Darren asked me if I'd like to write a brief review of The Steve Ditko Reader. I said I would. One week later, here it finally is. I keep all my promises eventually!

The Steve Ditko Reader was recently published by Pure Imagination. It contains 1950's and early 60's reprinted stories from Charlton and other smaller publishers (No Marvel work). There's also an introductory essay on Ditko's early career.

The essay is written by Greg Theakston. It's interesting and yet, it may also be infuriating to some. It focuses mostly on Spider-Man, even though there isn't a single Marvel story in the book! I had a mixed reaction to this. I'm a big Spider-Man fan, and there truly was some good information here! At the same time, Ditko deserves to be remembered for much more than Spider-Man, and it's a tad irritating that his other work is so often ignored. Even his Dr.
Strange and Hulk stories get short shrifted! Geez.

Still, the essay DOES relate some good behind-the scenes details on Ditko and Spider-Man, and I learned a lot that I didn't know. The conflicts between Ditko and Marvel publisher Martin Goodman were particularly interesting. Goodman apparently made more demands as Spider-Man's popularity increased, and it was Goodman who wanted Spider-Man to age and go to college! (At that time, Marvel was gaining a following on American campuses.)

The stories themselves - with the exception of the last one (more on that later) - are EC-type fantasy, sci-fi and horror stories. Naturally, most of them have twist endings. Some are better than others, of course, but as a whole, I found them entertaining. I would assume that the some of the best material available was selected for this edition.

It is interesting to see Ditko's art evolve. The first story barely looks like Ditko! The second story, though, titled "The Library of Horror" could be set in Dr. Strange's world! The opening panel even looks like a Dr. Strange panel, with the melting candle, the man turning the pages of an old book and extradimensional monsters appearing in mist over head! (That panel, in fact, is on the back cover!) Some people say that Ditko's art looks best in black and white, and The Steve Ditko Reader goes a long way toward making their case. I LIKE color, but I can't see most of these stories looking good with it. Take a gander and see what you think!

The last story is from Charlton's The Return of Gorgo comic. If you know your monster movies, you know that Gorgo was a giant baby monster who had an even larger mother! The Gorgo story is the only full-length story in the book, and I tell you - it's a camp classic!! We have monsters, frog-like aliens planning an invasion, Red Chinese conducting nuclear tests and a scientist and his beautiful female assistant, whose love for the scientist goes woefully unrequited! All these people/monsters/aliens end up in the same part of the ocean! It's preposterous and silly as Hell, but great fun.

In conclusion, The Steve Ditko Reader is a great introduction to Ditko's early work. It contains a lot of material that I would assume would be difficult to find. I think it's a real bargain for Ditko fans.

The Steve Ditko Reader should be available in finer comic shops everywhere. You can also order a copy from Diamond this month. Look on page 338 of the current (October 2003) issue of Diamond's PREVIEWS, and you'll find it right there! How's THAT for convenience?

(drums fingers together like Mister Burns)

Great review, Bob! Thanks! The first two stories almost make me wonder if someone else else inked them (more research) or if he was aping Feldstein or someone at EC.
My favorites are the Mysterious Traveler stories, and the two THING stories you mentioned.
Housekeeping? All of the stoires are selected from 1954-63, and a quick pic for y'all:



Thanks again, Bob!
DADDIO

Thanks for the kind words, Dad!

Question 1: I seem to recall a note in the indicia stating that all material in this book was in the public domain. How did THAT happen? I especially wondered how a Gorgo story could be in the public domain. Doesn't the movie studio retain SOME rights to that character? I'm confused. (BTW, folks - that's Gorgo on the cover!)

Question 2: The introductory essay notes that Ditko freelanced for a lot of different publishers, including Charlton, at this time. Who originally published the work in here? Are these mostly Charlton stories? Are most old Charlton stories now in the public domain?

Question 3: Honestly, until recently, I had no idea just how much work Ditko had done for Charlton. I knew about the Blue Beetle/Captain Atom/Question stories he did after leaving Marvel (and I'd REALLY like those reprinted some day!). I didn't know he returned in the late 60's and stuck with them until the mid 70's. I also didn't know that he had done work for them in the 50's and early 60's. Has Ditko done more work for Charlton than any other publisher?

1: Public Domain is a fragile beast, but I doubt movie makers hold any more special rights over any other kind of creative person.

2: Except for This Magazine is Haunted, these are all Charlton titles by the time Ditko is doing them. Strange Suspense and a couple others are started by others, but end up in Charlton hands. About the ownership of Charlton's publishing history? Thats up to some debate, though not quite the tangle Tower ended up with. As of now, DC owns the action heroes, except for Thunderbolt. I think the creators of E-Man retain their ownership of him, and Ditko owns Static. Everyone thinks Byrne owns Rog, and MOST of the licensed stuff is retained by their "houses", if its not fallen into public domain. A guy in Canada owns a bucnh of Charlton artwork, and is publishing them as reprint packages, and I assume he has some sort of paper, giving him those rights, but itsa tiny operation, wherein I have found only one Ditko story thus far. Other than that? Prolly all in PD, if ya ask me. At least the old stuff.

3: Almost certainly, Ditko did more for Charlton than any other publisher, and with more consistency. Part of that illusion, however, comes from Charlton's constant use of file imagery and reprints. It used to be a big challenge for me to research the Ditko archives when a new book (from 1980 or something) came out, and I hadda see if I had all the "guts" to the original issues reprinted in that "new" issue!


DADDIO

Is Gorgo public domain? He's featured on the cover and has a pretty neat story inside there (I love giant monsters!), but there was also a DVD of the movie released relatively recently.

Oh, and Ditko rocks.