Russkie-Smashers SPACE ADVENTURES "Introducing Captain Atom"

Though an accident gave him his super-powers...

...his first assignment (of many) was to stop a Russkie atomic missile being used in a false-flag operation to blame America!

Captain Atom has enjoyed the longest career of any Charlton character, still going strong today as a guest star in various DC titles as well as a new mini-series every few years!
(Note: The Charlton version of the Fox Blue Beetle didn't come along until 1964, and the new Ditko version first appeared in 1967!)

Despite the blue/silver coloring on the interiors of his premiere in Space Adventures #33 (1960), Captain Atom was shown on the cover in his orange/yellow garb.

Also, his trademark hair-color change from red to white when he "powers up"  isn't shown.

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Action Hero Archives
Captain Atom
Volume 1

Reading Room MAN-BAT "Beware the Eyes of Baron Tyme" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Anti-Hero...

...Francine (She-Bat) Langstrom, wife of Kirk (Man-Bat) Langstrom is being mind-controlled by the evil mage Baron Tyme and used to murder his enemies in Gotham City!

This has, of course, attracted the attention of...The Batman...

In best super-villain fashion, Baron Tyme survived and returned to fight Jack Kirby's The Demon in a story arc pencilled and inked by Ditko!
Ditko keeps The Batman's face shadowed most of the time, showing only the eye-slits, giving him a really-kool look I'm sorry other artists haven't followed-up on!

For unknown reasons, the next (and last) issue of the series featured a totally-different creative team (except for cover artist Jim Aparo)!
Ditko kept very busy, doing projects like Stalker and one-off tales for the DC mystery and sci-fi anthologies as well as work for other companies like Atlas/Seaboard and Charlton.
He returned to Marvel in 1977, with the explicit mandate he not illustrate anything involving his co-creations Spider-Man or Doctor Strange!
But anything else was fair game, and he worked on everything from Machine Man and The Avengers to Chuck Norris: Karate Kommando!

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Steve Ditko Omnibus

Volume 2

(which reprints this tale as well as Baron Tyme's return story-arc vs The Demon, also illustrated by Ditko)

Reading Room MAN-BAT "Beware the Eyes of Baron Tyme" Part 1

Steve Ditko studied under Jerry (Joker) Robinson at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School...

...(now known as the School of Visual Arts), and here's the only time Steve illustrated an iconic character Jerry rendered numerous times!

...where Guess Who? is waiting...as you'll see tomorrow!

Ditko did a spectacular job on this tale, and was apparently very enthusiastic about doing the series.

His promo (and probably tryout) piece...

...is absolutely beautiful!

Al Milgrom, who is a longtime fan of Ditko's also threw himself into his work, turning in some of his best non-Jim Starlin inking!

(Milgrom was Starlin's preferred inker during the 1970s whenever Jim didn't ink his own work.

Their co-created covers are signed "Gemini".)

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Batman: Arkham

Man-Bat

(which reprints this tale)

Reading Room COMIC CRUSADER STORYBOOK "Mr A: Deaths vs Love-Song"

To celebrate the late, great Steve Ditko, we present a tale without captions or word balloons...

...demonstrating his amazing storytelling capability by proving the adage "You can enjoy and understand a great graphic tale without any words at all!"

One unique aspect of this Mr A tale from Martin L Greim's Comic Crusader StoryBook (1977) is that, usually, the panels are packed with word balloons and captions explaining the concept of Objectivism that drives Mr A to battle evil without compromise!

In many cases, the text overwhelmed the graphic narrative, dominating the pages!

But for this one time, Ditko just let the action rip...and hoo-boy does it ever!

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Ditko Collection

Volume 2

(which cover-features this tale)

3-D: CAPTAIN 3-D "Man from the World of 'D'"

Get out the red/blue 3-D glasses (red on the left, blue on the right)...

 ...cause it's 3-D Week at all the RetroBlogs™!

Script by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Art by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Simon, Mort Meskin and Steve Ditko (inks).

In the early 1950s, "3-D" using red and green prints of simultaneously-shot movie footage from cameras a couple of feet apart. (note: sometimes blue was used instead of green, but the stereotype of 3-D is a red / green lens juxtposition.)

When a viewer wore glasses like these they would perceive the two projected images as a single 3-D image!

Taking comic book line art and modifying it to produce a similar 3-D effect was technically simple, so almost every company attempted at least one 3-D book between 1952-55.
Most were 3-D versions of existing comics including Superman, Batman, Tales from the Crypt, even Katy Keene.
However, Captain 3-D was the Simon & Kirby team's attempt to jump on the 3-D bandwagon with NEW material.

As you've just read, Captain 3-D had both a cool premise and nice set-up, playing up the use of glasses to both empower the hero and perceive villains. (The John Carpenter movie They Live! used a similar gimmick)

Unfortunately, a legal battle involving the 3-D process all but killed the financial viability of producing 3-D books, and, though material was already finished, there was never a second issue of Captain 3-D!

Special treat: If you want to see this story in traditional full comic book color (but 2-D), go to Atomic Kommie Comics™ now.

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