Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Imagination"

What is more powerful than a little kid's...

...where anything and everything can happen?

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #8 (1958) is simple. but hangs together beautifully.

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Dripping With Fear
Steve Ditko Archives Volume #5
(which reprints this tale) 

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "LIttle Things!"

One thing Charlton excelled at...

...was saving a buck by creating distinctive covers using existing interior artwork!

Of course, it helps if the art is by Steve Ditko at one of his peaks!

The story from Charlton's Out of This World #16 (1959) is one of those "I screwed up something in the past, thus changing the present" tales.

But it's Ditko's art that elevates it from "merely average" to "really kool"!

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Steve Ditko Archives

Volume 6

Outer Limits

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Far Away Voices"

Here's one of those kool "slice of everyday life...except it isn't" tales...

...that Steve Ditko's ability to render average, everyday people made believable!

Oh, !@#$%&*!

This rarely-seen tale from Charlton's Outer Space #20 (1958) is a wonderful example of the variety of types of people Ditko could do, each distinctive and memorable in his own right!

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Steve Ditko Archives

Volume 6

Outer Limits

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Greater Jovians"

We ran a Steve Ditko story about Jovians a couple of weeks ago...

...now here's another one from the same issue of the same comic, but with totally-different Jovians!

Why did the editor run the two stories one-after-another in the same issue?

Why didn't he space them out a couple of issues apart?

We'll never know the answer!

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Steve Ditko Archives

Volume 6

Outer Limits

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Misfits"

Here's a Steve Ditko-rendered piece with some of the oddest aliens he's ever done!

Strangely, though the planet is said to be Jupiter, from space, it looks like Saturn!

This wasn't the only Ditko-illustrated tale in Charlton's Outer Space #20 (1959) to feature Jovians!
There's another one featuring quite different inhabitants of Jupiter who meet a far different fate on Earth!
Why didn't the editor just reletter "Jupiter" to "Saturn" in this tale, especially since both stories appeared one-after-another in this issue?

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Steve Ditko Archives

Volume 6

Outer Limits

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Man from Outer Space"

Finding a never-reprinted Al Williamson-penciled story really makes my day!

And finding one inked by Dick Giordano,  an artist who rarely worked with him, makes it even kooler!

Likely created in the pre-Sputnik era, this Joe Gill-written tale appeared in the first issue of Charlton's Outer Space (#17 in 1958) with other stories showing a more realistic look at space travel based on Chesley Bonestell's iconic designs and then-current technology than this Flash Gordon/Weird Science rendition!

Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

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Al Williamson Adventures

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Repair Stop"

Today's comics creators have lost the ability to tell a straightforward story...

...in a short story format!

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this efficent, effective tale from Charlton's Outer Space #18 (1958) sets up the minimal plot, conveys multiple points of view, and delivers a satisfying ending...all within four pages!

If it was done today, it'd be a book-length tale!

You'll note Ditko's heavy use of pen, rather than brush for inking, resulting in a less-lush, less organic "feel" and a lot more cross-hatching instead of feathering than his work only a year later, when he was transitioning from Charlton over to Atlas/Marvel.

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Steve Ditko Archives

Volume 6

Outer Limits

Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Where Does It Go?"

Have you ever seen a bus pass by that you're unfamilar with, and wonder...

..."Where Does It Go?"

This never-reprinted tale behind this never-reprinted Rocke Mastroserio cover offers one possibility!

While the concept is rather kool, I have to ask, why is the robot such an insulting s.o.b.?

Writer Joe Gill, penciler Bill Moino, and inker Vince Alascia probably could have provided the answer when they created this story for Charlton's Unusual Tales #29 (1961), none of them are around now to answer the question...

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Mysteries in Space

The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Manana!"

Procrastination can be a killer...literally!

Sometimes, though, a subtle warning proves to be enough...

Written by Joe Gill and rendered by Steve Ditko, this Twilight Zone-esque story from Charlton's Out of This World #9 (1957) is one of Ditko's most-reprinted non-series tales!

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Ditko's Shorts

(which includes this two-page tale)