Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!" & JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

No Matter Where Humans Travel in the Universe...

...they will find a way to celebrate joy and happiness even under the most stressful of circumstances, as in this tale behind a very misleading (but extremely-kool) Bill Everett cover!

Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) is more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than this later tale by a pair of Silver Age legends following the same basic plot...

This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko (You've heard of them, right?) tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) amps up the humans' paranoia, but plays down scientific accuracy!
(Even in 1962, we knew Mercury was unlivable for humans without extensive protective equipment and clothing!)

But, to be fair, both tales are equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Reading Room / Tales Twice Told BACK MAGIC "Buried Alive!"

Tuesday, We Presented the Later Version of This Tale...

...now, we show you the earlier version created by one (possibly two) Silver Age comics legends!

Illustrated by Steve (Spider-Man/Doctor Strange) Ditko, the writer of this tale from Prize's Black Magic Comics V4N4 (1954) is unknown.

It could be either Jack (King) Kirby or Joe Simon, or both, since they were the editor/art director team of the Simon & Kirby Studios which packaged Black Magic and several other books for Prize Comics!
But we don't know for certain!
(And if I have to explain who Jack Kirby is, you're not a regular reader of this blog!)
One thing we are certain of...while both stories used the same script (with a couple of modified word balloons), Ditko's version runs six pages, while Munoz's remake is seven pages long!
Don't believe me?
Click HERE and compare!

Which one do you, dear reader, believe is an example of better storytelling?

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Steve Ditko Archives Vol 1

Strange Suspense

(Which reprints this story...but in black and white)

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Macabre Monday Madness BLACK MAGIC "Madame Cyanide and Mister Tricks!" & HORROR TALES "Broomstick Witch"

Here's a maddening tale (for several reasons) on the Monday before Halloween...

...a never-reprinted tale, which was redone with new art decades later!

Steve (Dr Strange) Ditko illustrated this story from Prize's Black Magic V4N5 (1954).

The writer is unknown, but could be Joe Simon and/or Jack Kirby, since the book was packaged by their studio.

Was it meant to be the first in an ongoing series about Mister Tricks and his attempts at debunking?

The tale's script (with minor changes) served as the basis of this story from Eerie Publications' Horror Tales V6N4 (1974) twenty years later...

"Romero", the artist who signed the piece is not Enrique Romero, who illustrated Modesty Blaise and Axa, but one of several other Romeros who've worked in American comics over the decades. 

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Simon & Kirby Library: Horror!

(which doesn't include this tale!)

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Man Who Stepped Out of a Cloud"

Let's have a look at a Steve Ditko story...

...that shows both his storytelling and rendering talents at their best.

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this tale from Charlton's Out of This World #5 (1957) is a superb example of how to tell a complete story in just five pages.

While the script isn't the greatest, Ditko tells the story effectively with both "talking heads" (and very distinctive, individualistic talking heads, at that), and kool graphics showing things impossible to portray convincingly with the SFX technology of the 1950s.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Repair Stop"

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

...in a short story format!

It wasn't always this way....

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

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Reading Room JUNGLE JIM "Wizard of Dark Mountain"

When Jungle Jim returned to comic books in the 1960s in new stories...

...the usually "realistic" high adventure strip jumped head-first into all-out sci-fi/fantasy!

Written and laid-out by Bhob Stewart, pencilled by Steve Ditko, and inked by Wally Wood. this cover-featured story from Charlton's Jungle Jim #22 (1969) was prepared for the character's previous publisher, King Comics, but ended up at Charlton when King Features Syndicate dropped in-house comic book publishing.

You can read Bhob's account of how this story was produced HERE.

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Official Jungle Jim Annual
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