Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 2 Hardcover – December 1, 2010

Steve Ditco at his weirdest! Before the Atlas/Marvel years Mr Ditco was already out shining everyone else in the Charlton bullpen. This collection is a mind blowing batch of astonishing sci fi and supernatural fantasy short stories presented as only the visionary skill and wit of a born master could portray. Am I a fan? You bet! These stories are impossible to find and a joy to behold. In the time before comic artists became rock stars, Steve Ditco was already earning his place in the pantheon by turning mundane stories into mini-classics with the stroke of his pen. the cover says it all! Published in the early 50s these stories show some of the earliest works of a full blown master of the art. I hope the publishers continue to compile these visions of weird wonderful worlds.

Beautifully designed and full of early strips in Steve Ditko's characteristic genius style. A surreal masterpiece! The Ditko Archives look amazing on my bookshelf.

Let me say that without a doubt vol 1 which includes a very diverse line up of stories and continuous experimentation by Ditko in art style, has much more zing than the pedestrian stories in vol 2 which were written under the comics code.Similar to EC comics extra, are the post code ditko stories.Nothing shocking or wild in the stories, and other than a couple of bold artistic masterworks, they are very mundane and downright forgettable.That being said it provided a modest momentary diversion on occasion. But with the overall cookie cutter short story format I tended to start reading stories twice before I realized I had read them already.Format wise its excellent, with nice paper(a bit thinner than in vol 1) and great reproductions right from the original comics.

Early works by The Master ! Worth every penny!

the stories are very unique, the artwork will literally take you into another world. I love Steve Ditko, I seriosuly reccomend him to anyone, you'll be treating yourself to a truly unique experience. Get this and volume 1, volume 3 will be released soon. you'll enjoy them!

Great book and service. Thank you

A nicely designed volume of unfortunately lesser Ditko work, culled from rushed, Comics Code approved titles. Some golden threads among the silver, worth having, but not as scintillating as other volumes in the series.

It is far better than Volume One. Whilst the first volume has consistently great artwork, the stories, narrative and prose styles are really poor for the most part. In the second volume, all the stories are from the stage when comic books were under the thumb of the comics code regulations. Popular wisdom says that when the writers and artists had to give in to these conservative code restrictions, the integrity and value of the work was gone, to be replaced by 'safe', dull stories.There is a lot of truth in that statement of course -- so much of the inventiveness and wit and art disappeared from comics when the new control mechanisms were in place.However, the opposite is true here -- clearly, Ditko did feel restrained -- but he reacts by producing some clever, thoughtful , reflective artwork for the stories here, to compensate for the limitations placed on him by the comics code and the authors,and the art work is astonishing on every page.One to buy and value and read again and again. Looking forward to Volume Three for sure.

Very honest seller recommended