Splash - The Frog-Man

Sometimes these are just plain weird...

Strange Tales #104 [1963]

Splash - It Was Only A Simple Barber Shop... Or Was It?

originally from Tales of Suspense #29 [1962]

Splash - Great Zeus

I love the framing pure black clouds on this one. It's impossible to choose a favourite Ditko splash from these shorts, but this is a contender.

originally from Amazing Adult Fantasy #13 [1962]

Splash - The Thing Behind the Wall

originally from Journey Into Mystery #66 [1961]

Splash - Quogg

First in a series of Ditko splash pages I'll be posting until I get back in the swing of regular posts here.

originally from Tales to Astonish #30 [1962]

Ditko in 2007 wrapup

Hey all. I know posting on here had come to an unscheduled halt. No promises, but that might change soon. Anyway, thought I'd drop by for a quick note on recent Ditko publications. 2007 was a good year for Ditko reprints, with three major books featuring all of his Spider-man stories, dozens of short fantasy stories (some never reprinted before) and the remainder of his Charlton stories acquired by DC (Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, the Question). Plus a few more minor things. Oh, and a BBC documentary that got some good reviews. I should watch that some day...

2008 should see some major stuff, such as a volume which will include all of his 1960s work on the Hulk, and another with his few Iron Man stories (both to go with movies of the characters. Can we get someone to do a Speedball movie? Shade, maybe? Starman, even? Doctor Mayavale?).

Upcoming Ditko - New Gods story

Well, here was a bit of a surprise. The Ditko story was announced as backup done for Simonson's ORION series back around 2000, but for whatever reason was never used. Good to see it seeing the light of day. Some other contents of the book are pretty good, as well (the Evanier/Rude/Royer MISTER MIRACLE story, in particular).

---

TALES OF THE NEW GODS TP

Written by Mark Evanier, John Byrne, Walter Simonson, Jeph Loeb and others
Art by Steve Rude, Byrne, Simonson, Frank Miller, Dave Gibbons, Arthur Adams, Erik Larsen and others
Cover by Walter Simonson

Don't miss this new volume featuring the greatest New Gods stories by a Who's Who of all-star creators! Recognized as one of Jack Kirby's greatest creations, the New Gods now play an integral role in the DC Universe. Rediscover the classic tales of young Scott Free, Darkseid, Orion and more in this softcover collecting stories from Mister Miracle Special, Jack Kirby's Fourth World #2-20, and Orion #3-4, #6-8, #10, #12, #15, #18-19! Plus, a never-before-published short story by writer Mark Millar with art by Steve Ditko & Mick Gray!

on sale January 23 168 pg, FC, $19.99 US

--Link-- Evanier on Ditko

Mark Evanier has a pair of entries on Ditko's 1960s departure from Marvel, here and here, initiated by some comments on the upcoming Jonathan Ross documentary that you can read about here.