Before Steve Ditko co-created Spider-Man, Dr Strange etc he worked primarily as a horror, fantasy and monster artist for numerous comic book publishers. But it was his work for Marvel (or Atlas as they were then known) in the 1950's where he really came to the attention of fans and publsihers as a major talent. At Atlas/Marvel he created (mostly with Stan Lee) 100's of fun short "twist in the tail" type stories about Martians,robots, time travellers, monsters and ghosts. By 1959/60 Marvel were producing lots of great monster comics which followed a standard format of a lead tale by Jack Kirby, and couple of tales by artists like Don Heck or Jack Abel and finishing with a Ditko story. It wouldn't be until around 1969 -1971 before I would read these tales via UK reprints (Alan Class comics etc) or in Marvel's US reprint titles("Where Monsters Dwell", "Where Creatures Roam" and many others) and it was always the stories illustrated by Steve Ditko (most written by Stan Lee) that always fascinated me the most. Some of my very favourite Steve Ditko "monster" splash pages are noted below (and above from "Where Creatures Roam" issue 1) - Don't these pages just make you want to read the story?
Fantasy Masterpieces issue 9
Monsters on the Prowl issue 20 - One of my very favourite Ditko pages from this time.I remember being fascinated by the way Ditko drew the the water splashing off the robot.
Fantasy Masterpieces issue 7
Monsters on the Prowl issue 24
Weird Wonder Tales issue 5
Where Creatures Roam issue 3
Where Monsters Dwell issue 37
Weird Wonder Tales issue 5
A picture of the great man himself, perhaps from a time when he was drawing one of the above tales.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
From when Steve Ditko could actually draw compellingly, before his Ayn Rand p*sh. How the mighty fell. Strangely, this post has just appeared in my blog-list, despite saying it was published 10 hours ago.
ReplyDeleteMaybe your blog's 'clock' is set at a different time zone, which would perhaps explain the disparity between when you publish and when a post appears. Worth investigating.
DeleteI wasn't a big fan of Ditko's work from around 1975 onwards although artwos e he would "pull it out the bag" at times, but in general his style \ quality really dropped. I haven't read much of his Rand strips but I'm not an advocate of objectivism.
DeleteI'll check my clock later (I'm on holiday this week and only have my phone on me) but on a quick check my blogger notes my clock as on London time. I think there was a similar issue last year with this so will do a check on my laptop when I get home Kid. Thanks for letting me know.
DeleteI wasn't so much thinking of the philosophy itself, McS, just the fact his art was duff when he was drawing Rand-type stuff. I've never read Rand's writings, but Ditko's take on it means I'm never likely to. He made it seem all too 'preachy'.
DeleteTo be fair to some of his early Mr A art was ok and similar to his 1970/71 style but your right it dropped to scratchy sketches as he got older. It was the stories that were boring for me to preachy .
DeleteOh the pain! I rarely buy omnibus books, but I did pick up the two volumes dedicated to Ditko's Marvel weird stories. They keep sitting out taunting me to find the time to delve into them. I must soon. Thanks for the impetus.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of these Ditko books and the Warren best of Ditko book that are all excellent. I don't read a lot of comics nowadays but I do delve into these now and then.
DeleteIn case you miss it, I've replied to your earlier comment, somewhere above.
ReplyDeleteA great choice of splash pages. I think my favourites are (1) “Enter The Robot” as it contains classic Ditko raindrops (no one drew pouring rainwater like Ditko). The yellow colouring really makes the picture.
ReplyDeleteAnd (2) “I Live Again” which is reminiscent of Ditko’s classic Spider-Man sequence of being trapped under huge machinery in ASM #33? - the image on the splash page of “The Final Chapter”.
Did Ditko’s artwork start to lose the innovation and detail immediately following his exit from Spider-Man? He did some great covers for DC's Creeper back in the late 60s, but I don't recall anything outstanding in the interior art.
"Enter the Robot" is my favourite page as well and for the same reason you gave. I also like "They met on Mars" as it's just plain weird looking but the story makes sense of the art .
ReplyDeleteI thought Ditkos work on the Blue Beetle for Charlton in 1968 was as good as his Spidey work, issue 3 (1 of only 2 BBs I have from that time) is pretty much a continuation of his Marvel work style wise for me. I also liked his first few "Beware the Creeper " issues at DC but his style changed not long after that. His black and white strips for Warren however were really nice and I may show some of them here later the Ditko Warren collection is well worth picking up. After 1970 Ditkos style just got too lose for me to enjoy and by 1975 it was really dated and had lost its appeal.