BACK FROM THE DEAD... IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE! (PART ONE)

Well, it's been a while again, but I'm finally hoping to get this blog back on a (semi-)regular track.
As befits the returning from the dead theme, today I'm taking a look at Marvel's classic 1970's Tomb Of Dracula, recently collected in a series of three hardcover omnibus collections. Be warned though, this comes with a bit of a history lesson...

Back in the mid-1950s there was a certain amount of hysteria against comic books. The general perception is that the brunt of the anti-comic movement was aimed at the horror comics, especially those published by William Gaines' EC comics, but in truth there were also complaints about the levels of violence in war and crime comics and about the sexual innuendo in what has become known as 'good girl art'.

The anger against the salacious nature of some of these titles actually led to at least two city councils - Houston, Texas and Oklahoma City - passing ordinances prohibiting the sale of crime and horror comics. Another attempt, by the city council of Los Angeles, failed when it was deemed by the courts to be unconstitutional.

In addition The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, formed in 1953 to investigate the problem of, well, juvenile delinquency, also turned it's attention to the problems of comic books. A defining moment during the subcommittee's public hearings was Bill Gaines attempt to defend his EC comics including this infamous exchange between Gaines and Democrat Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee...

Mr. Beaser: Is there any limit you can think of that you would not put in a magazine because you thought a child should not see or read about it?

Gaines: My only limits are the bounds of good taste, what I consider good taste.

Sen. Kefauver [refering to the cover of EC's Crime SuspenStories #22 -pictured]: This seems to be a man with a bloody ax holding a woman's head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that is in good taste?

Gaines: Yes, sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic....

Sen. Kefauver: This is the July one [Crime SuspenStories #23]. It seems to be a man with a woman in a boat and he is choking her to death with a crowbar. Is that in good taste?

Gaines: I think so.

The hearings made the front page of the New York Times the next day. The bad press meant that in several publishers were forced to revamp, censor or even cancel many long-running and popular titles.

It was in response to this anti-comics fervour that the Comics Magazine Association of America was formed in September 1954. Headed by Charles F. Murphy, a noted New York attorney, the CMMA established the Comics Code Authority (CCA), which based its code upon an earlier, but largely unenforced code, which had been drafted in 1948 by the Association Of Comics Magazine Publishers. The Comics Code Authority served as a way for the comics industry to censor itself as opposed to the publishers being Federally regulated.

The new code banned the depiction of "policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions ... in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority" and "in every instance good shall triumph over evil". Excessive violence was forbidden, as were horror staples such as Zombies, Ghouls, Werewolves and... Vampires (see where we're going here?).

The code stayed in force until 2011, although as time went on many of the restrictions were slowly lifted. On January 28th 1971, the code was revised to allow some leeway in the depiction of criminal behavior. Also newly allowed were "vampires, ghouls and werewolves... when handled in the classic tradition such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high calibre literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle, and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world". The poor Zombie, however, apparently lacked enough literary merit and thereby remained on the banned list.

Having nearly gone out of business in 1957 after publisher Martin Goodman made a disasterous decision to switch distributors, Marvel Comics had risen through the 1960s to be a main player in the comics field, due in no small part to writer/editor Stan Lee's new take on the superhero formula. In 1969 the Marvel line consisted primarily of superhero titles alongside a handful of Western titles (Kid Colt Outlaw, Rawhide Kid) and Teen humour/romance titles (Millie The Model, Chili). Added to the line were two horror titles - Tower Of Shadows and Chamber Of Darkness which contained new short horror stories, including adaptatons of tales by writers such as H.P. Lovecraft.

Another new title, launched in 1970, was Astonishing Tales. An addition to Marvel's burgeoning superhero line, it was a split book featuring two stories, the first starring Marvel's Tarzan knock-off Ka-Zar, the other featuring frequent Fantastic Four protagonist Dr. Doom. While short-lived, the Dr. Doom strip paved the way for many of Marvel's future horror titles by having the concept of having a villainous figure as the star of a comic book. A format that titles such as Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf by Night would take so much further.

Over in the pages of Marvel's best selling title 'The Amazing Spider-Man' (#101) writers Stan Lee and Roy Thomas introduced Morbius, the so-called 'Living Vampire'. Created by scientific methods rather than supernatural means, Morbius was the first of Marvel's vampire characters. Roy Thomas had originally intended for the protagonist of this story to be Dracula himself, but Lee nixed the idea, probably due to other plans he already had for the character, as can be seen by the announcement made in the Bullpen Bulletins pages in Marvel Comics of July 1971.

"SAVAGE TALES (our M-rated mag - for the mature reader) looks like such a howlin' hit that we're following it up with a ghoulish 50c goodie called THE TOMB OF DRACULA (or THE HOUSE OF DRACULA, we haven't decided yet). It's a wholly new concept, starring Dracula himself, as he is - was - and perhaps will be. With art by GENE COLAN, BERNI WRIGHTSON and GRAY MORROW among others, and a team of the world's most titanic scripters, headed by Marvel's merry masters SMILIN' STAN and RASCALLY ROY themselves! May we modestly say - it ain't to be missed!"

Marvel's original concept of a 50 cent black and white magazine fell by the wayside at the last minute and the Tomb Of Dracula made it's belated debut as a regular colour comic with a cover date of April 1972. Ironically, the delays to the title's launch -partly caused by having to have Gene Colan's art reformatted for the smaller page size of the comic book format - meant that Dracula was actually beaten to the newsstand by another of Marvel's horror creations "Werewolf By Night" which debuted in the pages of Marvel Spotlight #2 with a February 1972 cover date.

The premiere issue of Tomb Of Dracula was scripted by Gerry Conway from a plot by either Stan Lee or Roy Thomas (or possibly both). The cover art was by the legendary Neal Adams, but it was the interior art by the incomparible Gene Colan that gave the title its look. Colan, who had been a stalwart of strips such as Iron Man, Daredevil and had excelled on Doctor Strange, had lobbied to be given the title over Stan Lee's first choice of Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett. In an interview with Roy Thomas in Alter Ego magazine (Vol. 3, #6) Colan reveals how he got the job...

COLAN: Yep. The only strip I really begged for was Dracula. He promised it to me, but then he changed his mind, he was going to give it to Bill Everett.

THOMAS: It's funny, I don't remember Bill being the designated artist, but I'm sure you're right.

COLAN: Oh, I said to him, "Stan, you gave me your word I could have it!" He said, "No, I'm afraid not, Gene. I actually promised it to Bill before you!" But I didn't take that for a answer. I worked up a page of Dracula, long before Bill did anything. I just sat there, and I inked it, a whole page of the character, just sample drawings of him. I fashioned him after Jack Palance, years before Palance played Dracula on TV, and I sent it in. I got an immediate call back. Stan said, "The strip is yours."

THOMAS: It probably worked out for the best. Bill was certainly a good artist, but I don't think he'd have gotten what Stan was really looking for in Tomb of Dracula.
COLAN: I didn't think so. I thought I was the only one for it.

Conway's script introduced Frank Drake, last living descendent of the Dracula line. Drake travels to Transylvania with his fiancee Jeanie and friend Clifton Graves with a plan to turn the legendary Castle Dracula, which Frank has inherited, into a tourist attraction. However, things don't quite go as planned when, whilst exploring the castle Graves falls through a rotting floor and finds himself in a crypt, complete with a coffin containing a skeleton with a wooden stake in it's chest area. Graves removes the stake thus causing Dracula to rise from his tomb.
Writer Conway only stayed on the title for one more story before passing the reins to Archie Goodwin with the third issue. Goodwin introduces us to Rachel Van Helsing, descendent of Abraham Van Helsing from Bram Stoker's original novel, and her mute servent Taj. The two eventually encounter Drake and the three combine forces to hunt down Dracula.
Goodwin also only lasted two issues before handing it over to Gardner N. Fox. Better known for his superhero works at Marvel's main rival DC, Fox had also written for pulp magazines such as Weird Tales. He too only lasted two issues and with Tomb Of Dracula's seventh issue the writing chores were taken over by Marv Wolfman. And it is with Wolfman's arrival the strip really takes off...
To be continued...

SECRET AGENT MAN (SLIGHT RETURN)

Way back in May, I mentioned IDW's Secret Agent Corrigan collection by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson and promised to review it on it's release in July. Well, July came and went with no sign of the book, but here in September it's finally available and it was certainly worth the wait!

For those of you unfamiliar with this classic strip, here's a bit of background information. Secret Agent X-9 (as the strip was originally titled) started in January 1934. Supplied to newspapers by the King Features Syndicate, the strip was written by Dashiell Hammett, of Maltese Falcon fame, and illustrated by the legendary Alex Raymond, well known for his work on the Tarzan and Flash Gordon comic strips. Despite this impeccable pedigree, Secret Agent X-9 was never a success Hammett soon moved on, followed not longer after by Raymond.

X-9 was originally a nameless agent working for a unnamed agency. In the 1940s X-9 was finally given a name, Phil Corrigan, and the agency was revealed to be the FBI. The strip was a hybrid of a private detective and secret agent adventure, and alternated between the two styles.

After Raymond and Hammett's departure, the strip continued under the hands of Charles Flanders (1937), Mel Graff (1939-1960) and Bob Lubbers (1960-1966) before being handed to the team of writer Archie Goodwin and artist Al Williamson. This team supreme handled the strip from 1967-1980, taking the opportunity to introduce some more fantastical elements into the storylines along the way. In 1980 they passed the baton to veteran EC artist George Evans who wrote and drew the strip for sixteen years. When he retired in 1996, the strip was retired with him.

History lesson over, let's look at the new collection. The first thing that strikes you is the size. I was expecting a volume the same format as IDWs excellent King Aroo collection, but this hardcover is much larger, measuring 10 1/2 inches by 11 1/2 inches. This increase in page size, together with the excellent reproduction straight from Williamson's own proof copies, shows off his luxuriant art in all it's detail.

The volume opens with an introductory piece by Mark Schultz, telling us a little about Al Williamson and his arrival on the strip and how he insisted on bringing Archie Goodwin on board as well. This introduction also includes examples of Williamson's other comic work, including a strip from his and Goodwin's work on Star Wars, a page from his work with EC comics in the 1950s and a page of art from a Flash Gordon comic book also written by Goodwin.

Bruce Canwell brings up the rear with a well written and researched article on Secret Agent X-9/Corrigan's history, illustrated with sample strips from Bob Lubbers, George Evans, Alex Raymond and Mel Graff.

In between there is, of course, the meat of the book. Over 800 daily strips from 30th January 1967 through to 30th August 1969.

Goodwin and Williamson took over Secret Agent X-9 at the height of the spy-mania fad that gripped America in the mid 1960s. TV shows such as The Man (and Girl) From U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart and The Wild, Wild West filled the nations airwaves. James Bond still ruled the silver screen. Comic books weren't exempt from the spy game. Marvel took their war hero Sgt. Fury and brought him into the modern day as Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. while DC had King Faraday, and even adapted the Bond story Dr. No into comic form.

Shortly after the Goodwin/Williamson team took over, King Features decided to change the strip's title to Secret Agent Corrigan, a title Williamson in particular wasn't keen on. Goodwin decided to take the strip back to its Hammitt/Raymond roots. Under Bob Lubbers, Corrigan's exploits were light-hearted. The new team brought in a darker, more violent and more cinematic feel to the strip. The team's love for adventure movies shines through in these stories. In later years they would stretch, but never break, the limits of the strips format as they would alternate the spy/detective stories with ever more fantastical stories inspired by movies such as The Lost World. It's a credit to them that these tales seem perfectly natural and the strip never quite "jumps the shark" to use TV parlance.

All that will come in later volumes however. For now, we remain in the hard-boiled detective spy genre. While the stories are certainly of their time, Goodwin's taut plotting and credible dialogue perfectly compliments Williamson's exquisite artwork.

This is a collection I cannot praise highly enough. IDW have again raised the strip reprint bar higher with this collection. I know the $49.99 price tag will put some people off, but I feel that's a worthy price to pay for this first installment of one of the finest examples of the adventure strip. If your local comic shop has a copy you can look at, I wholeheartedly recommend you take a look.
Roll on vol. 2.

I'll be back soon with more reviews.

Until then, take care,

Steve

A TASTE OF HONEY...

Moonstone Books have over the years given us many new comic stories featuring classic characters from the worlds of comic strips, pulp magazines and TV. The Green Hornet, The Avenger, Captain Action, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Saint, Boston Blackie among many others have all appeared under the Moonstone imprint. Now they have turned their attention to a short-lived 1960s TV show, "Honey West".

Originally created by G.G. Fickling (a psuedonym for husband and wife Forest and Gloria Fickling) in their 1957 novel 'This Girl For Hire', Honey would appear in nine novels between 1957 and 1964, with two more in 1971. In 1965, television producer Aaron Spelling, bought the rights to the character and used her in an episode of Burke's Law, 'Who Killed The Jackpot' which aired in April that year. Played by Anne Francis of Forbidden Planet fame, Honey proved popular and was quickly spun off into her own show. A few changes were made to the format. It was 1965, James Bond was one of the biggest things on the silver screen, and spy shows ruled the TV airwaves. There was The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, The Wild Wild West and even Burke's Law suddenly became Amos Burke, Secret Agent. So it was no surprise that Honey and her right hand man Sam Bolt (Johnny Doom in the original books) were private detectives with the latest in secret agent gadgets - lipstick microphones, earrings full of teargas, exploding compacts and, of course, a fully equipped mobile crime lab cleverly disguised as a TV repairman's van. Another addition to the TV show was Honey's pet ocelot, Bruce. Well, every show needs it's gimmick!

It was a fun, light-hearted show though and Anne Francis played Honey West to perfection.

So, how does Moonstone's new comic book stand up? Quite well, actually. The inaugral issue is the first part of a story entitled "Killer On The Keys", written by Trina Robbins and illustrated by Cynthia Martin. Set circa 1967, at the height of the 'flower power' craze, Honey goes undercover as a go-go dancer at the nightclub 'The Purple Pussy' to investigate the murder of a cocktail waitress. Needless to say, it's not a simple case and very soon one of the other dancers at the club is hospitalized after an attempt on Honey's life.

Robbins seems to be trying to strike a balance between the original novels and the TV show. There are no sign as yet of lipstick mikes and exploding compacts, although Bruce the Ocelot is present and correct. There's no sign either of Sam Bolt or his novel counterpart Johnny Doom. Whether or not he/they turn up, we'll have to wait and see. I'll be along for the ride for the foreseeable future, as long as sales support the title.

I'll be back soon, with more Secret Agent stuff.

Until then, take care,

Steve

KATS, MICE, PUPPS, TIGERS AND OTHER ASSORTED KREATURES

In the long history of the newspaper comic, few strips have been lauded as much as George Herriman's surreal 'Krazy Kat'. Launched in 1913, the strip ran thirty-one years, only ending with Herriman's death in 1944.

The eponymous Kat, along with Ignatz Mouse, Officer Bull Pupp and sundry other anthropomorphic characters existed in the ever changing landscape of Coconino County, a bizarre, almost Daliesque, universe where the backdrops melt and shift around. Unique in both its surreal visuals and bizarre wordplay, the strip was feted by such illuminaries as newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, art critic Gilbert Seldes and poet e.e. Cummings. It's even said that Pablo Picasso followed the strip avidly. In later years the strip's influence would be seen in the works of comics artists such as Robert Crumb and Chris Ware.

The main thrust of the strip was the three way relationship between the aforementioned Kat, Mouse and Dog. Krazy is a carefree, almost simple-minded, cat whose gender is ambigious, being referred to both as "he" and "she". He/she loves Ignatz Mouse, however this love is unrequited - in fact Ignatz despises Krazy and continually tries to throw bricks at the feline's head. Krazy however misinterprets these bricks as 'love taps'. Meanwhile Offissa Pupp, Coconino's local police officer, who harbours a crush for Krazy, attempts to thwart Ignatz's plans and incarcerate the mouse in his jailhouse.

Extended narratives were unheard of in 'Krazy Kat' but in 1936, twenty-three years on from it's inception, Herriman started the storyline which has now become known as 'Tiger Tea'. It is that tale that has recently been collected by Craig Yoe as part of his Yoe Books series for IDW Publishing.

'Tiger Tea' starts with the collapse of Katnip Konsolidated, leaving Coconino County's wealthiest citizen Mr. Meeyowl pennyless. Krazy takes it upon himself to help him regain his fortune and thus embarks on a quest, following his nose hither and thither and arrives in a land where "things are tiger bad". From this strange land comes the titular Tiger Tea. And that's when things get very odd indeed...
There have been many discussions over the years as to whether Herriman was using 'Tiger Tea' as a euphemism for marijuana. I'll not add to those debates, but instead leave you, the reader, to decide for yourself. However Craig Yoe's insightful introduction does go into some detail of both sides of the argument.

The collection is a beautifully designed hardcover, printed supposedly on hemp paper. Priced at a mere $12.99 (about £9.99 here in the UK), this is a collection no Herriman fan should be without. Available from all good comic shops, or from Amazon - see the link below, or click The Strip Search Store link at the top right of the page for details.



Editor Craig Yoe is also responsible for the forthcoming book "Krazy Kat And The Art Of George Herriman" being published, not by IDW, but by Abrams. I look forward to seeing it. It's available for preorder from your local comic shop, or you can use the link below to preorder from Amazon now.




I'll see you soon with more reviews, and maybe some surprises. Until then, take care.

Steve

WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS, TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS...

Well it's been a while, hasn't it?
As many of you know, I (and my better half Jackie) have recently relocated from Farnborough to the village of Mapplewell in South Yorkshire. On top of that my lovely daughter Jal recently got married, so most of my time has been taken up with first the move, and then the wedding. Now that both are over, I can finally get back to my irregular blog.
There will be a few changes here over the few weeks. I'm going to introduce Amazon links to items I review, so you can find them easily. I was in two minds whether to do this. On the one hand, any time somebody orders something through Amazon using the links, it generates a little extra income for us, but at the same time I don't want to take sales away from local comic shops for they are the lifeblood of our business. I leave the choice in your hands, but please support your local comic shop (if, indeed, you still have one).
The other change will be the occasional competition on here. Not sure what form they'll take yet, but I'll come up with something...
I'll be back very shortly with the first of my new reviews, so I'll see you all soon.
Steve

LONG LIVE THE KING!

As far as I know, there hasn't been an official announcement from IDW yet, but it appears that there will soon be another collection of Jack Kent's wonderful strip King Aroo. Amazon UK are already listing volume two as available for pre-order, although as yet there's no mention of it on IDW's website. As the first volume is by far my favourite strip collection of recent months, I just cannot wait to get my hands on this new book. Will let you know as and when I have a release date.

UPDATE! Those splendid chaps at IDW have just let me know that we can expect the King's arrival in November. Let your local comic shop know it's coming, and get them to pre-order it for you.

AL WILLIAMSON (1931-2010) R.I.P.

Another of the greats has left us. Al Williamson, one of the industry's finest artists, passed away on the 13th June.

Inspired by the work of Alex Raymond, Williamson took art classes with Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth, and later studied at Hogarth's Cartoonists and Illustrators school, where he met fellow future EC artists Roy Krenkle and Wally Wood. After working for publishers such as American Comics Group (ACG), Avon, Fawcett and Standard, Wiliamson started working at the renowned EC Comics. While there he often worked with Frank Frazetta, Angelo Torres and Roy Krenkel in a group affectionately known as the 'Fleagle Gang'. Willamson's talents were put to good use at EC, notably on the science fiction titles Weird Fantasy, Weird Science and Weird Science Fantasy. Working from stories by editor Al Feldstein, as well as adaptations of stories by well known writers such as Ray Bradbury, Williamson provided page after page of detailed, superblative art.
From 1955 to 1957, he also worked for Marvel Comics, then still known as Atlas. He produced many short three to five page stories, including a stint on the Jann Of The Jungle strip.

In the sixties, with work in the comic book field at a low, Al turned to the newspaper strip where he worked as an assistant to John Prentice on the Rip Kirby strip. This would last for three years and certainly proved to be a good training ground for when he himself would work on a strip of his own.

He returned to comics in 1965 doing one stories for Gold Key titles such as Boris Karloff Tales Of Mystery and The Twilight Zone, and also helped launch the B&W horror magazines Creepy and Eerie for Warren Publishing.

1966 proved to be a great year for Williamson as he was asked to draw the first issue of a new Flash Gordon comic book series. He returned to aso draw issues 4 and 5 and was awarded the Best Comic Book award by the National Cartoonist Society for his work. In addition, it was on the basis of his work for Flash Gordon that he was offered the chance to work on the Secret Agent X-9 newspaper strip.

Secret Agent Corrigan, as the strip was rechristened, reunited Williamson with writer Archie Goodwin and together the two produced a more than a decade of exciting daily adventure. His art here was at it's peak (sorry EC fans) and is shortly to be collected in a series of collections by IDW publishing.

During this time Wiliamson continued to do comic book work, including more work for The Twilight Zone, Creepy and Eerie as well as tales for DC Comics mystery anthology House Of Mystery. In addition he encouraged young up and coming artists such as Mike Kaluta and Berni Wrightson and helped them break into the comic business.

Al left Secret Agent Corrigan in 1980, he and Goodwin took on the comic book adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back and then turned his hand, again with Goodwin, to the Star Wars newspaper strip until it's cancellation in 1983.

From the mid 1980s onwards Wiliamson had worked primarily as an inker, working with pencilers as diverse as Mike Mignola, John Romita Jr., and Gene Colan. As an inker he won no less than nine industry awards.

His influence on the industry cannot be measured. His artwork alone puts him among the greats, but his encouragement of other artists such as Kaluta and Wrightson, and the fact that he has been cited by many others, including Dave Gibbons, Mark Schultz, Tony Harris and Frank Cho, as an influence elevates his standing in the industry even higher.

Rest In Peace Al.

DITKO'S STRANGE WORLD

Up to now, this blog has primarily focused on reprints of newspaper strips. I'm not sure why that is, apart from the number of excellent collections that have come out recently. So today I'm going to look at four recent books featuring the work of the legendary comics artist Steve Ditko. As I've already said in a previous blog entry, I'm a huge fan of Ditko's work, and while he's best known for his work on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange for Marvel (both of whom he co-created), The Creeper for DC and Captain Atom for Charlton there is far more to him than superheroes.

First up is Stranger And Stranger: The World Of Steve Ditko. Unlike the other books here this is not a collection of Ditko's stories, but a work tracing the life and career of one of comics most mysterious creators. The book's author Blake Bell has done an exemplary job of telling the tale of the notoriously reclusive artist, from his early days in the comics industry studying under Jerry Robinson, through his breakthrough with Charlton Comics, the heady days of the early Marvel Bullpen, his departure for DC comics, up to his self-published (with Robin Snyder) Steve Ditko's Packages of the late 1990s. Bell delves into Ditko's fascination with the writings of Ayn Rand and explores how the influance of books like The Fountainhead affected the artists later career and his relationship with comic fandom. Lavishly illustrated with page after page of Ditko art from all stages of his career, and with quotes from many of the people he worked with in the industry this book is a must for anyone with an interest in comics most celebrated and yet unknown artists.

Next, also from Fantagraphics and Blake Bell, is the superb Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 which I mentioned in a previous blog entry. This book was compiled by Bell and collects Ditko's earliest work for publishers such as Prize, Gilmor, Ajax/Farrell, Timor and, of course, Charlton. The majority of the stories collected here fall firmly into the horror vein, with tales taken from titles such as The Thing, This Magazine Is Haunted and Strange Suspense Stories. Some science fiction stories are also present from the pages of Space Adventures, while Racket Squad In Action, Crime And Justice and Blazing Western give us... well, crime and western tales. Nearly all of this material predates the introduction of the Comics Code Authority in October 1954, the sole exception being a humour piece Car Show taken from a 1955 issue of From Here To Insanity. This means that much of this material is more visceral than the stories many are familier with from the early 1960s although still tame by todays standards. The reproduction is stunning, showing off Ditko's detailed artwork at its finest. Check out the infamous electric chair cover to Strange Suspense Stories # 19, a detail of which is used as the cover to this collection (see right). Or the cover to Space Adventures # 12 with is EC inspired cover (see left). And while the art is all prime Ditko, here and there he does let his influences show through. For example Die Laughing from The Thing #13 has a few layouts and panels inspired by the legendary Will Eisner, while Cinderella from The Thing #12 has a very Mort Meskin feel. This is one of the finest collections of Ditko's work out there, and while it may not be as familier as his work on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange or indeed those mystery shorts he did for Marvel books such as Strange Tales and Amazing Fantasy, it's all classic Ditko. Buy it now, and pre-order volume 2, hopefully due in August this year.

As a quick aside, Ditko's Eisner influance would also show up in his work on Marvel's Doctor Strange strip. The first Dr. Strange story from Strange Tales #110 has some very Eisneresque panels. And that distinct window in the good Doctor's Sanctum Sanatorum bears more than a passing resemblence to the one in Denny Colt's Wildwood Cemetery hideaway. But I digress...

Fantagraphics set the bar high with Strange Suspense, and IDW's The Art Of Ditko collection only just falls short of the other books high standards. Compiled by Craig Yeo for IDWs Yeo Books imprint, this collection concentrates on Ditko's work from the 1960s. With the Comics Code at the height of it's influance the stories here are tamer than those in the Fantagraphics book, while Ditko's artwork is a little less detailed, more akin to his superhero work for Marvel and DC, than his earlier, detailed horror work. Along with numorous examples of Ditko's work from Charlton titles from the sixties, there are reproductions of original art pages from his work with Marvel and DC.
One advantage this collection has over the Fantagraphics volume is that it is oversized, allowing the reader to really appreciate Ditko's stylised art.
While not quite reaching the heights of Strange Suspense, The Art Of Ditko is still an essential purchase for Ditkologists everywhere.


Finally, DC Comics have also brought out a Ditko collection , this one devoted to his work on the superhero strip The Creeper. This volume contains all of the Creeper stories Ditko had a hand in, starting with the characters debut in the pages of DC's tryout comic, Showcase.
For those unfamilier with him, The Creeper was originally introduced in Showcase #73 (1968), which told the tale of outspoken Gotham City talk show host Jack Ryder, gunned down by gangsters when he used his TV show to take a stance against organized crime made him a target. Mortally wounded by the mob, Ryder's life was saved by a scientist who gave him an experimental serum that granted him powers of super-agility. Disguising himself in a bizarre costume, Ryder took on the persona of The Creeper and sought retribution.
After that single tryout issue, The Creeper was quickly given his own title, "Beware The Creeper" the first six issues of which are presented here. Ditko walked off the title having drawn only eleven pages of that sixth issue, with Jack Sparling pitching in to fill out the issue. In fact it looks to me that Sparling may have redrawn those first eleven pages although some of the layouts certainly look like Ditko. The reclusive artist returned to the Creeper in 1975 for another tryout book, First Issue Special #7, and then again in 1978 for a series of backup stories in World's Finest Comics #249-255. All those stories are collected here along with a real treat - a story originally intended for a revival of Showcase but scrapped when that title was suddenley cancelled in the infamous D.C. Imposion of 1978. Instead the story was used in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade, an extremely limited edition collection of material left unpubished, especially compiled by D.C. for copyright reasons. Only a few dozen copies were published, although bootleg copies allegedly exist.
Ditko's art on the earlier Creeper stories is not unlike his later work for Marvel on Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, while his 1970's return to the character exemplifies his looser, simpler style that would also be seen on his later return to Marvel on series such as Machine Man. The stories themselves, written by up and coming talent such as Denny O'Neil and Michael Fleisher are for the main part fairly standard superhero fare, although the earliest stories are slightly more quirky than the standard late 1960s DC superhero title.
All in all, not the most essential of Ditko's work, but certainly well worth a look.
I'll be back soon with more recommendations.
Be seeing you!

DITKO'S WORLD

A very quick entry today. Those who know me will know I'm a huge fan of Steve Ditko. A few months ago those wonderful guys at Fantagraphics books published a superb collection of his very earliest comics work called Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 (seen here on the right). Now it appears that a second volume called Unexplored Worlds is coming this August. Not sure what it will include, but I for one can't wait. More info as and when I find out. I have a Ditkocentric blog entry coming up soon, including my thoughts on Strange Suspense, so look out for that.

COMICS REVUE

Back in the day, before we had all these lovely deluxe hardcover reprints of newspaper strips, we had a number of magazines devoted to strip reprints. Tabloids like The Menomonee Falls Gazette and its sister paper The Menomonee Falls Guardian collected current strips on a weekly basis, while there were other magazine collections devoted to specific strips such as Twin Earths and Steve Canyon. Then, in the mid 1980s, a new monthly magazine entered the market. Comics Review started off reprinting a months worth of current humour strips such as Garfield, B.C., Wizard Of Id, Hagar The Horrible, Tumbleweeds and Bloom County. With its fourth issue many of the humour strips were phased out as adventure strips were added to the mix. Star Wars by the team supreme of Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon, Spider-Man were all added to the line-up, followed in later issues by Modesty Blaise, The Phantom, Secret Agent Corrigan, Tarzan and Flash Gordon amongst others.
With the eleventh issue the title changed to Comics Revue and is still running under that name over a quarter of a century on. The format has pretty much stayed the same over that time, although the emphasis shifted gradually away from current strips to vintage reprints, usually from the 1930-60s. Eventually the line up settled down to a range of classic continuity strips. Flash Gordon by Harry Harrison & Dan Barry, Buz Sawyer by Roy Crane, The Phantom by Lee Falk (sometimes alternating with Falk's other classic creation Mandrake The Magician), Secret Agent Corrigan (also by Goodwin & Williamson), Tarzan by Russ Manning, Krazy Kat by George Herriman, Alley Oop by V. T. Hamblin, Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, Rick O'Shay by Stan Lynde and Casey Ruggles by Warren Tufts. A veritable cornicopia (or should that be comicopia?) of classic strips.
Last year saw a major change to the magazine as Diamond Comics Distributors, who supply the title to comics shops, made a number of changes to their minimum order requirements. In order to meet Diamond's new order levels, publisher Rick Norwood took the title down to a bi-monthly schedule but at double the size. Now priced at $16 US, the magazine now boasts more colour pages and better quality paper, which in turn leads to much better reproduction. The extra colour pages enable Rick to run more Sunday page strips, which he is currently using to run the Mandrake story "Doorway To Z" and the classic Phantom tale "Return Of The Sky Band". In addition some strips such as Steve Canyon and Gasoline Alley now have their Sunday strips in colour as well, whereas in earlier issues they were run in black and white.
This new look is an improvement on what was an already fine magazine. I hope the higher price point doesn't deter the magazine's loyal readers. As far as this reader's concerned the new style is a winner. If you have any interest in vintage strips, you owe it to yourself to check out an issue.
Sadly, not many comic shops get in copies for the shelf, so you may have to ask your local store to order one in for you. Do yourself a favour and do it. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.