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Stephen John Ditko was an American comics artist and writer best known for being co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man with the character's iconic red and yellow design being revolutionized by Ditko.
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze Age.
Doctor Stephen Strange is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #110. Doctor Strange serves as Sorcerer Supreme, the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. Strange was introduced during the Silver Age of Comic Books in an attempt to bring a different kind of character and themes of mysticism to Marvel Comics.
The Question is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the Question first appeared in Charlton Comics' Blue Beetle #1, and was acquired by DC Comics in the early 1980s and incorporated into the DC Universe.
Peter Milligan is a British comic book writer who has written extensively for both British and American comic book industries. In the UK, Milligan has contributed to numerous anthology titles including 2000 AD, Revolver, Eagle and A1, and helped launch the influential magazine Deadline. In the US, he is best known for his frequent contributions to DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, which include the revamped DC properties Shade, the Changing Man and Human Target, a four-year run on the imprint's premier title Hellblazer, and original series Enigma, The Extremist, Egypt and Greek Street, as well as the Marvel series X-Statix, co-created by Milligan and artist Mike Allred.
The Creeper is a superhero created by Steve Ditko and Don Segall for DC Comics. He is portrayed as a journalist and talk show host, usually living in Gotham City, who gains the ability to transform into the superhuman the Creeper thanks to experimental science developed by Dr. Yatz. First appearing in Showcase #73, his origin was revised in Secret Origins #18 in 1987, then partially revised again in The Creeper #1–4 in 1997, then completely reimagined in the six-issue miniseries The Creeper, published in 2006–2007.
Showcase is a comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of the series was to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring untested characters in their own ongoing titles. Showcase is regarded as the most successful of such tryout series, having been published continuously for more than 14 years, launching numerous popular titles, and maintaining a considerable readership of its own. The series ran from March–April 1956 to September 1970, suspending publication with issue #93, and then was revived for eleven issues from August 1977 to September 1978.
Shade, the Changing Man is a comic book character created by Steve Ditko for DC Comics in 1977. The character was later adapted by Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo in one of the first Vertigo titles.
Mr. A is a fictional comic book hero created by Steve Ditko. Unlike most of Ditko's work, the character of Mr. A remained the property of Ditko, who wrote and illustrated the stories in which the character appeared entirely himself. The character first appeared in Wally Wood's witzend #3 (1967).
The "DC Explosion" and "DC Implosion" were two events in 1978 – the first an official marketing campaign, the second a sardonic reference to it – in which DC Comics expanded their roster of publications, then abruptly cut it back. The DC Explosion was part of an ongoing initiative at DC to regain market share by increasing the number of titles they published, while also increasing page counts and cover prices. The so-called "DC Implosion" was the result of the publisher experiencing losses that year due to a confluence of factors, and cancelling a large number of ongoing and planned series in response. The cancellations included long-running series such as Our Fighting Forces, Showcase, and House of Secrets; new series introduced as part of the expansion such as Firestorm and Steel: The Indestructible Man; and announced series such as The Vixen which would have been the company's first title starring an African-American woman. Former flagship series Detective Comics was also considered for cancellation. Some of the material already produced for these cancelled series was used in other publications. Several of the completed stories were "published" in small quantities as two issues of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade, whose title was a reference to DC's Golden-Age Comic Cavalcade series.
The Unexpected was a fantasy-horror comics anthology series, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected, published by DC Comics. The Unexpected ran 118 issues, from #105 to #222. As a result of the so-called DC Implosion of late 1978, beginning in 1979 The Unexpected absorbed the other DC horror titles House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, and Doorway to Nightmare into its pages. Horror hosts featured in The Unexpected included The Mad Mod Witch, Judge Gallows, Abel, and the Witches Three.
Michael Lawrence Fleisher was an American writer known for his DC Comics of the 1970s and 1980s, particularly for the characters Spectre and Jonah Hex.
Ghosts is a horror comics anthology series published by DC Comics for 112 issues from September–October 1971 to May 1982. Its tagline was "True Tales of the Weird and Supernatural", changed to "New Tales of the Weird and Supernatural", as of #75, and dropped after #104.
The Mocker is a fictional comic book character by artist Steve Ditko.
Strange, in comics, may refer to:
Space Adventures was an American science-fiction anthology comic book series published sporadically by Charlton Comics from 1952 to 1979. Its initial iteration included some of the earliest work of industry notables Steve Ditko, Dick Giordano, and Tony Tallarico, and at least one story by EC Comics mainstay Bernard Krigstein.
Shade, the Changing Man is an American superhero comic book featuring the character of the same name. The series was written by Peter Milligan and published by DC Comics; it lasted for 70 issues, from July 1990 to April 1996. The final 37 issues were published under the company's Vertigo imprint for mature readers. Shade, the Changing Man chronicles the adventures of Rac Shade, an alien from the planet Meta who becomes stuck in the body of Troy Grenzer, a convicted serial killer. The series' long-term story arc focuses on the relationship between Shade and Kathy George, a girl whose parents were killed by Grenzer.
Justice League Dark, or JLD, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team would make their debut appearance in Justice League Dark #1. The Justice League Dark team features some of the more supernatural characters in the DC Universe, handling mystical threats and situations deamed outside the scope of the traditional Justice League. Similarly to the Justice League title, the team features well-known characters such as John Constantine, Zatanna, Batman, Doctor Fate, and Wonder Woman while also bringing exposure to lesser-known supernatural characters.
Jack C. Harris is an American comic book writer and editor known mainly for his work in the 1970s and 1980s at DC Comics.
Starman (Prince Gavyn) is a superhero in DC Comics, as one of several heroes called Starman within the DC Universe. Created by writer Paul Levitz and designed by artist Steve Ditko, the character debuted in Adventure Comics #467 in November, 1979 (cover dated January 1980). The character appeared in only 13 stories between 1979 and 1981. In 1986, he was briefly mentioned in the crossover comic Crisis on Infinite Earths as having recently died while trying to protect his native planet. Prince Gavyn's story was expanded in a later Starman comic book series published from 1994–2001 that focused on the hero Jack Knight and revisited all DC characters who had used the Starman name. The same series reveals Gavyn's life energy survives in the body of Will Payton, another DC Comics hero called Starman.
References
- ↑ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ↑ "Obscure DC Comics Characters: O". cosmicteams.com. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
- ↑ "Detective Comics #487". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
- ↑ "The Odd Man". thrillingdetective.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.