The Amazing Spider-Man - Great Responsibility!

It's in this second Epic Collection volume that The Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee finds its purest expression. Ditko had been taking an ever-increasing role in plotting the series, and he had even pried repeated credit for doing so. As the creative relationship between Lee and his master artist dissolved, Spider-Man became increasingly a completed work that Ditko delivered to Marvel's doorstep for mere dialogue. Even though I was not there when all this was unfolding, I still regard these issues as the finest ever produced on the long series and the ones which made the character the juggernaut he has become for the corporate masters who now control his fate like so many J. Jonah Jamesons.  

While Peter Parker is desperate to get money for the sick Aunt May, he is forced by circumstance to ignore threats, and this gives rise to the rumor that he's become a coward. 

But things get better at home and so our hero is able to rejuvenate his reputation by taking the battle to his enemies, giving hope to those who stood by him. That iconic image of Spider-Man by Ditko swung through all the episodes of the cartoon show. 

J. Jonah Jameson's hatred of Spidey gets out of control yet again when he funds the creation of The Scorpion. When his home-grown super-villain turns on him, it's up to our hero to swallow hard and save the day, proving yet again that no good deed goes unpunished. 

Marvel really seemed to want to make a big deal out of the friendly rivalry of its two teen heroes Spider-Man and the Human Torch. No issue does it better than this one, and the Beetle was a great baddie, ideal for Ditko's artistry. 

The Circus of Crime turn on the Ringmaster and elect the enigmatic Clown as their leader as they go about committing crime in the NYC area. 

This is the single oldest issue of the run I own and I have no memory of how I chanced upon it. I love this cover, a perfect one featuring an upside-down Spidey battling a vicious Green Goblin. Marvel was slowly setting up the Goblin as Spidery's main nemesis, though Doc Ock might have something to say about that. 

Spidey lies down on the psychiatrist's couch in this one when he thinks he might be going gaga. But as we all knew it was merely an old enemy returning to wreak vengeance on our hero. 

J.J.J. never learns his lesson and hires another scientist to build a machine to capture Spidey. It's a close call nonetheless, though our hero has to sacrifice his costume to survive the day. 

This is my favorite Spidey cover by Ditko. It's got amazing perspective and loads of mystery, even if the Crime-Master wasn't a heavy hitter. Spider-Man is still without his original costume and must make do with a store-bought replacement, one that doesn't fit very well. The Crime-Master is pure Ditko. 

Some will argue with me, but I think the series peaks with this two-part tale of the Crime-Master. Spider-Man never looked better than when he was battling gangsters and these two issues were loaded with that kind of action. Ditko got, to some degree, the kind of ending he wanted as a precursor to the reveal of the Goblin. 

Molten Man is a great menace, and one with a tie to our hero. Peter Parker's graduation marks well how the series has been moving along in pretty much real time. A more adult hero gives the storytellers advantages, but it does rob the hero of some of his most remarkable aspects. Time will slow down greatly after this issue. 

The "Ditkoverse" crosses over in the second Annual and the team-up between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange is a doozy! 

The Scorpion returns and proves to be one of our heroes most blood-thirsty villains. Ditko gets another winner with this cover and how it shows both what's above and below the water. 

This is a neat small story of a humble second-story criminal. The glaring error in this one is that Lee doesn't realize that Ditko was setting up his magnum opus with the appearance of the Master Planner's henchmen in this one and the captions indicate the baddies belong to the Cat, when that makes no sense. The creators are not talking by this time and it shows. 

As Aunt May is again stricken by illness, Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man goes on his most significant quest when he seeks a radical new medicine. When the henchmen of the Master Planner take that crucial cure, the stage is set. 

Our hero is desperate to save his beloved Aunt and the baddies need to get out of his way. It's a bold image Ditko gives us here to showcase Spidey's fury. 

Some say this is the finest issue of the series ever. I don't quiet agree, but it's a mighty one indeed. The end of the only three-part storyline in Ditko's tenure on the series, it comes to a magnificent climax in an artistic tour de force. 

Kraven the Hunter comes back for more from our hero and finds it. Ditko's artwork is moving past its prime on the series and shifting toward a new more robust look. 

The Molten Man is back and it's all Spidey can do to corral him. We get a glimpse of a villain who is struggling against his new nature. 

The Looter is on the loose and he is the evidence that Ditko's new Objectivist philosophy has taken firm control of his creative direction. 

Some nifty robots are on the scene as Spider-Man tries to survive a desperate baddy's attempt at a comeback to crime. 

By the time of the arriveal of a "a guy named Joe" Ditko has said what he wanted to say and moves on from Mighty Marvel. So many villains, so little time. By the end of Ditko's run on the book, Peter Parker had graduated and is an adult. Perhaps Ditko imagines the story he wanted to tell is done. But now he moves on to to other pastures. As the cover suggests it was "Nuff Said!". 

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Spider-Man '67 - Season Two!

It's definitely a change, but I have to say I prefer this second season to the first. The stories were slightly more complex and had a vaguely more adult feel to them. This is especially so of the origin story in the first two episodes of season two. The art on those was pretty good and the story very much like a Spidey comic. I love the backgrounds in this series, the colors are vibrant and intoxicating often making up for admittedly lackluster animation.

Now after that beginning things get strange. But knowing that fantasy masters like Lin Carter on the writing and Gray Morrow on the art design are at the helm I can't be surprised all that much that Spidey spent most of the season out of the city and in some vague jungle/alien setting up to his webs in plants and weird bat-things. One thing I noticed was that many of the stories really threw curveballs, in that Spidey would begin his adventure normally enough with crime and thugs but then there would be a shift and he'd find himself in the future, underground, or on a bizarre island somewhere.

I consider these adventures to be similar to the kinds of adventures that Spidey would have in Marvel Team-Up in which he'd often venture into territories radically different from the classic big city crime story he's rooted in. The MTU Spidey would travel in time, go into space, venture into lost worlds and do all manner of things bizarre by his standards. This second season had that kind of feel to it.

Here a dozen things I learned watching this second season of Spider-Man:

1. The sky is often green and always dramatic as if a storm is about to erupt.

2. Purple gorillas are seen by the criminal set as effective disguises for some reason. Maybe it's a DC thing.

3. Spidey can pilot experimental jet planes and has ready access to them on a whim, and no one misses them when they fly away.

4. Mole Men are ridiculously stupid, getting duped by the same criminal in two episodes. And they like to gong a lot.

5. Giant doors are common in many alien landscapes, as if Kong himself were on the other side.

6. Spidey loves to swing and swing and swing and swing and swing though the city, often attaching his web line to no discernable object.

7. Villains are most often green, the sure sign of villainy in the Bakshiverse.

8. Peter Parker plays baseball.

9. Parker sure hangs out with a lot of different girls, but I'm guessing he's not a FWB (Friend with Benefits), accounting for that gloomy puss he wears most of the time.

10. Manhattan is a remarkably sturdy cityscape and can survive multiple sinkings of various buildings and even detaching from the earth and flying into the sky.

11. Martians look amazingly like ancient gods of Norse and Greco-Roman mythology.

12. The power of flight is achieved by putting a blender on your head.

Ralph Bakshi produced a wacky cartoon, that's so bizarre that I wouldn't mind watching it again in a few years. The stories are at once patterned and unpredictable. Spidey seems mostly trusted by the police, even admired by them save for the last episode when inexplicably he's seen as a baddie and a threat. The villains are cackling madmen, but interesting looking by and large.

Things happen in the Bakshiverse that require no explanation, they just are. And in the context of these stories, I can accept that. You might even dub this season of Spidey stories his "Weird Adventures" and be very close to capturing the feeling they have.

Next time it's Season Three.   

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Ditko's Iron Man!

Iron Man is credited to Stan Lee and Don Heck. Heck along with Jack Kirby and later Gene Colan all had hefty runs on the character. But a crucial but brief tenure on the series was held down by Steve Ditko. Ditko debuted on the Tales of Suspense series under a Kirby cover when Shellhead confronted the weird menace of Mr. Doll. 

To combat Doll's strange voodoo-like curse, Iron Man adopted a new sleeker armor. Designed by Ditko, this red and gold armor became the standard look of the character for many decades with various small changes over time.

In the next issue Ditko drew a story in which Iron Man battles a deluded Angel. This battle is strangely even as clearly Marvel thought they might have a future star in the high-flying X-Man. 

 

Marvel was getting excellent at cross-promotion of its comics, using every series as a chance to suggest another character to a potential reader. Paul Reinman inked both issues of Tales of Suspense that featured Ditko's art. And just like that, Ditko was gone, but not forgotten. 

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The Merry Marvel Marching Doctor Strange!

Above is the Doctor Strange design by Steve Ditko for Marvel's shirts. The master magician is presented in mid incantation. 
 

A fuller version of this same pose was developed and used as one of eight posters Marvel presented. 

Here's the full grouping with Ditko's pose nested between another of Spider-Man. Other heroes abound. 

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Ditko's Doctor Strange Pin-Ups!

Here's a fantastic Dr. Strange Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up by Steve Ditko. This first ran in an issue of Marvel Collectors' Item Classics. 

Above is Steve Ditko's earliest Dr. Strange Pin-Up from an early issue of Strange Tales. Along with the original there's a glimpse of a delightful Fred Hembeck homage. 

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Doctor Strange Classics!

The Steve Ditko Doctor Strange stories were again reprinted in four of the better reprints from Marvel's 80's surge of Baxter paper titles which were to some extent intended to drive competitors off the newsstands in the up-and-coming comics shops. These Ditko look alike wraparound covers are by John Byrne and Al Milgrom. 

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The Pocket Book Doctor Strange!

These two volumes of Doctor Strange from Pocket Books gather together almost all of Steve Ditko's epic run on the character he created. The covers are by Frank Brunner who was most associated with the character at this time in the late 70's. 

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