Cracked #219 [1986]

Even three-fingered robotic hands by Ditko are distinctively his style.

CRACKED #219 [1986] is the second issue of the series to feature Ditko's work, continuing his "Robot War" feature with writer Mort Todd that debuted the previous issue, with another 1-page dialogue-free but sound-effects heavy gag page with some very intricate tonework. I always like the little touches you get in the artwork of these stories, like the robot in the first panel apparently camouflaging himself with some flowers on his butt.

Cracked #227 [1987]

Here's a bit of a treat, a very nice page from an issue which doesn't appear on any of the major Ditko checklists. Apparently he did more pages for CRACKED during Mort Todd's stint as editor than was previously known. So now the quest is on for more. If you have any issues of CRACKED from between around 1986 to 1990 (around #216 to #260) let me know if anything looks like Ditko in there.

Anyway, this 2-page story is "The TransInformers Vs The Defecticons".  You see, the concept of this issue is that this is a Russian edition of CRACKED, from those late days of the Cold War, so all the features have that extra parody twist to their usual parody. In this case, one group of ridiculous shape-changing robots is attempting to escape through the Berlin Wall, and the other is determined to stop them.  A very nice little story, drawn in the intricate duo shade style that Ditko used for a lot of his CRACKED work.  A lot of weird little background gags really enhance the story (I like the robot coffee pot), and the last image is a really great image at the Berlin Wall, worth tracking down the issue just to see it.

Cracked #218 [1986]

This issue features Ditko's first work for one of America's favourite mental illness based humour magazines, and the first installment of his brief regular feature with Mort Todd, "Robot War". A 1-page story, as most of them were, with no dialogue but a lot of sound effects well incorporated into the artwork, really great doutone shading  in the artwork and the disturbing sight of robot cannibalism.  Man, when they said that Robot War is Hell they didn't know the half of it...

This page got reprinted with 3-D treatment for The 3-D Zone #19 [1989].

Cracked #225 [1987]

Steve Ditko and Mort Todd (the same Mort Todd seen on the latest DITKOMANIA cover) bring us another 1-page look at the senseless, yet highly amusing, "Robot War" which is tearing our great nation apart. In this one, we find that in the hands of a crafty robot, anything can be a weapon of mass destruction.

The scan really doesn't do this page justice, the way Ditko uses variations in the tonework to create depth, the wacky facial expressions and some of the goofy details in the header and the final panel.

The 3-D Zone #19 [1989]

THE 3-D ZONE was the catch-all title for various comics published by 3-D maestro Ray Zone in the 1980s, reprinting a variety of classic comics with 3-D effects. This issue the focus was on the long-running humour comic book CRACKED, including some classic work by the likes of John Severin, Bill Ward, Jack Davis, Bill Everett, Basil Wolverton and Russ Heath, as well as some more recent work. Oddly, Ditko's actually among the "more recent work" contributors, as this issue includes the first "Robot War" page he did a few years before, from CRACKED #218 [1986].

As usual for the feature, it's a wordless but sound-effect filled gag about the never-ending conflicts among some mechanical men. The full 3-D version, which I'm told works on computer monitors, is below (so whip out your 3-D glasses), I've "2-D-ized" the bit for the close-up. I really like the lettering of the sound effects in these pages, presumably done by Ditko since they're fully integrated into the artwork and resemble what you see in his independent work.

Cracked #221 [1986]

Most of the Ditko's contributions to the long-running humour title CRACKED in the mid-1980s were short untitled stories in the "Robot War" series, like this 1-page job from #221, written by Mort Todd. I'm not sure if "Robot War" was something that other artists did as well for the series or it was unique to Ditko. Anyone?

I've only read this one chapter, but it seems the feature is MAD's "Spy vs. Spy", only with robots. In this case, a large robot chases a smaller one, who has dropped a book on transforming, in the sense that those toys from the 1980s that just won't go away did. Seeing the book, the large robot knows to be suspicious of anything the other robot could be disguised as, and finding a gun acts accordingly. But wasn't quite suspicious enough.

Very cute gag, and Ditko's work sells it nicely. The artwork is on what I think is called duotone paper (of maybe craftint), a look seemingly favoured by CRACKED (especially their main artist John Severin), and Ditko works nicely with the tones, using them for some neat visuals with the sound effects and backgrounds.

Cracked #226 [1987]

Ditko was a regular contributor to Globe Communications' CRACKED briefly in the mid-1980s, usually doing just one or two page stories in a series called "Robot War" (which seems to be Spy vs. Spy, but with robots). He also did a few longer parody stories, such as this 5-page version of the cartoon Thundercats called, naturally enough, "Blundercats". The story, by Mike Carlin, is no great shakes, might make more sense if I was familiar with the characters at all, and does get a few points for featuring a Krazy Kat reference. Ditko does make the best of it, doing that great ink-wash style that he often did when working for black&white magazines, and his characters are nicely expressive and animated, and some really creative use of sound effects to direct the eye and add to the humour.

I haven't seen them, but a bit later Ditko also did several short stories for Globe's MONSTERS ATTACK title.