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Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 4 * Steve Ditko Collection
Place Published:
Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Non-Pareil Publishing Group]
Date Published: 23255
Description:

CGC certified: VG (4.0). Off-white pages. STEVE DITKO COLLECTION. Cover: Steve Ditko pencils and inks, Stan Goldberg colors. Story: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Art: Steve Ditko. Colors: Stan Goldberg. Lettering: Artie Simek.

Provenance: From the Steve Ditko Estate, CGC-certified as Steve Ditko's personal copy, and with a certificate of authenticity signed by Mr. Patrick S. Ditko, Steve Ditko's brother. Not cleaned and pressed in order to preserve all traces of Steve Ditko's handling. GPAnalysis: PBA sold a Ditko Collection 5.5 for $6875 in 12/22. A non-Ditko Collection 4.0 sold for $1500 in 5/23.

A note on the Ditko Collection: Steve Ditko owned from one to three copies of each of the 41 Spider-Man comics that he drew (comprising Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #s 1-38, and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #s 1 & 2). The only complete set of 41 Spidey comics belonging to Ditko was featured in PBA's 12/22 "Spidey Sale, Including the Steve Ditko Collection Part One"; an incomplete set of 23 Ditko Collection Spidey comics was offered in 2021 by Heritage; and a final incomplete set of 19 Ditko Collection Spidey comics is offered in this sale.

Ditko Collection Census: There are two Ditko Collection copies of ASM #4: 4.0 and 5.5.

Simmering with sexual turmoil. Spidey is consumed with guilt as he conceals his secret identity from a jeering world. Spidey's body is engulfed by the protean Sandman, whose shifting form and nocturnally suggestive codename offer a wealth of Freudian subtexts. Spidey achieves victory by sucking the Sandman into a giant vacuum cleaner (!!!). The final panel shows an agonized Spidey having a personality meltdown ("Can they be RIGHT? Am I REALLY some sort of crack-pot?"). Bonkers.

Peter Parker's first love, Betty Brant, debuts in this ish. It's been said that Ditko modeled Betty on Stan Lee's gal Friday, Flo Steinberg (see "Remembering Fabulous Flo Steinberg," Alter Ego #153, July 2018). Flo joined Marvel in the spring of 1963, right around the time this ish would've crossed Ditko's drawing board. Shortly after, girl-shy Ditko pulled a Peter Parker, hitting on Fabulous Flo and getting shot down in flames. Bernie Bubnis, a teen zinester who befriended Ditko, witnessed the fallout:

"Stan's new secretary was Flo Steinberg. I learned later that Steve had asked her to lunch. She politely said 'no.' I was only fourteen at the time, but I did understand rejection. That day Steve Ditko had the look of a fourteen-year-old boy. One who just got turned down by the prettiest girl in the class." – J. Ballman, ed., Steve Ditko In the 1960s: In His Own Words, In His Interviews, In the Words of the Fans Who Knew Him. Totalmojo Productions: 2020, p. 42.

Ditko's studio-mate and best bud, sleaze artist Eric Stanton, razzed Ditko mercilessly about striking out with Flo. According to Bubnis, Stanton heckled Ditko "until it wasn't funny any longer," and then Ditko, "his smile slowly disappearing," retreated to his drawing board and sat in silent contemplation. A comprehensive survey of Ditko's biographical data shows no trace of evidence that he ever asked a girl on a date again. The solitary artist's love life is forever shrouded in a Ditkoesque fog, with only Peter Parker's doomed courtship of Betty Brant illuminating this hidden corner of Ditko's soul.

Note: Included with this lot is a copy of Alter Ego #153, which contains the illustration of Flo Steinberg and Betty Brant shown in this entry.

A limited edition of ten hardcover catalogues is available, in addition to a few dozen softcovers. Fun reference, great keepsake, fully illustrated, chockablock with obscure facts, gags, bon mots. Softcovers are $40, deluxe hardcovers with dust jackets and limitation plates are $200. These books always go fast so don't delay. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's Fall 2023 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Find out why PBA is the new fan-fave of funnybook fiends. "This is some of the best commentary I've yet seen on the quality of the content of comic books... Priceless." – R. Crumb. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Coming soon: The DC Universe Collection, featuring over 40,000 comics, comprising every comic book published by DC for retail sale between 1934 and 2014. Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com to get on the notifications list.