AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963-98; 2003-13) #20
G/VG: 3.0
(Stock Image)
SOLD ON: Tuesday, 06/09/2020 3:51 PM
$140
Sold For
1
Offers
PUBLISHER: Marvel
COMIC BOOK IMPACT: rating of 7 (CBI)
COMMENTS: amat ct, fc; tape; three non-story pages removed
1st appearance of the Scorpion (MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, w/ origin); Steve Ditko cvr/art; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 7 (CBI)
Read Description ▼
1st appearance of the Scorpion (MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, w/ origin); Steve Ditko cvr/art; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 7 (CBI)
DESCRIPTION
amat ct, fc; tape; three non-story pages removed
1st appearance of the Scorpion (MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, w/ origin); Steve Ditko cvr/art; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 7 (CBI)
One can almost imagine the brainstorming sessions Stan Lee would have with Steve Ditko during the early days of the Amazing Spider-Man’s legendary run. Did they make a list of names of creatures that would be well suited to square off against the arachnid Spidey? Hmm, let’s see, Cockroach, Mosquito, Ladybug, Gecko, Salamander, wait, I got it! Scorpion! It could be surmised that the Vulture, Lizard, even Doctor Octopus could have been created through this scattershot method, and a great many of these throwaway concepts would prove to become classics in comic book history. As is the case with ASM #20, the Scorpion was not only a creation of the Lee/Ditko collaboration, but also of dastardly newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson, whose dogged pursuit of Peter Parker/Spider-Man inspires him to turn Private Dick Mac Gargan into the Scorpion with the help of a mad scientist. The newly minted villain runs rampant with his newfound powers and is eventually bought to heel by your Friendly Neighborhood Wallcrawler, but the game of cat and mouse with Jameson is only getting warmed up, as the rivalry between the publisher and reporter would go on to become the stuff of comic book lore.
________________________________________________
Artist Information
Steve Ditko was an American comics artist and writer best known for being the co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man, revolutionizing the character's red and yellow design.
Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City. He began his professional career in 1953, working in the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, beginning as an inker and coming under the influence of artist Mort Meskin. During this time, he began his long association with Charlton Comics, where he did work in the genres of science fiction, horror, and mystery. He also co-created the superhero Captain Atom in 1960.
During the summer of 1958, writer-editor Stan Lee invited Ditko back to Atlas. Ditko would go on to contribute a large number of stories, many considered classic, to Atlas/Marvel's Strange Tales and the newly launched Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, issues of which would typically open with a Kirby-drawn monster story, followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, or Joe Sinnott, all capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflective short by Ditko and Stan Lee. The first collaboration between Ditko and Lee was 2-Gun Western #4 (May 1956), which was also Ditko's only non-fantasy story.
These Lee-Ditko short stories proved so popular that Amazing Adventures was reformatted to feature such stories exclusively beginning with issue #7 (Dec. 1961), when the comic was rechristened Amazing Adult Fantasy, a name intended to reflect its more "sophisticated" nature, as likewise the new tagline "The magazine that respects your intelligence". Lee in 2009 described these "short, five-page filler strips that Steve and I did together", originally "placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", as "odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with O. Henry-type endings." Giving an early example of what would later be known as the "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration, Lee said, "All I had to do was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect."
During the 1950s, Ditko also drew for Atlas Comics, a forerunner of Marvel Comics. He went on to contribute much significant work to Marvel. Ditko was the artist for the first 38 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, co-creating much of the Spider-Man supporting characters and villains with Stan Lee. Beginning with issue #25, Ditko was also credited as the plotter. In 1966, after being the exclusive artist on The Amazing Spider-Man and the "Doctor Strange" feature in Strange Tales, Ditko left Marvel for a variety of reasons, including creative differences and unpaid royalties.
Ditko continued to work for Charlton and also DC Comics, including a revamp of the long-running character the Blue Beetle and creating or co-creating the Question, the Creeper, Shade the Changing Man, and Hawk and Dove. Ditko also began contributing to small independent publishers, where he created Mr. A, a hero reflecting the influence of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. Ditko largely declined to give interviews, saying he preferred to communicate through his work.
Ditko was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994. He will be posthumously honored as a Disney Legend in 2024.
1st appearance of the Scorpion (MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, w/ origin); Steve Ditko cvr/art; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 7 (CBI)
One can almost imagine the brainstorming sessions Stan Lee would have with Steve Ditko during the early days of the Amazing Spider-Man’s legendary run. Did they make a list of names of creatures that would be well suited to square off against the arachnid Spidey? Hmm, let’s see, Cockroach, Mosquito, Ladybug, Gecko, Salamander, wait, I got it! Scorpion! It could be surmised that the Vulture, Lizard, even Doctor Octopus could have been created through this scattershot method, and a great many of these throwaway concepts would prove to become classics in comic book history. As is the case with ASM #20, the Scorpion was not only a creation of the Lee/Ditko collaboration, but also of dastardly newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson, whose dogged pursuit of Peter Parker/Spider-Man inspires him to turn Private Dick Mac Gargan into the Scorpion with the help of a mad scientist. The newly minted villain runs rampant with his newfound powers and is eventually bought to heel by your Friendly Neighborhood Wallcrawler, but the game of cat and mouse with Jameson is only getting warmed up, as the rivalry between the publisher and reporter would go on to become the stuff of comic book lore.
________________________________________________
Artist Information
Steve Ditko was an American comics artist and writer best known for being the co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man, revolutionizing the character's red and yellow design.
Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City. He began his professional career in 1953, working in the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, beginning as an inker and coming under the influence of artist Mort Meskin. During this time, he began his long association with Charlton Comics, where he did work in the genres of science fiction, horror, and mystery. He also co-created the superhero Captain Atom in 1960.
During the summer of 1958, writer-editor Stan Lee invited Ditko back to Atlas. Ditko would go on to contribute a large number of stories, many considered classic, to Atlas/Marvel's Strange Tales and the newly launched Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, issues of which would typically open with a Kirby-drawn monster story, followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, or Joe Sinnott, all capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflective short by Ditko and Stan Lee. The first collaboration between Ditko and Lee was 2-Gun Western #4 (May 1956), which was also Ditko's only non-fantasy story.
These Lee-Ditko short stories proved so popular that Amazing Adventures was reformatted to feature such stories exclusively beginning with issue #7 (Dec. 1961), when the comic was rechristened Amazing Adult Fantasy, a name intended to reflect its more "sophisticated" nature, as likewise the new tagline "The magazine that respects your intelligence". Lee in 2009 described these "short, five-page filler strips that Steve and I did together", originally "placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", as "odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with O. Henry-type endings." Giving an early example of what would later be known as the "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration, Lee said, "All I had to do was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect."
During the 1950s, Ditko also drew for Atlas Comics, a forerunner of Marvel Comics. He went on to contribute much significant work to Marvel. Ditko was the artist for the first 38 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, co-creating much of the Spider-Man supporting characters and villains with Stan Lee. Beginning with issue #25, Ditko was also credited as the plotter. In 1966, after being the exclusive artist on The Amazing Spider-Man and the "Doctor Strange" feature in Strange Tales, Ditko left Marvel for a variety of reasons, including creative differences and unpaid royalties.
Ditko continued to work for Charlton and also DC Comics, including a revamp of the long-running character the Blue Beetle and creating or co-creating the Question, the Creeper, Shade the Changing Man, and Hawk and Dove. Ditko also began contributing to small independent publishers, where he created Mr. A, a hero reflecting the influence of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. Ditko largely declined to give interviews, saying he preferred to communicate through his work.
Ditko was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994. He will be posthumously honored as a Disney Legend in 2024.