Ditko Spotlight On Dragon Lord!

One of Steve Ditko's oddest additions to the Marvel Universe in his return engagement was Dragon Lord. Tako Shamata seeks to use control over ancient dragons to exact generational revenge. This creation debuted in Marvel Spotlight #5. (Ditko dominated this series in its short existence.)

It was supposed to be Godzilla that he took over for his vengeful ends. But Marvel lost the license to the great and powerful Big G, so some major monster adjustments had to be made by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Steve Ditko. 

I'm not certain that featuring Godzilla would've made this a better story or not. But certainly, Ditko's replacement called the Wani is a distinctive and worthy replacement. Reminds of those days when Toho couldn't put together Godzilla and Frankenstein in a movie and ended up with two better movies. 

Topped with a handsome cover by Frank Miller, this story has been reprinted and preserved to some degree. 

Turns out there are several Dragon Lords in the Marvel Universe and Ditko has drawn stories featuring two different ones. The second showed up in the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #16 and is a guy who is able to control the Dragon Man. 

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