Blue Ribbon Comics #12 [1984]

One of the more temporary stops the THUNDER Agents made over the years was over at Archie. The previous year several comics had been published by JC Comics with new and reprint stories, including one cover by Ditko inked by Willie Blyberg. This issue of Archie's anthology adventure title continues from those, apparently to help save a deadline (there's an ad in here with a cover for BLUE RIBBON #12, but with the cover that eventually was on #14).

Anyway, Ditko art is on the 10-page back-up story, "The Making Of A Monster" featuring the robotic Agent with an invisibility cloak, NoMan, inks by Blyberg, story by John Carbonaro and Charlie Boatner. NoMan goes to a remote island after getting a letter from Wildey, an unstable old associate (who isn't aware of his current robotic state). On the island he finds that his old friend has set himself up as a modern Doctor Moreau, creating hybrid beasts in out of control genetic experiments, and buying human slaves to experiment on.

Some really attractive work by Ditko in this one, with Blyberg's inks really bringing the work alive. I especially liked all the strange creatures. That faceless gorilla is just creepy, and that horned cat looks like something out of WATCHMEN a few years later. There are some more freakish chimera later in the story, and good action scenes of NoMan fighting them.

Not a must have, but definitely one of the better examples of Ditko's commercial work in the mid-80s, worth picking up if you see a copy.

Blue Ribbon Comics #1 [1983]

While Ditko was the regular artist for Archie's 1983 revival of THE FLY under their Red Circle imprint he also drew the wraparound cover for this first issue of BLUE RIBBON COMICS, which contains reprints of the original version of The Fly from 1959, by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Al Williamson and Angelo Torres.

Rudy Nebres on the inks, and there's some pretty heavy and lush brush work going on there, as you'd expect, so a lot of the Ditko doesn't come through until you look closely at the anatomy and composition. Good looking book overall, with some nice reprints inside.

The Fly #8 [1984]

Ditko briefly worked for Archie during one of their super-hero revivals in 1983/1984, when frequent collaborator Robin Snyder was an editor there. Initially he was just pencilling the main feature in THE FLY, but soon enough he was plotting and inking as well, as in this issue. In this issue he also just drew the Jaguar back-up story.

In this version of the series, The Fly is the now adult lawyer Thomas Troy. Prior to this issue he's been suspected of mob ties.

"The Big Freeze" is the 15-page lead story in this issue, starting with a gangster, Damato, trying to hire him. They're interrupted by a mysterious frozen figure in a suit who demands money from the gangster, an old accomplice that Damato and another partner of his had dumped in a freezer years before. Troy eventually fights the frozen man as the Fly. Ditko's art is pretty strong, especially the design of the villain and the staging of the action scenes, but I think the plotting could have been a bit stronger, explaining the villain better, and some of the writing was a bit clumsy.

"Jaguar: The Conclusion" is a 5-page story that I guess completes the origin of the character. Ditko didn't draw the earlier stories, and it's kind of hard to understand, but it has something to do with a Mexican Jaguar cult that leads to the creation of the hero. Some nice artwork, and it all might make more sense if I had all the other chapters.

Ditko also draws the cover to this issue.