Ah,
Steve Ditko. One of the all-time greats. Up there with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as an awesome architect of the Marvel Age of comics for co-creating Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Captain of the Charlton Action Heroes line for his work on Captain Atom, the Question, and Blue Beetle. A major T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent contributor. A DC darling for creating Hawk & Dove and the Creeper. Then came the early 70s. Ditko's political leanings took him pretty much out of mainstream comics, so he spent a lot of the decade back at Charlton, churning out horror/mystery stories, along with odd little gems like these two Killjoy strips that ran in the back of E-Man issues 2 (September, 1973) and 4 (May, 1974). Here, Ditko's libertarian beliefs were given a chance to run wild, embodied by the enigmatic Killjoy. Rather than the straight-laced, serious fare like
Mr. A (produced for mags like
Witzend), Killjoy was a snappy social satire. Weird, funny, and thought-provoking stuff. Check 'em out, Groovesters!
