I learned of the murals of Ditko's art done in his hometown of Johnstown, PA not long ago but as much I wanted to visit them I couldn't talk myself into making the long drive to Johnstown from my home in Virginia. However, I was used to making the drive to Mars, PA near Pittsburg to attend the annual Pulpfest convention. So this year I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make the visit to Johnstown on my way to Pulpfest. I hope my Leader's Reports on the Ditko murals and museum will encourage other Ditko fans to make the pilgrimage to Johnstown.

Click here for the Leader's Report on Steve Ditko Murals 5 August 2025

Click here for the Main Introduction Page to see the Leader's Report on Pulpfest 7-9 August 2025

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Steve Ditko Museum At The Bottle Works 6 August 2025

Lewis Forro Your Humble Narrator wearing his Amazing Fantasy #15 shirt at the front door of the Steve Ditko musuem inside the red brick Bottle Works building.	Ditko Con 2025 Next to front door is this poster for the upcoming Ditko Con 2025. I won't be able to attend since I can't drive from Virginia Beach, VA to Johnstown, PA for just a one day show.	The museum is contained in only this one room but there are plenty of Ditko related artifacts to make for a fascinating visit. This one room museum is all we have until the Smithsonian or the Louvre finally get smart enough to open their own Ditko exhibit room. Ditko's most famous co-creation Spider-Man hangs from the ceiling. A large photo of the movie monster and Charlton comic book character Gorgo decorates the back wall. The center tables have folders full of reproductions of Ditko art.	Reverse angle of the room looking back to the front entrance. In the photos below we'll start at the right hand wall when standing at the front entrance and work our way down.

Doctor Strange At top right is a modern day poster or maybe redesigned comic book reprint cover derived from Strange Tales 110, 1963 which was Doctor Strange's first appearance in Marvel comics. The white silhouette of a man on horseback is Doctor Strange's first villain opponent, Nightmare. The real cover of Strange Tales #110 from 1963 doesn't even show or mention Doctor Strange on the cover. Let's take a closer look at the framed letter on the left in the next photo at right.	Ditko letter from 1948 A letter from Army soldier Stephen Ditko written to his brother Patrick Ditko in Johnstown, PA in 1948. The letter contained this sketch of a mysterious sorcerer type character forehadowing Doctor Strange who wasn't invented until 1963. I told one of the museum attendants, Glenn Klimeck, I thought the masked character at right holding a gun might be the Will Eisner newspaper comic strip character the Spirit who I assumed Ditko was familiar with. Glenn wasn't so sure and said there were lots of masked vigilante figures running around in popular culture in the 1940s that Ditko could have taken inspiration from. Glenn told me this illustration from the letter is the only piece of Ditko original art in the museum.	Ditko's personal copies of Strange Tales I was glad to hear from the museum attendants that Ditko did have a personal collection of Marvel, Charlton and DC comics and that the copies not sold in various auctions would be rotating through the museum over time. The comics here are from the 1960s Marvel comic Strange Tales that featured the first Doctor Strange series of stories. Doctor Strange's first appearance in Strange Tales #110 is at the upper left. All of these Strange Tales covers were drawn by Marvel's top cover artist Jack Kirby, except...

Strange Tales #146, last Ditko Doctor Strange ...this one! On his last Doctor Strange story, in Strange Tales #146, 1966 Ditko finally got to Doctor Strange on the cover. Here he is facing off against the omnipotent mystical creature Eternity. I was glad to see Eternity featured prominently on the mural on the back of the yellow Bottle Works building but a bit a saddened that Dormammu didn't make the mural.	Taschen Spider-Man book Taschen, the prestigious art book publisher headquartered in Gemrany has recently been releasing these plush $200 books in their Marvel Comics Library series. This one reprints the first 20 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. In the Marvel omnibus reprints the artwork is recolored to make it look more vibrant which I like. But, I also like the Taschen approach of not recoloring the art and instead photographing the orignal comic book pages. I'm sure they juice up those pages in Photoshop to make them look a little nicer. Another nice touch is that these Taschen reprints include the entire comic book: inside front and back covers, all the ads and Marvel house ads which don't appear in Marvel's own omnibus reprints. To produce this Spider-Man book Taschen photographed the high grade Spider-Man comic collection owned by Shelton Drum who promotes the big HeroesCon show in Charlotte, NC each year. This finishes the right hand wall. Let's move on to the back wall in the photos starting at right and continued below.	Original painting of Ditko This is an original painting (I didn't get the name of he artist) of Ditko wearing his trenchcoat and includes his two most famous co-creations, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Glenn told me Ditko's trenchcoat was on display in the museum for awhile until being rotated out. The museum hasn't made any prints for sale from this painting. If they ever do I will buy one.

Continuing on with exhibits on the back wall, here is a large size print from the only photo of Ditko wearing a tuxedo and bow tie; presumably from a family gathering in Johnstown in the 1950s.	Here's an advertising poster for a local Johnstown play about Ditko performed in 2021. I hope the play lasted longer than just 25 July. The museum offers for sale a smaller version of this poster without the printing and I gladly bought one for $10.	Ditko artifacts cabinet Also on the back wall is this glass cabinent with Ditko related artifacts. Above the cabinent hanging on the wall is a poster that includes Gorgo and Eternity. Let's take a closer look inside the cabinent in the two photos below.

Ditko Class of 1945 Memorabilia from the graduation of Stephen Ditko from Johnstown High School, Class of 1945. The school yearbook has a photo of the Woodwork Shop members. That looks like Ditko on the front row 5th from the left. In the old days he didn't mind having his picture taken.

Several statues of Spider-Man and Doctor strange none of which I am lucky enough to have. At left is a CGC graded copy of the DC comic book Showcase #75, 1968 which is first appearance of the Hawk and the Dove which are featured on the Bottle Works mural. The Charlton comic Static #11, 1985 has a rare Ditko signature on the cover. This is the only comic book I've ever seen signed by Ditko. The least valuable item here is the Marvel comic Monsters On The Prowl #10, 1971. This title and its sister publication Creatures On The Loose from the early 1970s reprinted fantasy and science fiction stories by Ditko, Jack Kirby etc... from Marvel that were originally published in the late 1950s and early 1960s which are known as the "Pre-Marvels" before Marvel switched over to doing superhero comics. I love those Pre-Marvel stories but prefer to read them in modern day hardcover Marvel Masterworks volumes with better production values. Let's move on to the front wall in the photos below.

Ditko merchandise for sale Next to the front door are these Ditko items for sale. I bought the play poster and the digest size magazine You Don't Know Ditko.	Most of the front wall has these letters from fans to Ditko with his response family photos, etc...	Johnstown Veterans Trade School Newspaper articles about Ditko in the Johnstown Veterans Trade School that Ditko attended 1949-1950 after his three years in the U.S. Army in Germany. Below left is a closeup explaining the items shown here.

#6 and #7 "Ditko dressed as shiek" and the color illustrations of Arab belly dancers and slave girls in the photo at left above shows Ditko had some interest in Arabic culture and later in the 1950s some of his Charlton comic book fantasy stories had Arabic settings.	Advertising poster for an upcoming book on Steve Ditko's family life in Johnstown. This book isn't listed yet on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble both of which lists upcoming books several months in advance so who knows when it's coming out?	Reproduction of a photostat for the Ditko cover to the DC comic book House Of Mystery #277, 1980. I bought the just published The DC Universe By Steve Ditko Omnibus that reprints all the work done for DC comics in the late 1960s through the early 1980s. I already new that Ditko had drawn for DC The Creeper, Hawk & Dove, Shade The Changing Man none of which I cared much about. But, I didn't know until reading this book that Ditko also drew several science fiction and horror stories for DC in the 1970s and 1980s. I enjoyed them but of course they were nowhere near as entertaining as the 1958 - 1963 similar stories he drew for Marvel. Before moving on to the artifacts on the left side wall let's take a look at some photos pertaining to Ditko's Marvel comic collection in the three photos below.

Advertising flyer for PBA Galleries Spider-Man catalog This flyer is for a catalog listing Steve Ditko's personal Spider-Man comic book collection to be auctioned in 2022 through PBA Galleries. The musuem didn't have a copy of the catalog but did have one of the catalogs for the Spider-Man collection Part 2 in 2023 shown in he next photo at right.	PBA Galleries Spider-Man Collection Part 2 catalog Spidey didn't make the cover but this 2023 catalog contains the rest of the Ditko Spider-Man comic collection. Neither the 2022 or this 2023 catalog is currently on ebay and I can't find them on the PBA Galleries website.	PBA Galleries Spider-Man Collection Part 2 catalog interior page This interior catalog page for Ditko's The Amazing Spider-Man #1, 1963 gives much more historical background information than found in comic book auction catalogs from the better known Heritage Auctions and other auction company catalogs. That's why I want to buy it. And so the ebay search begins.

Arab belly dancer Here's a large reproduction of one of the three color photos with an Arabic motif shown in the above Johnstown Veteran's Trade School photo. Ditko's depiction of an Arab female belly dancer circa 1950 confirms the view held by many of his fans that his strong point wasn't drawing pretty girls; it's unlikely he could have made a living as a glamor pinup artist. That's ok: Alberto Vargas, George Petty, Gil Elvgren etc... probably would have drawn a lousy Spider-Man.	Ditko Superman pinup page When Ditko worked at DC in the 1970s - 1980s he wasn't assigned to work regularly on any DC comics with its major characters like Superman and Batman. He drew mostly secondary characters like Shade the Changing Man, the Creeper etc... He did draw Batman in a few panels in Man-Bat #1, 1975. The only time he drew DC's most famous superhero was in Superman #400, 1984 where he contributed this single page pinup of Superman. Ditko's version of Superman looks interesting but I'm grateful Superman's legend rests on the foundation built for him by his classical artists in the 1950s and 1960s - Wayne Boring and Curt Swan. Let's move on now to the left side wall in the remainder of the photos at right and below.	1965 Spider-Man poster This 6 foot high poster is the oldest, most famous and most expensive Spider-Man poster in the world. In advertisements in Marvel comic books in 1965 Marvel teased its fans with an illustration of a closed mailing tube with a blurb saying "can you guess what's in this mysterious mailing tube?" Marvel eventually revealed the contents of the tube was this lovely poster drawn by Steve Ditko and charged $2.00 for it. I was only 11 years in 1965 and my allowance only covered buying all of Marvel's monthly comic books. I was able to raise $1.00 to get my M.M.M.S. fan club kit also issued in 1965 but there was no way I could cough up an extra $2.00 for the poster. There was never any warehouse find on these posters and the've always been hard to find in nice shape. A few years ago I was able to buy one on ebay but it costs a lot more than $2.00. Later in 1965 there was also another mysterious mailing tube ad for a Ditko Doctor Strange poster but sadly it never came to pass.

Amazing Spider-Man #33, 1966 Of the 38 Spidey comic books drawn by Steve Ditko I'm sure most of his fans agree that the "Master Planner Trilogy" from issues #31 - #33 was the best Ditko plotted and drawn continued story. To be fair, the impact of the story was greatly enhanced by writer Stan Lee's lovely melodramatic dialog and captions. The page shown here is the climax of the opening sequence of issue #33 where Spidey is trapped in Doctor Octopus's underwater lair under tons of steel with a leak from the ceiling threatening to flood the room. Despite being exhausted, Spidey knows he must free himself from the steel wreckage to save his dying Aunt May. Here Ditko shows that us that Spidey is equal to the task.

Art tools cabinent Here's one of the more interesting exhibits showing some of Ditko's Army memorabilia, some artifacts from his Manhattan apartment and studio and his drawing tools. Closeups are in the three photos below.

At left is Ditko's copy of his most famous issue of his 38 issue run on Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man #33, 1966.	The museum caption card notes a utility knife that "Maybe the very knife he used to cut up his original artwork!" There have long been rumors of Ditko cutting up his original art. If true, I hope it wasn't any of his Spider-Man or Doctor Strange, Iron Man or Hulk pages. If he only cut up stuff like his Static, Mocker, and Squirrel Girl pages that would be no great loss to the art world.	The dreaded utility knife! As the museum caption card says these woodcuts from Ditko's wood working high school class in 1945 show his early interest in spider webs; that interest reached its fullest expression on a certain Marvel comic book character starting in 1962. Also notice on the Ahab pencil box more Arabic illustrations.

Amazing Spider-Man #38, 1966 Nearby the art tools cabinet was this Spider-Man statue with a cardboard diorama of a city behind him. The Spidey statue pose is from the cover of Spidey #38 which was Ditko's last Spider-Man issue. I've never seen this before and would be glad to buy one if I can ever find it. I noticed when I read Spidey #38 in 1966 that the story was a bit lackluster and the art wasn't top notch either. The cover wasn't even original art but just a collage of panels taken from the interior pages. Marvel fans had no way of knowing then that Ditko was unhappy with Marvel and knew he was moving on when he drew this story which accounts for the substandard quality. I still remember how shocked and dismayed I was when I bought Spidey #39 a month later and discovered that some new upstart artist had been assigned to the book, John Romita. Romita was a good artist but I thought then that only Steve Ditko should be allowed to draw Spidey.	Suite 715 Steve Ditko's nephew Patrick Ditko told me on my visit to the museum that it was a legend that Ditko always worked from his Manhattan apartment where he lived. In fact for the last several years of his life he rented a suite in an art studio building nearby. I was told by museum attendant Glenn Klimeck that this plaque is a replica of the one that hung on his art studio door. I wonder what happened to original one?	Comic Book Covers Reproductions of covers and pages of Ditko art for mostly Marvel and Charlton comics. Some examples in the photos below.

Journey Into Mystery #71, 1961 From about 1958 to 1963 Marvel produced hundreds of science fiction and fantasy stories before superheroes took over in most of their comic books. Ditko drew many of these stories but Jack Kirby almost always drew the cover of the comic. Here's one of the few examples of a cover drawn by Ditko. I don't know why it's in black & white instead of color. As the card says the story was reprinted in Monsters On The Prowl #10, 1971.	Unusual Tales #7, 1957 While working at Marvel drawing science fiction fantasy stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s Ditko was also doing the same type of stories at Charlton where he worked off and on for many years. Charlton didn't have a fetish for Jack Kirby so Ditko drew many covers for the Charlton comics. Another bonus was many Charlton comics had more than one Ditko story whereas at Marvel he only drew one story per comic. The drawback to the Charlton stories were they weren't written by Stan Lee who was a much better writer than Charlton's writers.	Science Fiction Space Adventures #12, 1954 Of all the many covers drawn by Ditko for Charlton comics, this one is probably the most spectacular. This Ditko cover is so eye-catching it has been used a number of times on fanzines and books over the years. Publisher David Spurlock's book Steve Ditko Space Wars which reprints Ditko stories for Charlton used this image for its cover. At the Baltimore Comic Con in 2009 I spotted the large promotional poster Mr. Spurlock had produced to help sell the book. He couldn't refuse my offer to buy the poster and it now hangs probably on my living room wall where it will remain forever. Sadly, there are no Ditko stories in Science Fiction Space Adventures #12. But check out the #10 and #11 of this title that also have great Ditko covers and some interior stories.

Blue Beetle #1, 1967 When Ditko left Marvel in 1966 he returned to Charlton where he had worked even before starting at Marvel in 1958. This is the first Charlton comic he started with on his return from Marvel. He didn't invent the Blue Beetle which had been appearing in comic books since the 1940s including most recently at Charlton draswn by other artists not in Ditko's league. I bought all five of the new Blue Beetle issues drawn by Ditko because I was a fan of his no matter where he worked. The art on Ditko's Blue Beetle comics was about as good as his Spider-Man art but some of the impact was lost due to Charlton's lower production standards that didn't have bright colors like Marvel and DC comics. Charlton also seemed to use a cheaper grade of paper. And of course the writing on Ditko's Charlton comics was nowhere as good as his Spider-Man and Doctor Strange stories all of which were written by Stan Lee. My loyalty to Ditko attached itself only to these Blue Beetle comics. I didn't go chasing after his new fantasy stories for Charlton like Ghostly Tales and so forth.	Memorial plaque Memorial to Steve Ditko sponsored by his brother Patrick S. Ditko who passed away in 2024 at age 89.	Patrick J. Ditko and Lewis Forro I was pleased to meet one of Steve Ditko's nephews, Patrick J. Ditko, who lives in Johnstown and was visiting the museum that day. Of course I enjoyed listening to some of his stories about his famous Uncle Steve. This concludes the Leader's Report on the Steve Ditko murals and museum. Time now to drive the 90 minutes down to Mars, PA to prepare for Pulpfest starting on 7 August.

Click here for the Leader's Report on the Steve Ditko Murals 5 August 2025