Eclipse Monthly #2 [1983]

Static was one of Ditko's main works of the 1980s, clearly one he cared about finishing since he eventually took it to four publishers to finish. The first was Eclipse, where he ran the first three chapters in their anthology title. This is the second chapter, which he later revised when it was re-published, including completely re-lettering the story, plus some minor art changes. The biggest change in the script is that he changed the name of the lead character from "Mac Rey" to "Stac Rae". I'm not sure that was an improvement...

In "The Exploder", Mac is testing the new magnetic powers and suit he got in the previous chapter, while Dr. Serch and his daughter Fera observe, with Fera thinking he's being too reckless. While not planning to use the powers in any adventures, and despite being cautioned against it by Fera, pretty soon Mac is in costume and fighting the Exploder, who killed a friend of Dr. Serch. In the end, Fera hides the suit, afraid that they'll be unable to resist the temptation to use it.

Static was a pretty fascinating series. Ditko does tend to over-write sometimes, and there's a reason "didactic" is often used to describe him, but there are quite a few surprises and interesting twists in the full series, though it takes a few chapters for that to start. I'll post more about those when I get to the full book on the weblog someday.

For the early chapters, there's a lot of nice visuals to admire under the heavy word balloons.

Ditko writes and draws the 10-page story.