It's just barely possible the finest and most effective comic blending philosophy and good storytelling in Steve Ditko's canon might be his deliriously entertaining Killjoy. Killjoy (we never know him in any other identity) is a raucous red hero who descends into a wild and action-filled universe to capture criminals, right wrongs and makes sure that everyone knows why.
He first appeared to the world in the pages of Charlton's
E-Man #2, the obligatory back-up feature turned over to Steve Ditko without apparently much if any editorial direction. He manufactures a slapstick demon of right who leaps and bounds into the comic book pages, using their very structure to hide himself from his enemies.
He got a second appearance in the rear of
E-Man #4 and then it was off to the hinterlands of Steve Ditko's vaunted imagination. He reminds me very much of Deadpool, a hero who seems aware of his four-color status and plays on that to the delight of the readers and himself.
The two Killjoy adventures from Charlton are reprinted in the very first
Ditko Package.
And a third Killjoy avdventure shows up in the
All-New 176-Page Package. It's twice the length of the original outings and sadly nowhere nearly as entertaining. The compression of the back-up space brought out the best in Killjoy it seems.
If there are other Killjoy stories out there, I'd love to know about them. Mr. A was a hero who felt the need to go on at length about why this or that needed to happen and then he'd take action, or perhaps in some cases no action. Killjoy does it all silently at hyper speed and it's much more fun to watch and still the points are made. To read Killjoy's two Charlton outings check out
this very groovy link.
Looks like Dr. Strange as he stepped out of the doorway! Great Ditko character.
ReplyDeleteHe's a lot of fun and shows me that all that sturm and drang of Mr. A while sometimes fascinating might not be the most effective way to communicate.
DeleteDitko's Screamer operated in a similar fashion, not really talking but letting out wild extended cries as he disrupted comically inept bad guys. Those squarebound collections are real treasures. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone do coverage of the Recage story in the first Ditko Package, which was a version of something originally meant for an Atlas/Seaboard magazine. Strong stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've not read that one. The more I discover about that first Package, the more I want to get one. I did find this on the story of the lettering though:
Deletehttps://www.cbr.com/steve-ditko-atlas-seaboard-wrecage/
Yeah, I read that interview in CBA; the whole history of Atlas is really fascinating, but there's a lot of conflicting testimony from people who were there. I don't buy Rovin's version of this. It's possible that he's misremembering an editorial change in the actual content of the balloons, which is a reason Ditko would leave. It's the reason he pulled his Static series from Eclipse
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