Unca Ben

Yeah. It's interesting re-reading those issues armed with information that I didn't know back then. Ditko (with or without Stan's input) was developing Peter Parker - especially after issue 28's high school graduation. Pete went out and bought a new wardrobe - open collared shirts without a tie, instead of his usual more formal attire. But Peter still exhibited a more conservative randian approach to the current topics of the time, as you pointed out. I can see Stan having some difficulty with that as he was purposefully aiming his stories at high school and college kids, many of whom would likely have been put off by Ditko's more stringent philosophies. After Ditko left the book and Lee and Romita took over, Peter and his friends changed quite a bit. I'm not just talking about their more pleasing-to-the-eye physical appearances, but the way they behaved and interacted. Pete and his friends meeting at the Coffee Bean with its beatnik overtones; MJ and Gwen go-go dancing; Stan's approach to student protests. I can only imagine how Ditko might have handled this (if at all) - but I suspect it would have been much different than Romita & Lee. In fact, if Ditko had continued the book and Peter had been portrayed with a more Mr. A - Vic Sage/the Question attitude, those later issues of ASM would have been much different that what we got. Can you imagine Ditko portraying Mary Jane in a mini-skirt and go-go dancing at a club? He was still clothing his females like they were in the 1950's. I mean, I LOVE Ditko, but I shudder to imagine some of those potential scenarios.

Yeah, I have read the story, when it came off the stands and then multiple times later on. When it first came out, I thought Ditko slipped up on this one. The book looked sloppy compared to previous work. And when Romita was on the next issue and it was announced in the bullpen page that Steve had left, it kinda made more sense. Now, to reinforce your theory, I've read that Ditko was turning in complete pages (as in already inked) to Stan and that he and Stan weren't communicating in person. Yet, I have seen scans of the first page of ASM 38 with pencils only. So unless Steve made the stats himself, I don't see how anyone at Marvel could have made those stats if Steve was only turning in complete, inked pages. So there's that. edit: at least, I remember seeing these pencil stats somewhere. Hopefully it's not a false memory.

Me too.

Could be. Yet, a job half-way done doesn't sound like Ditko. Unless he was making a point, perhaps.

Didn't Jack consider a three-fingered and/or three-toed Hulk but Stan thought it was too similar to the Thing? I always figured Jack, on occasion, just made a mistake and confused the Hulk's finger-toe count with the Thing's while he was churning out all those covers & pages day after day. Part of the same over-worked House of Ideas that gave us a Torch with two left hands, missing Spidey costume emblems, incongruities with Johnny Storm's secret identity, Peter Palmer, Slim Summers, Bob Banner - to name a few examples. It seemed Marvel Comics was flying by the seat of their pants from '61 till sometime in '64. -Anyways, fun stuff to talk about!

It's a very nice page!

Night and day.

I thought it was pretty good. The first season was the best though, IMO.

There was a "Ditka" ASM 28 35 battle page that was on eBay a couple times a while back.

True. Although some people lurk here for awhile before joining, so we can't always go by their join date. I discovered these boards in '04 but was too scared to join for a couple years. Things could get a little hairy around here, but I finally said "what the heck."

Things change. Ofttimes current standards are shaped by past behaviors.

The opening post of this thread reminds me of river-fishing when I was a kid. The stinkier the bait, the more the fish would bite. personally, I'm thinkin' it might be Stu.

Found it. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/fashion/mens-style/david-mandel-comic-book-art-star-wars-veep.html

Nope. A famous collector owns this cover and it's drawn and inked as printed. No reversal. There have been posts on here showing the original art, and there's an article out there about said collector that shows this piece and many other great pieces. I'll be darned if I can find either, but they are out there. Ditko is just that awesome.

RIP

egads.

Here's another sketch. Only it is made out to Gerard, not George. Same year. Paging @romitaman

Nope, don't know when they were taken. They were referenced on another chat board and they come from the nephews' Twitter or Facebook or whatnot post.

Nieces and nephews. The nephew to the very right on the group pic posted these.

Released by his family, so I feel okay posting. Have these been posted already? Am I late to the party? Anyway, so much for the "reclusive curmudgeon" myth:

I really like Sal's art at that time - penciling and inking. Anyone who doesn't can go pound sand.

FF 40, The Battle of the Baxter Building. Classic. Love those dramatic titles Stan dreamed up for Marvel back then. It was innovative compared to the average, lackluster, oftentimes silly story-titles of the time.

Peter Parker's break-up with Betty Brant, culminated in the Master Planner trilogy, really got me. Even as a kid - before my interest in girls started - I knew that this was a major change for Pete and Betty. ASM 31-33 is known for many things, and often this sub-plot is understated. I really liked Betty, but Ditko had been planting the seeds of the demise of their relationship since ASM 12. Such drama. I find myself re-reading those early ASM issues more for the content of Peter's personal life than for the Spider-Man action scenes. I bet I'm not alone. ASM 31 & 33 And how could i not include this great page from FF 51, a silver-age classic. Our unknown antagonist has a change of heart and saves the Man he was insanely jealous of. The morality tale was not lost on me, and carried with me. Great stuff.

Yep, not Wood.