Where Creatures Roam #2 [1970]

 The lead story on this issue is "I Spent Midnight With The Monster On Bald Mountain", a 5-page reprint from TALES TO ASTONISH #7 [1960], though originally titled "I Spent Midnight With The Thing On Bald Mountain". I guess by 1970 "The Thing" had a different connotation when printed on a Marvel comic (pre-hero reprints using "hulk" had similar changes).

In this story, an acclaimed sculptor retreats to a mountain-top castle to work on his greatest creation, a sculpture called "Good Versus Evil", two battling giants, one made from earth taken from sacred ground, the other from places of infamy, and built from the skeleton out. Somehow a lightning strike brings Evil to life, and on a rampage, but some unknown also brings Good to life, in time to rescue the sculptor and battle his rival, sending them both plunging off Bald Mountain to their doom.

I assume Ditko really liked these kinds of stories, given how often he returned to similar themes and visual motifs (allegorical sculptures and the like) in his later work that he wrote himself. I especially love the panel in this story of the artist first building the skeletons of the figures.

You know, I never considered it before, but given how often sculptors figure into Ditko's work, I wonder if he ever tried his hand at the form?

The cover is a Kirby piece for the story, inked by Ditko, also from TtA #7.