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Wednesday 16 October 2013

STRANGE TALES COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Starting with the first issue (#110) of STRANGE TALES to feature DOCTOR STRANGE, we now take a trip through a gallery of nine covers from the aforesaid title. (I've included #s 112 & 113, though the good Doc was absent in those particular issues.) The series couldn't have inspired high hopes in the minds of its two creators, as STEPHEN STRANGE didn't appear on the cover until issue #118, but posterity recognises that these early LEE/DITKO tales were classics.

So what more is there to be said but - enjoy!

3 comments:

John Pitt said...: Never actually read any of these, as the first ST I discovered featured the , by then, regular Torch/Thing double-act. Of course, I caught up with all the Doctor Strange reprints in Terrific, but the Torch solo stories AND Captain America never got reprinted in Power comics , so I still have some Marvel gaps to fill in all these years later!; 16 October 2013 at 12:17
Nick Caputo said...: Ah, fond memories. I was busy collecting the Strange Tales run in the mid-late 1980's and recall one of the last issues of the Ditko Dr. Strange run was the issue cover featuring the Asbestos Man! I have an image of my friend Frank and I scouring a comic con searching for that issue, amused by the less than memorable Asbestos Man.

The figure of the Eel on the cover to ST 117 appears to be drawn by Ditko. The cover to #116 is dear to me, being one of the earliest comics to leave an inpression on my young mind. The dark colors by Stan Goldberg (who I was lucky enough to speak with last week at Doc V's celebration of his and Blake Bell's Secret History of Marvel Comics book at the Society of Illustrators, along with Al Jaffee: two of the finest creators and nicest people ever)added to the mood. It was part of what made Marvel stand out (and the Kirby cover sure didn't hurt!); 20 October 2013 at 22:00
Kid said...: I hear Asbestos Man retired not long after - he was just burned out.

JP, I think some of those Torch/Thing tales popped up in MWOM, and I'm sure I've also got some MCIC mags which reprinted them in the '60s.

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That's the advantage of living where you are, Nick - you get to meet such interesting people.

(Comment originally posted on 20 October 2013 at 22:10); 8 February 2014 at 14:16

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.