Ditko in 2010 wrapup

There's a slim chance that one or two minor books with Ditko reprints will still show up this year, but otherwise, time for your year in Ditko summary.

As usual, new books are listed as they're announced and released over here.  If you want details on the contents of any of these publications, I refer you to Brian Franczak's invaluable Ditko Fever site.

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The Ditko/Snyder publishing venture continued at a bi-monthly pace, with a mix of new and classic material.  What the six books for 2010 were depends on your definition, since MR. A came out in 2009 but was dated January 2010, while ACT 6 is out now but is dated January 2011.


Mr. A. [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]
A Ditko Act Two [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]
A Ditko Act 3 [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]
Act 4 [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]
The Cover Series [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]
Ditko #5-Five Act [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]
Act 6  [Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko]

There was also some Ditko content in Robin Snyder's monthly newsletter, THE COMICS, with a 20th Anniversary drawing in the February issue and a page from an unpublished early 1980s Flash Gordon story (script by George Kashdan) in the October issue.

The Comics v21 #1 [Robin Snyder]
The Comics v21 #10 [Robin Snyder]

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Rob Imes continued his fanzine DITKOMANIA this year, with six issues out and a lot of great reading about Ditko, plus some nice fan art (including some Dave Sim covers of a few of Ditko's most recent creations) and sometime rare Ditko art you probably haven't seen before.  Subscriptions, back issues of most issues since the 2008 revival, and select reprints of earlier issues, also available.

Ditkomania #77 - #82 [Rob Imes]

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DC only had one major Ditko reprint out, but it was a big one, probably my choice for book of the year (since I already had copies of the material in the MR. A reprint). The hardcover CREEPER BY STEVE DITKO collection had pretty much every page from Ditko's various stints on the character over the years, including the Showcase issue never really published except as a black&white photocopy.

Possibly out next week is a reprint of some 1960s Tower Comics stuff that may include one or more of Ditko's stories.

2011 should have some more interesting stuff, including reprints of Shade, Stalker and various short stories, and a reprint of the 1980s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents revival with a few Ditko stories.

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Marvel wins the quantity award, as usual, mostly oft-reprinted stuff, but the hardcover Masterworks line had the third volumes of TALES TO ASTONISH and TALES OF SUSPENSE reprints, which included a few never-reprinted stories.  The softcover Masterworks line had major Ditko work in the fourth and final Ditko SPIDER-MAN volume (including copies of some Ditko pencils for one issue), most of Ditko's DOCTOR STRANGE work in that first volume, some IRON MAN in that collection and some minor work on DAREDEVIL #1 reprinted there.  Doesn't look like either hardcover or softcover series has any more Ditko in the near future.

A minor but previously un-reprinted Nighthawk short story in ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS v5, a Ditko reprint backing up some new material in the SPIDER-MAN: FEVER collection and some early Kraven stories mixed in with new pages in SPIDER-MAN: ORIGIN OF THE HUNTER wrap up Marvel's year to date, with a Dracula reprint in the overdue TOMB OF DRACULA OMNIBUS v3 still to come, maybe next week.

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And from other publishers reprinting work they didn't publish originally, Titan's THE SIMON AND KIRBY SUPERHEROES includes a reprint of the 1953 CAPTAIN 3-D #1 (in colour, not 3-D), to which Ditko contributed some amount of inking or backgrounds.  Dark Horse included the balance of Ditko's 1980s Indiana Jones stories in one book, and had some redundant reprints of reprints in their collections of old Warren comics. IDW had Ditko's 1990s Big Boy story in a collection of children's comics. Abrams had some Ditko covers and a story in their entry in the pre-code horror reprints derby, and Pure Imagination and Fantagraphics both had public domain Ditko reprint collections.