Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Diggin' Ditko: Tiger-Man #2

When last we saw John Albano/Ernie Colon's creation, Tiger-Man, he was a sort of super-powered Dirty Harry/Punisher type. With his second issue (March 1975), Tiger-Man got a new creative team, Gerry Conway and Steve Ditko, and was cast in a more traditional super-hero mold, complete with costumed super-villain. (Ironic since Conway helped create the Punisher...) Ditko's art was very good on this issue, with his wildly contorted figures crashing, smashing, and bashing their way through a slightly edgy, if slightly standard, super-hero/super-villain tussle. Oh, and Frank Giacoia's (uncredited) ink job meshes very well with Ditko's super-hero style, don'tcha think? And how 'bout a rare Frank Thorne super-hero cover to top it all off? Enjoy, Groove-ophiles!
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6 comments:

  1. BooksteveApril 21, 2009 at 6:15 AM

    This was one of the few Atlas one's I skipped. Not sure I ever knew Ditko did this ish. It's very good!

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  2. Chris NyeApril 21, 2009 at 10:37 AM

    I still have my Atlas/Seaboard collection and I have this book! I kept them because I didn't see them being reprinted any time soon....

    Yes, this was the Tiger-Man I preferred......Conway and Ditko did a good job "Marvelizing" the character.

    Atlas was often criticized for being too "Marvel-like" (which was to be expected with Martin Goodman in charge!), but the truth is, a lot of their books only resemble Marvel in their cover designs. Many of the interiors are not like Marvel at all and are very......strange.

    Tiger Man no. 1 was like that. A very weird book. But I actually preferred it when Atlas DID emulate Marvel, and Tiger-Man.....along with The Destructor.....did the best job of that I thought. Atlas was a perfect example of the fun spirit of the 70s comics scene.....

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  3. AnonymousApril 21, 2009 at 7:58 PM

    Woah, I think that I may have new favorite Atlas character. This Tiger-Man is awsome!

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  4. KeithApril 21, 2009 at 11:37 PM

    I actually don't think I've ever heard of him before. It looks awesome though.

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  5. Chris NyeApril 22, 2009 at 10:35 AM

    Meant to to comment on this yesterday. Tiger Man!

    I have this very mag! This was the Atlas I really loved....the issues that really DID emulate Marvel. Conway and Ditko were certainly qualified to do that!

    Oddly enough, despite Atlas' reputation as being a Marvel imitation (no surprise since Martin Goodman ran things for Atlas/Seaboard), very few of their comics actually resembled Marvel at all. Well, they did in their cover designs, but the interiors were often very strange. Tiger Man no. 1 was a weird book. I liked THIS Tiger Man better.

    I guess it's no coincidence that my favorite Atlas titles were the most "Marvel-ized" of the Atlas lineup: "The Destructor" and "Tiger-Man!"

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  6. The Groovy AgentApril 25, 2009 at 12:14 PM

    Glad you dug Tiger-Man #2, dudes! I s'pose that means you wouldn't mind too terribly much if a future installment of "Diggin' Ditko" includes ish #3...

    And right on, Chris!if you're gonna "Marvel-ize" a comic, this is how to do it!

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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