Ditko's Fantastic Giants!

Fantastic Giants #24 (t is a continuation of the numbering of Konga) was one of the earliest comic books I ever got my little mitts on and it's a book that has at its center not a character but an artist. Steve Ditko (shown enigmatically as a quasi-human ink bottle) is what this book is about, his artwork on some vintage projects as well as two new stories by the maker of so many fascinating Charlton yarns. 

Konga was of course once upon a time a movie and then Charlton adapted it to comic book form. Ditko drew the adaptation and many of the better Konga stories from the reasonably long run of the title. This volume showcases that wonderful Joe Gill written and Ditko drawn debut story. 

On the other side we have Gorgo, another very successful giant monster flick adapted by Charlton using the same team. The oddly touching tale of an enormous monster and her giant offspring taking a walking tour of London is exceedingly well told. Given the price of special effects, both the Konga and the Gorgo stories add to the luster of the cinematic renditions. 

In addition to the classic giant monsters we get a then-modern Ditko tale called "Mountain Monster" which might've fit into Ghostly Tales or The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves, but is given special prominence here. This story written by Dave Kaler gives us Ditko at the top of his powers just as the lead character of this story is at the top of that mysterious mountain. 

And finally, there's the secret gem of this set, the other new story scripted by Dave Kaler called simply "With the Help of Hogar" which set in the depths of Africa offers Ditko the chance at a splash page, one of his best. Ditko didn't create impactful splash pages like his colleague Jack Kirby and but for Kirby might never have done. But when he was given the nod, he created some of my favorites such as the outstanding splashes in the first Spider-Man Annual and the debuts of the redesigned Captain Atom and Blue Beetle. This image above really lives up to the book's title, and gives us a "fantastic giant", a creature which seems to lumber out of the pages of a Lovecraft story brimming with utter weirdness. All this heady stuff indeed for a youngster just shaping his initial impressions of what comic book art should be. A Steve Ditko special indeed and the true "fantastic giant" in this tome is the artist himself.

But there's more thanks to Craig Yoe and his amazing collections. 

This YOe Books collection brings together all of the Joe Gill and Steve Ditko stories about the giant monster Gorgo. Gorgo stories were produced by other talents in the Charlton stable, but it's only the Ditko material which is on display here.

Likewise, both monsters are getting the collected treatment from YOe Books and IDW Publishing. The Konga collection, which is even larger  that the pretty hefty Gorgo book, is due to arrive in a few months.  The stories by the ever-ready scripter Joe Gill are solid and as illustrated by Steve Ditko, give the reader a incredible but entertaining thrill ride as the monster Gorgo, almost presented as a stranger-in-a-strange-land, deals with the wide world.

It's a lot of Gorgo to read, and truth told not all of the stories are gems. But they are all a hoot, an echo from a time when comics were such plain unabashed fun, that stuff like this could be published without apology or qualm. To read the novel version of the story by Carson Bingham check out this link to the Internet Archive. 

All of the Ditko Gorgo stories are here, as well as all the covers he produced for the series. Also showcased is some really great info on the classic movie and how the comics were an integral part of the marketing of the flick. Great Gorgo lore for any fan of the movie indeed.

Here's a cover gallery. Enjoy! The debut cover is by Dick Giordano if I'm any judge.

This final cover is by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache. These artists did a gaggle of Gorgo stories themselves and they did the cover here for an issue featuring Steve Ditko material inside. (It might be heresy in a post celebrating the great Ditko's art, but I actually prefer the Montes and Bache version to Ditko's.  Sadly, I doubt we ever see a collection of those stories, but there's always hope.)

And then there's Konga, also collected up by YOe Books in an even larger volume. It has long been established that some of the most invigorating work of Steve Ditko's career was done for the sometimes, hapless Charlton Publications. Infamous for low-quality, the publisher allowed Ditko near complete creative freedom, since for the most part they regarded comics as so limited an endeavor that the powers couldn't be bothered to really care too much about the content. Much of it was rotten, but surprisingly often it was really, really good. Steve Ditko's runs on both Gorgo and Konga with scripts by the indefatigable Joe Gill are among the most entertaining. 

The Lonely One published by Ditko and Robin Snyder was for a time the only way to get a collection of these vintage Konga tales. The YOe Book collection supersedes that. 

For those who might not know, Konga was an adaptation of an American-International Pictures schlock sci-fi flick which tried to re-fry the classic King Kong scenario by adding in bizarre plants with growth-inducing properties, mad lascivious scientists, and exceedingly perky teenagers. 

It's an entertaining brew, but hardly one would think the stuff for an ongoing comic series. Konga at Charlton was a peripatetic protagonist who finds humans often a bother, sometimes a threat, but always it seems fascinating. He battles monsters, aliens, robots, and whatever could clank, carom, or slither his way. He was drawn by many in the Charlton talent pool, but it's always been Steve Ditko's rendition which captured the imagination best.

Here's a cover gallery of Ditko's best.

Monsters are at their most fantastic when they are giant. More Charlton giant monster goodness tomorrow. 

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