June 2003
whole number 162
2003 pages 041-048 (8 pages)
Steve Ditko on the front and back this issue, with a chapter of his "A Mini-History" series on Spider-Man:
11. "Further Complaints and Influences of the OOs".
Ditko discusses how two of the signature artistic touches of the series, the split-face and spider-sense used in panels where Peter Parker appears out of costume, were used in part to appease Stan Lee's wish for less of the school storylines, but later opposed by Lee thanks to the influence of "others, outsiders (OOs)", in this case college students who seemed to not understand the visual language. Ditko also discusses the Comics Code as another source of OOs influence stifling creativity.
"But PP/S-m, a teenage hero, should be seen, understood, in his teenage context, environment. His normal (non-hero_ life can't just be shown in some brief transitional sequences between a number of hero/villain clashes." -- S. Ditko
The 10th chapter of the Robert Kanigher bibliography, "Riddle Of The Sphinx", covers more of his 1974 work for DC, with some Superman, Wonder Woman Rima, Supergirl and Tarzan in addition to the war comics. Two pages of Frank Thorne art from the story "Big Man, Little Man" in RK's Gallery of War series are shown.
Lively Under The Gun column, with letters from Sam Catalino, Nick Caputo, Orah Mae Miller, Mark McMurray, Robin Miller-Pallet, Marc Swayze and Arlen Schumer
