New Ditko - FRISKY FROLICS #35

Now available from the usual sources is FRISKY FROLICS #25, the latest in the revolving anthology series by SD Publishing and their Famous Comics imprint. This revives the title and Alex Toth logo from 1986 Revolver Annual produced by Robin Snyder and published by Renegade.

Ditko makes up about half the book, highlighted by the 1961 Joe Gill / Steve Ditko Charlton classic "Way Out, Man".  There's also a fascinating Ditko rarity, "The Crackling Blazer On The Hi-Jinx", an 18-page feature Ditko prepared for a CB Radio newspaper in the 1970s, some humourous "Heads" comic strip reprints, a never before seen "I, Eye Inquire" page and a short essay.

Other creators highlighted with unpublished or rarely seen work are Gary Kato, Fred Rhoads, Robert Kanigher, Irwin Hasen, Rudy Palais, Rodney Schroeter, Gary Poole, Chad, Bill Woggon, Nick Caputo and Alex Toth.

Ghostly Tales #94

Classic Ditko cover from Ghostly Tales #94 [1972], presented today for obvious reasons... 

--Link-- New and upcoming authorized Ditko merch

 

You can head over to ditkoverse.com right now for some new Steve Ditko themed merchandise, fully authorized by the Ditko Estate, and including his signature character, Mr. A. Available right now are a card set, a mug, a few t-shirts and some related books. More material should be available in the near future, so bookmark the site. You'll also find out that a complete Mr. A. collection is currently on track for 2022 publication from IDW.*

(note, mug and card set in above image not to scale with t-shirt or each other)

*[Edit to add: Obviously derailed from that track]

--Link-- Upcoming Ditko - Frisky Frolics

On Kickstarter now, the revolving anthology from SD Publishing's Famous Comics imprint spins around to land on FRISKY FROLICS, last seen  in 1986 on the final issue of REVOLVER that Robin Snyder packaged for Renegade, with an Alex Toth cover. Back then it included the Killjoy story by Ditko from E-MAN #4 [1974], however both 1970s Killjoy stories have already been included in this series (STEVE DITKO'S MR. A. NO. 24 [2017] and THE HERO COMICS NO. 26 [2018]). But not in colour, which has become a more frequent feature in this anthology. So, who knows? The pictured story, "Way Out, Man", which will almost certainly be included, is from Charlton's UNUSUAL TALES #29 [1961] and is quite a delight. The other 43 pages (plus covers) will be revealed in due course.

Spider-Man / Doctor Strange rights termination by Ditko Estate

The estate of Stephen J. Ditko (represented by his brother Patrick S. Ditko) has filed a termination of rights granted to Marvel for the first Spider-Man (1962) and Doctor Strange (1963) stories, termination to be effective in 2023.

Noted for posterity.

See here and here (not sure if links are permanent).

New Ditko - A TOUCH OF GENIUS (Charlton 1971)

If you've been enjoying the sampling of 1970s Charlton reprints in the recent SD Publishing comics here's something  new you might want to check out. A TOUCH OF GENIUS is a new book from SD Publishing's Famous Comics imprint and reprints Ditko's artwork for Charlton from the year 1971, all of it in colour and written by his frequent collaborator Joe Gill. It was a good year for that work, with several striking covers and visually inventive storytelling choices (especially regarding the integration of the various hosts into the stories). I might post about a few of them here in a bit.

It's a print-on-demand book, so it's available from various on-line sellers.  Use the ISBN numbers below to look for the best price (I recommend bookfinder.com and their search engine, though it's far from comprehensive. Looks like Book Depository currently has the best price for most places, despite shipping from the UK):

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1945307293
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1945307294

It might also be available direct from the publisher, check here for contact information.

New Ditko - TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #34

Now available from the usual sources is TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER, the latest in the revolving anthology series by SD Publishing and their Famous Comics imprint. Bit more of an anthology than usual, with only a pair of Ditko stories (but a solid pair, one of the best 1950s stories by Ditko/Gill, "Little Boy Blue", and "The Hand Of Ages", a fun 1980s Ditko story that goes with that great cover). There's also a short essay by Ditko and a preview of another unpublished story, possibly the same one previewed in earlier issues.

This issue also includes a number of other new and reprint stories and features, including work by Robin Snyder, Adolfo Buylla, Robert Kanigher, Alex Toth, Hennry Boltinoff, William Messner-Loebs and others.

The August, 2021 issue of Snyder's THE COMICS! newsletter also has an interesting short Ditko essay, "Credit", regarding the evolution of credits in Marvel comics, and in particular on the old 1960s Spider-Man promotional drawing (also reprinted in this issue). Might still be available from Snyder, address at link.

--Link-- Upcoming Ditko - MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER

Up now on Kickstarter, the next Snyder/Ditko title, another issue of TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER. The cover shown is a 1986 cover used on REVOLVER #4, which goes with the story "The Hand Of Ages" from that issue, so that'll probably be included.