Unusual Tales - List of Unreprinted 1957-1959 Stories

As far as I know, the following stories Ditko drew for Charlton from 1957 to 1959 have never been reprinted (as of October 2009), either by Charlton or any of the numerous publishers who have reprinted stories from that era since. I've posted all of them in the "Unusual Tales" series

"The Man Who Could Never Be Killed" 6 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #31 [1957]
"A World Where I Was King" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #3 [1957]
"Gavin's Stupid Mule" 5 pages - Fightin' Army #20 [1957]
"Secret Mission" 5 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #3 [1957]
"Forbidden Room" 9 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #4 [1957]
"Valley In The Mist" 6 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #4 [1957]
"The Only One" 5 pages - Texas Rangers in Action #8 [1957]
"His Fate" 4 pages - This Magazine Is Haunted #12 [1957]
"The Menace Of The Maple Leaves" 8 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #33 [1957]
"Forever And Ever" 6 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #33 [1957]
"The Man Who Lost His Face" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #34 [1957]
"Clairvoyance" 5 pages - Unusual Tales #9 [1957]
"Where Is Kubar?" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #6 [1957]
"Look Deep Into My Eyes" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #6 [1957]
"Panic" 6 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #35 [1957]
"Never Again" 5 pages - Unusual Tales #10 [1958]
"The Repair Man From Nowhere" 6 pages - Unusual Tales #10 [1958]
"The Edge Of Fear" 5 pages - Unusual Tales #10 [1958]
"The Angry Things" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #7 [1958]
"The Cheapest Steak In Nome" 2 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #7 [1958]
"Second Hand" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #7 [1958]
"Journey To Paradise" 5 pages - Out of This World #7 [1958]
"Through The Walls" 5 pages - Out of This World #7 [1958]
"Not Normal" 5 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #7 [1958]
"The Man From Time" 5 pages - This Magazine Is Haunted #16 [1958]
"The Dancing Cat" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #37 [1958]
"A Matter Of Luck" 5 pages - Unusual Tales #12 [1958]
"First On Mercury" 5 pages - Outer Space #18 [1958]
"For Amusement Only" 5 pages - Outer Space #18 [1958]
"Assignment Treason" 5 pages - Outer Space #18 [1958]
"Repair Stop" 4 pages - Outer Space #18 [1958]
"Lure Of The Maiden" 5 pages - Robin Hood And His Merry Men #38 [1958]
"The First Satellite" 5 pages - Space Adventures #25 [1958]
"The Perfect Forecaster" 5 pages - Out of This World #10 [1958]
"What Are The Flying Saucers?" 5 pages - Outer Space #19 [1958]
"The Strange Asteroid" 5 pages - Outer Space #19 [1958]
"Ten Billion B.C." 7 pages - Outer Space #19 [1958]
"The Fiery Feud" 6 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #24 [1958]
"The Joke" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #10 [1958]
"Forbidden Planet" 2 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #10 [1958]
"One Way Trip" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #10 [1958]
"The Strange One" 2 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #10 [1958]
"Mystery From Mars" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #39 [1958]
"Glow Of Woe" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #39 [1958]
"Orgo Serves!" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #39 [1958]
"Doorway Into Tomorrow" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #39 [1958]
"They Say It's Haunted" 5 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #39 [1958]
"Who Knows?" 5 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #10 [1958]
"Little Boy Blue" 6 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #10 [1958]
"The Statues That Came To Life" 6 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #10 [1958]
"Misfits" 5 pages - Outer Space #20 [1958]
"Horse Hunter's Bait" 5 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #25 [1958]
"A Remembered Friend" 2 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #25 [1958]
"Storm's Warning" 5 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #25 [1958]
"A Visit To Planet 3" 5 pages - Space Adventures #26 [1958]
"The Men From Hsin-Chiu" 5 pages - Space Adventures #26 [1958]
"Menace From The Moon" 5 pages - Space Adventures #26 [1958]
"Return From Saturn" 5 pages - Space Adventures #26 [1958]
"The Greater Life" 5 pages - Unusual Tales #14 [1958]
"Stranger In The Herd" 5 pages - Black Fury #17 [1959]
"The Tenderfoot And The Outlaw" 5 pages - Black Fury #17 [1959]
"The Colt Born To Trouble" 5 pages - Black Fury #17 [1959]
"The Mountain That Was" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #11 [1959]
"The Time Chamber" 5 pages - Out of This World #11 [1959]
"The Careless Man" 2 pages - Out of This World #11 [1959]
"Help Wanted" 7 pages - Outlaws Of The West #18 [1959]
"The Phantom Spring" 5 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #26 [1959]
"The Merciless Mesa" 5 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #26 [1959]
"The Strange Machine" 7 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #40 [1959]
"Such A Strange Case" 2 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #40 [1959]
"Casy's Kiss" 2 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #40 [1959]
"The Other Form" 7 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #11 [1959]
"Valley Of Eternity" 7 pages - Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #11 [1959]
"The House That Cheered Up" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #12 [1959]
"A Lost Dimension" 5 pages - Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #12 [1959]
"Pursued" 3 pages - Black Fury #18 [1959]
"Strange Country" 5 pages - Black Fury #18 [1959]
"Off Limits" 2 pages - Strange Suspense Stories #41 [1959]
"The Silver-Tip Outlaw" 7 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #27 [1959]
"The Last Waterhole" 5 pages - Rocky Lane's Black Jack #28 [1959]
"The Little Things" 5 pages - Out of This World #16 [1959]

Unusual Tales - Ditko Stories 1957-1959 Introduction

So, to sum up, Ditko made his comic debut in 1953, and then in 1954 became a prolific regular at Charlton Comics, including many classic covers. Then he had only a single story and cover published in 1955. Most of those stories can be read here.

In 1956 his work began appearing in various stories at Atlas/Marvel, a total of 17 stories from April 1956 to April 1957. List of those stories and the few reprints of them over here. No full stories, I hear those incoming mice are litigious...

At around the time the last of those was appearing, his work returned to Charlton's pages for a much longer run than his first time around. He'd also later return to Marvel in late 1958, while continuing to work at Charlton.

This series of posts will, eventually, cover all of Ditko's non-Marvel work from 1957-1959, which means mostly work at Charlton, though there is an oddity in there that we'll get to eventually. That's just over 200 stories, a bit over 1000 pages, plus about 40 covers (I'll leave the numbers vague since you never know what new information will pop up). That's a busy three years by any measure, and don't forget he also did almost 200 pages for Marvel in that span, full pencils and inks on almost everything.

(Note the 1959 cut-off is arbitrary. He did continue for Charlton beyond that, although his work was increasingly for on-going features like Captain Atom, Konga and Gorgo. There are about 30 non-series stories from 1960-1962 that I'll include in another series if I ever finish this one, and hundreds more from 1966-1978 that I won't)

No promises on frequency, but I'll try to get everything I can posted in less time than it took Ditko to draw them. I'll probably post them in pretty much random order (though I'll provide a chronological list), with a bias towards never-reprinted stories first.

A list of stories posted is over here. 
Part one, unreprinted stories, wrap-up (notes, highlights), here.

Ditko in 1956

As discussed previously, Steve Ditko broke into comics with some stories scattered around multiple publishers in 1953, and then settled in to quickly become a regular in Charlton's various comics in 1954, including many covers. After that, he only had a single story and cover published by Charlton in 1955. That brings the tally for his first three calendar years in comics to 209 interior pages and 20 covers. In addition he's known to have worked on the backgrounds for some 3-D comics, and some people see traces of his hand in a few other stories of the time, but nothing confirmed.

That brings us to 1956, April going by the cover dates, when Ditko's artwork returned to the racks, this time from Atlas, the company now known as Marvel. Atlas would end up publishing 17 Ditko stories over the next year, almost all 4-page, for a total of 67 pages (not unlike his first stint at Charlton, the last one would be a straggler, coming out in April of 1957, five months after the previous story, possibly held in inventory as various business matters meant that Atlas had a lot of stories and few titles to run them in so stopped buying freelance work for a while).

And while his prior work, when signed at all was usually just signed "Ditko" (or in one case "S.J. Ditko"), a few of these stories finally gave us a full first name for the artist.

There'll Be Some Changes Made 4 pages - Journey Into Mystery #33 [1956] - H858
March Has 32 Days 4 pages - Mystery Tales #40 [1956] - H983
The Night Visitor 4 pages - Journey Into Unknown Worlds #45 [1956] - H929
The Greatest Experiment 4 pages - Strange Tales #46 [1956] - J148
The Badmen 4 pages - Two-Gun Western #4 [1956] - J382
The Vanishing Martians 4 pages - Marvel Tales #147 [1956] - J486
Who Lurks Down There 4 pages - World Of Suspense #2 [1956] - J405
None Are So Blind 4 pages - Spellbound #29 [1956] - J523
The Moving Stairs 4 pages - Strange Tales Of The Unusual #5 [1956] - J636
Build Me A Machine 4 pages - Astonishing #53 [1956] - J911
Those Who Vanish 4 pages - Journey Into Mystery #38 [1956] - J918
No Bars Could Hold Him 3 pages - Mystery Tales #45 [1956] - K307
The Fog That Couldn't Lift 4 pages - Strange Tales #50 [1956] - K30
The Mystery Man 4 pages - World Of Mystery #3 [1956] - K344
The Faceless Man 4 pages - Journey Into Unknown Worlds #51 [1956] - K405
When They Wake Up 4 pages - Mystery Tales #47 [1956] - K516
The Most Dangerous Man In The World 4 pages - World Of Mystery #6 [1957] - L653



Unfortunately Marvel has almost completely ignored Ditko's work of that era in reprints, with the exception of a single reprint of the first story in the 1990s, thanks to Mort Todd's stint as an editor there, "There'll Be Some Changes Made" in CURSE OF THE WEIRD #4 [1994]. Fortunately, a few more were reprinted in Pure Imagination's STEVE DITKO - EDGE OF GENIUS [2008] ("There'll Be Some Changes Made", "The Night Visitor", "No Bars Could Hold Him" and "Who Lurks Down There"). Hopefully at some point Marvel will see the wisdom of collecting those 67 pages in a single book.

Anyway, from what I've seen those stories are pretty good, with the sharp detailed artwork, some great faces and backgrounds and stories that sometimes rise above the mundane. Definitely a collection I'd like to see.

With that out of the way, coming soon, Son of It Stalks the Public Domain (or whatever I decide to call it), a series of posts featuring Ditko's non-Marvel work from 1957 to 1959.

[I settled on Unusual Tales]

Mr. A. Bibliography, 4th draft

Robin Snyder has gotten some additional information on the first printings of Ditko's Mr. A material over the last four decades, and provided this update. As you can see, there are still a number of question marks, so if you have any old fanzines or know anyone who does please pass this on and comment here or contact Robin directly if you have any leads.

Hey, blogger added "read more" jumps? Cool. Let's give that a try...
(some template editing later...) Okay, now. Let me know if that doesn't work.

Mr. A, 4th draft

Big Boy #470 [1997]

BIG BOY was a long-running give-away comic produced for the restaurant chain of the same name since 1956 (with some of the early issues even being produced by Marvel). Ditko's path didn't intersect with the character at that point, but in the 1990s, when Craig Yoe's YOE! Studio took over production, Ditko was brought in to do an issue, #470 published in 1997.

Ditko got quite a warm welcome, with a "Special Steve Ditko issue" blurb above the logo on the cover, and a mention on the inside cover (using his ink-bottle head self portrait from the cover of FANTASTIC GIANTS #24 [1966]) mentioning his history with Spider-Man and Doctor Strange and urging you to check out his then-current series (that turned out to be a one-shot) STRANGE AVENGING TALES.

After that, we get the 5-page story "The Amazingly Incredibly Improbable Journey" written by Craig Boldman, penciled by Ditko and inked by Luke McDonnell.  Big Boy's friend Professor Fineman has invented a robot dog which he leaves in Big Boy's care while he goes to a conference in Hawaii.  Of course the robot goes rogue and runs away, forcing Big Boy and his dog Nugget to go chasing cross-country, and cross-ocean, after it, seeing the various transformations it's capable of along the way.

An interesting curiosity in Ditko's career, among the last handful of commercial jobs he did.  Obviously this is something that was done to a house style, and Ditko apparently stuck pretty close to Boldman's layouts for the story in addition to that, but you can definitely see some signs of him in the artwork, especially in the hands.  The story itself is pretty much a good variation on the classic Richie Rich type story (without the money fetish), which kind of makes me wonder what it would have looked like if Ditko had gotten some work for Harvey Comics back in the day.  And then I think it's a shame that while he was doing some super-hero work for Archie he didn't also do some Little Archie stories, or maybe some issues of Jughead or Sabrina.

I've never been sure about the credits for the covers of this issue, with a colour front cover and a black and white colouring page on the back, both based on the story.  The front I think Ditko might have had a hand in, maybe a bit more heavily inked, or with a tighter layout, than the interior pages.  The backcover I'm more inclined to think had minimal, if any, Ditko involvement, though I can't put my finger on why I think that.  If you have a copy, let me know what you think.

--Link-- Ditkomania editor interviewed

Michael Aushenker's interviews DITKOMANIA editor Rob Imes over at the Cartoon Flophouse.

Upcoming Ditko - More INDIANA JONES reprints

Dark Horse has another volume of reprints of Marvel's Indiana Jones comics of the 1980s on the schedule. Ditko did eight of them total, based on the page counts it looks like the first one (#21) will be in Volume 2 (which should be out soon) and the other seven (#25-#28, #32-#34) will be in Volume 3.

---

INDIANA JONES OMNIBUS: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES VOLUME 3
Linda Grant (W), David Michelinie (W), Steve Ditko (A), Ricardo Villamonte (A), Bret Blevins (A), and others
On sale Mar 17
FC, 344
$24.99
TPB, 6" x 9"
The globetrotting hero born of George Lucas’s love for high-adventure 1930s fiction returns! Irreverent archaeologist Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones scours the furthest corners of the planet for priceless artifacts, hungry for knowledge about ancient civilizations and in a constant race to beat grave-robbing thieves to the goods. Though his quick wit, resourcefulness, and dashing good looks have gotten him this far, what happens when his Nazi foes attempt to wake the dead through sorcery? Join Steve Ditko and Linda Grant in this value-priced collection to find out!
• This volume also includes the official comics adaptation of The Last Crusade!

--Link-- Recent Ditko reviewed

Rodrigo Baeza picked up some of the recent Ditko comics and reviews two of them over on his site, with some well chosen sample pages. I guess at this point it would be redundant to tell you where to go for info on picking them up yourself if you don't have access to a store that carries them...

Oh, and I needed to get a Twitter thing a while ago to read something on the site, and decided I might as well use it for something, so I've been posting various links on there for the last week or so tagged "Daily Ditko". Usually links to older posts on this site, or today a link to the review above,or whatever else seems fitting. If you're so inclined.