Upcoming Ditko - Archie / Red Circle reprint

Archie has the following book scheduled to come out in a few months:

LEGACY OF THE CRUSADERS TP(W) Ian Flynn & Various (A) Jerry Gaylord & Various (CA) Ben Bates
A super hero legacy is born! In one of history's greatest battles against the forces of evil, The Mighty Crusaders did the impossible: they won. Now, witness their heroic battle for the fate of the world like never before in this unique graphic novel collection from Red Circle Comics! Using an innovative blend of new and classic material, Legacy of the Crusaders takes readers on a tour of the Red Circle universe, guided by the characters themselves! Picking up directly following the events of New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes, our new team of young heroes struggle under the tutelage of the world's first patriotic super hero: the Shield. The Shield teaches these New Crusaders about the early history of their parents, the Mighty Crusaders, seen by the reader in the form of some of the best classic tales from the 1980s Red Circle super hero titles. Featuring legendary comic artists such as Steve Ditko and Alex Toth!
Softcover, 192pgs, Full Color $16.99

I'm not sure exactly what Ditko material is going to be included. Most of his work for Archie's Red Circle line was on The Fly, and I'm not sure if Archie still has the rights to that character. Other than that, he did draw a Hangman story and two Jaguar stories as back-ups in the series which might be included.

Last Call For PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE Kickstarter

This is the last day to back Robin Snyder's Kickstarter for the new edition of THE DITKO PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE. Hopefully word's gotten out about it enough that we won't have to hear too much of this starting tomorrow:

And for those of you who have already backed it, now's the time to decide if you want to bump up your pledge level.

--Link-- Nocenti on Ditko/DD

Article about writer Ann Nocenti, includes this on her one story with Ditko:

Steve Ditko used to sit in my office! He pitched a Daredevil story that we did. He wanted lots of shots of characters walking around with packages filled with bombs. It had very a Communist, espionage, pre-terrorism feel to it.

PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE - 2 days left

There are 2 days left for the Kickstarter for the new edition of the DITKO PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE. Hopefully there won't be too many people complaining a few months from now that they wish they had heard about it in time to be a part of it. They'll probably still be able to get the book for a while, but maybe not the limited edition, and definitely not their names in the acknowledgements.

It's still a bit surprising to me that most of the major comic book news websites have decided the book isn't worthy more than a cursory mention, those few that found it worthy of any notice at all, but I guess they know their audiences.

Here's a few panels of "man on the street interviews" from the book. That third panel is one of my favourites from the book, a classic Ditko sneer.

Upcoming Ditko - THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES continues

As announced in THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #2...

Ordering info here.

New Ditko - THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #2

Continuing from the first FOUR-PAGE SERIES that was published as part of  Robin Snyder's THE COMICS, Vol. 23 No. 9, now available is THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #2 published by Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko, featuring five new essays by Steve Ditko:

“Circle The Mind”
“The Fixated Negative”
“For/Against One's Best Interest?”
“LINT”
“Honoring Or Dishonoring”

For a taste, here's the opening of each:

 

  

 

It's available directly from Robin Snyder for $1.50 in the US, $2.50 foreign, along with all the prior in-print Ditko publications from their 25 years of co-publishing.

Robin Snyder
3745 Canterbury Lane #81
Bellingham, WA
98225-1186 USA

SnyderandDitko @ icloud.com

Ditko books in print.

I've also got a handful of copies which will be available when ATE TEA N (#18) comes out.

Heroes, Inc. #2 [1976]

As discussed recently, the first issue of Wallace Wood's HEROES, INC comic came out in 1969, designed to be sold to members of the armed services. With the first issue printed but getting little to no distributfeion, there obviously wasn't a second.

Then in 1976 HEROES, INC. #2 was published, this time as a larger sized black and white magazine from the fan publishers CPL/Gang, best known for their Charlton Comics themed fanzines. Two of Wood's features from the first issue continue here, The Misfits and Cannon. I assume the stories were at least written and penciled back around 1969, the tonework was probably added to compensate for the lack of colour the art was intended for.

This small press distribution means that, while HEROES, INC. #1 is probably the easiest 1960s Ditko comic to find, #2 is among the most difficult 1970s Ditko comics to find for a decent price. And I doubt there'll be a warehouse find of 70,000 copies of it. A tip of the hat to Brian Franczak for getting me my copy.

The story that concerns us here is the 14-page untitled "Cannon" story drawn by Ditko, written and inked by Wood. As I mentioned before, Wood continued Cannon without Ditko for military newspapers in the 1970s, and various subsequent reprints, heavily increasing the "adult" content, especially nudity. I haven't read those later Cannon stories, but this one seems to have a partial move in that direction, no nudity but definitely a more salacious rendering of the female character, and a bit more violence, though often partially obscured or implied.

As you can tell by the page below, the story this time is Cannon versus Nazis, who have taken over a small South American country. Cannon falls into a trap trying to help a woman in distress, only to find out she's a Nazi official named Erika Meissner, and is captured by her team of Specialists with self-explanatory names, Gunner, Lash, Blade and Archer (not unlike the Enforcers from a previous Ditko comic). Taken to their gorgeous castle base in the middle of the jungle, Cannon proves resistant to persuasion by torture or drugs (as a nod to his double-brainwashing origin), but turns after some seduction by Erika. Or at least he fakes it long enough to get more information, radio in for back-up and then take the Specialists and everyone else out.

Pretty decent story, well worth picking up if you can find a reasonably priced copy. The Wood inks are a bit more overpowering on Ditko's pencils than in the first story, but it's still very noticeable, especially with the Specialists and the head Nazi.

DITKO PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE Kickstarter - one week left

One week left on Robin Snyder's Kickstarter for the 2nd edition of THE DITKO PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE, the 112-page book first published in 1991 and long out-of-print. As I write this it's only a handful of backers away from 200, and well past it's $4900 goal. Spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested in knowing about it, especially those who would be interested in being in the acknowledgements or getting the limited numbered edition.

Here's another panel scanned from the first edition: