Table Of Content

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The world would have lost not just the Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Strange or his Ayn Rand-inspired Mr. A., but also over 1000 pages of work that marked Ditko’s artistic progression towards the cre- These formative . ation of those seminal characters. years of Ditko were also ng é7 The road to becoming a working comic-book artist influenced by Will Eisner ; began when Ditko left his home town of Johnstown, (creator of The Spirit newspaper Pennsylvania in 1950 for New York City. Ditko had strip), Mort Meskin (on DC Com- enlisted in the Army in October of 1945, a month ics features The Vigilante and Johnny atter Japan surrendered to end WWII, and thus was Quick), Joe Kubert (Tor) and Wally Wood able to secure funding from the G.I. Bill. This al- (science-fiction titles for Avon, Fox and EC Com- lowed him to study in Manhattan at The Cartoon- ics). Once Ditko had amassed a portfolio, he made ists & Illustrators School (now The School of Visual the rounds at the New York publishing houses, be- Arts) under the tutelage of his boyhood hero, Bat- ing refused often, until he finally had his first work man artist (and creator of The Joker) Jerry Robinson. published in 1953. -_ 2 - td Ditko in his studio shared with Eric Stanton, 1959 Atter a quick stint that summer working with the fall of 1955 — before Ditko sufficiently Meskin at the Joe Simon/Jack Kirby studio, recovered to return to what was a completely Ditko began a relationship with Charlton Com- different landscape in New York City. With the ics in 1954 that would last over 40 years. This CCA's impact on the industry having taken was in the “Pre-Code” era — a point in history hold, pickings were slim for the hacks that had when comic-book artists and publishers did previously supplied the bulk of Pre-Code out- their level best to outduel each other in attract- put. Ditko, however, hadn’t wasted away his Bee ing young audiences with lurid tales of horror, time while recovering. He had kept refining his murder, dismemberment, crime, and all kinds style and one publisher in particular took note of sordid evils. The problem was that it also at- — Marvel Comics. tracted the attention of politicians, media, and Ironically, it was only Mother Nature that first LET'S RIDE! THAT OLD © the PTA. Mounting pressure trom distributors drew Steve Ditko and Stan Lee together. On eat KRUGER? as well pushed comic-book publishers to enact Thursday, August 18, 1955, the Charlton the Comics Code Authority (CCA) on October Comics operation in Derby Connecticut was sed ae HAVE gol ge 26, 1954. The CCA was the industry’s “in- devastated by Hurricane Diane. Across the re- house censor” that all pages of every comic gion, hundreds were killed and the flooding at had to be vetted by before hitting newsstands. Charlton’s 129 acres of property severely dam- The capitulation had a negative effect on the aged its office space and printing presses. It publishers themselves and on the integrity of would take several months to recover, so Ditko the material. The Code’s regulations seemed took another stab at Marvel Comics in New specitically written to target the gold standard York, bringing his portfolio to Stan Lee. of the era, EC Comics. EC tried watered- The Marvel Comics of late 1955 was com- down versions of their books, but eventually paratively unatfected by the CCA impact, but were only left with Mad Magazine atter they only because it, like the comic-publishing had switched it to a magazine format (there- wing of Charlton, was part of a much larger by maneuvering around the CCA’s reach). corporation. Marvel Comics’ owner Mar- The remaining artists that could find work tin Goodman had entered the racket as far knew going in that severe restrictions were back as 1932 publishing “pulps” (magazines enforced on their work before ideas even for- printed on low-quality pulp paper featuring mulated in their minds. Very few had the cre- sensationalistic and lurid fiction tales). He was ative pedigree to wring lemonade from the talked into the comic-book business in 1939, lemons. Fortunately, Steve Ditko was one, and publishing Marvel Comics #1 (featuring Bill this volume illustrates that it was Ditko’s ren- Everett’s Sub-Mariner and Carl Burgos’ Human dering skills and sequential storytelling ability Torch characters) under the banner of Timely that was his strength and not whatever gore or Publications. violence he could add as a cherry on top. The company that became more famously This is fortunate because volume 1 of The nown in the 1960s as Marvel Comics — Steve Ditko Archives — Strange Suspense — hanks to the advent of the Spider-Man, Iron featured all the stories Ditko did leading up to an, Thor and Fantastic Four strips — was the inception of the CCA. What makes this sec- part of a web of companies and imprints that ond volume so noteworthy is seeing the monu- Goodman moved around like a shell game. mental leap Ditko made in the quality of his ost knew the comics division in the 1940s work. That leap can be partially explained by the as “Timely.” Others knew it in the 1950s by circumstances that arose in the spring of 1954 he name on the checks — “Magazine Man- that led Ditko to knock on death’s door. Fran agement Inc.”, the umbrella name that housed Matera, an artist who also worked for Charlton, Goodman’s comics and other entities like his described Ditko’s condition as such: “| remem- adventure and soft-core men’s magazines, as ber watching Steve Ditko draw comics in the well as his puzzle and celebrity periodicals. office. He had tuberculosis. A woman named Most fans, however, still refer to the company Angie who worked there said, ‘He’s not long inthe 1950s as the “Atlas era” owing to Good- for this world.’” man’s feeble attempt at coining a brand by Treatment of the illness was in its early days using the name of his distribution company that and recovery was not a given. Ditko’s mother handled all of his publications. travelled by train to retrieve her ailing son so Goodman’s success in business was the that he could recover in Johnstown at the fam- ability to recognize and ride any trend, and by ily home. It took more than a full year — into flooding the market with product to keep his From 2-Gun Western #4, 5/56 (Marvel) rr market share strong. He also occasionally got lucky a measly two dollars a page. “If | didn’t write fast,” comics garnered so little attention was because they reduce the cost of printing and distributing Charl- with a new hire. When a Goodman family member said Gill, “| wouldn’t have been able to get along were considered “fillers” in the overall workings of ton’s other publications. In short, they [the comics] needed a job for a young relative, Goodman hired under that price structure. There was the pride of the umbrella company, Charlton Press. Like Martin ‘made’ money by saving it.” Stanley Lieber as a gopher in the office. But the doing good work, but it was impossible to do our Goodman’s Marvel Comics, Charlton didn’t start And those printing presses provided Ditko with a man who would change his name to Stan Lee had best work consistently over a period of time...If you out as a comic-book publisher (song books and great deal of volume in 1957. He needed it, churn- a knack for storytelling, and also an ability to inspire want to know why Charlton comics were so shitty, magazines was their bread and butter) and their ing out work at $6.50 for a page of finished art and organize people. This led him to being granted that’s one of the reasons.” motive for publishing comic books was far more (pencils and inking). Ditko had only produced 67 the title of head editor of the comics division at the But what separated Ditko from his peers at Charl- functional than Goodman’s. pages for Marvel in 1956, but his output at Charl- end of 1941, practically still a teenager. ton was not just his innate artistic ability — it was Unlike all the New York publishers, Charlton ton soared in 1957 to over 450 pages (almost two Chasing trends was still the modus operandi in also his professionalism and dedication to his cratt. housed all of its operation in its property in Derby, full comics a month by today’s standards). This al- late 1955 when Ditko walked through the door of While others like Gill were cutting corners to make Connecticut, including its own printing presses. lowed him to experiment with different styles and the Marvel offices on Madison Avenue. At the time, a buck, Ditko’s association with Charlton cemented They had only a satellite office in Manhattan where different genres, and that developmental arc is on Marvel was not in the superhero publishing game. his reputation as a man whose sole purpose on this an editor or runner met with artists to exchange display in this volume. Instead, they peddled watered-down EC knock- Earth was to be a comic-book artist. “Steve has eth- work and payment. Charlton Business Manager Much like Ayn Rand’s architect, Howard Roark, offs; (predominantly) four-page stories collected by ics and stern beliefs, and he kept them,” said Gill. Ed Konick, who started working for the company in her novel The Fountainhead, Ditko’s desire for genre: light suspense and fantasy fare, as well as “He wouldn’t do bad work just because he was get- in 1952, once said, “We had to keep the presses financial gain never trumped his desire to produce romance, western and war. ting bad pay. He tried to do just as well for Charl- running around the clock because when you have artwork unfiltered by others from concept to the This period is significant, however, in Marvel's his- ton as he was for Marvel.” (Hence the reason why everything under one roof, idle presses cost you printed page. “I like to receive money for my work. tory for two reasons. First, all the members of what almost no one can remember any work from 1950s a fortune. You have to keep putting product out, But | can pass that up this time. | like to have people became known in the 1960s as the “Marvel Bull- Charlton books but Ditko’s.) so it was to our benefit to keep operating as much know my work is done by me. But! can pass that pen” were ensconced — Jack Kirby, John Buscema, It certainly wasn’t the pay that kept Ditko at as possible.” up...The only thing that matters, my goal, my re- Gene Colan, and John Romita all freelanced, and Charlton; it was the artistic freedom. Little attention Dick Giordano shared a different opinion in his ward, my beginning, my end is the work itself. My Bill Everett (co-creator of Daredevil) worked on staff. was paid to the editorial content within the covers of introduction to the DC Comics Action Heroes Ar- work done my way.” Sounds like a quote from Steve Second, the first collaboration between Stan Lee their comics as long as the books remained above chives v2 (2007). He started working for Charlton Ditko, but is, in fact, Roark’s professional manifesto and Steve Ditko saw the light of day as, of all things, a particular profit line (if they didn’t, they were axed in 1952 as an artist, then as an editor in the mid- to his rival Peter Keating in Rand’s Objectivist tome. a Western short story, “The Badmen” from 2-Gun without a second thought, and generally morphed 1960s, and while not denying that comics were es- A key effect of Charlton’s lack of centralized Western #4 (May ’56). And while Marvel didn’t pay into a newly-titled comic that retained the same sentially fillers, he questioned Konick’s assertion: editorial oversight in their comics division was how what DC Comics did, just about anyone paid bet- numbering as the old title). The reason why the “The comics’ higher print runs made it possible to their multi-story genre books were put together... ter than Charlton had...and a lot better than what xa Charlton was going to be paying. In late 1956, with the Derby operation fully recovered from its flooding (and with not enough volume coming from Marvel), Ditko rejoined Charlton. And even though its owners had been accorded mil- lions of dollars in flood relief from the government, they told the talent a much different tale of woe. Pretending they were poor and needed the creative staff’s help to dig their way out, they offered every- one work...at half the pay they had been receiving prior to the flooding (which was already half of industry standards). The “carrot” that Charlton offered in return was two-fold: 1) volume and timely payment; 2) no editorial interference (which meant no revisions that would slow an artist’s productivity). Put these two factors together and an enterprising professional that wasn’t able to crack DC Comics or Marvel could make a reasonable living. Unfortunately, while Charlton achieved its goal of maximum output, the effect of the carrot caused Charlton to pres- ent itself as the nadir of the industry for consistent (if any) quality of work. While not credited in the comic books themselves, the majority of the stories within this volume were likely written by Charlton’s lead writer, Joe Gill. Post-flood, he saw his page rate drop to t From Mystery Tales #45, 9/56 (Marvel) or “slapped together” is perhaps the most appro- The lead story in this volume is an oddity itself. priate description. If you were an artist precious With an April 1956 cover date (and no job num- enough about your work to see it leave your pen ber), “Starlight Starbright” is from Charlton’s From and end up in a child’s hands a few months later, Here To Insanity v3, a slightly oversized comic fea- you were in for a big surprise at Charlton Comics. turing black-and-white stories that perhaps repre- Nicola “Nick” Cuti was an editor in the 1970s at sented their attempt at the Mad Magazine demo Charlton, but he describes the utterly random meth- (Mad made the switch to full-sized magazine format od by which Charlton collated their books that lasted the year before). The story’s outlandishly exaggerat- from the company’s inception in the mid-1940s until ed caricatures serve as a strong reminder of Ditko’s its death in the mid-1980s: “We would assign stor- versatility. While most famous for his ability to cap- ies and some of them were eight pages, some ten, ture melancholy, in characters such as Peter Parker, some 15. And they would go out to the artists, we’d had Ditko chosen to focus his energies elsewhere, get the stories back and then we'd stack them up on he would have been one of the top humor artists of the shelves. When we had to put together a maga- his generation. zine...we’d get three stories and we’d find ourselves As Marvel continues to mine its 1950s anthol- a page or two pages short... so that was the reason ogy material in its line of Marvel Masterworks col- for a lot of those single- and two-page stories.” lections, the two (not yet collected) Marvel stories In the 1950s, trying to follow an artist’s develop- reprinted in this volume were selected because they ment arc could be interrupted because stories by are perfect bookends for Ditko’s progress as an art- one such as Steve Ditko could sit for well over a ist even during his short time at Marvel in 1956. year before being grabbed off that shelf and tossed “They'll Be Some Changes Made” from Journey Into between a couple of covers. Hence, to truly trace Mystery #33 (Apr ’56) — his first story for Marvel Ditko’s progress as an artist, the order of the stories — shows remnants of his 1954 trappings (e.g. an in this volume has been chosen not by the chrono- ornate splash panel, designed to showcase the en- logical publication date, but by when Ditko actually vironment and the lead character’s place within). All drew them. of his 17 stories for Marvel were only four pages in This can be determined because comic-book length, no doubt leading the artist to render a great companies used a “job number” (generally docu- deal of visual information with every opportunity. mented in the first panel of a story’s first page) to But by “Those Who Vanish” (seen in this volume track what they’d given out and what was paid to on page 28) from Journey Into Mystery #38 (Sep whom. Within this volume, the earliest job numbers 56) — his eleventh story for Marvel — Ditko was from Ditko’s time at Charlton have been ordered showing signs of mastering how to set up an im- as such, versus publication date. This reveals that age for maximum impact, as well as how to pull Ditko’s second and third stories done during this era the reader along from panel to panel more fluidly. — “Adrift In Space” (from Mysteries Of Unexplored Instead of a focus on atmospheric details, he jolted Worlds #8, Jun ‘58, job #51211) and “The King Of the reader’s eye within the first panel by focusing Planetoid X” (from Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds on the uniqueness of the characters that drove #7, Feb ‘58, job #s1282) — were published a the story. The opening shot of the wise old Indian year or more atter his fourth — “The Gloomy One” and the crevasse-like face of the hardened crimi- (from Strange Suspense Stories #31, Feb ’57, job nal speaks volumes about what the reader needs #s 1283). Were this volume to publish strictly by the to know about these characters. The rocks and the books’ publication dates, the clash of styles would cactus are the two simple design elements in the be dramatic. background required by the reader to identify the And that would be a shame because there environment. Framing the Indian character between weren’t too many periods during Ditko’s career that two tall mountains in an empty sky emphasizes his he made more of a stylistic leap. While no longer imposing figure; the billowing robes cloaking the able to “pour on the gore” like he had done in the criminal also highlight the Indian figure’s leanness. Pre-Code era, the dramatic strides he made in the The remaining stories Ditko did for Marvel also quality of his work represents the true value of this followed the visual motif Ditko used in this page’s volume. The pacing of his storytelling is far more ef- design. The “splash” of the strong lead panel is fol- fective — the reader able to follow the action from lowed by a smaller second panel that pulls back one panel to the next with greater ease and clarity far enough to establish a location. Ditko would — and his work began to lose the early “clutter- then move into a close-up of the lead characters ing” found in most artists who influenced by the EC interacting and that would drive the narrative to the stylings. In effect, Ditko was getting more out of a next page. Ditko was developing a signature visual whole lot less. identity in his use of single design elements, spa-