Ghostly Haunts #50 [1976]

The lead story in this issue is the 6-page "Banquo's Ghost" written by Don Glut and drawn by Ditko. As the more literary minded among you might have already guessed, this is a ghost story involving Shakespeare's Macbeth, specifically a stage presentation of the play which gets interrupted by a ghost, leading to the theatre being shut down and the star having a breakdown.  Ten years later, they decide to re-open the theatre, and bring back the star who desperately needs the work, only to find out what the secret of the ghost is on opening night.

A nice little story by Glut, using a lot of lines from the play to good effect. Artistically this is about average for Ditko's work for Charlton in this era, solidly telling the story but not having a strong visual hook to make it stand out, but also much sharper than some of the stuff with went out with less detailed inks.

Closing out this issue is some more Ditko, a 1-page feature called "Are Zombies Real?", which postulates that the "walking dead" of legends are really just victims of voodoo priests who put people into death-like trances and then dig up and partly revive the bodies. Makes sense to me.  Some good spooky artwork by Ditko make it more than your average filler.

--Link-- Review of new Ditko books

Artist Javier Hernandez has some words of appreciation for the new series of Ditko comics that have come out in the last year, in particular the new character in the latest one, Miss Eerie.

New Ditko - Ditkomania #74 available

Rob Imes has announced that that latest issue of DITKOMANIA, #74 focusing on Ditko's work at DC, with a vintage Shade illustration for the cover, is ready and should be on its way to subscribers this week. Info on how to become one of those subscribers, or just order a single issue, are over here, as usual. This is the eleventh issue since the revival last year.

I have my copy now, and it's a very enjoyable issue. I've been reading a lot of Ditko's DC work recently, and this gave me an interesting perspective on a lot of it.

Pacific Presents #3 [1984]

This issue features the fourth and final Missing Man story from the 1980s, the 18-page "Am I Maro, Roma, or Raem?", scripted by Robin Snyder. Security consultant Syd Mane happens to be on-hand when a conflicted half-robotic man attacks the offices and computers of Mr. Wrds, which Syd manages to minimize both as the Missing Man and as himself, fighting the attacker and using his computer skills to prevent a programming contradiction that threatens the integrity of the data in the computers.  The half-robot turns out to be a former employee of Wrds, Raem Lanet, who has been in an accident which destroyed half his body and introduced a contradiction in his mind, and Syd has to see if he can be stopped and if he can be saved.

A nice little story, I think my favourite of the Missing Man tales, with a nice integration of Ditko's favourite philosophical themes (with a nod to Aristotle and the Law of Identity) with a solid action story with a lot of clever visuals, including Missing Man's design and a very effective use of close-ups and lettering effects in the climax.

All the original Missing Man material was reprinted with some revisions (adding some shading for the black and white reprint) and some new stories in the still available 1999 collection.

Haunted #12 [1973]

Ditko draws the 8-page story "Eternal Love" in this 1973 Charlton release. A pretty standard story about a girl who sees a ghost, who turns out to be a man who died in that house 200 years earlier in the arms of his beloved, who happens to have the same name and face as her. Later she meets and falls in love with a boy who seems somewhat familiar. Actually, the story seems to be missing a few bits of explanation, not sure if the reader is just expected to take them for granted given how common the plot is or what.

In any case, it's the Ditko artwork that I'm more interested in here, and it does shine in a few scenes. I especially like the figure of the ghost on the bottom of page six, reaching out and with a single tear. It's also always fun to see Ditko's renditions of the host of this story, the ghostly Imp, who often seems really excited or fascinated by the story he's telling.

New Ditko - DITKO PRESENTS

First sighting of the latest Ditko release, DITKO PRESENTS.  As usual, ordering info direct from co-publisher Robin Snyder is over here, along with the list of other Ditko publications he has available.

Upcoming Ditko - S&K reprints

It's the smallest on many dozen reasons to buy this upcoming book, but among the 480 pages in Titan's THE SIMON AND KIRBY SUPERHEROES in 2010 is a newly coloured reprint of the team's CAPTAIN 3-D #1, which young Steve Ditko assisted on with Mort Meskin. Details here.

Upcoming Ditko - PRESENTS update and more

 

Courtesy of Robin Snyder, I now have a better look at the cover to the upcoming DITKO PRESENTS, as well as a preview of the cover of the Ditko book to follow, A DITKO ACT TWO. I've also added a few details on some earlier comics Robin has available, including a great book of KONGA reprints.

Details over here, as usual. Retailers are encouraged to contact Robin Snyder for wholesale terms.