Comments on: 365 Reasons to Love Comics #181

By: The Kirbydotter

The Kirbydotter — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:00:59 +0000

To Mullon:
"Did Ditko create any cool villain?"

He sure did!
Just take a look at Spidey's main villain gallery:
Green Goblin
Mysterio
Vulture
Doctor Octopus
Sandman
Lizard
Electro
Kraven the Hunter
Scorpion
Molten Man
All during Ditko's 38 run on Amazing Spidey.

On Charlton's Action Heroes I liked Punch and Jewelee, the Ghost, the Madmen...

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:51:48 +0000

Yeah, but the last storyline, and especially the last issue, are wonderfully done.

Yup - That final 3 parter more than made up for the mediocre year and a half that came before it.

By: Ryan Day

Ryan Day — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:30:10 +0000

I wish that DC would put out more Shade trades - heck, I'd buy Absolute Shade - but you can't really blame them if the first one didn't sell.

Then again, for most of the first trade Bachalo looks like a pretty regular artist. He starts branching out into craziness pretty quickly, though, so I wonder if it wouldn't be worth it to venture a second trade.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:30:50 +0000

Yeah, but the last storyline, and especially the last issue, are wonderfully done.

By: Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:21:14 +0000

The Cosh said:
"The first 50 issues are fantastic but it runs out of steam somewhat after that."

Agreed. Issues #1-50 comprise one of my all-time favorite comics, with issue #50 wrapping up all of the storylines to that point in the series, almost like a final issue. But Bachalo left the series after that, and Milligan kind of floundered, despite some good artwork being turned in by Richard Case and Sean Phillips.

By: S Laz

S Laz — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 21:51:06 +0000

I didn't know anything about the original series when I read the Milligan version, which was one of my favorite series at the time. Yes, further collections of the Vertigo series would be welcome, but what about the original. Any chance of that being collected?

By: Mullon

Mullon — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:16:02 +0000

Did Ditko create any cool villains?

By: The Kirbydotter

The Kirbydotter — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:38:08 +0000

As an old fart, I too am not a fan of the Milligan/Vertigo Shade.

The original run of SHADE THE CHANGING MAN is the closest thing that approaches the creativity of Ditko in his Doctor Strange work. Weird dimensions, weird powers and "special effects", and the Doctor Strange elements you have pointed out makes for a pretty close match up.

I don't know if it's worth mentioning but Steve Ditko was also selected in the Overstreets Price Guide Hall of Fame in this year edition along with Alex Toth, Bruce Hamilton, Dave Cockrum, Martin Nodell, Jim Shooter, George Perez, Dave Stevens and Michael Turner (??? that last one was a surprise to me! what has Michael Turner done so far in his relatively short career to make an impact on this medium???).

By: The Cosh

The Cosh — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:30:39 +0000

Iâ€™m sure it was a fine series, but why name it after a comic you donâ€™t respect?

Perhaps because there were plenty of readers like me who'd never heard of Shade or Ditko but bought this because of Pete Milligan.

The first 50 issues are fantastic but it runs out of steam somewhat after that.

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:54:40 +0000

yeash.. I'm also drunk... but it doesn't matter...

Please do read Enigma by Peter Milligan (I'm sure this was a reason to llove comics in the past)

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:52:03 +0000

Okay, I've come to a conclusion. For me, Ditko es like Bob Dylan. I don't like their art, but I like whatever their aasrt has inspired on others.. (i.e Spider-Man, mp3 covers)

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 07:03:45 +0000

I got the first (only?) Milliagan trade out from the library and quite enjoyed the first two issues. Then I got to the third issue and Shade casually mentions that he had a bad dream once where he was a fugitive from the M-zone. I slowly realized that the entire first series (and Suicide Squad issues) had just been dismissed into oblivion. I dropped the book in disgust! Most disrespectful reboot ever! I'm sure it was a fine series, but why name it after a comic you don't respect?

By: Aaron Kashtan

Aaron Kashtan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:19:29 +0000

There is a lot of strong competition for the title of "Ditko's strangest creation." How about Mr. A, or The Safest Place, or Static, or that one story (which appeared in Charlton Action, I think) with the device that made people two-dimensional?

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:03:43 +0000

Milligan's Shade drawn by Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham, Sean Phillips and Richard Case, and Colleen Doran were absolutely terrific!

Shame on DC/Vertigo for being extremely lax in their tradepaperback reprints.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:10:49 +0000

Yeah, I wish they would release more of Milligan's Shade. I have the one trade and would love to read more.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:22:27 +0000

Oh noes I am worst blogger evar!!!

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:32:02 +0000

Milligan's Shade ran 70 issues. I mean, if you can't do a little research on Wikipedia about things in comics, what do you think you're doing, huh????