The best there ever was, best there ever will be.

That'd make a fun wallpaper.

Trevor
While we're here, can you give me a recap on these archival editions that are coming out? I was thinking of collecting Ditko's early work, but when one that I browsed looked like just a sampler. Kind of random.

What's the difference between these two most recent archival books to come out, and which one appears to be a part of a more systematic archive collection?

The Fantagraphics book is a chronological presentation of Ditko's first two years of comics output (1953-54). Mostly pre-code horror/sci-fi, but I think there's a western and a romance in there as well. It's marked Vol. 1 so hopefully there will be more.

The IDW is some essays by comic guys, some old comic stories, pics of original art, stuff like that.

I haven't bought either yet, but they are both on my to-get list (especially the Fantagraphics one).

Jay. I went with the version by Blake: Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives (Vol. 1).
I like the thick paper, and the no-dust-jacket cover. The artwork look as good as in my original
copies of these issues, DONE sequentially, and there is certainly the promise of a volume 2 in
the (hopefully) not so distant future.

I have not, however, looked at the Art of Steve Ditko book, but it was my understanding that it
was just a collection of assorted Charlton tales from the 50s, 60s, and 70s plus essays.

But if you're looking for the highly processed Marvel Masterworks-like production quality,
you will find some of these pages to be a little muddy. You can tell that they filmed much
of this (if not all of it) from nice (but not perfect) copies of the actual issues. I suspect that
there was some clean-up work done, but I like the results. Whereas, I have to put down
the Masterworks and Omnibus books fairly often because of the glare and shine of the
actual pages.

Here are a couple of quick shots. You can see, for example, that their copy of
The Thing #15—one of my favorite Ditko covers—is rather stained on the logo.
Other cover shots show small tears and folds.

(Marvel would have "fixed" them, and recolored and redrawn stuff.)

This edition comes pretty close to looking like the actual issues (which
are quite hard to come by and quite expensive).

Thanks, guys. Fantagraphics it is, for me.

WHOO-HOO! I just got one of my HOLY GRAILS!

And I nearly missed it, too. I got so caught up in doing assessment work for my college
that I forgot that the auction for this item went down nearly an hour ago. So, with a very
sad heart, I opened up the auction results, and...



... I won! Whoo-Hoo! Space Adventures #33. The first Captain Atom. Ditko!
Whew. I bid on it a couple hours before it ended, and pushed it up just far enough so
that I was the lead bidder. It was also one of those "Reserve" auctions, so I think that
helped to drive away early interest.

Anyway, anybody could have had it for just 50¢ more which is why I was kicking myself
and what I expected to see when I opened up the results. Nope. I won!

That finishes my Ditko Captain Atom set! Got 'em all now.

Glad it worked out for you Beachy! It's always fun to complete a run like that.

Great job, Beachy. You should still auction snipe. Even if you want to bid early, you can also snipe.

Thanks, Jeff. I may go on and collect the entirety of Space Adventures.
I already have the most early Ditkos in that series, so most of what's left
goes for about $5 an issue. Trouble is, you almost never see anyone with
more than an issue or two at one time. That makes shipping the deciding
factor. (And, so far, I have decided against. Though I do love those cheesy
Sci-Fi takes from the 50s and 60s.)

Maybe someday I'll look for these at a convention.

Oh, I do snipe. I normally like to feel out the pricing, and then position so that I'm either
up by one bid or so, or—feel that I am just a bid or two under—then I pounce with around
two seconds remaining, oftentimes trumping my own bid considerably.

I just forgot today is all.

No, I mean snipe without being there. Using myibay.com.

I was addressing the fact that you failed to remember to be there for the close of this one. A snipe would have protected you.

Ah. Despite my tech/programming background and such, I have just never taken to
automatic bidding. There's just something about "being there" as it goes down that's
part of the excitement for me. Plus, I've seen tandem seller/bidder combos that work
together sometimes to drive those auto bidders up.

I'm not sure what the current policy is at eBay, but they used to allow people to
redraw bids, and people would use them to drive up reserve bids.

But, the best auto-bid systems don't fall for that, and only bid at the last second.
Still, I like to be there. I like to judge the market value by watching the bidding
instead of guessing ahead of time what's the maximum I should snipe.

Ah, a lover of old-fashioned auctions.

In the long run, I forget, and miss out on some stuff, but I snag my own share of
bargains. I should look into the auto bidders, though, just for those days and odd
times when I can't be around when the hammer falls.

I snipe ruthlessly on items I shop for. For example, I am collecting Spirit Archives right now from ebay.

I have a subscription that tells me when anything hits that fits my search criteria (essentially "Spirit archives").

I'm looking to bid only at bargain prices. I don't care about getting caught in a bidding war -- several of these things sell a week. I'm to kill that little baby seal that gets left behind. I'm like a forest fire engulfing Bambi.

I bid about $4 lower than most of them go for. I do it with myibay.com. The good thing about it is that as soon as I get the email notifying me of the item, I can take care of it right then, without worrying about stimulating interest with an early bid.

I have 15 volumes so far. Every one of them obtained at prices that are so good, it makes the hunt fun. Wouldn't really work as well for unique items or items that have condition issues. I wouldn't be sure what to bid. But it's perfect for these Spirit Archives.