The STEVE DITKO ARCHIVES Volume 2 (Two) UNEXPLORED WORLDS

As the original artist and co-creator who brought the Amazing Spider-Man to life in 1962, artist Steve Ditko’s talents varied far beyond the realm of the superhero genre. Tales of unexplored worlds, of spine-chilling suspense, mystery, and horror dripped hauntingly from the pen of Steve Ditko over half-a-decade before he would bring to the world famous wall-crawler to life. Unexplored Worlds continues the showcase of the artist’s 1950s work that began with editor Blake Bell’s 2009 best-selling Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1. For the first time, spectacular full-color reprints of stories are on display from the peak period of his career as an artist. After a bout of illness forced Ditko to disappear from comics in 1955, the artist came back with a vengeance, marking 1956 as his first stint at Marvel Comics with his Spider-Man co-creator, Stan Lee. And in 1957, Ditko renewed his association with Charlton Comics, a partnership that would see Ditko produce almost 500 pages of completed artwork in that year alone. The leap in the quality of the legendary artist’s work during this period is stunning. A few scant years into his career and Ditko was already the most unique artist in comic-book history and one of its most prolific. The book also features editor Bell’s insightful introduction, providing historical background and speaking to Ditko’s influence and his unique craft.

Steve Ditko continues to create comics in his studio in New York City.

Blake Bell is the author of Strange & Stranger (a retrospective of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko); The Secret History of Marvel Comics, Fire & Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics; Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives; and Strange Suspense and Unexplored Worlds (two volumes in The Steve Ditko Archives). He lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his son.