Ditko's Hulk!

Often overlooked is Steve Ditko's contribution to early stories featuring The Incredible Hulk. Ditko drew the sixth and final issue of the Hulk's first series featuring the menace of the alien Metal Master. 

And during that short but important time when the Hulk was being co-starred in a host of magazines to keep his profile high, Ditko took on old Jadejaws in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. 

But most significantly, when the Hulk was given a new series in the pages of Tales to Astonish, it was Ditko who was tapped as the penciller. He was inked by George Roussos, Dick Ayers and Vince Colletta on the series. This was at that point in time when it was not yet public knowledge that Bruce Banner was also the Hulk. 

Ditko stayed with the series through the first eight installments of Tales to Astonish. As expected, Jack Kirby supplied the covers for the Ditko issues. Kirby also stepped in and took over the series when Ditko left. Ditko was the first artist to draw the Hulk's arch nemesis The Leader. 

Below are the covers. 

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The Amazing Neighborhood Spider-Pillow!

I'd imagine most comic book fans of any era not only have burned into their memories the artwork and stories of their golden era but the ads of that time as well. I know that for me comics were such treasures, discovered and acquired at great cost of money, time and energy that these glorious four-color pamphlets were sucked dry of their entertainment content almost completely, and that included the wonky ads they might contain.

One of the weirdest in my time was the ad above for inflatable plastic pillows starring some of Marvel's mightiest.  What struck me at the time and still does is the absolute randomness of the images used in this merchandising effort. I'd imagine when the Stan and the others at Marvel realized the success they'd tapped into with their new comics, they were eager to cash in. Certainly riding trends until they bust, had long been the working model for Martin Goodman.  Now Marvel seemed to be ladling out merchandising rights all around and some of it was profoundly strange.

These pillows for instance.

We have a dynamic Thor portrait by Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta. I don't recognize the exact source for this one but I'm sure someone can tell me.

Likewise this Ditko image for Spider-Man, which is a bit more subtle in how it integrates the artwork onto the total pillow for a clever effect. 

Here's a look at another version of this ad, this time with newcomer Captain Marvel thrown in for no discernible reason save to jazz up the image.

Weirdly I found this product starring Sub-Mariner as rendered by Gene Colan and Vince Colletta. It looks like it ought to be part of the same merchandising push, it certainly has that random art quality.

These are two handsome plastic pillows with proper Jack Kirby imagery and seem a bit more classically composed. I doubt they are part of the same push, but are delightful in their own way.

I think I've seen the Thor pillow in real life somewhere, but I forget now where that would've been. I don't remember ever really wanting these items, but I sure remember seeing that delicious ad.

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Charlton Classic Covers - Reptisaurus #5!

Reptisaurus #5 was published in 1962. You can read the issue at this link. The goofy cover art is by Joe Sinnott and Vince Colletta. 

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The Charlton Reptilicus!

Reptilicus was the least successful of Charlton's monster trio, likely because the monster is the least identifiable of the three monsters. It's just an animal, large and often ferocious, but still difficult to get any sense of what Reptilicus is thinking. Also, Reptilicus never was graced with the artistic power of Steve Ditko, instead had to deal with the competent but less exciting duo of Charles Nicholas and Nick Alascia. And besides that, there are only technically two issue of "Reptilicus", because Charlton lost the rights to the name. 

Sid Pink was not happy with the sexual elements added to the novelization of the movie story published under Charlton's Monarch brand. He pulled the rights I assume, and Charlton was left with only two comics titled Reptilicus. 

The first issue featured a great Rocke Mastroserio cover while the second featured the artwork of Dick Giordano with the Nicholas and Alascia combo still on board between the covers. Reptilicus revives and threatens areas of Africa in the sequel. As far as I can tell Joe Gill wrote all the issues of the run. 

With the third issue the title of the comic is changed to Reptisaurus and the artwork is by Bill Molno. Sal Gentile and Nick Alascia supply a less than satisfactory cover. Reptisaurus is red where Reptilicus was green and gets a mate and a family. But don't wait to see what happens as continuity on this comic is pretty much nonexistent with each issue seeming to start from scratch. 

The artwork is then taken over by the team of Joe Sinnott and Vince Colletta and their work here is even less impressive than it was on Gorgo. Part of that is that Reptisaurus is hard to draw in any way which allows the reader to get a sense of his feelings. The rendition by the team makes him quite comical in places. 

Eventually like all the other monster series, the art team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache take on the book toward the end of its run and they redesign the monster quite a bit, making him much less like the original Reptilicus. This is not a bad idea and we get some decent storytelling in the final issues of the original run. 

Following the cancellation of the original run after a meager eight issues we are treated to a special edition which puts a wrap on the character sort of.

Reptilicus the movie is a guilty pleasure of mine and I watch it on the regular, and I was pleased to finally get to read all the Reptilicus/Reptisaurus comics despite the meager quality. I am always curious and like a bad movie, even bad comics can be entertaining in their own way if you adjust your expectations. 

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Teen-Age Love Confession - Volume One!

Teen-Age Love Confessions Volume One is the first of two tomes from Charlton Neo showcasing cover art from Charlton's wide array of romance comics. Most all of these are from the early 1960's and offer up a pageant of emotions, including jealousy, resentment, anger, frustration, but most of all love, both true and otherwise. There was a time when comics like this were wildly popular.  Most of these covers are by Dick Giordano or Vince Colletta, two men closely associated with the genre. Other art is supplied by Pat Masulli, Sal Gentile, Joe Sinnott and Luis Dominguez. The covers are presented in black and white in the Charlton Neo volume but below is the whole kaboodle in glorious color. In addition to the covers the volume contains small essays about the genre at Charlton. Enjoy!

To continue this Valentine's Day celebration of love and romance, check in later today for Volume Two. 

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