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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ACG 

     ~Or~DOES ROGER

BROUGHTON EXIST? 

For this article I have drawn on paper records and emails [1995-2007] from the individuals involved! ACG [American Comics Group] had its stars such as creator Ogden Whitney,whose past I have tried to cover elsewhere –he was the artist behind Herbie The Fat Fury. Kurt Schaffenberg,famous as an artist for DC on Supergirl and Lois Lane,drew Magic Man,while Richard Hughes wrote huge amounts of script under various names.

As with otherUS comics from that period,I first saw the ACG characters within the pages of  Alan Class comics. 

But then ACG vanished.

I could say the same about Charlton Comics,though they at least  lasted into the early 1980s.

Incredibly,as the years rolled on,we discovered more about the,uh.”unorthodox”  workings of Charlton.  Anyone who is a regular reader of Alter Ego magazine will be familiar with the company history. 

In the 1980s,Charlton material was auctioned off and John Lustig managed to grab a chunk of the Romance strips,which he has re-packaged over the years and the other prominent name amongst the purchasers was Roger Broughton who,again,reprinted much Charlton Horror and ACG material under his A +  logo.

However,no new strips ever appeared and though many people attempted to try to make deals with Broughton.  But Broughton is a hard man to track down and even distributors like Bud Plant,who have handled some of the poorly selling b&w A+,have had chequered contacts.

Between 1994-2005 I tried to track Broughton down with a project proposal.  Every previous address was either non-existent or unoccupied.  Some journalist friends of mine in the States tried to track Broughton down for me.  They came up with the same as well as rumours of Internal Revenue Service [IRS] and other less-than  savoury folk looking for Broughton.

On 12^th November,2005 I got an email from ‘Broughton’ -but read this for yourself:

“Hi.

thank you for your letter,

you van contact me at Roger @jerron.com for more information.

i am working on several projects with the ACG Charlton Char actors.

when we bought Charlton and ACG comics we purchases all rights without limitations ,

over the years much material has been reprinted in several countries and we are currently  working with a major publisher   and  movie studio. hence forcing me to move from Canada to the

US,

Chek soon with Bud Plant  for more inventory  from the ACG line meanwhile keep writing.

roger broughton”

Now,to be brutally honest,this is barely literate.  I sent a copy to some people who had corresponded with Broughton:they thought I was being hoaxed.  I was asked what address I had sent my letter to?  In fact,I had never sent a letter to any address as I had not found one that was real!

So,I forwarded all my proposals,sketches,referenced material and even a lengthy cv –everything I had [c] [it was also copied and posted to friends within the industry for protection “in case”].

After a few hours I got a new ‘Broughton’ mail:

“Thank you for your kind wishes,

I still have trouble understanding your inquiry. i have been dealing in publishing rights  for over twenty years. As a consultant I am still very much involved with the two of the major comic book publishers and I am currently working with two studios.

Your letter  was somewhat vague. What you indicated as possibilitie is somewhat true but a lot more com-plicated then indicated.

You can always forward a proposal on anything but  it is difficult if you have no professional association with any of the markets  you listed.

As far as the question and answer , the internet crowd will write what they like. anyway they should look at archive articles in the comic buyers guide who reported the purchase tot the media back in  86,  they did  a good job.

rb”

I sat reading this.  The style was slightly different and literacy poor but it seemed to be another person.  As I included a cv and had,or so I thought,been in communication with ‘Broughton’ before,I was very confused –this mail was nonsense.

But ‘Broughton’ was a consultant to “the two of the major comic book publishers” –this would be easy to check.  I made enquiries by phone and email to DC and Marvel on some pretence of needing to contact Broughton.  I checked with senior management as well as other departments.  None had the slightest whom I was talking about.

So,I tried a few of the larger Independents.  Similar results.

I was still trying to work in TV circles and contacted two of the studio “fixers” who knew everyone from studio bosses to the catering man.  No luck.  Besides,I was told “working with two studios” could mean anything.

[I know a lot of people in publishing or reporting on comics in

Europe.  They have heard of none of these licensed comics.   Four years and nothing.  ]

I was intrigued.  So I mailed ‘Broughton’ back stating that,of course he knew me and of my work –we had been in touch for ‘years’.  The response was mad.

14^th November,2005

“Ok Terry,

let me we know what is good for you and we will  do a meeting of the minds.

I am a comic book geek too . you will be happy to know that up to about 6 years ago a lot of material was reprinted in europe mostly Italy and

Germany..

Regards,

roger B”

But I had ‘Broughton’s’ email address.  I asked for the postal address to forward art prelims and written proposal. 

No response.

I mailed again.

Nothing.

‘Broughton’s’ mail accounts were dead.

The only “Jerron” I could locate was involved in printing.  Roger Broughton was not listed as a member of staff.  I asked a friend who lived some 30 miles from Jerron if he could do a “paper check” on Jerron and Broughton. 

No,Broughton was not listed with the company and no Roger Broughton seemed to be living in the state.

Then I got a couple of emails out of the  blue –this one from David Walker:

March 2006

“Terry.

I know we have corresponded in the past but I had no idea that you

were interested in the ACG or had bneen trying to locate roger

broughton.

I can tell you that about five years ago I wanted to publish

reprints of some acg and charlton stuff.  I tracked broughton down

to Jerron Printing but the replies I got were very confusing as it

took ages before he responded and then I was told he was ill so

could not reply just then.

It got more confusing when I was told broughton only dealt directly

with “the bosses” yet it was my project and I WAS the boss but had

to deal with broughtons front man.   This was a joke in itself in

that I got several replies to one mail and all contradicting

things.  I was then told broughton had nothing to do with jerron -

they just allowed him mail facilities!!!!

Phillipe Blaque a Quebec guy who was interested in the old acg

comics told me that he had found broughton was dead.  I was told

that before I exchanged any contract or money to make it clear that

I needed to have contact details OUTSIDE of jerron because

broughton was not an employee of their and they were doing all the

talking.

So,I contacted jerron and told them that I needed persanal contact details for broughton and to discuss the matter with HIM because hewas the copyright owner and the man who I would need to make checks out to.

To say the response was hostile is understating things.  I  explained that I had been told that broughton was dead and had only had a broughton @jerron mail post but wanted to speak or at least write to him personally so my mind was eased.  The guy swore and slammed the phone down -their number is ——— if you want to try?

Im betting youll get the same response.

Let me know,guy.

David”

Well,I phoned and the lady who responded said “I’ll check for you though that name is not familiar to me”  A couple minutes waiting and: “I’m terribly sorry.  I guess you must be mistaken –there is no Roger Broughton on staff”.

So,I thought I’d email Jerron and I was a little  surprised,therefore,when I got the following from Jerron:

“Terry,

Thanks for your inquiry. Roger does indeed reside near us, he chose store materials and use our area as a base of operations. I’ll pass your email on. You may hear from others at Jerron too as the info email gets sent to an entire team. BTW since he is here (but doesn’t work for us as such) we did give him an email he’s been using, roger@jerron.com

I’m pleased to meet you, we are very involved in comics production in the USA and around the world. Our specialty is digitising classic materials.

I’m sending you a LinkedIn invitation. In case you haven’t heard of it, it’s a business resource and networking site, entirely private and free. Lots of comics people on. Feel free to connect if you like.

Best regards,

Ken Cooper

Senior Vice President

Jerron”

Right,so ‘Broughton’ lived near Jerron but does not work for them but stores material there and therefore gets an email assigned him [which everyone at the company has access to and can view his emails] ??

After this another email from ‘Broughton’ with a phone number.  Jerron phone number and the lady answering again told me there was no one called Broughton there.

February saw a good few mails from Broughton.  Never answering direct questions about who was printing what under licence and where I could buy copies:direct requests for  answers to my proposals –nothing.

Then ‘Broughton’ told me he was coming to the Book Fair in

London during March and it was suggested we meet up.  I was given the hotel name,room number and telephone number along with extension number.  This I could not miss out on.

I confirmed a date and time that I would meet him in the lobby and he confirmed that was okay.  The day before my trip to

London I phoned the hotel and asked for the extension number.  A rather bemused hotelier said the extension didn’t exist and asked who gave it to me?  I said a guest in for the Book Fair.  He told me someone else might have dealt with the guest.  Like a fool I thought it was a misunderstanding since the hotelier’s English was quite poor.  I should have asked about the room number.

So,24 hours later,there I was;standing in the foyer of a very small hotel with a rather bemused manager telling me that,the room number I was given meant they would have had to have ten rooms more than existed!

I made enquiries at the Book Fair.  “No. No,Roger Broughton here”.

I went home and mailed Broughton whose response was that the hotel must have made an error!  Oh,perhaps if I rushed up the next day I could catch him before he flew home? 

That wasn’t going to happen.

I’d arranged with a publisher to interview Broughton and explained that it was okay as I’d managed to gather a lot of biographical data on him - there was one excuse after another and so the editor of the magazine I was working for tried to contact Broughton but no responses and I later found out an American writer who had worked for the editor lived in the area where Jerron was based but had found no trace of ‘Broughton’ –and he called at Jerron.

In the meantime,an enquiry about the rights to Charlton characters arrived:

In a message dated 5/5/2006 2:50:39 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com writes:

“Hello,Robin.

My name is Terry Hooper and I’ve been working on an article on what happened to Charlton Comics characters -whether rights sold off were character rights or simply reprint rights.

I was told that you might be able to advise me -Phil Latter was kind enough to pass on your email address.  If I’ve got the wrong guy my SINCERE apologies.  If I’ve got the right guy….can you help?

Regards,

Terry”

And the reply:

“You have found me, Terry,

I did indeed sell the various properties for Charlton, stats, negs, titles and/or any and all rights.

  A few (such as various ghost stories and Killjoy) went to Steve Ditko and me. Some westerns went to Bill Black. Roger Broughton purchased the lion’s share of the material for reprint only. There were others but who remembers?

Good luck,

Robin”

A similar response was received regarding the old ACG characters.

This all explained why everything Broughton had produced over the years was simple [varying quality] black and white reprints.  Reprints rights only.

I mentioned this and there came a rather belligerent reply.  Then I seemed to be unknown to ‘Broughton’ again[!] and he was rather insulting about my lack of comic knowledge and experience in comics!!

This time I asked for proof that he was Roger Broughton and not a couple of hoaxers and I asked yet again about the promised interview and for an address to send material to –I also asked why he said he didn’t know me again?

The response came  on 24^th February,2007:

“A bad choice of words  “not knowing who you are”  what should have been said  is “who you are working with”

Being also somewhat of a historian and a fan of roman culture i know quite well your background roman history all the way to Defiant.. I envie were you live . A few thousand years of history at your fingertips, that’s very impressive..

(i am  working on a Boodika project  I hope to offer to TV)

 I  spent some time in Bath and Stonehenge during my last visit to  the UK  thinking  this was  this was a lot more interesting  to  discuss over dinner than comics.

Anyway please don’t take that as an attack on you  and your  own history. It was not meant that way.

All  of what i do is a lot more complex than  small press. The Charlton horror material represents a very small fraction of the material that we licensed over the last twenty odd years.

(I bet you didn’t know that Herbie and Fat man the Human flying saucer was printed in

Italy!)

again best of luck on your project

roger b”

Basically,’Broughton had quickly checked the internet and discovered I had a reputation as an amateur historian specialising in pre-Roman and Roman Britain. Interestingly,the Queen of the Icenii who bloodied Rome’s nose in 1^st Century Britain is often iuncorrectly called “Boadicea” but her name was Boudica.  Who the **** “Boodika” is…!

As to “who” I was working with…well,me! 

I wrote back that after a couple years I was giving up and that I did not believe I was dealing with [the rumoured-to-be-dead ] the real Roger Broughton but a couple of hoaxers.  As he was so pally with Jerron I had suggested a photo of himself with the folk there that could be used in any interview –downright pissy over that!

In an earlier mail I mentioned that a former Charlton artist who had done some cover work for him said “Hi” from himself and his wife who had entertained Broughton before the 1980s auction.  He remembered the artist.  I’d made the artist and his wife story up.

Comparing notes with others who had dealt with Broughton in the past,it was clear that we had all dealt with two or three hoaxers.

I told ‘Broughton’ I was no longer interested.

There followed a series of mails from ‘Broughton’ –all offering to sort out the misunderstanding and allow me licencing rights for reprints.  Desperate to get cheques for material to reprint but offering no address-of-business and no contract or other details.  Suddenly I realised why people might be trying to track him down.  This was distinctly dubious.

As in the past,when the questions got too hot,someone writes to say “Roger is in hospital for a serious operation”.  Usually he then goes silent.  On this occasion,he contacted me the same evening as he had been rushed into hospital.

Will we see more A+ reprints of Charlton or ACG material?

Who knows. 

I would love to be proved wrong.  For Roger Broughton [who in another mail told me he had found I was looking for him on a Closed Membership yahoo group –where had my ‘letter’ gone then?] to still be alive would be nice but I would advise anyone to first ask for positive proof that they are dealing with the real McCoy!

If the REAL Roger Broughton is out there I’d love to hear from him.