The Incredible Hulk #235 [1979]

THE INCREDIBLE HULK #235 [1979] is one of the first published pieces for this stint at Marvel, following a cover for an Avengers reprint the previous month. It's one of the rare cases of Ditko inking another artist, working over the pencils of Al Milgrom. It's also a good bridge between his 1960s stint at Marvel and the one just beginning, as he did some major work developing the Hulk in the 1960s and Machine Man would be his regular assignment starting a few months later. He'd also do a few more Hulk stories in the future.

It's a pretty good cover of a dynamic meeting between the two Jack Kirby creations. The Hulk figure is especially good. Pretty unlikely it'll ever happen, but I'd be fascinated to see the original pencils to this to see how closely Ditko followed it.

Blue Ribbon Comics #1 [1983]

While Ditko was the regular artist for Archie's 1983 revival of THE FLY under their Red Circle imprint he also drew the wraparound cover for this first issue of BLUE RIBBON COMICS, which contains reprints of the original version of The Fly from 1959, by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Al Williamson and Angelo Torres.

Rudy Nebres on the inks, and there's some pretty heavy and lush brush work going on there, as you'd expect, so a lot of the Ditko doesn't come through until you look closely at the anatomy and composition. Good looking book overall, with some nice reprints inside.

Ace Comics Presents #1 [1987]

In addition to the four comic books that Ditko drew for Ron Frantz's publishing company in 1987, he also drew the cover for this comic, which sort of reprints two early Jack Cole stories from Lev Gleason's SILVER STREAK COMICS (the Daredevil story is redrawn by C.C. Beck, of all people, with varying degrees of fidelity to the original, the Silver Streak story appears to be reproduced from a printed copy).

Anyway, a nice little cover by Ditko. I don't recall ever hearing Jack Cole cited as an influence on Ditko, and perhaps he wasn't, but there does seem to be enough of a common ground to make such a link possible. Interestingly, around the same time as this cover would have been done, Ditko drew an unpublished image, perhaps for DC's WHO'S WHO series, featuring Cole's Plastic Man and Woozy Winks.

(see comments for a link to an article by Ron Frantz which gets into the background of Ditko's work for Ace Comics, including this cover)

Marvel Triple Action #47 [1979]

MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #47 [1979] is kind of an oddity. It's his first original work published by Marvel since 1966. During this particular stint at the company, where Ditko drew Machine Man, Captain Universe, Micronauts and a bunch of single issue things, he also shows up drawing the cover for this reprint of a late-1960s Avengers comic, featuring several b-list Avengers going up against some c-list villains. Nothing too spectacular, but a nice piece.  Looking at the original cover looks like they decided to reverse the angle, have the heroes facing out rather than the villains, and make the Black Knight more prominent.

Ghostly Tales #148 [1981]

Almost ten years and over 50 issues later, and that guy is still running. And that wolf is still laughing. Digging up this cover from GHOSTLY TALES #94 [1972] in their later years, Charlton flipped it around and reduced the story title to fit the UPC code, and removed the original figure and narration from Mr. Dedd. Still a nice eye-catching cover.

Scary Tales #42 [1984]

Worst. Architect. Ever.

This cover comes from MANY GHOSTS OF DOCTOR GRAVES #34 [1972], drawn for a Ditko story in that issue that isn't reprinted here (so isn't in this particular series of cover-only posts). There was some text on the original introducing the "Ghostmaster" story, which is replaced on here with the giant spider in his web in the middle of the piece, and the UPC code covers up some nice work on the skeleton. Still, despite everything, a good cover to use as a generic one for this style of book, with a lot of the popular horror elements (ghosts, monsters, witches, shoddy contracting).

Ghost Manor #75 [1984]

Figured I might as well finish off the series of Ditko cover-only books from Charlton with a few reprints.

This vertigo inducing cover comes from SHADOWS FROM BEYOND #50 [1966]. I think I like this version of the image better, thanks to the removal of the text labels. I also think the colouring works a bit better. Still a great image capturing the spirit of these kinds of books.

Haunted #46 [1979]

This cover is a reprint of that from HAUNTED #6 [1972] (posted just minutes ago), flipped to appeal to readers of Japanese comics. Or maybe just to make sure the UPC code doesn't cover anything important. I think it actually looks better here than on the original. The ornate design of the chest really comes across.

Haunted #6 [1972]

Not a great scan of this one, unfortunately, but Ditko's skill at shadows and emotion still come across.

See also, HAUNTED #46 [1979]

Ghostly Haunts #26 [1972]

Nice effect on this cover with all the levels, building up a real sense of depth. The smoke monster is also cool, but the best part of the cover has to be those creatures carved into the walls of the cave.

This Magazine Is Haunted #19 [1954]

Not a bad cover, but also not nearly one of the best of Ditko's pre-code covers. A lot of nice individual touches, like the detail in the house in the background, the fog effect, a few details in the clothes of the invisible ghost. Unfortunately, it takes a while to realize that he's even going for a "tearing through the cover" effect, when that kind of thing, when done, should jump out at you as the very first thing you notice about a cover.

Ghostly Tales #90 [1971]

I don't know about you, but I think I'd find the giant, staring face of Mr. Dedd coming out of one wall more disconcerting than the ghost with a cane. Interesting effect on this cover, all those odd angles really make it disorienting.

This Magazine Is Haunted #21 [1954]

Some gory pre-code voodoo fun from one of the few comics to have a complete sentence as a title. Those are some pretty big needles...

Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #28 [1971]

Hm, this cover concept looks familiar...

Yet another Graves/Strange connection here. For that matter, the sorcerer on the cover could very easily be the Ancient One. A lot of nice touches here, from the elements of the cover literally coming off the page to the flying brickwork.

Gorgo #4 [1961]

This is an odd one, took me a while to figure it out.

Ditko drew a lot of issues of GORGO for Charlton, based on the 1961 movie. A lot of the his covers for the series were, in typical Charlton manner, made up of interior panels. For #4, where Ditko didn't do the interiors, they made the strange decision to go back to #1 and do the cover from the spectacular Ditko splash page of that issue, modifying it slightly (the guy sitting on Gorgo's head is new).

Ghostly Haunts #30 [1973]

This is a clever little cover.

The big white gap in the painting really captures the eye right away, then the classic Ditko eye leads the viewer right to that shadow of the creature coming in from outside, then the elements circle around until you get the brushes pointing back to the original eye-catching element of the painting.

And Winnie the Witch adds the icing on the cake. Oh, Charlton horror hosts...

Of the 1970s covers in this series of cover-only posts, this is definitely among my favourites.

Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #55 [1976]

A very simple design on this one, but I do like the use of negative space to define the imposing shape of the monster of the issue, and you can see that Ditko put a lot of work into it, with the tiny little traces of fur on parts of the creature and the contrast in hatchwork on the roof where the shadow falls.

And look at that woman. Was Ditko having flashbacks to sharing a studio with Eric Stanton a decade earlier or something?

Ghostly Tales #94 [1972]

Nice feeling of depth and movement in this cover. And I always like that kind of just slightly off way that Ditko drew animals.

Ghostly Tales #96 [1972]

I like the swirling effect created by the various elements on the cover, from the smoke to the shadows on the edges and the story title. Really adds to the element of mystery on this cover. Good solid cover which does the job of making you interested in the interior story, which is drawn by Fred Himes.

Strange Suspense Stories #22 [1954]

Ah, creepy eyes full of fear. A classic Ditko motif.

What's in the mystery glowing book causing that look of fear? Does it really matter. Great cover, with the ornate designs on the box, the fearful, sweat-drenched face and the candle in the foreground.

I was going to declare a favourite Ditko cover-only book when I got through posting them, but that's going to be too hard a choice. Even dividing them into pre-code and post-code it's going to be a hard call.