A Live Interview with Faux “Ditko” ?Special Guest Faux “Stan Lee”

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 @ 7 PM

Admission: $5?Free for MoCCA Members

With Craig Yoe, author of The Art of Ditko.

Comic historian, Craig Yoe will be showing rare artwork and stories and talking about the making of his new book, The Art of Ditko. Then, Yoe will interview Faux “Ditko”. A celebrity impersonator will respond with Ditko own words from rare interviews. Special guest Faux “Stan Lee” will be reading excerpts from his introduction of The Art of Ditko.

MoCCA
594 Broadway, Suite 401
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New York, NY 10012
Tel. 212-254-3511 Fax 212-254-3590

A beautiful sci-fi tale by the master!

Here’s the book Ditko fans are raving about! A revealing introduction by Stan Lee. Essays by Jerry Robinson (creator of the Joker and Ditko’s teacher), John Romita (who followed Ditko on Spiderman) and P. Craig Russel (who inked Ditko). And 30 of Ditko’s most innovative stories, rare and unpublished art…and the book concludes with some of Ditko’s own words!

Order the beautiful large format faux leather “Art of Ditko” by clicking here!

Here it is, Day Two of Ditko Week, and have I got a goodie for you!

Although Sturdy Steve is probably best remembered for co-creating the very memorable Spider-Man, let us try to remember and not forget his other unforgettable character: Dr. Strange. With mystical powers beyond human understanding, and an all-seeing eye of Agamotto he wears as bling, Dr. Strange is the enemy of darkness and a very snappy dresser. Fortunately, he lived in Greenwich Village where a guy wearing a big red cape is not that unusual. (Bear in mind that while Ditko may have identified with teenage Peter Parker, Steve lived in New York City and shared a first name with Stephen Strange. Think about it.)

In order to fight evil other-worldly beings, the good doctor would travel great distances through strange dimensions in his ghostly astral form. (Of course, this was back in the day when doctors made house calls. Today the mystical demons would have to see him during office hours and he’d have Wednesdays off to play golf.) It’s said that Ditko’s Dr. Strange adventures were so bizarre that you had to be on LSD to understand them. I argue that with Steve Ditko’s art, you didn’t need LSD to have a psychedelic experience.

To celebrate Ditko’s work I’d like to share with you these incredible would-be covers of Strange Tales created by Dr. Strange super-fan Howard Hallis. If you haven’t seen these before you’re in for a treat! Howard felt that the doctor had been slighted by not appearing on the cover of the very comic that bears his name, in favor of the Human Torch or Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. To remedy this, Howard created alternate Strange Tales covers featuring Dr. Strange – with art by Steve Ditko, natch. Check ‘em out by clicking here.

It wouldn’t be Comics Tunes Tuesday without a song, and here’s a doozy. I know nothing about the artist (Paul Roland, and featuring Andy Ellison) but he really captures the eerie vibe of Dr. S. with this record. Way to go, Paul! Click the link below to listen, if you dare!

Dr Strange – Paul Roland (Featuring Andy Ellison)

Ditko week continues with writer Paul Gravett serving up a nice overview of Stainless Steve’s early career as well as a look at both of the recent collections of rare Ditko work, Craig’s ART OF DITKO as well as Blake Bell’s similarly welcome STRANGE AND STRANGER.

http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/steve_ditko/

Andrei Molotiu, author of Fantagraphics’ book ABSRACT COMICS, writes a fascinating essay on Mr Ditko and his relationship to his art. Be sure to read the dozens of comments that follow as they continue the intelligent discussion.

http://abstractcomics.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-on-ditko-and-abstraction.html

A blogger named David Thompson (no relation, I swear!) has yet another interesting essay on our reclusive spotlight star of the week here: STEVE DITKO, THE PARANORMAL MAN.

http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2007/02/steve_ditko_the.html

Stan Lee, Cat Yronwode, Joe Quesada, Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman are amongst those appearing in Jonathan Ross’s BBC documentary of a few years back. Part one can be found on YouTube here and links to the rest of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ak8QZWjNM8&feature=PlayList&p=E232BC746449DBBF&index=2

Welcome to Steve Ditko Week at The ITCH Blog! You’ll see Ditko rarities all week here. And this Thursday at I’ll interview Faux Ditko at the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art in NYC at 7 pm! Each day I’ll present an amazing story from my new book, “The Art of Ditko”. I’m starting off with one of the weirdest, most innovative and rarest: The 9th Life. I think Ditko wrote this himself with the story’s Ann Randian overtones.

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Here’s the book Ditko fans are raving about! A revealing introduction by Stan Lee. Essays by Jerry Robinson (creator of the Joker and Ditko’s teacher), John Romita (who followed Ditko on Spiderman) and P. Craig Russel (who inked Ditko). And 30 of Ditko’s most innovative stories, rare and unpublished art…and the book concludes with some of Ditko’s own words!

Order the beautiful large format faux leather “Art of Ditko” by clicking here!

It’s STEVE DITKO WEEK here at I.T.C.H.! As such, every day this week we will offer up at least one link to some Ditko goodness on the Net and today it’s ALL Ditko! Besides that, however, Craig will be presenting highlights from his new book, THE ART OF DITKO throughout the week so check back here often.

If you don’t know who Steve Ditko is (and I can’t imagine that to be the case with anyone reading this blog!) here’s a link to the quite informative (and seemingly accurate!) WIKIPEDIA page on this unique comic book artist whose work now spans nearly sixty years!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ditko

THE STEVE DITKO COMICS WEBLOG is a blog that offers looks to the past as well as regular updates on Ditko reprints from various publishers and even the newest Steve Ditko 21st Century products as offered mostly through Robin Snyder.

http://ditko.blogspot.com/

One can’t discuss Ditko’s work without noting the influence of Ayn Rand. Here’s an interesting online article entitled “Static: Steve Ditko’s Battle of Ideas,” written by Rodney Schroeter and originally published in a 1988 issue of AMAZING HEROES.

http://www.comicsfun.com/static.htm

In a section on famous Objectivists, the website ADHERENTS.COM presents a look at “The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Artist, Writer, Steve Ditko” as explored through a series of quotations from various sources.

http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Steve_Ditko.html

Remember to check back for Ditko stories from Craig’s ART OF DITKO book here later today!

SILVER AGE COMICS takes a look at DC’s long-running Revolutionary War-era series, TOMAHAWK, or rather a random early issue of its two decade plus run.

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2010/01/tomahawk-51.html

From a 1987 issue of the “edgy” funny animal comic, CRITTERS, here’s my friend Jim Engel with a delightful old-fashioned tale of LEGGO LAMB and GROVER CLEVELAND GOOSE accompanied by exclusive new behind-the-scenes comments from Engel himself!

http://www.bigblogcomics.com/2010/01/leggo-lamb-in-what-are-friends-for.html

Here’s a selection of bizarre and sometimes slightly risque single panel cartoons from the 1972 book HOW GROSS by cartoonist S (for Sam) Gross.

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2010/01/grossed-out.html

Finally today, two stories from EC’s late period, code-approved ACES HIGH, one drawn by the great Jack Davis and the other by the amazing Bernie Krigstein.

http://www.comicbookwar.com/2010/01/aces-high-revenge-and-footnote.html

I always figured this bizarre team-up between SPIDER-MAN and the original Not Ready For Prime-Time Players was a ploy to get Stan Lee a spot hosting SNL but that never happened. A fun, one-off story though, written by Chris Claremont with art by Bob Hall and Marie Severin (who utilized her marvelous caricaturist skills !).

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2010/01/grooves-faves-spidey-meets-not-ready.html

Here’s another brand spanking new comics blog, this one devoted entirely to the phenomenal international superstar hero of nearly 75 years who has never quite caught on as well here in his country of origin: THE PHANTOM.

http://falkonthewildside.blogspot.com/

Starting out as a traditional comic book illustrator in the 1940’s, Carmine Infantino’s art became increasingly stylized over the years. Here’s some late period Infantino from EERIE in a Bruce Jones story and with Al Milgrom inks.

http://blacknwhiteandredallover.blogspot.com/2010/01/post-26-sams-son-and-delilah.html

In an earlier era, John Pound might well have drawn for Disney but instead he drew his NSFW RONALD RABBIT for the underground market in 1972. In later years, he would become better known for his work on GARBAGE PAIL KIDS.

http://johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com/2010/01/john-pounds-ronald-rabbit.html

Pat Boyette was one of THE most underrated artists of the sixties on in my opinion. Here are a couple of seventies SORCERY stories from this unique comics stylist.

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2010/01/pat-boyette-flash-forward-sorcery.html

The first issue of Gold Key’s DOCTOR SOLAR from 1962 is on display this morning at HAIRY GREEN EYEBALL II. With art by Bob Fujitani, this is a well-done sci-fi tale instead of the costumed superhero series it would become later.

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2010/01/doctor-solar-1.html

Some of my favorite Gil Kane art of the 1960’s was on view in DC’s licensed toy title, CAPTAIN ACTION. The Captain is in the midst of a comeback these days but here’s the last issue of his original title as drawn by Kane and inked by Wally Wood!

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2010/01/praising-kane-captain-action-faces-mind.html

Finally today, here’s the also recently revived (again) BLACK TERROR in a well drawn Jerry Robinson/Mort Meskin tale from 1948!

http://atomic-surgery.blogspot.com/2010/01/black-terror-in-serpent-lady-returns-by.html

Wacky Wonder Woman, doggy style!