While The Menace of the Maple Leaves may not sound like the most suspenseful premise, it certainly is strage. Steve Ditko manages to make the best of the material and turn in this very nice cover to Strange Suspense Stories #33 (August, 1957). Sure, these look more like oak leaves than maple leaves, but who really cares? The lighting effects are superb, with the shadow and illuminated brick. Ditko was really beginning to master his craft during this stretch, and his covers for Charlton are quite remarkable. I also really like how the leaves wind their way through the title logo. I would really love to see the original art to see if stats of the leaves were simply glued onto the cover. Ditko was signing his cover at this point, and his signature appears on the man's briefcase. This is a nice little gem - very stylish, and not a comic I've seen for sale very often.Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Steve Ditko Cover of the Week: Strange Suspense Stories #33
While The Menace of the Maple Leaves may not sound like the most suspenseful premise, it certainly is strage. Steve Ditko manages to make the best of the material and turn in this very nice cover to Strange Suspense Stories #33 (August, 1957). Sure, these look more like oak leaves than maple leaves, but who really cares? The lighting effects are superb, with the shadow and illuminated brick. Ditko was really beginning to master his craft during this stretch, and his covers for Charlton are quite remarkable. I also really like how the leaves wind their way through the title logo. I would really love to see the original art to see if stats of the leaves were simply glued onto the cover. Ditko was signing his cover at this point, and his signature appears on the man's briefcase. This is a nice little gem - very stylish, and not a comic I've seen for sale very often.
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5 comments:
Hello again Scott
Loving the site as ever. Just got Strange Suspense Archives with my Christmas money - only £16 on Amazon! Was looking for this issue but it only covers through to 'Strange Suspense Stories #22'. The Archives look fantastic BTW, just skimming; not read in detail yet.
Cheers
Blair
This is an exciting cover!
J.A.P.
That book appeared in my stocking. I was thrilled. I read the first three stories last night. They were fantastic, and I'd never seen them before as they were non-Charlton. The whole volume looks great and I can't thank Blake Bell enough to putting it together. I cannot wait until Vol. 2, as I imagine "The Menance of the Maple Leaves" will make it into that one.
Good thing it wasn't "The Menace of the Maple Leafs." :)
The irony is that I went to the Leafs game that very night - an ugly loss to Carolina. They truly are a menace.
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