Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spiderman and Dr. Strange, remains an enigma, though this book draws us closer to the artist and gives us a better understanding of his amazing work. Introducing the very best of rare and striking Steve Ditko comic book stories and original art, this large format beautifully showcases Ditko's work, with many reproductions of original art pieces by the master comic book artist....

A collection of works from the first two years of Ditko's career: over 200 pages of vintage, pre-Amazing Spider-Man, pre-Comics Code horror comics. Before the Amazing Spider-Man, before the mysterious Doctor Strange, before the black-and-white world of the Ayn Rand-inspired Mr. A, the legendary comic book artist Steve Ditko was conjuring all manners of horrors at his drawing table. In his first two years in the industry (1953 and 1954), Ditko drew tales of macabre suspense that were not yet hobbled by the imminent Comics Code Authority (adopted in October 1954). These stories featured graphic bloodshed, dismemberment and blood-curdling acid baths as the ugly end to the lives of the dark and twisted inhabitants of Steve Ditko’s imagination.

Following up on Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko, Blake Bell’s 2008 best-selling critical retrospective of Ditko’s career, strange suspense, Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1 will, for the first time, feature spectacular full-color reprints of every story from those first two years of his career. Beginning with Ditko’s very first story to Ditko’s short stint in the Joe Simon/Jack Kirby studio, to Ditko’s eventual encampment at the Charlton Comics operation in 1954, readers will see the initial works of an artist already at a level of craftsmanship that exceeded most of his peers. The book will also feature editor Bell’s insightful historical notes.

“Ditko’s legacy is undeniable…visually he was revolutionary.”—MacLeans

“Ditko’s artwork is impossible to shake.”—Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics
224 color illustrations....