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The Steve Ditko Archives #5
By Steve Ditko Dripping with Fear: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 5 (Vol. 5) (The Steve Ditko Archives)
Steve Ditko drew the work featured in Dripping with Fear just before he collaborated with Stan Lee on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange at Marvel Comics. This volume has another 200-plus meticulously restored, full-color pages from Ditko in his early prime, at the time working in near anonymity for Charlton Comics in the then-popular horror/suspense genre.
Hardcover
First published February 25, 2014
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About the author
Steve Ditko
1,257 books140 followersStephen J. "Steve" Ditko was an American comic book artist and writer best known as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
He was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.
He was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 11, 2023
This book collects Steve Ditko stories from 1958 and 1959 published by Charlton Comics.
I got off on the wrong foot with this book and never really got on the right one. The intro spends a lot of time talking about Dikto inking some of his studiomate's fetish comics. That's all well and good but none of the fetish stuff is in here apart from some panels in the intro so it doesn't make a lot of sense.
The stories in this aren't in publication order and I doubt they're in the order they were drawn because the quality goes back and forth. I don't understand the organization at all. It doesn't show the evolution of Ditko as an artist and the stories aren't grouped according to theme. I guess the organization methodology is "I felt like ordering them like this."
Anyway, the stories are nothing remarkable, mostly EC style tales with varying degrees of effectiveness. There are some flashes of brilliance in the 1959 stories that's on par with his early Marvel work but a lot of it is Dikto finding his footing. It's interesting seeing Ditko evolve as an artist but it would be more interesting if the stories were in some kind of chronological order.
I don't dislike this book but I don't think I want it occupying precious shelfspace either. Three out of five stars.
I got off on the wrong foot with this book and never really got on the right one. The intro spends a lot of time talking about Dikto inking some of his studiomate's fetish comics. That's all well and good but none of the fetish stuff is in here apart from some panels in the intro so it doesn't make a lot of sense.
The stories in this aren't in publication order and I doubt they're in the order they were drawn because the quality goes back and forth. I don't understand the organization at all. It doesn't show the evolution of Ditko as an artist and the stories aren't grouped according to theme. I guess the organization methodology is "I felt like ordering them like this."
Anyway, the stories are nothing remarkable, mostly EC style tales with varying degrees of effectiveness. There are some flashes of brilliance in the 1959 stories that's on par with his early Marvel work but a lot of it is Dikto finding his footing. It's interesting seeing Ditko evolve as an artist but it would be more interesting if the stories were in some kind of chronological order.
I don't dislike this book but I don't think I want it occupying precious shelfspace either. Three out of five stars.
December 14, 2023
These collections are even getting better and better !
August 13, 2015
Another nice collection of Steve Ditko's pre-Spider-Man work for Charlton comics; this time 'round all the work was from 1958. I could have done without the four Western stories; especially the three starring 'Black Jack'.
The collection included some of the shorts that were in Ditko's Shorts and three other stories ("Journey's End" from Out of this World #9, "Moon-Run!" from Space Adventures #24, and "Doorway into Tomorrow" from Strange Suspense Stories #41) I'm sure I've read recently, but I'm not sure where. (Maybe I'll leaf through the other Ditko collections I have & see if I can find them.)
In any case a mostly enjoyable collection. I hope there are more to come.
[update]
"Journey's End" was also reprinted (in Black and White) in Space Wars and "Doorway into Tomorrow" in The Creativity of Steve Ditko. Neither of those are particularly recent books, so I guess the stories are just memorable.
"Moon-Run!" is more interesting. A shorter version of it appears in Ditko's Shorts. Apparently Charlton removed about 1/4 of panels, resized 8 of the remaining panels to fit on a single page (as originally printed there were 6 panels per page), recolored it and reprinted it in the mid-sixties.
The collection included some of the shorts that were in Ditko's Shorts and three other stories ("Journey's End" from Out of this World #9, "Moon-Run!" from Space Adventures #24, and "Doorway into Tomorrow" from Strange Suspense Stories #41) I'm sure I've read recently, but I'm not sure where. (Maybe I'll leaf through the other Ditko collections I have & see if I can find them.)
In any case a mostly enjoyable collection. I hope there are more to come.
[update]
"Journey's End" was also reprinted (in Black and White) in Space Wars and "Doorway into Tomorrow" in The Creativity of Steve Ditko. Neither of those are particularly recent books, so I guess the stories are just memorable.
"Moon-Run!" is more interesting. A shorter version of it appears in Ditko's Shorts. Apparently Charlton removed about 1/4 of panels, resized 8 of the remaining panels to fit on a single page (as originally printed there were 6 panels per page), recolored it and reprinted it in the mid-sixties.
May 27, 2016
The fifth volume of Steve Ditko stories reprinted by Fantagraphics, originally published by Charlton Comics in the late 1950s. The stories here are a little more substantial than in volume 6, but to me less interesting for that reason. There are a few exceptions near the end of the book, probably signalling a change in writers. A couple of the stories are excellent. One observation on Ditko's always amusing art -- the influence of Viennese Secessionist Egon Schiele on Ditko's style has been noted before but the resemblance is especially striking here in the Western stories, where many of the panels look almost like sketches by Schiele or his contemporary Oskar Kokoschka. It's a shame that most of our comic artists today only show influence from other comic artists because a wider range of influence might produce more diversity of style or even result in a master stylist like Ditko. Thank you, Fantagraphics, for assembling these stories...hunting the issues down on eBay or at comic conventions could take years.
April 15, 2015
This was fun, but not great. Neither the stories, nor the artwork, stand out. However, this makes sense since Ditko was working for Charlton comics at the time. The majority of the stories are near 5 pages in length, but there are several two-page shorts thrown in as well.
It's obvious how low Charlton was in their production value-- so many faces are simply vague outlines, and much of the text runs together, so that I had to re-read several of the speech balloons. Also the placement of panels (particularly, in the Mysterious Traveler stories) frequently seemed odd.
It's obvious how low Charlton was in their production value-- so many faces are simply vague outlines, and much of the text runs together, so that I had to re-read several of the speech balloons. Also the placement of panels (particularly, in the Mysterious Traveler stories) frequently seemed odd.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews