comic book (“Spider-Man, E-Man, what’s the difference?”), even if every kid knew that Charltons were the airplane food of the comics cafeteria. Midnight Tales is a typical 1970s Charlton horror/mystery anthology title “hosted” by voluptuous young Arachne and her mentor, the Midnight Philosopher. Creator Wayne Howard blatantly imitated the style of comic art great Wally Wood right down to his gothic signature, but at least he aimed high in his plagiarism. Consequently, Midnight Tales had the look of a seedy, off-register knock-off of an EC horror comic—putting it at the top of Charlton’s quality spectrum.
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist
#1

December, 1972
Cover Price: $0.20
3 copies available from $1.50 		Nicola CutiWayne Howard, Jack Abel, Joe Staton
#2

February, 1973
Cover Price: $0.20
8 copies available from $9.80 		Nicola CutiWayne Howard, Joe Staton, Tom Sutton
#4

July, 1973
Cover Price: $0.20
2 copies available from $6.50 		Nicola CutiWayne Howard, Tom Sutton, Joe Staton
#5

September, 1973
Cover Price: $0.20
2 copies available from $11.00 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Tom Sutton, Joe Staton
#6

November, 1973
Cover Price: $0.20
2 copies available from $9.99 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Tom Sutton, Joe Staton
#9

October, 1974
Cover Price: $0.25
2 copies available from $5.50 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Tom Sutton, Joe Staton
#11

February, 1975
Cover Price: $0.25
1 copy available for $6.98 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Don Newton, Joe Staton
#12

April, 1975
Cover Price: $0.25
1 copy available for $7.98 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Steve Ditko, Don Newton
#12 - 2nd printing

April, 1975
Cover Price: $0.35
4 copies available from $1.99 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Steve Ditko, Don Newton
#13

June, 1975
Cover Price: $0.25
2 copies available from $16.00 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Don Newton, Joe Staton
#14

September, 1975
Cover Price: $0.25
1 copy available for $5.00 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Joe Staton, Don Newton
#15

November, 1975
Cover Price: $0.25
1 copy available for $6.98 		Nicola Cuti, Wayne HowardWayne Howard, Tom Sutton, Richard Larson
#16

January, 1976
Cover Price: $0.25
2 copies available from $120.00 		Wayne HowardWayne Howard
#17

March, 1976
Cover Price: $0.25
1 copy available for $30.00 		Wayne HowardWayne Howard
#17 - 2nd printing


Cover Price: $0.35
3 copies available from $5.95 		Wayne HowardWayne Howard
#18

May, 1976
Cover Price: $0.30
1 copy available for $5.98 		Wayne HowardWayne Howard