Saturday, February 21, 2009

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 52

What If? Special #1
Panel from What If? Special #1 (June 1988), script by Peter B. Gillis, pencils by Steve Ditko, inks by Pat Redding, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Diana Albers



4 comments:

Tracer Bullet said...

I hope this panel is less disturbing in context because it's pretty damned disturbing.

Phillip said...

That's... wow, I dunno wtf that is. D'ya think Scintilatin' Steve was done a disservice by the inker or would he just have been the worst FF artist ever? Or was What If? more of a comedy mag at the time?

Anonymous said...

Man, and I thought that George Perez issue of FF with inks by VInce Colletta was inked badly. Sure Ditko is no longer at the top of his game but come now: this is a very poor match.

Bully said...

Ditko's 80s work at Marvel is certainly not at the top of his game, but pleased be assured I haven't included this to make fun of the man—not by any means. I like the quirky character placement and design of this panel, and Ben being so irritated he blows his stogie right out of his mouth. It's got a charm, but it by no means stands up as a shining example of his work.

Since the What If? Special was a one-shot, I wonder how long it sat in inventory until Marvel saw fit to publish it? Most of Ditko's 80s Marvel work took place much earlier in the decade on Micronauts, Machine Man, FF and Avengers annuals, etc.