Timmy the Timid Ghost #4
Timmy the Timid Ghost #4 (June 1956) is the primary document of record for one of Charlton Comics' most durable funny-animal properties: its printed Statement of Ownership formally confirms that the series' numbering descended directly from Simon and Kirby's short-lived Win a Prize Comics, giving historians a rare paper trail through Charlton's notoriously murky publication practices. As only the second issue released under the Timmy the Timid Ghost banner, it helped establish the cast and comic-logic of a world where ghosts — not humans — are the ones living in fear, a premise distinctive enough to sustain three separate publishing runs across nearly three decades. It also represents the work of Al Fago at the height of his tenure as Charlton's managing editor, just months before his acrimonious departure from the company in spring 1957.
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Timmy the Timid Ghost was conceived and drawn by Al Fago, who served as Charlton's managing editor during the mid-1950s and was already well known for creating and editing the publisher's funny-animal line, including Atomic Mouse and Atomic Rabbit. Timmy himself debuted as a minor character in an Atomic Mouse story as early as November 1953 before being spun out into his own title. The Timmy the Timid Ghost series launched with issue #3 (February 1956), inheriting its numbering from Win a Prize Comics, a two-issue experiment by Simon and Kirby that Charlton had published in 1955 — a connection documented solely because the Statement of Ownership is preserved inside issue #4. Fago left Charlton under contentious circumstances in 1957, believing he held creative ownership over several of his funny-animal titles, but Charlton continued publishing the Timmy series without him.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1956 by Charlton Comics; cover and interior story art credited to Al Fago.
- Only the second issue released under the Timmy the Timid Ghost title, with the series having debuted as issue #3 in February 1956 (numbering inherited from a prior Charlton title).
- The Statement of Ownership printed inside issue #4 is the sole surviving documentation that the series numbering continued from Win a Prize Comics (Charlton, 1955), a two-issue run originally produced by the Simon and Kirby studio.
- Timmy the Timid Ghost first appeared years earlier — as a minor character in the Al Fago story '3-D Crime Wave' in Atomic Mouse #5 (November 1953) — before graduating to a solo title.
- The issue contains multiple short stories by Al Fago, including 'The Runaway Broomstick' (Timmy attempts to tame a broomstick for witch character Wilma) and 'Timmy Goes to a Party' (Timmy wins a costume contest), as well as backup strips featuring Atomic Mouse characters.
- Supporting cast members Maxie the Ghost (Timmy's contrarian best friend) and Wilma the witch appear, anchoring the recurring ensemble that would define the series for its entire run.
- Al Fago departed Charlton in spring 1957, making issue #4 one of the final issues produced entirely under his editorial and creative stewardship; the series continued under other hands afterward.
- The first Charlton series ran to issue #45 (September 1966), followed by a second series (1967–1971) and a brief three-issue revival in 1985, the last of which ended when Charlton declared bankruptcy.