Steve Ditko Archives goes Digital: More on "Strange Suspense"

Last Saturday, we posted the news that you can now order a digital version of my book, Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives vol. 1 via Comixology. This has jump-started us to take a deeper look at some stats from the original art that differ quite a bit from the published version of the story found in the volume. First, we looked at "Range War", and now we take a look at the stats of Ditko's 3rd professional solo job, "A Hole In His Head." The 6-page story is from 1953's Black Magic #27, done when Ditko briefly worked at the Joe Simon & Jack Kirby studio.

Really, this post and my last were inspired by Nick Caputo's examination of the two stories in question. Here's a link to his "Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and that old Black Magic" post that looks at the latter story for alterations to Ditko's artwork by Kirby.

The B&W stats show some different alterations to the production work on the first page but, most importantly, to the last panel of the story that was wiped out and replaced with an pimple ointment ad! Before that, though...

Still want a print copy?

I still have a few copies of the $39.99 hardcover of Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives vol. 1. If you'd still like a paper version, send me an email at ditko37@rogers.com. I am only asking for the cover price plus any shipping and handling costs to your location. (Correct, I'll charge you just exactly what it costs to bring it to your door, and no more.)

"A Hole In My Head"

Okay, Black Magic #27. Below is the published splash panel of the first page.

Steve Ditko Archives goes Digital via Comixology

It's been a long time since we've posted here, and that's because I've been working: A) through the final stages of production on my three books that will come out in the second half of this year; B) planning the next two (yep, more on this soon); C) watching translations come to life for a couple of my older books; and D) seeing my back catalogue venture into the digital realm.

The first of two on the e-docket now (more on number two coming soon) is the most appropriate. Volume one of my Steve Ditko Archives, Strange Suspense, has been sold out from Fantagraphics and Amazon, etc. (plus I never see it pop up on e-Bay) for quite a while now.

But Fantagraphics and Comixology (the leader in comics on the digital platform) have delivered on a digital version! 238 pages of pre-Comics Code Authority Steve Ditko horror comics (plus a Western and Romance story!)

• Download Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 here from Comixology.

Still want a print copy? 

Yes, I still have a "stash" of about 10 copies of the $39.99 hardcover. If you'd still like a paper version, send me an email at ditko37@rogers.com. I am only asking for the cover price plus any shipping and handling costs to your location. (Correct, I'll charge you just exactly what it costs to bring it to your door, and no more.)

I'll spend the next 9 days updating everyone on each of my current projects, which include Heroic Tales: The Bill Everett Archives vol. 2, The Secret History Of Marvel Comics, and Impossible Tales: The Steve Ditko Archives vol. 4, and we'll see what I can reveal about the yet-to-be-revealed ones! Now, let's take a deeper look at some of the quirks of Ditko's earliest work that is included in Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives vol. 1...

Steve Ditko Minutiae

One of the great authorities today on Steve Ditko and the Silver Age of Marvel Comics is Nick Caputo. Nick was actually "in the house" when the very first copies of my Strange And Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko were unboxed into our hands (delivered to the MoCCA museum for the same-named festival back in June of 2008).

Finder's Fee for Bill Everett Archives Help!

That's right - if you can help us find someone with a copy (someone who possesses the original comic book) of Target Comics v1 #8 and Silver Streak Comics #1, we will give you a copy of Heroic Comics: The Bill Everett Archives v2 (pictured left) and Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives v1. (Click HERE to email me.)

These are the last two items we need to complete the Bill Everett Archives v2. Target #8 contains a 6-page "Chameleon" story by Bill. Silver Streak #1 contains a text story with its first page having two illustrations by Bill. If we get these two, we'll have documented all of Bill's Golden Age work (quite an achievement, given the rarity of this 1938-42 material).

Target #8 is a challenge because it contains a Basil Wolverton Spacehawk story. Silver Streak #1 is also tough because of its 1939 date (and the Alan Cross and subsequent reprints left out the text story). I fear that the practice of "slabbing" books has likely led to a number of these key Golden Age books being encased in plastic for all time, hence the challenges we're having in locating them.

That's why we're offering a finder's fee. Of course, the person who owns the comics will get comp. copies of the Archives series, but if you find that person, we'll comp you, and put your name in the latest book too.

Volume two is going to be the last in the Bill Everett Archives series, so it would be a real shame to not have that work of his documented. Please pass a link to this message amongst your peers and retailers.

Bill Everett 1950 Lev Gleason story unearthed

Some of the most satisfying moments in putting together the Bill Everett Archives volumes have been discovering hitherto unknown works that seemingly no one knew existed, and that fall outside of Bill's normal modus operandi - i.e., working as a virtual lifer for Marvel Comics, creating the Sub-Mariner in 1939, doing all those horror books in the 1950s, and co-creating Daredevil in the 1960s.

We're still one story away - Target Comics #8 - from completing Everett's 1938-42 work in volume 2. If you have this comic, please email me.

Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives v1 focused on Bill's earliest Golden Age comics - from 1938 to 1942 - for companies other than the oft-reprinted Marvel superhero work. Heroic Comics: The Bill Everett Archives v2 completes that material and then moves into some of his most stunning work. And it's been this pursuit - especially the 1950s canon - that has led to some fantastic surprises.

The most recent is a story in Crime and Punishment for the company, Lev Gleason, (in)famous for its Crime Does Not Pay title and other books that brought the crime genre into comics. Collectors and historians have assumed that when Everett came back from WWII he jumped right into the Sub-Mariner books and then into the horror work. In fact, circa 1949-50, just after the Marvel heroes died off in 1949, and before the horror genre overtook that company, Everett did reach out to some other publishers to either fill a gap or load up on income, given that he would be bringing three children into the world around these years.

Everett wrote the following in a 1961 letter to comic fan, Jerry Defuccio: "Things got rough about 1949, and I felt it advisable to pack up and move back to New York. I left my family (two kids by now) in Erie, Pa., with my sister and her family, and came to N.Y. by myself. I picked up comic accounts with Quality Comics, Eastern Color, and, of course, with Stan Lee. Things finally started to good in '50, and my family joined me (four of us lived and worked - in one tiny room in a mid-town hotel for six months!), and we eventually moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey, where I brought a small house."

Everett reestablished his connection with Steve Douglas, editor at Eastern Color, and did a number of adventure and romance stories in books like Heroic Comics and Personal Love. But any 1950 Lev Gleason connection was unknown until I received an email from Mr. Monster creator, Michael T. Gilbert who sent me scans of "The Button" from Crime and Punishment #31, cover-dated October 1950. (Click on the above image to see the signed splash panel.)

Bill had done a couple of stories in 1942 for Silver Streak Comics published by Gleason, but that was while Everett was working in the Funnies Inc. studio, packaging stories for other companies. Still, in 1949/50, Everett must have reached out to Lev Gleason editor Charles Biro for some freelance work and was thrown this story. (Mr. Gilbert also sent me a text story from Silver Streak Comics #1, cover-dated Dec. 1939, that had an Everett illustration - another unknown Everett contribution!)

So far, that's the only Everett crime story for Biro/Gleason we've uncovered. Everett's not in the issue on either side - you can check out full books of the rest of the title at comicbookplus.com. Why possibly only one? Perhaps the same as why Everett only did one story for DC Comics in late 1959. Gleason editor Charles Biro and DC editor Robert Kanigher were reputed to have a "hands on" editorial style and Everett loved the freedom he had under Stan Lee.

Regardless, here's hoping we continue to uncover more Bill Everett in our journey of bringing you unreprinted works from this comic-book legend.

We're still one story away - Target Comics #8 - from completing Everett's 1938-42 run in vol. 2. If you have this comic, please email me.

Bill Everett Archives v2 title, cover & help needed!

We're happy to share with you here for the first time the cover and title for the second Bill Everett Archives. Click on the image to your left to see a larger version of the cover to Heroic Comics: The Bill Everett Archives vol.2!

The table of contents for this volume takes the quality of Everett's artwork to another level. We finish off the 1938-42 Golden Age non-Marvel work, but the rest of the volume is filled with tons of surprises that will blow your mindhole! You can't miss this one if you want to see the best of Everett's best.

It's another 200+ pages of artwork, plus all the extras you enjoyed from volume one, such as a thorough introduction and detailed notes for each section that place the work in its historical context and talks about the how the industry worked in its naive heyday.

But we need help! Get a free copy of the book!

There's two short stories from the early 1940s that we can't locate. If you have these books, please email me at ditko37@rogers.com. We'll give you the specs for the high-rez scans and how to get them to us. Here are the two books:

Silver Streak Comics #20 (Apr '42) - Rex Reed 8-page story
Target Comics v1 #8 (Sep '40) - Chameleon 6-page story

If you can help, we'll send you a free copy of the book and put your name in the Acknowledgements. Look for the volume to come out in April 2013.

Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 4 title and Cover Art

It's Mr. Steve Ditko's 85th birthday today! Amazing that the man continues to produce work (now approaching Issue #18 of his new series that's been coming out regularly since 2008). Yes, he's up to eighteen x 32 pages of story and art in the last four years. How many self-published/independent creators half Ditko's age have produced that much in the same time frame? Not many, I suspect.

Tom Spurgeon's Comics Reporter blog has a "Five for Friday" featuring Ditko, where you submit your five favourite Ditko issues. Artist Michel Fiffe has a nice, long piece on his Ditko Connection. And here's a whack of Steve Ditko images to get you in the celebratory mood.

'Round here, we're only up to 1958, compiling the first five years of his almost 60-year career in putting together comic books.

And 1958 is where you'll find us in Impossible Tales: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 4, coming out next May from Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

I'm scanning like a Mad Man this weekend for the upcoming volume; a great way to spend Steve's birthday immersed in all this fabulous artwork from one of the definite peaks of his career. Here's the publisher's blurb for the volume:

"Five years before Steve Ditko began work on his now legendary co-creations for Marvel Comics, the Amazing Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, he was producing some of his best work in near anonymity for Charlton Comics. Like its predecessors, Impossible Tales: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 4 features over 200 meticulously restored full-color pages of Ditko in his early prime - stories that have never seen a proper reprinting until now, thrilling stories of suspense, mystery, haunted houses, and unsuspecting victims all delineated in Ditko’s wildly idiosyncratic, masterful style. This fourth volume ranks as the best in the Archives series to date thanks in large part to the inspiration Ditko took from comics derived from the classic host-narrated radio shows, which gave an extra oomph to his creepy yarns. Moreover, comics such as This Magazine is Haunted and Tales of The Mysterious Traveler bore witness to a veritable explosion in Ditko’s ingenuity in terms of manipulating the traditional comic-book page layout. This new level of excellence also manifested itself in his work on other books, such Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds, Out of This World, Strange Suspense Stories, and Unusual Tales, all of which are amply represented in this volume."

More Secrets from the History of Marvel Comics

We're rushing to the end of the production cycle of the Secret History of Marvel Comics, from myself and noted 1930s-50s historian Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, published by Fantagraphics Books, Inc.

Today, I'm adding to the captions list because, even after we submitted the design mock-up for the book back in late August, we're still coming up with potential new additions to our 300-page tome.

The book's all about the earliest days of Marvel Comics owner Martin Goodman and the Golden Age Marvel artists like Jack Kirby et al. who crossed over to do work in Goodman's other businesses. Since we thought we had closed the book on the design, we've uncovered two new pictures of Martin Goodman from the 1950s that are buried in his magazine line, including a nifty one with Charlton Heston from 1953.

This picture would have been taken just right after Heston's breakthrough role in The Greatest Show on Earth that won the Oscar for best picture of 1952. It was also three years before Heston played Moses in The Ten Commandments and six before he played Ben-Hur and won the Oscar for best actor. But, there he is, sitting with Goodman at Gogi La Rue's in New York City. The other picture has Goodman on a horse wearing a cowboy hat!

Our book won't make the Christmas rush, but that's what you get when you expand the scope of a book from 168 pages to 300! And we're still getting more artwork and Goodman magazines in that we never knew existed. (Finally nailed a copy of that Zippy mag with the Joe Simon cover, plus an Elvis magazine cover from 1957!) Just how many titles did that man produce? And you thought he flooded the market with his comics?