Beschreibung:

CGC certified: VG+ (4.5). White pages. Not cleaned and pressed. Cover: Enforcers penciled and inked by Steve Ditko; Spider-Man penciled and possibly inked by Jack Kirby Stan Goldberg colors. Story: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Art: Steve Ditko Colors: Stan Goldberg. Lettering: Sam Rosen. First appearance: The Enforcers. GPAnalysis: A 4.5 sold for $790 in 5/22. Objectivist twist: Ditko's deepening attraction to Ayn Rand's Objectivist ideals, which reject supernatural and otherworldly phenomena, gave a philosophical underpinning to his crime stories: "Ditko's obsession with crime fighting took hold of the book during his first year as sole plotter. As his Randian views led him away from the 'spectacular,' Ditko... who had created some of the most colorful supervillain costumes of all time, began to replace them with a string of non-super-powered mobsters and thieves." — Blake Bell, Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko Fantagraphics: 2008, p. 89. Bell says that Stan Lee turned Ditko into an Ayn Rand guy: "Ditko was introduced to Rand as early as 1960, with Stan Lee being an avid fan of Rand's stories and depiction of her heroes." — Ibid, p. 86. It's pure conjecture, but wouldn't it be interesting if Stan Lee, in master manipulator mode, instigated Ditko's interest in Ayn Rand for strategic reasons, only to have things spin out of control? Perhaps Stan thought that Rand's black-and-white viewpoint would filter thru Ditko's artistic sensibility and transform into bankable four-color concepts? If so, Stan miscalculated badly, as Ditko's Objectivism led him down narrower and narrower byways of unmarketability. In any case, when Jack Kirby started monkeying around with Objectivist concepts in 1967, a year after Ditko left Marvel, a rattled Stan said ixnay: "Kirby had wanted the story [ Fantastic Four #s 66 & 67] to be a commentary on Ayn Rand-style Objectivist rationalism... Stan rejected the whole premise." — Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee. Crown: 2021, p. 157. 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]