Upcoming Ditko - Djinn in COYOTE reprint

Steve Englehart continues to reprint his 1980s COYOTE series through Image later this year, including the Djinn back-up with Ditko pencils that ran in #7 - #10. I'm not sure if all four chapters will be in this book.

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COYOTE VOL. 3 TP
April 19, 2006 128 pg Full Colour $12.99

written by STEVE ENGLEHART
art by CHAZ TRUOG, STEVE DITKO, STEVE LEIALOHA & BOB WIACEK
cover by CHAZ TRUOG

Coyote's wormed his way deep into the Shadow Cabinet, and things are going so good that a Trickster just knows things have to go bad. What he thought was deep is barely scratching the surface, though, and by the time this latest adventure is are over, he's raced the ghost of James Dean, fought the legendary X-Caliber, spooked the Dark Cardinal and had half his brain removed by a Venusian. (Allegedly!) And he doesn't even know that the Djinn is having his own adventure, drawn by Spider-Man co-creator and comics legend STEVE DITKO in a series devised especially for the pasha of paranoia.

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.

Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #12 [1978]

In the late 1970s, a bunch of complete Charlton comics were reprinted with a "Modern" logo on the cover. This is one such comic, reprinting the original MANY GHOSTS OF DOCTOR GRAVES #12 from 1969, including an 11-page Ditko story. Doctor Graves is a kind of interesting character. He seems to clearly be based on Doctor Strange, although from what I've seen for most of his history he just served as one of the many interchangeable hosts for the Charlton fantasy/horror titles. From what I can tell, he first shows up in GHOSTLY TALES right around the time Ditko left Doctor Strange, but he's drawn by Ernie Bache, in short 3-page stories. Ditko did later draw some stories with the character, apparently only five or so with him as an active character and others with him as the host. I'd be curious to read the other Ditko stories and the early non-Ditko stories to see if the Doc Strange elements were there from the beginning.

"The Ultimate Evil" is the only example of a story with Graves as an active participant that I have, and it very much feels like something meant for Strange, with his fancy garb replaced with a business suit. He's even based in Greenwich Village, New York. In this story, he detects an evil astral force approaching Earth and sends out his spirit form to stop it. Unfortunately he fails when the evil force detects no weakness in Graves, and decides to destroy the Earth if it can't conquer it. Graves is just barely able to project his spirit back in time to warn himself and better plan for the battle.

This would have been a very good Doctor Strange story, and the visuals are easily up there with some of the classic Strange stuff of a few years earlier. Unfortunately the writing isn't at the level of those and that had a lot to do with setting the mood and sense of menace of those stories.

The cover is a collage of four panels taken from the story.

"The Ultimate Evil" B-1858

Detective Comics #487 [1979]

The Odd Man was intended to be a back-up feature for Ditko's SHADE series starting with #9. When that was cancelled, the issue was semi-published as part of the photocopied CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2 in 1978, along with many other cancelled books. Unlike the majority of the contents of those photocopies, the Odd Man story did eventually run for real, in slightly modified form, the following year. Among the changes, the original title, "The Pharoah And The Mummies" is removed, adding a brief blurb about the character, and numerous changes are made in the script.

As you can see, the name of the character is apt, very odd. We don't find out too much about the character in this initial and only story, even with the added blurb, except that he's really Clay Stoner, private investigator in River City, and he's handy with the gadgets. At the beginning of the story he's questioning a fence in a topsy-turvy room, with no information given about whether it's that way from trickery or some powers Clay has.

Not a great thing, but could have been with more time to develop, and would have been a nice counterpart to the more serious goings-on in the main SHADE stories. One of the things I wonder while reading it is if Ditko was a fan of the 1960s Batman TV series, since parts of it do seem like a comics homage to the style of that show, especially the villains.

"The Odd Man" J-6354

Monsters on the Prowl #9 [1971]

Ditko very rarely inked the work of other pencillers. The major exception to this is Jack Kirby (I know of under a half-dozen non-Kirby examples), whose work he inked on a few dozen stories and covers at Marvel between 1959 and 1963, including several monster stories and a few scattered super-hero stories. It's a pretty pleasing combination, not how I'd want to see all Kirby stuff inked, but usually enjoyable, and very well suited to Kirby's style at the time.

Two of the stories, both 7-pagers, are reprinted in this 1971 comic. "I Discovered Gorgilla", from TALES TO ASTONISH #12 (1960) is a classic of the giant monster genre, taking more than a few cues from KING KONG as a group of scientists travel to Borneo to find the remains of a "missing link" between man and ape, only to discover native traditions of a living intelligent ape-man in a fenced off area. They find Gorgilla, who rescues them from a dinosaur, and decide to leave him be in gratitude, rather than cart him off to New York (but there's still a sequel to come, although without Ditko).

"Kraggoom", from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #78 (1962) is more suited to Ditko's inks, being a moody science-fiction drama about a creature lurking in space, waiting for mankind to venture beyond the Earth so it can possess and control someone and conquer the world. Unfortunately for Kraggoom, the man chosen for the mission is an unqualified spoiled rich jerk, who bought and cheated his way to the mission. He panics just as Kraggoom possesses him, effectively forgetting everything and trapping Kraggoom. A close call for mankind. A lot to like in this one, Ditko's inks bring out the menace of the shapeless lurking creature nicely, as well as the arrogance of the astronaut.

Strange Tales #139 [1965]

 Ditko's final year on Doctor Strange is some of his best work ever, 10-page segments of pure magic every month. "Beware...! Dormammu Is Watching" is right in the heart of that run, a great chapter in the saga. As Strange returns from his quest for Eternity, he finds that Mordo, working for and powered by the Dread Dormammu, has taken the Ancient One prisoner. What follows is an epic magical battle, while Dormammu, the Ancient One and the as-yet-unnamed Clea look on, amazingly drawn by Ditko.

As you can see by the choice of close-up scans, one of the things I love about this story is the way Ditko would draw hands, especially of anyone engaged in casting magic spells. I don't believe in magic, but I know in my heart that if it did exist, it would have to be accompanied by hand gestures straight out of the Ditko playbook.

Lots of other classic Ditko bits in this page, from that weird hair on Clea, and the worried look on her face to the disheveled hair on Doc in the last panel. I think I even catch a hint of a Ditko sneer on Dormammu in the third panel, and that's an impressive thing to manage with that character design.

Journey Into Mystery #59 [1960]

Before the super-heroes took over, Ditko spent years at Marvel doing fantasy stories, several hundred of them, most 5-pages long, such as "The Revenge Of The Wooden Woman".

It starts with a wonderful splash of a boat breaking against rocks while, in the background, the head of a woman with wood textures is seen. The only problem is that this page shows the abysmal state of comic colouring/printing at the time. Put any sort of light on this, and the piece is destroyed by ugly splotches of colour (which is why I like b&w reprints of Ditko's Charlton work of the era). The story is simple. An old man, owns a ship with a female figurehead named Valkyrie, which he talks to. One day, the ship is attacked by pirates, the crew is left in the lifeboat with hardly any supplies. The pirates can't control the ship, it crashes, leaving the pirates stranded. They even comment on the irony that the are "left with no hope, even as our victims were". Always good when pirates understand irony. Meanwhile, Valkyrie floats before another ship, and leads them to the lifeboat. We also find out the Valkyrie's features are fashioned after the captain's late wife. As the men are rescued, they see the wooden woman sink beneath the waves, now with a smile on her face.

The story is your basic, somewhat predictable, sailor's folktale. What makes it special is Ditko. From the nice splash, to the typical Ditko weathered old man. Many of the panels are all coloured in just plain shades of blue (to indicate fog), and make me wish the whole thing was like that, or better, in b&w. Ditko faces always show emotion, even when made of wood. Ditko figures are always in motion. And now I know he can do pretty good boats, too. Is there nothing this man could not do?

Ditko also inks the cover, over Jack Kirby pencils, a great giant monster attacking a village with fleeing people in the foreground.

"The Revenge Of The Wooden Woman" T-717

Daughters of Time 3-D [1991]

Unlike some artists of his stature, it's pretty rare to see Ditko do covers for books where he didn't do the interior art, and almost all the examples that there are come from Charlton and often not really related to any interior story or feature. One of those rare exceptions is DAUGHTERS OF TIME 3-D, a 1991 book published by 3-D Zone and created by frequent Ditko collaborator Jack C. Harris. Kurt Schaffenberger designed the characters and was the interior artist for the book, and he also inked the Ditko cover, which also appears on the back-cover with 3-D effects. I really like the design of the piece, very well suited for the 3-D theme even without the actual effect (and I can barely see actual 3-D comics), as well as the goofy nature of the feature, and Schaffenberger's inks look really nice with the Ditko.