Correction: Steve Ditko didn’t draw the Chuck Norris comic. The Chuck Norris comic created Steve Ditko.

I think I actually had this comic as a kid (I know I had a Chuck Norris comic, but I can’t remember if it was this particular one). And I also had some of the toys based on the characters.

So this is what “Sidekicks” was adapted from.

“Norris chose him over other kids at the orphanage with names like “Good Grief!” and “Mommy, No!””

Damn.

Ditko also drew Power Rangers in 90s. Nuff said.

Looks like an unused script for Walker Texas Ranger.

That can’t possibly be Chuck Norris. That character has facial expressions!

Seriously, though, always interesting to see Ditko inked by somebody else.

Is Too Much required to refer to Chuck Norris by both his first and last names at all times? Would just calling him “Chuck” be too familiar?

Grandmaster Chuck Norris is my idol and true role model.

I”m glad that Chuck Norris invented comics.

And here’s the original cover by Zeck & Beatty!

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=293256&GSub=44510

This has been linked to on the front page of CBR, meaning it will attract a lot of attention from non-CSBG regulars. I’m interested to see how long it takes for someone in the comments to totally miss the sarcasm and attack Brian for saying this is the best Ditko comic ever haha

I didn’t realize this until almost the very end, but I actually owned this comic and read it many times. Yet somehow the story still failed to leave any lasting impression on me outside of the awesome fight choreography by Ditko. Also, I never did get why Norris was bleach blond in these books.

Here is the cover in color. One thing I found odder about the book is that they got the hair color right on the cover:

https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/607863.jpg

Chuck Norris is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.

So was this a toyline tie in or just an attempt to adapt Norris to comics? A shame it didn’t last longer–it could easily have been the Adventures of Jerry Lewis of the 1980s.

It was a tie-in to both a toy line and a cartoon series. You can probably find clips of it on Youtube.

Oh god, that’s right, I had one of the Chuck Norris toys. With some kicking action.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Ditko also drew some Go Bots stuff, and I think maybe some Transformers storybooks.

How does doing the artwork for crappy toy tie-ins relate to an Objectivist outlook on life?

Back in the 80′s, Steve Ditko worked on more obscure Marvel tiles such as MACHINE MAN, ROM, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INDIANA JONES, and even stuff like this toy line tie-in comic. Pretty much everything but the Spider-Man titles, of course…

With Ditko, I found that you either like his art or you don’t. It’s never been my cup of tea. (Those damn hands are just too weird for me.) When I was a kid, I dreaded getting Ditko or Carmine Infantino on any book I collected. It was only later on that I learned how these guys were considered legends within the biz. Same goes for Jack Kirby, by the way.

The only comic that will roundhouse kick you if you criticize it while reading it…

Now if only Marvel had done an “American Ninja” tie-in comic in the 80′s, that would have been beyond awesome.

@Clutch

I know what you mean about looking out for certain artists as a kid. I hated anything drawn by Infantino as a kid (and he’s still not a favorite, even now…) as well as the Leonardi issues of X-Men. And it’s only in the last few years that I have developed a true appreciation for Kirby’s art.

@Travis

Maybe because toy tie-in comics tended to keep the good vs. evil conflict as very basic terms, with little to no ambiguity.

For example here, Chuck Norris = good. Ninjas = bad. There are no shades of gray in Chuck Norris’ world.

Kirby worked on Machine Man too, go figure. It was knowing Kirby mostly from his 1970s stuff that made me wonder why he was supposed to be so awesome (what, the guy who did Devil Dinosaur and that bad Black Panther series?).

So this was before Chuck Norris became a right-wing fundamentalist nutbag?

Wow! We never got to go to any International Anti-Terrorism Conferences when I was at school. I’m just sayin’…

I love how Chuck takes off Too Much’s hat and whispers to him “Take off your hat until after school, Too Much.” It’s a nice touch. I wonder if Ditko or Duffy put that in?

“So this was before Chuck Norris became a right-wing fundamentalist nutbag?”

Well, he _is_ drawn by Steve “Ayn Rand fanboy number 1″ Ditko here. Sort of appropriate.

My favorite Steve Ditko work from around this same time period was Speedball. That comic series seemed like a lot of fun when I was 12 years old. (Probably why I hated Penance so much… ugg). I’ll have to dig it out of my longboxes one of these days to see if it stands the test of time…

Why does the girl’s outfit change from being a skirt to being pants two panels later?

“So this was before Chuck Norris became a right-wing fundamentalist nutbag?”

He’s been that way since the beginning of Walker Texas Ranger and probably a few years before but I bet if he and Ditko met they’d bond over ragging on all the “welfare cheats.”

Ditko’s a wonderful artists but the Ayn Rand stuff makes my bullshit detector go off whenever I read his essays and stuff.

Eric, I was thinking the same thing.
I think the Rambo Force of Freedom ‘toon/toyline came out about the same time.

And here we go with the politics. I actually came here after reading some news sites, hoping to purge politics from my brain and just enjoy some ridiculous but innocuous comics fun.

Same. It sure sounds like a group of tolerant, happy liberals are on the warpath here.

i love how after doing every thing he can to avoid learning the lesson by day dreaming of chuck norris. too much winds up having to in the end read the book mostly because the karate commados liked it. also love the look of embarsement on his face. and can not believe the legendary steve ditko drew the issue proving he was not totaly out of main stream comics back then

“So this was before Chuck Norris became a right-wing fundamentalist nutbag?”

Libturd spotted…

“Kirby worked on Machine Man too, go figure.”

Kirby created Machine Man in his ’2001 A Space Odyssey” series.

People responding to name-calling with name-calling? No wonder I love politics.

Linkara reviewed this one…

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/22413-chuck-norris-karate-kommandos-1

What the heck is going on in that first panel with Wolf? The steering wheel has disappeared and, even if the perspective is right above it, that front seat must be HUGE. What’s more, Pepper’s only wearing a skirt in that one panel, switching to jeans for the rest of the comic.

P. Boz ~ “People responding to name-calling with name-calling? No wonder I love politics.”

Agreed! I especially like the guy who claims (“same”) he also comes here to get away from the political spewing, then says “a group of tolerant, happy liberals are on the warpath here”. Ah yes, glad to see you are above, or put off by the political attacking.

Pepper was obviously wearing an image-transducer that made it look like she was wearing a skirt, in order to complete her “helpless young girl” image. Once her cover was broken, she revealed jeans tucked into boots (the international pants/footwear combo of ass-kicking kung-fu).

All joking aside, have you ever seen a creepier face than that panel where Too Much asks “You want to come over tonight and practice karate with me?” The super close-up, the wide-eyed stare, the sudden appearance of age lines making him look like he’s in his mid-thirties… if I was that other kid, I would have crapped myself.

This Chuck Norris…

….he is formidable!

i loves how super ninja didn’t know a thing about nunchakus
and how all ninjas have guns, so out of character!

I just noticed:

There is a question mark in the title of this post that is unnecessary.

That is all.

A comic based on an eighties cartoon that ends with everyone laughing at something that isn’t funny! Now *that’s* dedication to a format!