BELL TIME part 3

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To read from the beginning, go here.

THAT COMIC SMELL 23: Glenrothes Con Swag

The new episode of That Comic Smell is now online.
After the Glenrothes comicon, we looked over our hauls in a restaurant.
Have a listen at iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube.

From the website:
"The great LL Cool J once said "Don't call it a come back!" and you you really shouldn't, we've only been away a couple of months.
We are back folks and we are back with a brand new plan of attack... Did we say attack? We meant Theme song. Yes, the incredible "Chartsmasher" AKA. @JoanEdam with his track "Dial Up" is the official theme of That Comic Smell Podcast and we could not be happier about it.
This is just a short episode to ease y'all back into the swing of things around here and we will be bi-weekly from there on out.
David, Mike and Tom all went to the magnificent Glenrothes Comic Con and afterwards took a trip to Edinburgh in search of some comics gold! During lunch the boys unveiled their swag from the day.
So join us on our dinner date after a full day of comics."

STEVE DITKO

Steve Ditko has died. A real comics legend. Great storyteller, imagination, and very individual and dynamic art style.

I looked through my Ditko comics yesterday to scan and post in tribute. Click images for larger views.

I'm not sure when I first saw his art. He was always around.

In the late 1970s a paperback book was released with the first six Hulk comics reprinted therein. Maybe that was the first thing for me:

(That's sellotape holding together this well thumbed copy).

There were many 1960s Marvel comics being reprinted in the UK and the US as the 1970s went into the 1980s, so I was exposed to both eras of work from Ditko.

Here's another Hulk story from the 1980 Hulk Annual:

The British Spider-Man Summer Special was a black and white reprint of the 1960s Sinister Six story. This remains a favourite of mine:

Also in the UK, Alan Class was reprinting 1950s work from Ditko. In Sinister Tales, I read Grulla:

A fascinating story was presented in Strange Tales, Dragon Lord:

Marvel US were also reprinting Ditko Spider-Man in their Marvel Tales series:

In 1984, Marvel UK started their Transformers comic. The back up story was Machine Man:

Ditko drew a good few Indiana Jones comics:

And was regular artist on Rom; comics based on a robot toy:

Here's Daredevil from 1986:

Ditko drew a new superhero comic for Marvel in 1988, Speedball:

The same year, a new number 1 issue of "What If?":

So as you can see, Ditko was still very much a current artist at Marvel.

In 1993, he did a one-off comic at Dark Horse, "The Safest Place":

It was the late 1980s before I started frequenting comic shops. The search for back issues was given a considerable boost by this. Here are some of the Ditko goodies I've picked up over the years.

Ditko's Doctor Strange is wonderful:

Destructor from Atlas Comics, 1975:

Not often you see Ditko draw Batman. Here he is in Man-Bat, 1975:

I liked the Micronauts comics by Michael Golden, and the annuals drawn by Ditko were a nice variation on the characters:

Charlton were good about aiming their comics at fans. They'd label them, "All Ditko Art" on the covers. This is from "Giant from the Unknown" in Monster Hunters, 1978:

Another landmark character from Ditko was The Question. This is from a 2000 reprint edition:

The Missing Man, from Pacific Presents, 1982:

A Black Lightning solo story from The Outsiders, 1986:

Static, from Eclipse Monthly, 1983:

An older one from 1967. Captain Atom:

The Ditko comic I bought most recently was last month. An issue of Jack Kirby's Secret City Saga from 1993:

I saw the news of his death Friday night as it was first announced, and involuntarily let out an audible "no".
It was the Hollywood Reporter article ("published 2 minutes ago"). I went to his wiki page to see his birth date listed as if he was still with us.
Refreshed a minute or two later and there was his date of passing added. Gone.

R.I.P. Steve Ditko.

BELL TIME part 2

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To read from the beginning, go here.

BELL TIME BEGINS

Beginning today on the blog - Bell Time!

I'll be posting a new page each Saturday.

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DUNDEE SHMUNDEE! #15

Here's my latest comic strip on the Tay Bridge disaster.
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EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

I've written a new comic for Francesca Mancuso, that she's now posted online at her website, Dreams Addict.

Have a look here.

INK DRIVE

Inkthology - the Ink Pot Studios anthology - was launched this week at Dundee Comics Creative Space.

There were DeeCAP performances from Damon Herd, Norrie Millar, and Andrew Strachan.

I read my story from the anthology, "Ink Drive":

After the performances, Olivia Hicks moderated a discussion on anthologies with Letty Wilson, myself, and Catriona Laird.
I talked about Lewis Trondheim's "Boomerang", from Fantagraphics' Measles anthology, and about my own experiences working for anthologies.

Photo by Damon Herd.

An enjoyable launch event for the anthology comic.

INKTHOLOGY

A new anthology is out now from the comics creators at The Ink Pot studio, Dundee.

It's edited by Norrie Millar and Damon Herd, and features all new work from Kathryn Briggs, Zu Dominiak, Andy Herd, Rebecca Horner, Catriona Laird, Ashling Larkin, Seumidh MacDonald, Monty Nero, Helen Robinson, Andrew Strachan, Gary Welsh, Letty Wilson, and Norrie himself.

I did a story too, called Ink Drive.

A really nice collection!

DUNDEE SHMUNDEE #14

My fourteenth Tay Bridge disaster strip is now online over at the Dundee Comics Creative Space website.

Have a look here.