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New Ditko - THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #3

July 3, 2013, 5:41 pm
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Just in from Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko, the latest in Ditko essays, THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #3, with the following contents:

“#9: An Eternal Truth, Lesson Rejected”
“#10: The Fantasy Lifters”
“#12: For Good Or Ill”
“#13: Tsk! — The Still Unreachable — Tsk!”
“#18: Anti-Ditko 'Fans'”
“#17: …To The Last Drop”

[For the numbering, there were 10 essays total in the first two FOUR-PAGE SERIES publications (see here for list of Ditko essays), not numbered, 2 of them reprint and 8 original. On first publication, one of the reprint essays was labeled "The second in a new series of articles". So to answer the inevitable questions about what essays #1-#8 are, and if and where #11 and #14-#16 will appear, and why #17 is printed after #18: Your guess is as good as mine]

It's available directly from Robin Snyder, along with all the prior in-print Ditko publications from their 25 years of co-publishing.

Robin Snyder
3745 Canterbury Lane #81
Bellingham, WA
98225-1186 USA

robinbrigit at comcast dot net

Essays - The Four-Page Series (prices include postage, order direct from Robin Snyder)
#1 (part of The Comics v23#9) -- $2.50 US, $3.50 International
#2 -- $1.50 US, $2.50 International
#3 -- $1.50 US, $2.50 International
#4 (upcoming) -- $1.50 US, $2.50 International [featuring "He Should Have X@*#! Done..." and more]

Keep watching the comments, I'll pull out a key quote from each essay over the next few days.
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--Link-- Ditko's LASZLO'S HAMMER new edition Kickstarter

July 11, 2013, 2:16 pm
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Robin Snyder has a new Kickstarter project for a new edition of Ditko's 1992 LASZLO'S HAMMER, long out-of-print as a separate publication and only available as part of the larger AVENGING WORLD book.  The description says that " Laszlo's Hammer will appear as the lead feature" in this book, so presumably some other reprint or new Ditko will make up the balance of the book.

Here's the Ditko-Fever entry for the original publication, which is one of the few major Ditko publications I've never even seen a copy of, much less own.

More details as I get them.
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New Ditko - DITKOMANIA #91 and others

July 11, 2013, 6:32 pm
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DITKOMANIA #91 is now out, the latest issue of the long-running fanzine from publisher-editor Rob Imes. This is the first issue from the modern Imes-era to have full colour covers, both front and back.  The focus of this issue is Ditko's bouncing heroes, as seen on the Javier Hernandez cover, with a lot of attention to 1980s creation Speedball, with a lot more Speedball fan-art than you'd expect existed.  This issue also has an extended letter-column with a lot of reactions to Ron Frantz's article from the previous issue and Frantz's replies.

Ordering and subscription information over here.

Other recent possible Ditko, Archie has a recent NEW CRUSADERS: LEGACY book, which apparently includes some 1980s Ditko.  The revived Valiant had a recent VALIANT MASTERS: SHADOWMAN reprint which should include Ditko's SHADOWMAN #6 [1992]. And Marvel has a recent reprint of some of Ditko's Captain Universe stories from 1980-1981 and 1989-1990. Feel free to comment if you have any of these and have specific details about the contents.
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New Ditko - CREEPY PRESENTS STEVE DITKO

July 23, 2013, 11:03 am
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In the pleasant surprise department, Dark Horse has their CREEPY PRESENTS STEVE DITKO book set to come out in comic stores tomorrow, two weeks ahead of the scheduled date. Presumably copies from Amazon and other vendors will follow in short order. For those into digital, there's also a Kindle edition coming out for $10, and it's a pretty good bet that Dark Horse will have it available on their own digital store, like the previous Wrightson and Corben volumes, probably for about $12.

As discussed before, this book collects, for the first time in one volume, the sixteen stories drawn by Ditko for Warren's CREEPY and EERIE from 1966-1967, fifteen of them written by Archie Goodwin, the other by Clark Dimond and Terry Bisson. It was the first major body of work that Ditko did for black-and-white publication, and he used a variety of techniques to create some of the most visually arresting work of his career (that cover image gives you a taste, though I'm not wild about that colouring job). You can see posts about some of the stories in previous entries on this weblog.

I do want to point out that, based on a look at some of the EERIE ARCHIVES and CREEPY ARCHIVES books that reprint the full issues these stories appeared in (meaning you'd need to get five $50 hardcovers to get all of the Ditko, making a single $20 book much more attractive), it doesn't appear that whatever path led the publishing rights to these stories to Dark Horse included the original artwork or high-quality first-generation stats of the artwork to reprint from, so as far as I can tell the reprints are based on printed copies of the actual comics. The production work seemed to be top-notch given the limitations inherent in reprinting from that kind of source (and it's a better option for b&w comics compared to colour comics), but as those who've seen samples of Ditko's original artwork for some of these stories (whether on what Ditko once termed the "comics thieves market" or elsewhere) are aware there was a level of detail in Ditko's work that Warren's printing of the day couldn't capture. So buyer beware, maybe not the best printing you could hope for of these stories, but likely the best you'll ever see, at least of all the stories under one cover.
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LASZLO'S HAMMER reprint Kickstarter now in progress
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Ghost Manor #14 [1970]

July 27, 2013, 10:55 pm
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Bit of an unusual Ditko contribution to Charlton's GHOST MANOR #14 [1970], the opening 2-page feature is "Are You A Scorpio?" with art by Ditko. In this story, Winnie the Witch gives some of the character traits that supposedly are present in the approximately 1 in 12 people born between October 24 and November 22, as well as predictions about their immediate future. What makes this unusual is that, as far as I can tell, this is the only such feature that ran in Charlton's comics around that time, whether with drawn by Ditko or another artist (I'm sure someone with a more extensive collection of 1970 Charlton comics will correct me if I'm wrong). You'd think if they logically planned a dozen entries, they'd get at least two or three into them before giving up.

Or maybe they realized quickly that they needed more research, so they didn't end up with things like "your ruler is Pluto, God of the sea", which I think Poseidon might disagree with...

Anyway, minor enough story but a couple of nice touches of storytelling by Ditko in the two pages, like the faces on the people very clearly not ignoring the Scorpio walking into the room on the last panel below, and a few funny bits on the predicted romantic life of various other Scorpios on page two.


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Ghostly Tales #101 [1973]

July 28, 2013, 8:38 pm
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The Ditko in Charlton's GHOSTLY TALES #101 [1973] is the 8-page "Ghost Artist". This tale narrated by an especially giddy Mr. Dedd features a second-rate comic book artist named Tony Sansom who winds up sharing some studio space with the much more talented and successful comic strip artist Jimmy Elder. Despite Elder being quite generous with his advice, leading to some improvement in Sansom's work, the younger artist is still consumed by hatred and jealousy, finally finding an outlet all-too-common in these stories - Murder!

Also all-too-common, death isn't the end, and while Sansom briefly thinks he's gotten all he desired there's always a price to be paid.

Interesting little take on the comics business, a couple of really nice Ditko images, especially as Sansom approaches his inevitable end. The Charlton printing seemed to be especially uneven during this period, so my copy is kind of rough, although it's the fascinating Sanho Kim lead story, a Korean ghost story told in both Korean and English, which suffers the most.


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--Link-- Recent posts on recent Ditko

July 29, 2013, 6:48 am
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Cracked #219 [1986]

July 29, 2013, 5:13 pm
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Even three-fingered robotic hands by Ditko are distinctively his style.

CRACKED #219 [1986] is the second issue of the series to feature Ditko's work, continuing his "Robot War" feature with writer Mort Todd that debuted the previous issue, with another 1-page dialogue-free but sound-effects heavy gag page with some very intricate tonework. I always like the little touches you get in the artwork of these stories, like the robot in the first panel apparently camouflaging himself with some flowers on his butt.



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--Link-- LASZLO'S Kickstarter

July 29, 2013, 6:24 pm
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The Kickstarter for the new edition of LASZLO'S HAMMER is about to meet its goal with the next handful of backers, so if you wanted to be one of those who helped get it there now is the time to act. Otherwise, you still have eleven days.

Those of you currently reading the recent new edition of the DITKO PUBLIC SERVICE PACKAGE might be interested to know that LASZLO'S HAMMER features a bit of a callback to that book, with some scenes of the creativity at "Genius Pub. Inc." (or "G. Ness", as it was called in PUBLIC SERVICE).
And for those curious, a look at the rare first edition, and a starting place to read about Laszlo Toth.
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--Link-- Last day for LASZLO'S HAMMER Kickstarter

August 8, 2013, 10:31 pm
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Upcoming Ditko - WITZEND reprint

August 17, 2013, 9:18 pm
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According to the Wallace Wood Estate there will be a complete reprint of the magazine WITZEND in 2014. The magazine was founded and edited by Wallace Wood in 1966, later continued by Bill Pearson until #13 published in 1985. Steve Ditko appears in 8 issues with a total of 37 pages.

#1 - spot illustration of smoking invisible man with an iron mask
#2 - comedic 1-page story "Midnight Special"
#3 - first Mr. A story - "Angel"
#4 - second Mr. A story - "Money"
#6  - "The Avening World - Part 1"
#7 - "The Avening World - Part 2" (AW added to extensively for 1973 collection and subsequent reprints, but WITZEND version has a few pages not seen again until the 2002 AVENGING WORLD book)
#8 - comedic 1-page story "The Break-Out"
#12 - comedic 1-page story "The Booby Trap"
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Upcoming Ditko - THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #4

August 24, 2013, 4:00 pm
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Robin Snyder advises that THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #4 is on the way, and there's a new printing of #1 now available for those who missed it. Ordering info here.

Here's a preview of one of the essays in #4:

#14: LABELS AND LABELERS
© 2013 S. Ditko

As usual with fan comments—labels, smears—about me, they have more “emotional” truth than any factual substance.

These fan labelers, abusers, insulters, have no real interest in, concern with, facts, truth, 1st hand experience, knowledge.

Their “truth” is subjective, emotional or intrinsic, some “authority” is believed, parroted.

Did I “retire” or is it that comic book editors didn’t want my work anymore?

Is that relevant to anything?

Can these so-concerned fans explain why, outside of my Marvel work on S-M and DS, all other comic book titles, characters, I worked on at Marvel and DC soon failed.

Where was my claimed, believed, huge fan support or were my “fans” some overblown hype?

Isn’t it that ALL—or most—fans are emotionally selective fans?

Fans, like all of us, are turned on or off by specific subject material.

Any artist has X number of fans (sales) for his mystery, his fantasy, his war, science fiction, specific super hero...

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New Ditko - FOUR-PAGE SERIES #4

September 6, 2013, 11:36 am
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Now available from Robin Snyder, Ditko's THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #4, with five new essays:

“#19: Action/Reaction And The Self-Claimed, Self-Creators”
“#14: Labels And Labelers”
“#21: How Dare He!”
“#29: Too Late”
“#27: The Movers And The Freezers”

In addition, THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #1, previously available as a section in an issue of THE COMICS newsletter, is now available as a standalone reprint.



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New Ditko - LASZLO'S HAMMER

September 16, 2013, 12:27 pm
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The new edition of Ditko's LASZLO'S HAMMER is now available, Kickstarter backers should be getting it from Robin Snyder directly soon.  For those who didn't back the funding campaign, ordering information is at the usual spot, and sellers who order from Snyder should have copies soon if they don't already. Like right here. Retailers interested should contact Snyder for bulk rates on the entire library of Ditko/Snyder co-publications.

The title feature of course is the 27-page comic format essay from 1992 (as revised in 2002, to correct the spelling of "Laszlo" from "Lazlo") on the opposing topics of creation and destruction, starting with the example of Laszlo Toth's 1972 damage to Michelangelo's The Pieta using the same type of tool Michelangelo used to create the sculpture. Ditko explores the issue in a variety of ways, from the allegorical to the abstract to the concrete (including some amusing scenes on the creation and "editing" of comic books). It's one of the crucial texts in Ditko's independent work.

Also included are the single page "It's Either... Or" (first seen in the fanzine GUTS #5 [1969], and I believe the earliest example of one of Ditko's signature constructs, reducing characters down basic forms to make a universal point) and the 4-page "In Principle : The Unchecked Premise" (first printed in STEVE DITKO'S STATIC [1988], and one of his most fully realized allegorical pieces). Robin Snyder provides some introductory notes and a list of Kickstarter backers.
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New Ditko - DITKOMANIA #92

February 11, 2014, 10:08 pm
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Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Unless I've missed something, there hasn't been any new Ditko published work since the last update.  There have been the usual steady stream of reprints from other publishers, I've updated those I know about over here.

But just received in the mail, the latest issue of DITKOMANIA from Rob Imes. Among the usual mix of fan art and articles, Mort Todd writes about some of his work with Ditko, in particular Skyman for ACE Comics. Which I didn't realize had just been reprinted in a print-on-demand edition featuring Ditko's pencils, see details over here. There are also lengthy discussions about LASZLO'S HAMMER by Rodney Schroeter and Dave Sim and more.

Order info over here, as well as pdf copies of a few DITKOMANIA back issues.
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Upcoming Ditko - Wood's WITZEND reprint

February 22, 2014, 11:51 pm
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As previously mentioned, the Wallace Wood Estate has made arrangements with Fantagraphics to reprint the complete run of Wood's WITZEND, which included substantial contributions from Steve Ditko, including the first two Mr. A stories (not reprinted since 1985), the original version of "Avenging World" and some humourous single page comics, 37 pages in all.

It's scheduled for May of this year, the list price would seem to range from  $95 to $125 depending on the source.  The ISBN is 978-1606997444, you can order it from Amazon and for comic shops the order code from Diamond will be MAR141164.


WITZEND HC BOX SET WALLY WOOD
(W) Wallace Wood & Various (A) Steve Ditko
WHERE THE MAINSTREAM MET THE UNDERGROUND
When the formulaic constraints, censorious nature, and onerous lack of creator's rights in mainstream comics got to be too much for the brilliant cartoonist Wallace Wood in 1966, he struck out on his own with the self-published witzend. It became a haven for Wood and his fellow professional cartoonist friends where they could produce the kind of personal work that they wanted to do, without regard to commercial demands - and with friends like Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, Ralph Reese, Archie Goodwin, Angelo Torres, Steve Ditko, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Art Spiegelman, Don Martin, Vaughn Bodé, Jim Steranko, Jeff Jones, Howard Chaykin, Trina Robbins, Bernie Wrightson, and literally dozens more, it was bound to be a great ride! Now, Fantagraphics presents the complete run of witzend in this beautiful slipcased two-volume set with a special introduction by Bill Pearson and a history by Patrick Rosenkrantz.

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--Link-- Ditko #9 TEEN Kickstarter

February 28, 2014, 11:25 am
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Robin Snyder has a currently running Kickstarter for the next new Steve Ditko comic, #9 TEEN, which as you'd expect is the nineteenth release in the series of 32-page comics they've released since 2008. Covers and titles of the previous issues of the series and other Snyder/Ditko publications over here.

This new one looks to feature The Madman, who has previously appeared in 8-page stories in:

DITKO PRESENTS [2009]
A DITKO ACT TWO [2010]
DITKO NO. 5 - FIVE ACT [2010]
ACT 8, MAKING LUCKY 13, THIRTEEN DITKO'S 32S [2011]
NO. 16 - SIXTEEN [2012]

Plus a few other recurring features from the last few years.
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New Ditko - THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #5

March 4, 2014, 1:22 pm
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Now available from Robin Snyder, Ditko's THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES #5, with five new essays:

#25: Choice: Either/Or
"The choice can result in something negative, unwanted, unearned, undeserved, penalizing or satisfying, positive, beneficial."

#34: Memory
"Can a man/mind with a claimed poor memory have any authentic, personal integrity?"

#32: With Everyone, A Free-Will Choice
"Everyone is a character in the now world's real life drama."

#24: The Eternally Fixated
"So most inhabitants are not supposed to be allowed to change, develop, grow, but remain unchainng, static, strictly conforming, obeying the planet's (MU [mini-universe]) need, wants, whims, ruling dogma."

#26: 4 tHe knot 2 BritE, rite
"For the not-too-bright in fandom, the ongoing root issue, problem, disagreement, conflict, is the understanding, the status and validity of individual and property rights."

List of Ditko essays
In-Print Ditko/Snyder publications and ordering information
Issues of THE FOUR-PAGE SERIES are each $1.50 US, $2.50 International direct from Robin Snyder
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(Possible) Upcoming Ditko - Wood's CANNON

March 12, 2014, 4:15 pm
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Some on-line info for the upcoming reprint of Wallace Wood's CANNON(like this) now list Ditko as a contributing artist, which I don't believe was the case in earlier listings. That means that one or both of the two Ditko pencilled stories for HEROES, INC. might be included, although I don't know in what form, since the book is in a wide landscape format. If anyone gets a copy, let me know.

Edited to add, just saw Fantagraphics has a preview on their website that answers the question.  Both stories are included, but at two original pages per page:



I guess that's better than nothing, especially for the hard-to-find HEROES, INC. #2 story, but not really ideal. Maybe they'd make a good supplement in the upcoming WITZEND book, or a third book if there's enough other Wood material of the same aspect ratio and owned by the Wood Estate to package with these two stories at full size and the other Wood stories in HEROES, INC.
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Upcoming Ditko - WITZEND update

March 12, 2014, 9:53 pm
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Just a heads-up, it looks like the upcoming WITZEND two-volume hardcover set, featuring several key Ditko stories, will be $125 instead of the previously announced $95, in case that has an effect on your buying choices.  The price at Amazon still seems to be based on the older price as I write this, and I think their policy is to generally honour whatever the lowest price is between when you order and the books ships.
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