Brian Franczak, R.I.P.

I wanted to belatedly note the passing of Brian Franczak back in August, 2020. I'm not sure if I heard about it at the time (it was a hectic time, as I'm sure everyone recalls).  You might not recognize the name, but he was very important in the history of this site.  A big Ditko fan active in on-line forums, he put up the Ditko Fever site that I've referenced here many times.  It's no longer up, unfortunately, but a partial capture of it is available via the old wayback machine :

https://web.archive.org/web/20131023125946/http://www.ditko-fever.com/contents.html

That site helped me find or verify many an obscure Ditko item. 

I also had several on-line exchanges with Brian, often about a previously unknown Ditko story that he had found, or questioning the veracity of a credit or a reprint.  One I remember was that I was about to throw away a box of papers I thought were junk once, and on a whim took a quick look through it and found that for some reason a bunch of my back-issues of DITKOMANIA were in the middle of the pile.  I decided that since they were almost thrown out anyway, maybe they should go to a better home, and asked Brian if he needed any of them.  He did, but insisted he buy them rather than take them, since I could get quite a bit for them in an auction.  So I quoted a price I thought was fair, maybe a bit high, expecting him to counter-offer a bit less, and instead he countered with a much higher offer, and suggested I just auction them starting at that price and he would bid. I just sold him the ones he needed at that price (which turned out to be about right, maybe just a bit on the high side, when I sold the other issues he didn't need). Always kind of appreciate it when someone refuses to take advantage of you no matter how much you're asking for it.

Anyway, he also helped me get quite a few other things, and was very encouraging on this site in the early days. He seemed to kind of drift away from on-line fandom over the last few years, apparently with some medical problems. Made a few efforts to reach out, with no luck, kind of wish I'd tried harder.

I didn't realize until now that he was also a dinosaur artist of some renown, working on several books and even some trading cards for Jurassic Park. You can read more about that aspect of his life here and here.

New Ditko - DITKOMANIA #97

After four years, DITKOMANIA returns with the 97th issue, courtesy of Rob Imes, editor/publisher since #64 back in 2008 (founded, edited and published by Bill Hall for 63 issues, 1983-1999). Looks like a lot of fun, with a focus on Ditko's women.

Ordering info over here, along with free PDF downloads of a bunch of older issues and another old fanzine with a few Ditko rarities.

New Ditko - "I Remember Sound Effects" essay

 

A recent issue of Robin Snyder's newsletter THE COMICS, May 2022 (Vol. 33 No. 5), features a short previously unpublished essay by Ditko, "I Remember Sound Effects", where he reacts to some comments on the topic made by his former editor in 1992.

Details on the newsletter are available on the bottom of this page.

SD Publishing in print updated

Just a heads-up, made a few updates to the Ditko In Print page of SD Publishing books recently. Robin Snyder has let me know there have been a number of sell-outs recently, and low inventory on some other stuff, so order accordingly if you're looking to complete your collection.  I've also added ISBN numbers to recent print-on-demand reprint books they've published. While those can usually be ordered from Robin Snyder (for cover price plus $4 shipping in the US), it's often better to order them from any number of physical or on-line retailers who can get a fresh copy to you quickly with the ISBN numbers.

New Ditko - TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #36

Now available from the usual sources is TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER #36, the latest in the revolving anthology series by SD Publishing and their Famous Comics imprint. Big feature this time is "Bat" a never before published 17-page story by Ditko, one of his final works, featuring a new crime-fighting character. >SCKREEEE<

A number of other Ditko reprints from the ages in here, including several 1950s Charlton stories (plus the cover) and some more recent creator-owned work.

This issue also includes work by Robin Snyder, Al McWilliams, Robert Kanigher, Paul Pope and Henry Boltinoff.

New Ditko - STATIC The Definitive Edition

Now available is STEVE DITKO'S STATIC THE DEFINITIVE EDITION, a new edition of the 14 chapter 140-page story Ditko created in the 1980s, with copious extras. It's been over 20 years since the previous edition of the work. This edition looks like it's a bit larger than any previous edition of the work as well.

Copies will probably be available soon from the publisher (see here for contact info and other books), or you could order it from any number of booksellers using the ISBN codes:

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1945307307
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1945307300

--Link-- Upcoming Ditko - THE BAT by Snyder and Ditko Kickstarter

 

Newest Kickstarter campaign from Robin Snyder is up now, titled THE BAT, and apparently includes a previously unpublished title story by Ditko, which has been teased a few times in previous releases. Plus, presumably, a lot more from Snyder's vast archives.

New Ditko - FRISKY FROLICS #35

Now available from the usual sources is FRISKY FROLICS #25, the latest in the revolving anthology series by SD Publishing and their Famous Comics imprint. This revives the title and Alex Toth logo from 1986 Revolver Annual produced by Robin Snyder and published by Renegade.

Ditko makes up about half the book, highlighted by the 1961 Joe Gill / Steve Ditko Charlton classic "Way Out, Man".  There's also a fascinating Ditko rarity, "The Crackling Blazer On The Hi-Jinx", an 18-page feature Ditko prepared for a CB Radio newspaper in the 1970s, some humourous "Heads" comic strip reprints, a never before seen "I, Eye Inquire" page and a short essay.

Other creators highlighted with unpublished or rarely seen work are Gary Kato, Fred Rhoads, Robert Kanigher, Irwin Hasen, Rudy Palais, Rodney Schroeter, Gary Poole, Chad, Bill Woggon, Nick Caputo and Alex Toth.