Ditko, Steve - Tales to Astonish, issue 65, title splash (Mar 1965)
Artists: Steve Ditko (Penciller) , Dick Ayers (Inker)
20 Comments - 2,949 Views - 1 Like
Artwork Details
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DescriptionA beautiful (IMHO), twice-up, Steve Ditko splash from his limited run of Incredible Hulk stories in Tales to Astonish, issues 60 through 67. Also featured in Steven Alan Payne's comic art book, 'Grail Pages'.The Hulk first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (cover dated May 1962), written by Stan Lee, penciled and co-plotted by Jack Kirby and inked by Paul Reinman. Interestingly, Lee chose gray for the Hulk’s color in the debut issue because he wanted a color that did not suggest any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had problems with the gray coloring, resulting in different shades of gray, and even green, used in the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee changed the skin color to green. The original series was canceled with issue #6 (March 1963). Lee had written each story, with Kirby penciling the first five issues and Steve Ditko penciling and inking the sixth. The character immediately guest-starred in The Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963), and months later became a founding member of the superhero team the Avengers, appearing in the first two issues of the series (September & November 1963), then appearing as an antagonist in issue #3 and again as an ally in issue #5 (January – May 1964). He then guest-starred in Fantastic Four #25–26 (April – May 1964), which revealed Banner's full name as "Robert Bruce Banner," and The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964). A year and a half after the original series was canceled, the Hulk became one of two features in the split-book Tales to Astonish beginning in issue #59 (September 1964). In the previous issue, he had appeared as an antagonist for Giant-Man, who had been featured under various superhero guises in the title since issue #35. This period introduced the concept of the Hulk's transformations being caused by extreme emotional stress. The character fared much better this time around and Giant-Man was eventually replaced with the Sub-Mariner in issue #70. This new Hulk feature in issue #59 was initially scripted by Lee and illustrated by the team of penciller Dick Ayers & inker Paul Reinmann. Ditko and George Roussos (Bell) penciled & inked the feature through issue #67 (May 1965) – with the exception of issue #65 (March 1965), which was inked by Dick Ayers and issue #66 (April 1965), which was inked by Vince Coletta. Other artists later in this run included Jack Kirby from issues #68–87 (June 1965 – Oct. 1966), doing full pencils or, more often, layouts for other artists; Gil Kane, credited as "Scott Edwards", in issue #76 (February 1966), his first Marvel Comics work; Bill Everett inking Kirby in issues #78–84 (April – October 1966); and John Buscema penciling Kirby's layouts in issues #85-87. Marie Severin finished out the Hulk's run in Tales to Astonish. Beginning with issue #102 (April 1968) the book was re-titled The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, and ran until March 1999, when Marvel canceled the series and restarted the title with a new issue #1. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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George H 
Member Since 2009
Posted on 6/9/2011
What a great find my friend! Nice piece of comic history!
Felix Lu
Member Since 2005
Posted on 6/9/2011
Damn impressive...both the piece and the building of your collection. Cross another one off your list!
Mike W
Member Since 2007
Posted on 6/9/2011
I agree with Mark!! You're giving Ron a run for his money, my friend!! Vintage Marvel Magic!!!
J L
Member Since 2005
Posted on 6/11/2011
That's a really nice Ditko splash. Is this a new collecting focus to the silver age?
Chris K.
Member Since 2008
Posted on 6/12/2011
J L wrote:
That's a really nice Ditko splash. Is this a new collecting focus to the silver age?I would consider it a temporary one...hopefully. If not, my wife might put me in the category of 'temporary' :)
J. Hollon
Member Since 2006
Posted on 6/19/2011
Ditko inked by Ayers is an interesting combination. Ayers softens the pencils I would say. A most impressive piece!
Jason Versaggi
Member Since 2005
Posted on 8/6/2011
Now I don't like you anymore. I thought you were cool, but this is going too far. How on earth does someone get a hold of such an exceptional Ditko splash let alone a 2x Marvel key hero splash? And even more rare...it's NOT Spidey! This is glorious.
Andrew Van Embden
Member Since 2006
Posted on 2/29/2012
This is one of those images from the silver age that is permanently etched in my brain as a young child. I would stare in awe at the magic that was the Marvel Age of Comics.
Congratulations Ronan on picking up an iconic image of the Hulk battling The Leader's horde of humanoids.
Marvelman Excelsior
Member Since 2011
Posted on 8/23/2012
Yep! This is definitely a Grail page! Got to love Ditko's short but brilliantly wacky and distinctive run on the Incredible one! Just look at the dynamism of the figure work - and such wonderful hyperbolic narrative! Vintageness!
Terry Doyle
Member Since 2004
Posted on 5/3/2013
Although Ditko inking Ditko is the best combination, Ayers does a really nice job here!
COL (Ret) Churchill
Member Since 2004
Posted on 1/3/2017
Your thoughtful analysis and descriptions make your image uploads a must read, Chris. Oh, and I almost forgot....a freaking, great splash page from one of Ditko's 'lesser' title runs.
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