Golden Age Space Wars!

Skyman is not a Charlton character. The aviation hero actually was part of Columbia comics scene. But Skyman's adventures were popular and he appeared briefly in his own title as well for years in Big Shot Comics. The stories reprinted by Mort Todd in these Charlton Neo volumes come from Big Shot. If you enjoy classic movie serials you will like these tales which are paced almost exactly the same as say Radar Men from the Moon. 

The series began soon after Ogden Whitney returned from active duty during WWII. While never featured on the covers of Big Shot, this series of stories featuring Skyman going to the Moon where he encounters Martians and Hitler are well paced adventures with proper cliffhanger endings. The series ran for years from 1946 until late 1948. 

In addition to aliens and Nazis, Skyman and his girlfriend Fawn must confront threats such as giant green rats who live inside the Moon. (No reference is made about cheese, but that must've been in the back of Whitney's mind.)

Hitler has a bombastic scheme to conquer the Earth with bombs from the Moon, but of course that goes awry. But when Skyman is able to end that odious threat, that doesn't mean the danger is over. 

Aliens from Venus are the next obstacle facing Skyman and Fawn as well as several Earth people who have been snatched by Venusians. Skyman has to salvage more than one spaceship to get around the solar system. 

But it will come as little surprise that Skyman and his girl do find their way back to Earth, but it's not without more mayhem and death than I expected. This story was exceedingly well told, but waiting for chapters over several years must've been excruciating for readers back in the day. 

On a different note, Steve Ditko drew a Skyman adventure written by Mort Todd way back in the 90's which appeared under the Indy ACE Comics brand. I have the original around here somewhere. 

I don't sadly have this version of the story from Charlton Neo which presented the Ditko story and pencil art for the tale. I'd love to see and compare. 

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Steve Ditko - Space Wars!

This collection from Vanguard Productions features the same vintage sci-fi yarns found in the Fantagraphic volumes. Published in 2005 this magazine-sized collection was a robust black and white resource for these earliest Ditko yarns. The reproduction is basic. Among the stories here are "Mystery Planet", "The Deadly Cargo of Spaceship 19", "The Decision", "The Gloomy One", "The Juggernauts of Jupiter", "The Secret of Captain X", and "Journey's End". Also included are later stories from the 60's such as "The Blue Men of Bantro" and "Way Out Man". There are many other yarns as well. I like the vibrant recoloring of the classic cover seen below.  There is also a brief essay by David J. Spurlock about the career of Ditko titled "Ditko's Brave New World". 

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Ditko Cover Classics - This Magazine Is Haunted #14!

This Magazine is Haunted #14 can be read at this link. The mysterious Dr. Haunt presents four stories by Steve Ditko and writer Joe Gill (most likely) in this issue -- "From Out of the Depths", "The Green Man", "The Second Self", and "The Man Who Disappeared". There is another story by artists Bill Molno and Vince Alascia. 

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Ditko Cover Classics - This Magazine Is Haunted #13!

This Magazine is Haunted #13 can be read at this link. Ditko joins forces with writer Joe Gill to produced four stories in this issue -- "He Shall Have Vengeance", "The Drums", "Menace of the Invisibles", and "The Man Who Changed Bodies". In addition, there is a story each by Bill Molno and Rocke Mastroserio. 

The cover art was reused for the thirty-ninth issue of Scary Tales with different stories being featured in the little boxes. 

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Ditko Cover Classics - This Magazine Is Haunted #12!

This Magazine is Haunted #12 can be read at this link. This is reboot of the series and features the new host Dr. Haunt, one of Ditko's finest, though he didn't draw the character first. Ditko and Joe Gill (most likely) produce five stories in this one -- "The Faceless Ones", "The Message", "The Thing on the Beach", "His Fate", and "The Last One". 

This cover was reused for the twenty-fifth issue of Scary Tales. It's brighter but less atmospheric. 

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Ditko Classic Covers - The Magazine Is Haunted #16!

This Magazine is Haunted #16 (from the First Volume) was published 1954. To read the issue go to this link. Ditko drew only this cover and none of the stories inside. Artists Sheldon Moldoff, Rocke Mastroserio, Bill Molno among others are featured. The grisly Dr. Death was the first haunted host of the comic which was inherited from Fawcett Comics. 

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Steve Ditko - The Mysterious Traveler!

The third volume of The Steve Ditko Archives from Fantagraphics is titled Mysterious Traveler after the character and comic which much of Ditko's better work from his period was featured. That period is 1957 and this is the second of three tomes to gather up his work from this most fertile year. 

The stories in this volume are evidence that the style of comic book storytelling was well and truly changing in the face of public scrutiny and the Comics Code as the stories here, a mix of science fiction and fantasy are far more whimsical and far less bloody than what had been the focus of these kinds of comics in times before. This is also a time when Ditko was rejuvenated after his year-long bout with tuberculosis and his vigor is evident in the pages he generated using mostly Joe Gill scripts to guide his path. 

In addition to the Mysterious Traveler as a host we have also Dr. Haunt of This Magazine if Haunted, a post-Code replacement for the much more grisly Dr. Death. In his green cape and green slouching hat Dr. Haunt is a figure of absolute mystery who tells his brief yarns of fear and dread with aplomb and a zest which adds to the whole experience. He has a weird cane with an enormous handle which reminds me of a crystal ball of all things. Unlike the very human looking Mysterious Traveler, Dr. Haunt is possessed of a distinctly blue skin making him utterly alien in all respects. Whatever he is, he ain't human. 

In some wacky stories featuring agitated centaurs, bewildered mermen, displaced Nazis, persistant mystics, and many many hapless folks both good and bad, we have hosts who dig in and tell the stories with vigor. Not content with just showing up on the splash page and in the finale panel, Ditko's hosts are omnipresent, slithering between panels and hovering over the pages with if not menace, then omnipotence. It really makes for some visually stimulating comic book pages to read. One caution though, there are two stories in this volume which are missing a page each. Both "The Menace of the Maple Leaves" and "The Forbidden Room" are again reprinted in the next volume in their entirety. 

There will be one more volume dedicated to Ditko's most fecund year, but that's next time. Here are the covers in this volume. 

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