Beschreibung:

CGC certified: VF- (7.5). Cream to off-white pages. STEVE DITKO COLLECTION. Cover: Steve Ditko pencils and inks, Stan Goldberg colors. Story: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Art: Steve Ditko Colors: Stan Goldberg. Lettering: Artie Simek. Provenance: From the Steve Ditko Estate, CGC-certified as Steve Ditko's personal copy, and with a certificate of authenticity signed by Mr. Patrick S. Ditko, Steve Ditko's brother. Not cleaned and pressed in order to preserve all traces of Steve Ditko's handling. GPAnalysis: A non-Ditko Collection 7.5 sold for $351 in 6/22. A note on the Ditko Collection: Steve Ditko owned from one to three copies of each of the 41 Spider-Man comics that he drew (comprising Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #s 1-38, and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #s 1 & 2). The only complete set of 41 Spidey comics belonging to Ditko is featured in this sale; an incomplete set of 23 Spidey comics was offered last year by another auction house; and a final incomplete set of 19 Spidey comics will be offered by PBA next year. Ditko Collection Census: There are two Ditko Collection copies of ASM #22: 5.5 and 7.5. This is the highest-graded copy. Spidey foils an art gallery heist while Ditko mocks the modern art scene. Ditko shows a guy looking at a Pop art painting of a foot wearing an old sock, saying "Boy! I wish I could draw feet like that!" Seasoned Spidey fans will recall that ASM #5's editorial page printed a letter from a reader who griped: "One last thing about Ditko's art: he just can't draw feet right!! They look out of shape and flat." Could this mag's foot gag be Ditko's sly rebuttal, 17 issues later? Ditko dissed abstract art in a 2013 letter, calling it "a deliberate distortion of man['s]... proper means of comprehending life, the world. I don't get involved in trying to understand someone's nonsense. It's not a valid mystery." — David Currie, Ditko Shrugged , p. 36. Rare photos of Ditko's pad that his estate shared with PBA show that the artist's walls were covered with huge posters of Georges Braque's abstract "Still Life with Playing Cards" and French cubist Amédée Ozenfant's "Still Life with Glass of Red Wine." This begs an intriguing question: why would Ditko, who allegedly destroyed his own valuable original art, surround himself with cheap reproductions of artwork he purportedly disdained? It's a mystery that seems to embody the impenetrable enigma of Ditko himself. Enjoying the Spidey Sale? Order a fully-illustrated softcover catalogue for 30 bucks. Only about 100 copies were printed and they're going fast. To reserve a copy, contact PBA's Director of Comics: [email protected] Consign to PBA Galleries. Our comic sales average a 98% sell-through rate, our prices realized are top-of-the-market, and our research-intensive catalogues are the best in the business. Seeking Silver Age Marvel, Golden Age superheroes, and pre-Code horror. Contact [email protected]