Adventure Comics #478 [1980]

ADVENTURE COMICS #478 [1980] features the twelfth and final chapter of the Starman space opera by Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko and Romeo Tanghal with the story "...and Death's Icy Touch Shall Come Searching...".  Following his discovery of his imprisoned teacher Mn'torr last issue Starman confronts the elders of Mn'torr's people and their reasons for punishing him, and we get a short interlude with the supporting cast back home setting up future complications before a final scene with teacher and student.

They announce the story will continue in the Superman team-up title DC COMICS PRESENTS, and so it did eight months later, but without Ditko (or even Tanghal), so not relevant to this site.

A decent wrap-up to a good year of comics, highly recommended as an example of Ditko's commercial work of the period.  All chapters were reprinted in THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS #2 [2011], and should be again next year in THE DC UNIVERSE BY STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS.

Adventure Comics #477 [1980]

Adventure Comics #477 [1980]

This issue features the 8-page Starman story "The Search For Mn'torr", the penultimate chapter of the year-long run on the feature by Ditko with Romeo Tanghal and Paul Levitz.  The first main storyline for the feature had ended the previous issue, and in another world this would have launched a second, but it ended up being truncated to two chapters and a later (non-Ditko) epilogue in a Superman crossover.

Most of this story is taken with Starman, trying to find his lost friend, traveling to a legendary crystalline structure in space, hoping its similarity to Mn'torr's home will provide a link to his people.  It does, but not without some obstacles.

An entertaining transition issue, I think Tanghal got better on his year on the book, and right around this time he was starting his most prominent work on Titans with George Perez.

This story is reprinted, with the other eleven chapters, in THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS #2 [2011].

World's Finest Comics #251 [1978]

Part of a short run of Creeper stories Ditko wrote and drew and in the late 1970s, which saw Jack Ryder as the head of a security team at Cosmic Broadcasting, this time tasked with foiling an extortion scheme led by a masked figure who gives the 8-page story its name, "The Disrupter".

Ditko did a lot of interesting slapstick humour in this series, which works well with the acrobatic abilities and quick change transformations of the character.  

All of Ditko's Creeper stories were collected in THE CREEPER BY STEVE DITKO [2010].

Adventure Comics #474 [1980]

This issue opens with "The Chains That Bind", chapter 8 of the 12-part space opera by the Ditko/Levitz/Tanghal team. At this point we're knee-deep in intrigue, plots and secrets, as the Empress Clryssa is assumed dead, but really in the care of Starman, still unaware  that he's really Prince Gavyn, her supposedly dead brother and potential claimant to her throne. As they stage a rescue of their confederates on a prison planet, the usurper Lord Oswin makes his own plans, involving further betrayals.

A very engaging story with a lot of plot in the few pages it got every month. Ditko's given a lot to do in the design department, with a variety of aliens, robots and spaceships to draw, and some nice action scenes.

The complete Ditko drawn adventures of Starman were reprinted in THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS #2 [2011].

The Unexpected #221 [1982]

"Em The Energy Monster", a 9-page story from THE UNEXPECTED #221 [1982], is an unusual story in Ditko's work at DC.  Of the three dozen non-series stories he drew in the various anthology books, this is the only one Ditko wrote as well, and is in fact one of the few stories he did for the DC/Marvel where he was the sole credited writer.

This story features an alien who crashes on Earth and has the ability to animate any type of matter, and causes great destruction while trying to find a suitable body. Meanwhile, Dr. Bazom is in charge of efforts to stop the creature he's dubbed EM.

The concept of this story provides for some interesting visual ideas. You actually see a hint of the concept in a cover from over two decades earlier and would see it again in a story Ditko wrote almost a decade later.

The story is well-inked by Gary Martin, although the opening splash page (which looks like it was designed to be a cover, with a large space for the title logo) looks like Ditko might have inked it himself. Overall it's one of the most wholly satisfying of the short stories Ditko did for DC. Unfortunately this would be the last Ditko drawn story published by DC for several years (and going by story codes might actually have been drawn several years earlier) and the last Ditko written story ever at DC.

This was reprinted in THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS #1 [2011].

Amazing World Of DC Comics #13 [1976]

Steve Ditko drew one story published in DC's humour anthology PLOP, but there was another story intended for it, done with the same writer (Steve Skeates) and inker (Wallace Wood). "The Gnark Is Coming! The Gnark Is Coming!" instead appeared in AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #13 [1976]. It's one of the few Ditko stories for DC never to be reprinted.

The 4-page story is set in medieval times and features a would-be squire named Bruce who gets conned by a bunch of frightened knights into dealing with the mysterious "Gnark" that, as the title says, is coming. Cute little story, the artwork shows some pretty heavy inkwork typical of Wood in this period, but still pretty clearly Ditko underneath.

Adventure Comics #468 [1980]

ADVENTURE COMICS #468 [1980] has the 8-page Starman story "Uneasy Lies The Crown" written by Paul Levitz and drawn by Steve Ditko and Romeo Tanghal. This is the second chapter of the twelve issue run on the feature. This story is a bridge between the previous introductory story and the next, which provides the origin of the character, so there are a lot of hints about his connections to the Imperial royal family as he foils a plot gain control of the Empire in an impending coronation.

A solid story laying out some of the groundwork for the character, with Ditko showing off a few of the visual designs he did for Starman's powers and his world, plus a little bit more of the mysterious supporting character Mn'torr who appeared briefly at the end of the first story.

I'm pretty sure this was actually the first chapter of the story I read when it was originally published, followed by #470, and it would be a while before I got the chapters I missed, so I can tell you it was pretty effective in telling a satisfying complete story in each chapter while building up the bigger story.

This story was reprinted in THE STEVE DITKO OMNIBUS #2 [2011].

Stalker #2 [1975]

"Darkling Death At World's End Sea" is the 18-page tale of Stalker, the Man with the Stolen Soul, penciled by Steve Ditko with inks by Wallace Wood and a story by Paul Levitz, the creative team for all four issues of this short-lived series. Following his origin last issue, where Stalker sold his soul to the demon Dgrth in exchange for various powers, he is now trying to confront Dgrth directly, and and quest takes him to World's End (literally, this is a flat fantasy world with a waterfall at the edge). After a sword fight with a four-armed monster he tries to infiltrate the cult that worships Dgrth, only to get captured, managing to escape being sacrificed at the edge of the world and rescuing the enslaved girl who helped him.

Ditko and Wood are a solid combination at this point, with some really good action scenes and fantasy landscapes. The story by Levitz is comparatively a bit of a weak mix of fantasy standards, but it has its moments.

Ditko and Wood also provide the cover for this issue, a nice rendition of the opening battle.

Adventure Comics #476 [1980]

The 9-page "Crown or Coffin" is the tenth of the twelve Starman stories by Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko and Romeo Tanghal, and can be considered the end of the first major storyline, if there had been a second major storyline. Having established the background, the major players are together, with Oswin capturing Starman, the Empress and Merria with the help of Mn'torr's staff. Fortunately Jediah is able to escape, and manages a last minute rescue to set up a final confrontation, a resolution to the main conflict, and sending Starman off to find Mn'torr.

As always, good solid old-school space opera, with Tanghal a solid compliment to Ditko's pencils.

Weird War Tales #99 [1981]

Ditko draws the 5-page George Kashdan scripted story "Man's Best Enemy" for this issue of DC's surprisingly long-running series of war stories with horror, fantasy or science fiction twists. In this one, Corky the dog gets attacked by vicious escaped guinea pigs from a bombed out German lab. He immediately gets more aggressive, and soon escapes from his kennel and terrorizes the countryside as a result of whatever twisted experiments were going on in that lab.

Not a great story, but a few of Ditko's images of the crazed rodents and the mad dog are really good, and there's a decent fog effect on the last page that makes the twist ending a little better than it would be otherwise.

Detective Comics #483 [1979]

Ditko draws and Len Wein writes the 10-page "Return To Castle Branek" story, the first of three issues by the team featuring the Jack Kirby created Demon Etrigan against Baron Tyme, a character who had been introduced four years earlier in Ditko's only issue of MAN-BAT. The story actually began in the previous issue, with art by Michael Golden.

So we open in mid-story, as Tyme, now with his left half transformed into a cosmic state, confronts Etrigan with the power of the Eternity Book, recaps what happened to him after his confrontation with Man-Bat and demands that Etrigan lead him to Merlin, the only one with the power to free Tyme from his current state. This leads them to Castle Branek (where we also meet the one-armed police Inspector from the Jack Kirby stories), and a battle of magics which leads to Etrigan returning to the form of Jason Blood while Tyme finds out that Merlin's body isn't in his tomb.

Ditko doing Kirby characters doesn't always work, but this is pretty good, with Ditko capturing a lot of the mannerisms of the character. Having Tyme and his story also allows for a lot of Ditkoisms in the mode of Doctor Strange and the Warren horror stories, with the one panel of Tyme floating through weird mystic realms very much being a wonderful example of that kind of Ditko work. Ditko's inks are looking especially fine at this time, and overall it's a shame that this run only lasted three issues.

Secrets of Haunted House #45 [1982]

Steve Ditko draws the 8-page story "Star-Trakker", written by Stan Timmons, in this issue of what was DC's then-quickly dwindling line of genre anthology titles. The fact that this is a science fiction story in one of the ghost/mystery titles suggests that they were using up the various inventory they had from cancelled titles like MYSTERY IN SPACE.

This is a really nice little story, opening with some mysterious scenes of a creature lurking the in Louisiana swamps, and a government agent named Stone sent down to take care of the situation, as we gradually get clues to what's really going on. Some tight writing and a very nice unexpected twist at the end.

Since a lot of the story is told in captions, Ditko's are really gets a chance to shine, with some nice panels to set the mood, especially in the swamp scenes, and some really good work on the action sequences.

 

Adventure Comics #467 [1980]

This issue features the debut of Starman, the last regular feature Ditko would draw for DC. Created and written by Paul Levitz and designed and penciled by Ditko and inked by Romeo Tanghal, the creative team for all 12 chapters of the story.

"First Encounter" sets up the premise of this space opera deftly in its 9 pages, serving as a teaser for the whole series, making sure to at least briefly show all six of the characters who would be regulars and hint at their backgrounds and relationships while still telling a self-contained story (in fact, back when this first came out I started reading the series with the next issue, and it was some years before I finally got this first chapter, and while it's enjoyable the series isn't written so that this chapter is essential). In this story Starman, flying through space unaided by a ship or suit, rescues a distressed spaceship. Boarding it, he's greeted by Lord Oswin, and we see that Oswin has a prisoner, Jediah Rikane, who had been on a mission for the new Empress when he discovered that Oswin was plotting against her. After Oswin tries to keep Starman on the ship by force to discover the secrets of his powers, Starman rescues Jediah and they escape from the ship and go to Starman's home base where they meet his mysterious comrade, the alien Mn'torr.

The story is obviously partly inspired by the then-recent success of STAR WARS, but has enough new or drawn from other common influences. Ditko's design for the main character is very good, obviously similar to his original Captain Atom design, and the other characters are distinctive. Tanghal is solid on the inks, not quite as good as Ditko's own inks on books from the same era, but not losing much of the Ditko flavour.

Ditko also pencils half of the cover, with the other half featuring the other featured star of the issue, Plastic Man, as penciled by Dave Cockrum, with Dick Giordano inking both. It's the only time Ditko's art was on the cover in this run, and unless I'm mistaken the only time Giordano ever inked Ditko.

The Unexpected #190 [1979]

Here's a rather unusual bit from Ditko's work at DC. During the "DC Implosion" some of their horror comics were cancelled (HOUSE OF SECRETS and DOORWAY TO NIGHTMARE) and the planned contents for them were placed in the new triple-sized "Dollar Comic" version of a surviving title, THE UNEXPECTED. This format not having ads, the introductory page was printed on the inside front cover, and in this case featuring the hosts from the two defunct books, Abel and Madame Xanadu.

This page was written by Mike Barr and drawn by Ditko, and is Ditko's only contribution to this issue. A slight gag, but Ditko puts his experience in drawing rooms full of mystic and arcane curios to good use, and the black and white reproduction on slick cover stock serves his work better than a coloured interior page would have.

Plop #16 [1975]

The 6-page "Love is a Dandy", written by Steve Skeates and inked by Wallace Wood, is Ditko's only official contribution to Joe Orlando's short-lived but fondly remembered DC humour anthology PLOP, although one other story intended for PLOP, "The Gnark Is Coming, The Gnark Is Coming", with the same writer and inker, appeared in AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #13 [1976].

Rather strange little story about Hubert, a nerdy young man who has no luck with women so turns his affection towards plants, one day finding a dandelion which returns his affections (beating the human/vegetation relationship exploration of SWAMP THING by a decade). The exploration of the complications that ensue from this unusual pairing take up the next few pages (including the rejection of Hubert by Dandy's parents), until disaster inevitably strikes.

It's always good to see Ditko stretching fully into the humourous side, which often peeks out in his other work as well. There's some good slapstick and odd expressions in this story that re enforce the humour. Wood is always an interesting combination with Ditko. Heavy at points, bits of this remind me of some of his own humour work, but for the most part the Ditko pencils come through. I'm glad that on most important Ditko stuff he got to ink himself, but it's good to see some variety like this on some of the minor works.

Also of interest in this issue, a house ad for MAN-BAT #1, which would turn out to be the only issue of the series by the Ditko/Milgrom art team. Very nice image of the character, which outside of the ad I think only appeared in a smaller edited form on the text pages of MAN-BAT #1.

Who's Who - The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #20 [1986]

Of the various Ditko creations for DC, Shade is probably the most Ditkoesque. A very inventive series, with a lot of great imagery, a constant stream of new ideas and a lot of potential.

He made a brief return to that world for this profile page almost a decade after it was abruptly cut short (with one completed issue still not published, and I'm sure plans for more). A nice taste of just some of the stunning visuals that Ditko designed for the book.

Who's Who - The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #22 [1986]

Ditko returns to Starman about six years after he'd spent a year chronicling the adventures of Prince Gavyn in the pages of ADVENTURE COMICS, along with Romeo Tanghal, his inker on those stories.

Starman's a really nice Ditko design, as were his supporting characters, as this design with the vignettes in the background show.

I also really like Tanghal's inks on this one, which are a definite step up from his inks on the original run. He was okay then, but it's clear from this that he'd learned quite a bit (I'm sure spending much of that time inking George Perez helped), and this is just a gorgeous piece of work.

Who's Who - The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #21 [1986]

Another of the four profile pages for this series that Ditko provided, this time he returns to Stalker, the short-lived fantasy character he had done a decade earlier with Paul Levitz and Wallace Wood. Levitz is a contributing writer to the issue, so may have had a hand in the write-up. Wood, of course, was sadly no longer around by then to complete the reunion, so original series editor, and damn fine artist in his own right Joe Orlando provided the inks, and makes me wish that was a combination we'd seen on at least one story.

Great bold central figure, and while the story vignettes are a bit cluttered (and with off-register colour), they nicely capture the fantasy world that the creators had only began to explore when the series was cancelled.

Tales of the New Gods [2008]

 This collection of post-Kirby Fourth World stories concludes with a single new story, the 5-page "Infinitely Gentle Infinitely Suffering" penciled by Steve Ditko, inked by Mick Gray and written by Mark Millar. It was originally done as a back-up for the ORION series back around 2000, but not used at the time. This publication gap makes it the first non-reprint Ditko comics to appear (outside the substantial amount of creator-owned work published by/with Robin Snyder) in almost a decade. It's also the only time Ditko drew the Fourth World characters, which is an interesting historical footnote since reportedly Kirby's early plans for the books involved him handing off the characters to other artists under his editorial supervision, with Ditko being among those considered.

Anyway, this story has the celebration of Darkseid's "mortis-nacht", which I gather from the vague text is the anniversary of his mother's death, and his head torturer DeSaad bragging to Granny Goodness that he's found the perfect gift for Darkseid by exposing a creature composed of pure love to one composed of pure pain. Unsurprisingly, this backfires on DeSaad.

Other than for the aforementioned curiosity factors, this isn't much of a story. Gray does a good job with what he's given in a few places (the large close-up of Darkseid on the title page is quite good), but a lot of the faces just don't seem right. I'm on the fence about the visual of the creatures of pure emotion. It's almost goofy enough to work.

The Legion of Super-Heroes #267 [1980]

As is the wont of a sad completist, I couldn't resist picking up the one last issue I needed to have all of Ditko's Legion of Super-Heroes stories. In this case, Ditko pencilled the 8-page back-up in this issue (published just after DC went from 17 to 25 pages of comics in every issue), "The Grounded Legionnaires".

Unfortunately, about the only word that comes to mind to describe this story is "bland". Shadow Lass runs into a bunch of kids at the Legion HQ, who evidently aren't that familiar with the Legion since they're amazed that she can fly. So she tells them the previously untold story of how the Legion flight rings were invented years earlier, in a battle with a rather goofy thief named Vibrex, Master of Vibration, who was able to disrupt their anti-gravity belts with his powers. Really, just utterly dull in all respects. Dave Hunt's inking is solid enough, but not really that suited to Ditko.