Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1

by Wayne Markley

Many years ago I worked for a comic book distributor called Capital City Distribution. My job there was the main comic book buyer and part of that entailed traveling and meeting with publishers on a regular basis. One of those trips to New York to visit with Jim Shooter and Valiant Comics will always stand out in my mind as one of the greatest, and geekiest moments of my life. We were meeting with Jim in his office in the early 1990’s . We were taken to his office where he was standing chatting with a tall, thin, older gentlemen who was sitting at Jim’s desk with his feet up and his hands behind his head. Jim said “Come on in” and we had the typical greetings and small talk. And then Jim turned to us and said, “Do you know my friend Steve Ditko?”

Now I am sure some of you are saying, “Who?” Steve Ditko is one of the most important creators in comics, not that he has ever gotten the credit he deserved. At different times, he has created or worked on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Creeper, Hawk and the Dove, countless horror stories, and much more. He is also one of the more reclusive creators in comics, and is not known for his outgoing personality or for giving interviews and self promotion. It can be argued that he was not ever that great of an artist, but I would disagree. He was a very subtle genius. His work was some of the most creative in a design sense ever done, rivaling Jack Kirby’s (although in a very different way) and his anatomy, while at times looked strange, was really quite accurate.

The reason I am bringing all of this up is recently there have been two books that I would highly recommend to any comic fan that showcase the history and talent of Steve Ditko.

Art of Steve Ditko

The first book is called the Art of Steve Ditko by Craig You with an introduction by Stan Lee. This is a huge oversized book that once again mines Ditko’s work from the 1950 and 1960’s, mostly from Charlton, but this book includes such great things as original art so you can see Ditko’s genius in its original black and white. It also features very interesting essays about Ditko by Jerry Robinson, John Romita (who replaced Ditko on Spider-Man) and P. Craig Russell, as well as Craig Yoe. This book would make a great coffee table book for a comic book fan. The design and content is top notch, and very heavy on the design aspect vs. the comic book look.

Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2

The second set of books is most likely the most accessible for most comic book fans: Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vols. 1-3. I would recommend the hardcover versions, but I am pretty sure they are long out of print. These three volumes feature the first thirty issues of Amazing Spider-Man that Steve Ditko drew. These early volumes are a very different Spider-Man than today and are set very firmly in the early 1960s, where Peter Parker wears a sweater vest and Spider-Man has a grace and style that somehow changes over the years .It is also the first appearances of Spider-Man’s greatest foes, including the first appearances of the Green Goblin and Norman Osborn, who would become one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. Well, until, the current Siege storyline concludes.

Action Heroes Archives Vol. 1

2010 looks to continue a nice tread of rediscoving the roots of comic books. There are a lot of great creators still waiting for their due respect, but it is nice to see it continuing with Steve Ditko (following Jack Kirby and Will Eisner). If you try these books and discover you like Ditko’s work, you might try and find the two DC Archives of the Chalton Superheroes, called Action Heroes Archives which reprint Ditko’s Captain Atom and Bleu Beetle stories. Also, later this year DC will be issuing a full color hardcover of all of Ditko’s Creeper stories. Something to look forward to.

Batman Chronicles Vol. 1

As for something you are not reading that you might want to try, this time out I would recommend the DC Chronicles series. They are reasonable priced trade paperback collection reprinting a characters’ stories all in sequence that that came out originally. For example in the Batman Chronicles, it reprints Detective Comics #27-38, then Batman #1, and continues with Detective #39. It also includes the one shot stories from World’s Finest and other places. The characters that are currently included in this series are Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, and soon, Wonder Woman.

Any thought or comments or review books can be sent to me at MFBWAY@AOL.COM.

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