ditko: edge of genius

by Steve Ditko

This black and white volume reprints a hefty chunk of Ditko's earliest work -- one (his first) from 1953, and a whopping sixteen from 1954. These stories originally appeared in the pages of such classic titles as Black Magic, Strange Suspense Stories, This Magazine is Haunted, and The Thing. Also included in the Ditko volume is a freaky bondage tale Ditko co-created with his studio-mate, Eric Stanton, for the infamous Irving Klaw's Movie Star News (best known for its Bettie Page in bondage photos).

Genres: Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko was an American comic book artist and writer best known as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

He was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This second-rate reproduction presents several 1950s Ditko works in black and white. The stories are mostly rip-offs of other work and are narratively competent at best. There are some flashes of Ditko's artistic chops. The longest piece is a wretched illustrated text narrative about medieval bondage babes . . . in high heels. Ditko denies ever doing such work, but it's clear he did. I hope he didn't also write the dreadful accompanying narrative. Whatever merit this work has is almsot wiped out by the very poor reproduction--though I suppose it's a mercy that the text of the bondage story is at times illegible.