I've been a huge fan of Steve Ditko ever since I started to recognize who the artists of my favorite comic books were (thanks, "Marvel Tales"). I spent last night perusing IDW's incredible "Ditko Unleashed", a museum catalog curated for presentation with the recent Palma de Mallorca Spain exhibition and while there have been 2 previous "Art of Ditko" retrospectives published in the past decade this one is by far my favorite of this bunch.
I've was dazzled by the section covering the early 1960s as I'd never seen so many "Amazing Spider-Man" originals. I marveled (pardon the pun) at his line's embodiment of elegant immediacy and utilitarian simplicity. And while his Marvel, Charlton, and DC work maintains those qualities in spades, it was the scans of the Warren era work from "Creepy" and "Eerie", where the artist employed inkwash to potent dramatic effect, that I was most amused and wowed by.
My favorite Ditko creations are The Question and The Creeper (drawn below), two truth-seekers who inhabit worlds of rampant corruption and distortion. DC has done right by The Creeper in his Ditko form and beyond, publishing a handsome hardcover of the classic Denny O'Neil scripted run and using him, albeit sparingly, where he's appropriate in contemporary DC stories (see last week's "Deathstroke" #11). The Question, on the other hand, has not been treated with the same sense of majesty befitting the character. Outside of the "Charlton Action Hero Archives", the Ditko stories have never been reprinted and the legendary Denny O'Neil/Denys Cowan run had a what I can only assume was a modestly printed Volume 1 TPB that remains out of print to this day and Volumes 2 though 6 that are disappearing but available at increasingly steep prices. But credit where it's due, they did just finally collect the 2004 Rick Veitch/Tommy Lee Edwards series and have shown a newfound dedication to their collected edition offerings as a whole in the past year.
This treatment of The Question and my desire to read the 1987 O'Neil/Cowan run in its entirety led me to an old-fashioned single issue hunt this past fall and has made for a incredible reading experience once I received these issues and every other Question book I owned back from my wonderful binder Herring & Robinson as the two beautiful editions you see at the bottom of this post.
Seeing how Denny O'Neil respectfully laid waste to the Ditko era Question's rigid Objectivist ethos and turned the character into a Zen Buddhist over the course of the series may be the finest second act for a superhero(?) comic book character I've ever seen and is every bit as revolutionary in its creative reestablishment and transformation of an existing property as Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing" or Frank Miller's "Batman" published roughly around the same time.
I'd tell you all to get out there and read it, alas, it takes much more work than a simple amazon search. But hey, as quickly as all of this comic book media is expanding maybe old Vic Sage will end up a movie or TV show eventually and if the continued success of "Arrow" can get Mike Grell's 1987 "Green Arrow" series published in full anything is possible...
Question Vol 1 & 2 Contents
"Mysterious Suspense" 1 (Millennium Edition), "The Question" (1987) 1-36
+ Annual 1-2, "The Question Quarterly" 1-5, "The Question + Azrael"
(1996), "The Question Returns" (1997), "Steel" (1997) 38, "Adventures In
The DC Universe" (1997) 8, "The Question" (2004) 1-6, "Justice League
Unlimited" (2005) 8 & 36, "The Question" (2010) 37, "Americomics
Special" (1983) 1, & "The Multiversity : Pax Americana"(2015)
Spinner-Rack #1 (My Comic Book) is available on Etsy and at Zanadu Comics, Arcane Comics, & the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery.
I found out yesterday that my first and oldest friend in Seattle had recently passed away and I just wanted to express and celebrate what a beautiful soul he was.
I still remember that first time we struck up a conversation at Ruby in the U District and our ongoing "Josh 1 OR Josh 2" decisions when we'd meet people while out together from then on. His zest and vigor for life was matched only by the generosity, kindness, comfort, and warmth he radiated to all of us who knew him.
Whether it was sharing many a fun-filled night at the Cha-Cha Lounge or talking movies and tv while he worked his wizardry in the kitchen, he was the kind of friend I could always count on for insight, honesty, and humor. I'll never forget the power of his encouragement and infectiously outgoing attitude when I was in a tough emotional spot or the playful delight he took in exploiting my fear of the Xenomorph from "Alien".
He brought a contagious joy and energy to our entire circle of friends on Rock Band Tuesdays and taught us all how to sing and play that game with a little more soul. As a testament, I don't think any of us will ever hear "The Crystal Ship" again without thinking back on him with a smile.
The guy was a character, but more importantly, he had character. I only wish I could have been as good a friend to him as he was to me. Anyone who knew him will miss him terribly, but I hope he's now in a better place with the peace he deserves.
Rest In Peace
Joshua Rodman
1982 - 2017
While Superman was easily the most mismanaged character during The New 52, I can't say it was a total loss. In the intiative's third year, writer Greg Pak along with artists Jae Lee (Batman/Superman) & Aaron Kuder (Action Comics) picked up the reins after so many creative teams crashed and burned and were able to work remarkably well with the heavy-handed and tie-in happy DC editorial of the time to solidify Grant Morrison's original vision of the character as a champion of the working class and redeem this version of Clark for future stories.
Then a little event called "Convergence" came along, revealing that the pre-New 52 Lois Lane & Clark Kent had been living in the New 52 Universe and were still fighting the good fight as a secret journalist & superhero/farmer respectively, all while raising their newborn son.
I read this series and its follow-up mini-series (both written by 1990s Superman mainstay Dan Jurgens) and while I liked these both well enough, I was struck by the thought that with DC publishing "Before Watchmen" and having just announced "Dark Knight III" it might only be a matter of time before they killed off the New 52 version of Superman to cash in on a "Death of Superman" redux and reestablish this previous Superman as the prime version of the character.
My thought that this would be a blockbuster sales event ultimately did not come to pass, but as far as continuity goes this did effectively happen with the end of The New 52 and the announcement of DC's Rebirth initiative. It definitely felt good to be right, but what felt infinitely better was my enjoyment of Peter Tomasi & Patrick Gleason's new "Superman" series.
Showing Lois & Clark's struggles as protective but encouraging parents with a genuinely sweet kid in Jonathan, the whole family adjusting to public life, and the triumphant return of Krypto the Superdog warmed my heart and has made this book my favorite among what DC is publishing right now. Honestly, the only thing left to want right now is for Lois to get powers so she can fly with the rest of the family and hey, if Grant Morrison can do that to wondrous effect in "All-Star Superman", why not let Tomasi & Gleason try it in this brave new DC Universe?
Spinner-Rack #1 available On Etsy, Zanadu Comics, Arcane Comics, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
We should have all known the world was ending the moment that he passed...
Inking Soundtrack
"Modern Love"
"I Can't Explain"
"Black Country Rock"
"Heroes"
"The Jean Genie"
"Diamond Dogs"
"Queen Bitch"
"Let's Dance"
"Red Money"
Hey, sometimes you can capture a likeness and sometimes you can't... All I know is that Nicolas Cage may not get the roles he used to, but he's still the hardest working actor in Hollywood and is probably as big a Superman fan as yours truly. Click the link to see the scene from 1987's "Moonstruck" I took the still from, where Cage portrays the tragic figure of Ronny. In a word, Acting!!
Spinner-Rack #1 available On Etsy, Zanadu Comics, Arcane Comics, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
