WHAT THE-?! (1988-93) #1
NM/M: 9.8
(Stock Image)
SOLD ON: Sunday, 07/28/2019 12:07 PM
$9
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PUBLISHER: Marvel
COMMENTS: white pgs
Wolverine, Spider-Man, Punisher cover; Ditko-a
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Wolverine, Spider-Man, Punisher cover; Ditko-a
DESCRIPTION
white pgs
Wolverine, Spider-Man, Punisher cover; Ditko-a
Artists 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.
Terry Kevin Austin is an American comic book artist who is best known for his exceptional inking talents. Austin’s inking — especially in the period of the 1970s and early 1980s — is notable for its smooth, precise rendering; and extremely detailed backgrounds, making his embellishing work easily identifiable. His style has been highly influential on a subsequent generation of inkers including Al Gordon, Andy Lanning, Scott Williams and Rob Liefeld. Austin grew up in Detroit, Michigan and attended Wayne State University. He started inking comics as an assistant to Dick Giordano and Neal Adams, doing “Crusty Bunker” work for Adams’ Continuity Associates. Austin came to prominence in 1976–1977, inking Marshall Rogers’ pencils on a celebrated run of Batman stories for DC Comics’ Detective Comics collaborating with writer Steve Englehart. During this same period, Austin inked Michael Netzer (Nasser) on DC’s Martian Manhunter in Adventure Comics and Green Arrow/Black Canary in World’s Finest Comics, as well as Al Milgrom on Marvel Comics’ Captain Marvel. He later teamed with Rogers again on Marvel’s Doctor Strange. X-Men In 1977, Austin and penciler John Byrne became the new art team on Uncanny X-Men. With writer Chris Claremont they produced a series of stories — particularly “The Dark Phoenix Saga” — which elevated the title into the top-selling American comic book. Post X-Men Austin left Uncanny X-Men in 1981 and has since worked on a variety of titles for both Marvel & DC, including Doctor Strange (over Paul Smith and Dan Green pencils), Superman vol. 2 (over Byrne), Justice League (over Kevin Maguire) and Green Lantern (over Darryl Banks). Austin contributed to several anniversary issues for DC including Justice League of America #200 (March 1982), Superman #400 (Oct. 1984) and Batman #400 (Oct. 1986). He was the regular inker of DC’s Superman Adventures for nearly six years, from 1996–2002. His inking work since 2002 has included over fifteen years of inking the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series for Archie Comics, which he continued until the series cancellation in 2017.
John Powers Severin was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, especially its war and Western comics; and for his 45-year stint with the satiric magazine Cracked. He was one of the founding cartoonists of Mad in 1952. Severin was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2003.
Al Milgrom is an American comic book writer, penciler, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciler; and his long stint as the inker of X-Factor. He often inked Jim Starlin’s work. Milgrom is the co-creator of DC superhero Firestorm.
Hilary Barta is an American comic book writer and artist. Notable works: American Flagg. Power Pack, Plastic Man, and Simpsons Comics.
June Brigman is an American comic book artist and illustrator. She is best known for creating the preteen superhero characters Power Pack with writer Louise Simonson in 1984. Brigman was the artist of the syndicated newspaper strip Brenda Starr, Reporter from 1995 to 2011 and in 2016 became the artist for the newspaper strip Mary Worth.
Wolverine, Spider-Man, Punisher cover; Ditko-a
Artists 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.
Terry Kevin Austin is an American comic book artist who is best known for his exceptional inking talents. Austin’s inking — especially in the period of the 1970s and early 1980s — is notable for its smooth, precise rendering; and extremely detailed backgrounds, making his embellishing work easily identifiable. His style has been highly influential on a subsequent generation of inkers including Al Gordon, Andy Lanning, Scott Williams and Rob Liefeld. Austin grew up in Detroit, Michigan and attended Wayne State University. He started inking comics as an assistant to Dick Giordano and Neal Adams, doing “Crusty Bunker” work for Adams’ Continuity Associates. Austin came to prominence in 1976–1977, inking Marshall Rogers’ pencils on a celebrated run of Batman stories for DC Comics’ Detective Comics collaborating with writer Steve Englehart. During this same period, Austin inked Michael Netzer (Nasser) on DC’s Martian Manhunter in Adventure Comics and Green Arrow/Black Canary in World’s Finest Comics, as well as Al Milgrom on Marvel Comics’ Captain Marvel. He later teamed with Rogers again on Marvel’s Doctor Strange. X-Men In 1977, Austin and penciler John Byrne became the new art team on Uncanny X-Men. With writer Chris Claremont they produced a series of stories — particularly “The Dark Phoenix Saga” — which elevated the title into the top-selling American comic book. Post X-Men Austin left Uncanny X-Men in 1981 and has since worked on a variety of titles for both Marvel & DC, including Doctor Strange (over Paul Smith and Dan Green pencils), Superman vol. 2 (over Byrne), Justice League (over Kevin Maguire) and Green Lantern (over Darryl Banks). Austin contributed to several anniversary issues for DC including Justice League of America #200 (March 1982), Superman #400 (Oct. 1984) and Batman #400 (Oct. 1986). He was the regular inker of DC’s Superman Adventures for nearly six years, from 1996–2002. His inking work since 2002 has included over fifteen years of inking the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series for Archie Comics, which he continued until the series cancellation in 2017.
John Powers Severin was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, especially its war and Western comics; and for his 45-year stint with the satiric magazine Cracked. He was one of the founding cartoonists of Mad in 1952. Severin was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2003.
Al Milgrom is an American comic book writer, penciler, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciler; and his long stint as the inker of X-Factor. He often inked Jim Starlin’s work. Milgrom is the co-creator of DC superhero Firestorm.
Hilary Barta is an American comic book writer and artist. Notable works: American Flagg. Power Pack, Plastic Man, and Simpsons Comics.
June Brigman is an American comic book artist and illustrator. She is best known for creating the preteen superhero characters Power Pack with writer Louise Simonson in 1984. Brigman was the artist of the syndicated newspaper strip Brenda Starr, Reporter from 1995 to 2011 and in 2016 became the artist for the newspaper strip Mary Worth.