THAT COMIC SMELL: Mike's Longboxes of Goodies

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From the website:

"Back in 2020, when we were all on lockdown, there was a little break where people could meet outdoors but at a distance. We took this time to have a little comic swap/mart in the driveway of That Comic Smell’s home.
It was one of the few times we had seen each other in person. Mike had been gifted various longboxes with A LOT of comics. They were predominantly DC titles and after we had met, had a good laugh and picked our way through them all, we went back home, read a bunch of them and discussed it over Skype.
This is a little blast from the past and some things that are discussed may be long past now but it just gives us a little glimpse into a time where we were still trying our hardest to stay connected with friends and loved ones.
It’s also where we got free comics and showed them off!
This and all the usual comics chat on…
That Comic Smell!

El Zorro (Alex Toth)
The Eternals (Jack Kirby)
Love and Rockets (Jaimie Hernandez)
Knockout and Tigerstyle (Adam Falp, Fraser Campbell)
Holly (Steven Ingram)
Penned Guin: Coincidence (Alan Henderson)
Machine Man (Steve Ditko)
2001 A Space Odyssey (Jack Kirby)
DC Action (Various DC)
Mad Magazine
The Flash (William Messner Loeb, Greg LaRocque, Mark Waid)
Batman #66 (Tom King, Jorge Fornes, Dave Stewart)
L.E.G.I.O.N (Alan Grant, Barry Kitson)
Tales of the Legion of superheroes (Paul Levitz, Steve Lightle)
Atlantis Chronicles (Peter David, Esteban Maroto)
Action Comics (John Byrne)
Justice League #1 Silver Age Classics (Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Giella, Murphy Anderson, Bernard Sachs)
Superman Special (Walter Simonson)
Secret Origins: Shazam (Jerry Bingham, Roy Thomas)
Captain Atom (Greg Weisman, Cary Bates, Will Conrad)
Elongated Man: Europe 92 (Mike Parobeck)
Marvel Zombies #1 (Robert Kirkman, Sean Phillips)
Team Titans (Adam Hughes)
Legionnaires (Chris Sprouse)
Secret Origins Annual: Teen Titans (Various Heavy hitters)
Superman #487: Christmas in Suicide Slumberland (Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett)
Hawk and Dove: A babe in Toyland (Kevin McGuire)
Eclipso #1 (Keith giffen, Robert Loren Fleming, Bart Sears)
Eclipso: Batman (Alan Grant, John Wagner)
Lobo's Christmas Special (Alan Grant, Keith Giffen)
X-Men
Superman: The Wedding Annual (Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern)
Guy Gardner
Hawk World
Martian Manhunter (J.M. Dematteis, Mark Badger, Bob Lappan)
War of the Gods #1 (George Perez, Cynthia Martin)
Wonder Woman (George Perez, Colleen Doran)
Aquaman (Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming, Curt Swan, Al Vey)
Superman: Returns to Action Comics (George Perez, Brett Breeding)
Justice League Europe (Keith Giffen, Marshall Rodgers)"

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 Marvel Spotlight, 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.