Steve Ditko Cover of the Week: Ghost Manor #7

Monster Mash. Mad Monster Party. Monster's Ball. Any of those nicely sums up this awesome cover from 1972. The design here is just brilliant, and would attract any monster obsessed child. If memory serves, the story is actually about a bunch of costumed hooligans rather than actual monsters, but by the time most readers figure that out, they would have already parted company with two dimes. This cover was re-used in the early 80s, with one major change. The cloaked character was redrawn in the blank space, with the monsters serving to almost frame his face. It's also quite effective. There are a couple of really, really great features here. First, I love the werewolf. He has a very Atlas monster look to him. The idea for yellow clothing is also a good one, and would be borrowed less than a year later by a certain lycanthropic astronaut. What I really, really love about this cover, though, is the mummy. Mummys and comic book covers are a perfect match (keep an eye out for a future feature here), and this particular mummy is tops. Why? Because he has those awesome Iron Man eye slots. I just love that! All in all, one of Ditko's greatest Charlton horror covers.