I discussed Micronauts by Bill Mantlo and Mike Golden with Tony Esmond on his podcast.
Have a listen here.
Showing posts with label Micronauts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Micronauts. Show all posts
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Sunday, July 08, 2018
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.
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.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
THAT COMIC SMELL 20: Christmas Swag (Best of 2017)
The new episode of That Comic Smell is now online.
Have a listen at iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube.
From the website:
"After some technical issues we are back online for 2018!
Hello folks and welcome to That Comic Smell Podcast Episode 20!! Can you believe that we have 20 in the bag so far?
In this episode the folks here discuss what they got for crimbo, making our way around the table and unveiling what was hiding in Santa's sack for us all.
In doing so however, we also discover what our best picks were for 2017, what we managed to get a hold of and what we thought ticked off that top spot for 2017.
So sit back, relax and pull up a chair.
Listen to the only podcast that ages like a fine wine... or a Tesco £3.99 deal, whatever you fancy.
That Comic Smell!
Here is a list of the titles we spoke about:
Grandville Vol. 5 (Bryan Talbot)
Lucy and Andy Neanderthals (Jeffery Brown)
We told you so comics as art (Story of Fantagraphics)
Wow! Retracted (David Robertson)
Spitting image komic (Various)
Etrigan the demon (Jack Kirby)
Mister miracle (Jack Kirby)
How comics work (Dave Gibbons, Tim Pilcher)
Valerian (Pierre Christin, Jean-Claude Mézières)
Seven to eternity (Jerome Opeña and Rick Remender)
2000ad graphic novel collection (Various)
Fax from sarajevo (Joe Kubert)
Portugal (Cyril Pedrosa)
Wired up wrong (Rachael Smith)
Our super American adventure (Sarah Graley)
Trashed (Derf Backderf)
World of madina
Iznogoud (René Goscinny, Jean Tabary)
The coming of galactus (Jack Kirby, Stan Lee)
Dilbert (Scott Adams)
Providence (Alan Moore, Jacen Burrows)
Untitled apes epic adventure (Steven Tillotson)
Shaolin cowboy (Geof Darrow)
Baking with Kafka (Tom Gauld)
Avery Hill (Publisher)
Good Comics (Publisher)
Micronauts (Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden)
FIRE!! (Peter Bagge)"
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VINTAGE ANNUAL
The latest edition of The Avengers comic comes with a
surprise free gift: The Amazing Spider-Man Vintage Annual.
I think it was a surprise to the producers of The Avengers comic too. The cover of the issue boldly states "Free Plasma Pistol! With super-sticky darts!" This piece of plastic tat is nowhere to be found.
Instead, what we are given is this collection of Stan Lee/Steve Ditko stories – the origin; the first issue; first story with the Lizard (probably because he was in the latest movie) and the Sinister Six story from the first annual, which is a favourite of mine. There’s also a couple of comics articles by the pair; ‘The Secrets of Spider-Man’ and ‘How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man’.
Instead, what we are given is this collection of Stan Lee/Steve Ditko stories – the origin; the first issue; first story with the Lizard (probably because he was in the latest movie) and the Sinister Six story from the first annual, which is a favourite of mine. There’s also a couple of comics articles by the pair; ‘The Secrets of Spider-Man’ and ‘How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man’.
The book is printed on glossy paper, all made to look aged –
the same brown marks repeatedly show up throughout.
Meanwhile in the Avengers comic – the Micronauts appear!
The Micronauts were a fun and well-drawn comic by Michael Golden
in the late 70s based on toys. I was surprised to see them appear here as I would
assume the rights had reverted back to the manufacturers or somebody or other
years ago (similar to Rom, whose guest appearance in The Hulk in the 1980s
means that there’s a chapter missing in the latest collection of the green one’s
exploits). And sure enough, although the characters are all still there with
names intact they now refer to themselves as Microns.
Anyway, if you want a nice hardback book of Lee/Ditko goodness
for a good cheap price pick this up while it’s still available.
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