Unusual Tales - The Conquered Earth

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

The 6-page story "The Conquered Earth" is from Charlton's OUT OF THIS WORLD #4 [1957].

Alien invasion time, with a dramatic opening panel of the giant saucers attacking Earth.  The hero of this story is Hal Douglas, who gets sent out to meet an alien ship detected approaching Earth.  The green skinned aliens aren't overly friendly though, and it's up to Douglas and his fiancee Paula to figure out their secret.

The story fizzles a bit from the dramatic opening, but some decent work by Ditko in here.  Hal Douglas seems to be another one of those one-shot heroes looking for an on-going feature that pop up in these 1950s stories a lot.

Some links to check out:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
New issue out now
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
Slightly short of complete Doctor Strange colour reprint later this year
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

Click to enbiggen

Unusual Tales - Flying Dutchman

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"Flying Dutchman" is a 6-page Ditko drawn story from Charlton's OUT OF THIS WORLD #4 [1957].

Two sailors survive an attack on their ship, but the ship they hope will be their salvation turns out to be the Flying Dutchman of nautical legend.

Ditko did quite a few sea-based stories back in the 1950s, and it's easy to see from this story why he'd be assigned such scripts. He just does a gorgeous job with the ships, the waves and the period clothing.

Before the story, some links:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
Halloween issue next
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
CREEPER hardcover now available
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

As this story appears in the Snyder/Ditko KONGA #25 [2018], I'm only including the first page below.

Unusual Tales - Escape [1]

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"Escape" is a 5-page story from Charlton's TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #4 [1957], not to be confused with the later 4-page story titled "Escape" from UNUSUAL TALES #9 [1957], also drawn by Ditko.

This is the story of a former airforce pilot now working as a soldier-of-fortune in Guatemala and the adventure that led to the opening scene of him broke in New York with a devoted young servant.  A lot of story packed in these five pages.  One interesting bit, while most of the story is very text-heavy, that sequence with several silent panels on page two is really well done.

Some links to check out:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
New issue out now
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
Slightly short of complete Doctor Strange colour reprint later this year
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

As this story appears in Tales Of The Mysterious Traveler #27 [2018] from Snyder/Ditko, only the first page is included here.

Unusual Tales - Operation Blacksnake

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"Operation Blacksnake" is a 5-page Ditko story from TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #4 [1957].

This time around the Traveler sticks his giant head behind a story with less fantasy overtones than usual, as he tells us the tale of an American soldier called Sarge who is sent into the desert to defend an oil pipeline with only seven men against a anticipated strike by five hundred.

A very intense story with Ditko's art very much matching that mood, doing a great job with the Arabian clothing, the desert setting and the camels and horses.

Before the story, some links:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
Halloween issue next
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
CREEPER hardcover now available
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

As this story appears in the Snyder/Ditko published TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #19 [2016], I'm only including the first page below.

Clicky to biggy

Unusual Tales - Operation Blacksnake

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"Operation Blacksnake" is a 5-page Ditko story from TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #4 [1957].

This time around the Traveler sticks his giant head behind a story with less fantasy overtones than usual, as he tells us the tale of an American soldier called Sarge who is sent into the desert to defend an oil pipeline with only seven men against a anticipated strike by five hundred.

A very intense story with Ditko's art very much matching that mood, doing a great job with the Arabian clothing, the desert setting and the camels and horses.

Before the story, some links:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
Halloween issue next
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
CREEPER hardcover now available
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

As this story appears in the Snyder/Ditko published TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #19 [2016], I'm only including the first page below.

Clicky to biggy

Unusual Tales - The Decision

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"The Decision" is a quick 3-page short from Charlton's UNUSUAL TALES #8 [1957], a brief science fiction vignette about the distant future and how they deal with a problem presented by some experimental robots.  Decent little tale with some very nice work by Ditko on the robots.

Some links to check out:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
New issue out now
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
Slightly short of complete Doctor Strange colour reprint later this year
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

Click to enbiggen

Unusual Tales - The Last One

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"The Last One" is a 6-page story from Charlton's THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED #12 [1957].

A cute little story about the last of the centaurs emerging after thousands of years sealed in a cave, determined to get revenge on humanity for the strange malady that eliminated his species.

Very attractive art by Ditko on this one, from the storm on the first page to the despair and rage of the centaur as he reflects on the fate of his people.


Before the story, some links:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
Halloween issue next
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
CREEPER hardcover now available
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

Clicky to biggy

Unusual Tales - The Thing On The Beach

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

"The Thing On The Beach" is a 4-page story from Charlton's THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED #12 [1957]

A story possibly inspired by Jack Finney's then-recent "The Body Snatchers" story or its film adaptation, with the invasion force taking the form of a metal canister rather than pods.  Apparently the threat is real enough that it scares our narrator Dr. Haunt, who's not allowed to interfere, just observe and pass along these stories to us.  Fortunately, luck is on humanity's side, even if Dr. Haunt isn't.

Some gorgeous art by Ditko in this one, with the dramatic rough seas and a great shot of Dr. Haunt on the first page, and a great face on the old beachcomber who finds the canister.

This story appears in TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #32 [2020] from SD Publishing, so only the first page is previewed below.

Some links to check out:
Buy Ditko's creator-owned work
New material and classic reprints
Find out about the fanzine DITKOMANIA
New issue out now
Check out new and upcoming Ditko publications
Slightly short of complete Doctor Strange colour reprint later this year
Download public domain comics, likely including the one this story is from
Scans in this series generally adapted to my personal tastes from those copies

Click to enbiggen