Wednesday, October 1, 2014

"I Spent Midnight with The Monster on Bald Mountain!"

It’s the first day of October, time to kick things in to high gear!
 I was trying like crazy to get reviews done of DC’s Mysteries in Space Fireside anthology and Rocket Raccoon’s 1985 mini-series before September ended, but everything just kept holding me back. Rest assured though, unlike last year, November and December will be very busy months (especially the former). Besides, after covering Green Lantern, Captain Mar-Vell, Guardians of the Galaxy and Fantastic Four, it’ll be nice to post something not related to space for the first time in months!
 Here’s a moody little Ditko yarn filled with all the perfect ingredients for this month; a grimy old castle, a genius tampering with forces man must leave alone, lightning, dark shadows and things that live but should not. It’s also interesting how this story, credited only to Ditko (although the dialogue is obviously not by him) reflects his Objectivist themes of absolute Good and absolute Evil in its two opposing sculptures; themes he would beat to death in Blue Beetle and Mr. A, and in one Blue Beetle story that featured sculptures (and a cameo by the Question!):
 
 From 1959, here’s “I Spent Midnight with the Monster on Bald Mountain” from Tales to Astonish #7 (originally entitled “I Spent Midnight with the Thing on Bald Mountain”). All © Marvel. Enjoy! This isn’t the last of Ditko we’ll see this month.
 

2 comments:

  1. Off-topic, but will you be doing another How'd It Get Burned anytime soon?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know if I can work it into that format, but I will be doing a review of the 1999 movie Virus in comparison to the Dark Horse limited series that inspired it.

      Rest assured that the next time I do a How'd It Get Burned, it will be BIG. And may possibly involve pictures of the blue, disembodied plastic head of Jamie Foxx, in the most precarious of public locations.

      Delete