Monday 26 May 2014

GO, GO, GORGO! AND KONGA! IT'S A NEW DITKOMANIA!

With perfect timing, the latest issue of Rob Imes' Steve Ditko fanzine Ditkomania has just landed on my doormat. Perfect, because Jackie and I saw the new Godzilla movie a few days ago (and, much to my surprise, thoroughly enjoyed it) and this latest issue looks back on Ditko's work on Gorgo (a Godzilla clone) and Konga (a King Kong knock-off) for Charlton in the early 1960s. Behind the gloriously Ditkoesque cover lie reviews of Craig Yoe's recent collections of the two giant monster titles, a lengthy comparison of the Konga movie and the comic book based on it, a look back at the Stan Lee/Gene Colan story "Kunga" from Journey Into Mystery #81 (a knock-off of a knock-off!) and other Ditko-centric articles, including a letters section with readers reactions to the previous issue. A most entertaining read, and I suggest any Ditko fan worth his or her salt should check this issue out. Only 350 numbered copies were printed, so if you're interested I suggest contacting Rob ASAP to see if there are any left. There are contact details, and more about the fanzine at this website - www.unitedfanzineorganization.weebly.com/ditkomania.html
Rob funded this issue through a Kickstarter funding campaign, and the money raised enabled him to really push the boat out with this time. The covers by Jim McPherson and Javier Hernandez (front) and Darren Goodhart (back) are in full colour and very nice they are too. I love the idea of crowdfunding and I hope that Rob, and other fanzine editors, continue to go down this route. One thing I would suggest to anyone using the crowdfunding model though. Please think of your potential backers outside your home country. I could easily pledge towards Ditkomania because Rob had the foresight to realise that he had potential readers outside the US and had options for those people. Much as I would like to pledge towards the new Snyder/Ditko project #20, Kickstarter will not let me as there are no options available for non US backers. Oh well, rant over! 
I'll be back soon with more reviews, and another installment of Fourth World Friday.
See you soon,
Steve  

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