--Link-- Interesting STRANGE AND STRANGER comments

Mike DeLisa has some fascinating comments on the recent STRANGE AND STRANGER. I agree with most, not quite all, of it, and recommend it to anyone who has or is about to read the book. And bonus points for I think being the first person reviewing the book to use the phrase "Lazlo's Hammer"...

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6 [1986]

Hey, a character who actually debuted in a comic book that Ditko drew, and that Ditko presumably might have had a hand in designing. Go figure. Anyway, the character first appeared in Ditko's final issue of MACHINE MAN some years before this, and subsequently became a Spider-Man villain. Pretty cool design, overall. I always did wonder, though, given the similarities in design, if there was some intention to use the Green Goblin in that story, changed for understandable reasons. The comparison isn't helped by the character subsequently becoming an even more blatant Green Goblin derivative, the Hobgoblin (a fact which made his first appearance harder to find at a reasonable price back around the time I was first getting Ditko MACHINE MAN back issues).

As usual for this series, Joe Rubinstein provides the inks.

Ditko on... Criminal rationale

Something a bit more light-hearted this time...

Speaking of Creepy...

The following illustration appeared in a previous collection of reprints from the mag, CREEPY THE CLASSIC YEARS [1991]:

Looks like it could have been intended as a letter column header or some similar purpose.  Does anyone know if it actually ever appeared in the magazine, or anywhere else prior to the 1991 book?

Update, Robin Snyder informs me that he was preparing a CREEPY revamp for Harris, including creators like Richard Corben, Henry Boltinoff, Rudy Nebres, Pat Boyette and Robert Kanigher, and the Ditko header was done for the first issue of that.

Upcoming Ditko - DH's Creepy and PI's Edge of Genius

Dark Horse's reprints of the 1960s Warren horror mags gets to some Ditko in CREEPY v2 late this year, namely "The Spirit Of The Thing" and "Collector's Edition" from #9 and #10 respectively, the latter sometimes cited as Ditko's best of his 16 stories for Warren, or even best ever. Presumably a volume of EERIE will follow shortly, with several more tales. I keep hoping they'll do some artist-specific books, since spreading Ditko's 117 pages across five $50 hardcovers isn't ideal.

As previously mentioned, Pure Imagination has a volume of early Ditko work, along with some work by his studio-mate Eric Stanton.

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CREEPY ARCHIVES VOLUME 2
Archie Goodwin (W), Larry Ivie (W), Gray Morrow (P/Cover), Reed Crandall (P), Alex Toth (P), Al Williamson (P), and others

On sale Dec 10
b&w, 288 pages $49.95
HC, 8 3/8" x 10 7/8"

This vein-chilling second volume showcases work by some of the best artists to ever work in the comics medium, including Alex Toth, Gray Morrow, Reed Crandall, John Severin, and others. Each archive volume of Creepy is packed with stories (usually up to eight short stories were featured in every issue!) running the gamut of gruesome subject matter, from reimagined horror classics such as The Cask of Amontillado, to spectacularly mind-twisting shorts such as The Thing in the Pit, or the macabre maritime yarn Drink Deep. This volume collects Creepy #6-10.

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STEVE DITKO: EDGE OF GENIUS SC
by Steve Ditko

Steve Ditko fans will be enthralled by this collection of 160 pages of his earliest work! Super-rare stories from 1954 and 1955 run the gamut from crime and humor to horror and science fiction. Also included is a previously unknown 30-page serial with Eric Stanton.

SC, 8x11, 160pgs, B&W $25.00

Substance #1 [1990]

SUBSTANCE was a concept created by Jack C. Harris and Steve Ditko, published for two issues in 1990 by Ray Zone's 3-D Zone. Zone also does the 3-D rendering, of course. The series stars Justin Smith, a district attorney who for reasons unexplained in the first issue has an "illumination netting" which allows him to turn invisible by bending light around him, with the limitation that he can't remain motionless for more than 15 seconds without turning visible. He uses this power to gather evidence against criminals who would otherwise get off unpunished for their crimes.

This first issue has a cover by Ditko, which is also printed as the 2-page centerspread, rendered in 3-D, and a 10-page Substance story, "The Spirit of Justice", where Smith has a case go sour, first from a recanting witness, then some evidence rejected by a judge since it was found in a car not covered by the search warrant. So Smith goes invisible as Substance to get some more evidence, including some which implicates the judge.

Also in here is a 1-page feature with the main characters and concept of the series (apparently evidence obtained "illegally" can be used as long as the police don't know it was acquired illegally. Yeah, I know, that might not actually be the case in most places in the real world), the black and white pin-up I chose as the page to illustrate this post, since I don't think the 3-D would translate to a scan, but just in case, put on your glasses now (glasses not included with post):

And the backcover is an enlarged panel from the main story illustrating the general concept.

Harris also provides an introduction, explaining his background with Ditko, first as a fan, then as a writer or editor on various projects at DC (Shade, Creeper, short sci-fi and mystery stories), then Star Guider in REVOLVER, pitching various proposals to publishers after that didn't get picked up until this one. Man, to see those proposals....

Anyway, this provides a good little taste of the concept, and Ditko's art looks pretty sharp, a bit more sparse than his normal for this kind of thing, but that might be for the 3-D. I can't really see 3-D effects all that well myself, but from what I can see they look nice. I was a bit disappointed because when I heard the concept of an invisible man in a 3-D comic, I thought the effect would be to only draw him to be seen by one eye when he's using his powers, and that isn't done here except for one panel on the feature page.

Several 1950s Ditko reprints from Charlton fill out the issue, all given the 3-D treatment. First a panel from Ditko's story "Botticelli of the Bangtails" in RACKET SQUAD IN ACTION #11 [1954], and the cover to that issue. Also the covers to RACKET SQUAD IN ACTION #12 [1954] and STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #19 [1954] and the 7-page story "Killer On The Loose" from CRIME AND JUSTICE #18 [1954], featuring police officers Tex and Barry of the Radio Patrol (anyone know if that was an ongoing feature, and these were recurring characters. This would have been Ditko's only story with them, I think).  It's a good little story, with the detail rendering typical of that early Ditko, but I can't help but think it was only chosen because it opens and closes with Tex and Barry talking about a 3-D movie.

Beyond The Grave #4 [1976]

Couple of unusual things for Ditko among the nearly 2000 pages he drew for Charlton from 1968 to 1978. First off there are three "Ditko" illustrations for the text story "Dead Slumber". From the information I have there are about six such stories where Charlton reused Ditko drawings for text stories (in this case from "A Grave Mistake" in BEYOND THE GRAVE #2 [1975]), sometimes straight, sometimes heavily retouched. Nothing too spectacular visually in this particular one, though the writing is a bit better than you usually find in this text stories, of the few I've actually been able to bring myself to read.

A few pages later we have Ditko drawing a single page story, also something you only see about a half-dozen times in this era, and again around 1976. "Potion Of Youth", written by Joe Molloy is about a pirate who decides he wants to stop aging, and what happens. A pretty cool condensed version of the same kind of story you see in the longer pieces in these anthologies, and Ditko does a good job establishing the setting and characters quickly. A lot of these other 1-pagers aren't really stories, more anecdotes or vignettes.

Cracked #221 [1986]

Most of the Ditko's contributions to the long-running humour title CRACKED in the mid-1980s were short untitled stories in the "Robot War" series, like this 1-page job from #221, written by Mort Todd. I'm not sure if "Robot War" was something that other artists did as well for the series or it was unique to Ditko. Anyone?

I've only read this one chapter, but it seems the feature is MAD's "Spy vs. Spy", only with robots. In this case, a large robot chases a smaller one, who has dropped a book on transforming, in the sense that those toys from the 1980s that just won't go away did. Seeing the book, the large robot knows to be suspicious of anything the other robot could be disguised as, and finding a gun acts accordingly. But wasn't quite suspicious enough.

Very cute gag, and Ditko's work sells it nicely. The artwork is on what I think is called duotone paper (of maybe craftint), a look seemingly favoured by CRACKED (especially their main artist John Severin), and Ditko works nicely with the tones, using them for some neat visuals with the sound effects and backgrounds.