{"id":30738,"date":"2024-10-19T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30738"},"modified":"2024-10-18T17:48:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T17:48:09","slug":"strange-suspense-the-steve-ditko-archives-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/10\/19\/strange-suspense-the-steve-ditko-archives-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Steve Ditko<\/strong>, Joe Gill, and various (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60669-289-0 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Timely Tome of Terrors \u2026 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Steve Ditko (November 2nd<\/sup> 1927 -c. June 29th<\/sup> 2018) was one of our industry\u2019s greatest talents and probably America\u2019s least lauded. His fervent desire was to just get on with his job telling stories the best way he could. Whilst the noblest of aspirations, that dream was always a minor consideration and frequently a stumbling block for the commercial interests which for so long controlled all comics production and still exert an overwhelming influence upon the mainstream bulk of Funnybook output.<\/p>\n

Before his time at Marvel, the young Ditko mastered his craft creating short stories for a variety of companies, and it\u2019s an undeniable joy to look at this work from such an innocent time. At this time he was just breaking into the industry: tirelessly honing his craft with genre tales for whichever publisher would have him, free from the interference of intrusive editors.<\/p>\n

This first fantastic full-colour deluxe hardback – and potently punchy digital treasure trove – reprints his early works (all from the period 1953-1955), comprising stories produced before the draconian, self-inflicted Comics Code Authority sanitised the industry, and although most are wonderfully baroque and bizarre horror stories there are also examples of Romance, Westerns, Crime, Humour and of course his utterly unique Science Fiction tales, cunningly presented in the order he sold them and not the more logical, albeit far less instructive chronological release dates. Sadly, there\u2019s no indication of how many (if any) were actually written by moody master Ditko either. \u00a0If guessing authors, I\u2019d plump for editor Pat Masulli and\/or the astoundingly prolific Joe Gill (who was churning out hundreds of stories per year) as the strongest suspects\u2026<\/p>\n

And, whilst we\u2019re being technically accurate, it\u2019s also important to note eventual publication dates of the stories in this collection don\u2019t have a lot to do with when Ditko rendered these mini-masterpieces: Charlton paid so little, the cheap, anthologically astute outfit had no problem buying material it could leave on a shelf for months – if not years – until the right moment arrived to print. All tales and covers here are uniformly wonderfully baroque and bizarre fantasies, suspense and science fiction yarns, helpfully annotated with a purchase number to indicate approximately when they were actually drawn.<\/p>\n

Ditko\u2019s first strip sale was held for a few months and printed in Fantastic Fears<\/strong> #5 (an Ajax\/Farrell publication cover-dated January\/February 1954): a creepy, pithy tale entitled \u2018Stretching Things\u2019<\/em>, followed here by \u2018Paper Romance\u2019<\/em> – an eye-catching if anodyne tale from Daring Love<\/strong> #1 (September 1953, Gilmor). A couple of captivating chillers from Simon and Kirby\u2019s Prize Comics hot horror hit Black Magic<\/strong> come next. \u2018A Hole in his Head\u2019<\/em> (#27, November\/December 1953) combines psycho-drama and time travel whilst more traditional tale \u2018Buried Alive\u2019<\/em> (#28 January-February 1954) is a self-explanatory gothic drama.
\n\"\"
\nStylish cowboy hero Utah Kid<\/strong> stopped a \u2018Range War\u2019<\/em> in Blazing Western<\/strong> #1 (January 1954, Timor Press), and Ditko\u2019s long association with Charlton Comics properly began with the cover and vampire shocker \u2018Cinderella\u2019<\/em> from The Thing<\/strong> #12 (February 1954). The remainder of the work here was published by Charlton, a small company with few demands.<\/p>\n

Their diffident attitude to work was ignore creative staff as long as they delivered on time: a huge bonus for Ditko, still studiously perfecting his craft and never happy to play office politics. They gave him all the work he could handle and let him do it his way…<\/p>\n

After the cover for This Magazine is Haunted<\/strong> #16 (March 1954) comes \u2018Killer on the Loose\u2019<\/em>: a cop story from Crime and Justice<\/strong> #18 (April 1954), and the same month saw him produce cover and three stories for The Thing<\/strong> #13: \u2018Library of Horror\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Die Laughing\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Avery and the Goblins\u2019<\/em>. Space Adventures<\/strong> #10 (Spring 1954) first framed the next cover and the witty cautionary tale \u2018Homecoming\u2019<\/em>, followed by three yarns and a cover from the succeeding issue – \u2018You are the Jury\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Moment of Decision\u2019<\/em> and the sublimely manic \u2018Dead Reckoning\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

This Magazine is Haunted<\/strong> #17, (May 1954), featured a Ditko cover and three more moody missives: \u20183-D Disaster, Doom, Death\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Triple Header\u2019<\/em> and intriguingly experimental \u2018The Night People.\u2019<\/em> That same month he drew the cover and both \u2018What was in Sam Dora\u2019s Box?\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Dead Right\u2019<\/em> for mystery title Strange Suspense Stories<\/strong> #18. He had another shot at gangsters in licensed title Racket Squad in Action<\/strong> (#11, May-June 1954), producing the cover and stylish caper thriller \u2018Botticelli of the Bangtails\u2019<\/em> and honed his scaring skills with the cover and four yarns for The Thing<\/strong> #14 (June 1954): \u2018Rumpelstiltskin\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Evil Eye\u2019<\/em>, the utterly macabre \u2018Doom in the Air\u2019<\/em> and grisly shocker \u2018Inheritance!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He produced another incredible cover and five stories in the next issue, and, as always was clearly still searching for the ultimate in storytelling perfection. \u2018The Worm Turns\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Day of Reckoning\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Come Back\u2019<\/em>, \u2018If Looks could Kill\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Family Mix-up\u2019<\/em> range from giant monster yarn to period ghost story to modern murder black comedies , but throughout, although all clearly by the same artist, no two tales are rendered the same way. Here is a true creator pushing himself to the limit.
\n\"\"
\nSteve drew the cover and \u2018Bridegroom, Come Back\u2019<\/em> for This Magazine is Haunted<\/strong> #18, (July 1954), \u2018A Nice Quiet Place\u2019<\/em> and the cover of Strange Suspense Stories<\/strong> #19, plus the incredible covers of Space Adventures<\/strong> #12 and Racket Squad in Action<\/strong> #11, as well as cover and two stories in Strange Suspense Stories<\/strong> #20 (August 1954) – \u2018The Payoff\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Von Mohl Vs. The Ants\u2019<\/em> – but it was clear that his astonishing virtuosity was almost wasted on interior storytelling.<\/p>\n

His incredible cover art was compelling and powerful and even the normally laissez-faire Charlton management must have exerted some pressure to keep him producing eye-catching visuals to sell their weakest titles. Presented next are mind-boggling covers for This Magazine is Haunted<\/strong> #19 (August 1954), Strange Suspense Stories<\/strong> #22 and The Thing<\/strong> #17 (both November 1954) as well as This Magazine is Haunted<\/strong> #21, (December1954).
\n\"\"
\nThe Comics Code Authority began judging comics material from October 26th<\/sup> 1954, by which time Ditko\u2019s output had practically halted. He had contracted tuberculosis and was forced to return to his family in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, until the middle of 1955. From that return to work come the final Ditko Delights in this volume: the cover and a story which originally appeared in Charlton\u2019s Mad Magazine<\/strong> knockoff From Here to Insanity<\/strong> (#10, June 1955). A trifle wordy by modern standards, \u2018Car Show\u2019<\/em> nevertheless displays the sharp, cynical wit and contained comedic energy that made so many Spider-Man<\/strong>\/Jonah Jameson<\/em> confrontations an unforgettable treat a decade later…<\/p>\n

This is a cracking collection in its own right but as an examination of one of the art form\u2019s greatest stylists it is also an invaluable insight into the very nature of comics. This is a book true fans would happily kill or die for.
\nThis edition \u00a9 2009 Fantagraphics Books. All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Steve Ditko, Joe Gill, and various (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-60669-289-0 (HB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Timely Tome of Terrors \u2026 9\/10 This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Steve Ditko (November 2nd 1927 -c. June 29th 2018) was one of our industry\u2019s greatest talents and probably America\u2019s least lauded. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives volume 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,75,239,66,125,225,148,107,144,93,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-crime-comics","category-drama","category-horror-stories","category-humour","category-mystery","category-romance","category-science-fiction","category-steve-ditko","category-war-stories","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7ZM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30745,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions\/30745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}