OK, Ok, I know that this cover is mostly Jack Kirby, but if you look very closely at the Eel, you will notice that he was drawn by the wonderful Mr. Ditko. I have always suspected that it was a Ditko insertion, and was recently backed-up when I checked the GCD and saw that Nick Caputo had note the same. There are plenty of covers from the period with Ditko inking Kirby in a way that gives the cover a truly Ditkoesque feel, but that slippery Eel is 100% Ditko. I wonder what happened. I know that there's a story behind just about Silver Age cover, and since this one isn't exactly Amazing Fantasy #15, perhaps it has never been recounted. That's too bad, as I'm always interested in the anecdotes behind some of the little oddities of comic book history. So, why not truly a Ditko cover, Steve did just enough one this one for it to make the cut.Thursday, September 17, 2009
Steve Ditko Cover of the Week: Strange Tales #117
OK, Ok, I know that this cover is mostly Jack Kirby, but if you look very closely at the Eel, you will notice that he was drawn by the wonderful Mr. Ditko. I have always suspected that it was a Ditko insertion, and was recently backed-up when I checked the GCD and saw that Nick Caputo had note the same. There are plenty of covers from the period with Ditko inking Kirby in a way that gives the cover a truly Ditkoesque feel, but that slippery Eel is 100% Ditko. I wonder what happened. I know that there's a story behind just about Silver Age cover, and since this one isn't exactly Amazing Fantasy #15, perhaps it has never been recounted. That's too bad, as I'm always interested in the anecdotes behind some of the little oddities of comic book history. So, why not truly a Ditko cover, Steve did just enough one this one for it to make the cut.
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2 comments:
Hi Scott,
Congratulations on four years of your very entertaining blog. AS far as the cover goes, I can only speculate, but it was either that Stan didn't like the way Kirby drew the Eel or Kirby got the costume wrong and Ditko happened to be in the office and made the change. Stan (and sometimes Martin Goodman) often tinkered with covers until the last minute, sometimes making minute changes in background art, adding or deleting copy, or repositioning characters and expressions.
Nick Caputo
Thanks for the input Nick - I appreciate it. This one is a bit of a mystery.
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