Category: Comic Books

Listen Bud, He’s Got Radioactive Blood

Wear a mask and maintain social distancing!

Not everybody will get the joke, but for those of us who do it’s very funny.

Note at the end of that 1967 cartoon, credit is given to “Jazzy Johnny Romita” as an art consultant, and not Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko. I can see where some of the animation was based on drawings by Romita, especially Aunt May. But the series also included direct photostats of some Ditko art. This was a technique that Grantray-Lawrence had used extensively in The Marvel Super-Heroes series a year earlier, which was in production when Ditko quit Marvel Comics.

Artist-Man, Artist-Man, Does Whatever An Artist Can

I have an account with Heritage Auctions but, so far, haven’t acquired anything through them. Much, if not most, of the high-end original art for comic books, comic strips, and cartoons is handled by Heritage. The high-resolution scans provided by HA are valuable resources in studying the work of many noted artists.

There are only a few days remaining to bid on page #9 from Amazing Spider-Man #7. Right now it’s going for $54,000, including the “buyer’s premium.” This early example of Steve Ditko’s work on the series clearly shows where he inked with a pen, and where he instead used a brush.

Click now to enlarge!

E.nterprising C.ochran

Physics professor turned publisher Russ Cochran of West Plains, Missouri, has passed away. Cochran’s friendship with MAD magazine’s Bill Gaines made it possible for him to reprint every E.C. comic book from the 1950’s in hardcover box sets, starting with Weird Science in 1978. I subscribed to the series and received each set as they were published, which took upwards of ten years to complete, as I recall.

Some of the finest pieces of original comic strip art found today on Heritage Auctions passed through Cochran’s hands decades ago, from his own art auctions as well as his personal collection. In 2005 Cochran published ‘Les Paul In His Own Words’ in collaboration with his brother Michael.