Steve Ditko

writer, artist, creator
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #33

There’ll Be Some Changes Made

Paul Haines spends his days stewing over the money his 18th-centery ancestor wasted, until he realizes that there’s a way he can get it. I found the story oddly disquieting in that Paul never really faced punishment for his crime and he got the girl too boot—definitely not the usual weird fiction pattern, although I’ll still tag it that way. —Michael Main
Change the past! Why haven’t I thought of this before? It can be done!
No image currently available.
  • Science Fiction
  • Weird Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #38

Those Who Vanish!

Conman Pete Arlen buys a magic spring that purportedly makes people twenty years younger, and then he unloads it before knowing all the particulars of its magic. —Michael Main
You mean to tell me that the waters of Chi-Na-Nichi actually makes people twenty years younger!
No image currently available.
  • Weird Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Debatable Time Travel
Comic Book

Unusual Tales #7

The Man Who Could See Tomorrow

A plain Joe just wants to get rid of the scarey power he has to see tomorrow’s events today. —Michael Main
I heard that story you just told . . . and I believe you!
In the large first panel, a man in an unbutton shirt pleads with a doctor who assures him that nothing is wrong.
  • Fantasy
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Unusual Tales #9

Clairvoyance

Young David Fenner just wants to play baseball, but when an electric charge zaps him with the power of clairvoyance, researchers at the local university have other plans for the boy. —Michael Main
There were no ill effects from the shock! But some days later, the first signs of his hunusual new power appeared . . .
In the large first panel, a group of visitors marvel at a statue on a university campus of a young boy posing with a baseball and bat.
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Unusual Tales #11

Second Chance

After Dr. Paul Faine accomplishes his life’s work, he begins to reflect on the past and whether the world is ready for limitless power. —Michael Main
Now we will see into the coree of the atom . . . the core which is the basis of all things! We will be able to produce life in the test tube, blow up the world with the touch of a finger!
In three large panels, a white-haired scientist examines something through a large microscope.
  • Fantasy
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Unusual Tales #14

Giant from the Unknown

While digging a well, farmer John Grainey stumbles upon a buried giant. —Michael Main
I believe your giant was in some scientific vault from another age [. . .]
In one large panel and two smaller panels, farmer John Grainey uncovers the body of a giant and calls in the local university.
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #53

Beware of Tomorrow!

An unnamed traveler from the future tries to warn scientists of three coming disasters. —Michael Main
Three times I have come to give warnings—to help you, and I have been treated with scorn and ridicule!
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  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Unusual Tales #25

The Confederate Girl

Civil War mythbuster Hiram White moves to a small Georgia town where the townspeople believe that Confederate ghosts still ride through the dusk. —Michael Main
Miss Belle Herbert once lived here! During the Civil War she was a southern spy and captured by Major Joshua White!
A collage of three panels taken from "The Confederate Girl" by Steve Ditko.
  • Fantasy
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #63

I Took a Journey into Fear!

Otto Bruger’s colleagues try to warn him that traveling through time is courting disaster. —Michael Main
I’ve won, you fools!! Ha, ha . . . I’ve won!!
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  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • No Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Unusual Tales #27

Look into the Future

Decades ago, a prescient dream gave a young man confidence to ruthlessly pursue his ambitions. —Michael Main
The mine did cave later . . . but mining is a dangerous business and some always die! The important thing is, I got production!
A collage of three panels taken from "A Look Into the Future" by Steve Ditko.
  • Weird Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #75

The Man Who Lost the World!

Just when does the professor’s time machine send things to? Nobody knows, so when the prof’s flunky feels poorly treated, he decides to find out on his own. —Michael Main
But if I could find outwhether the machine sends people intothe past or the future, then I would know something even he doesn’t know!
No image currently available.
  • Science Fiction
  • Weird Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #85

Off-Limits!

A free spirited space explorer decides to visit Planet 6-G despite it being off limits. —Michael Main
Maybe I’ll even be given rights to 6_G as a reward!
No image currently available.
  • Science Fiction
  • Weird Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Strange Tales #111

Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo!

Steve Ditko’s second-ever story of the master of the mystic arts includes one panel that, based on Stan Lee’s caption, involves time travel. Even though it was just one panel, it got me wondering whether the phrase race through time could possibly have a meaning. What would it mean for one time traveler to arrive at the final destination before another? Isn't the whole set up kind of like Doc Strange saying to Baron Mordo, “I’ll bet I can think of a number bigger than you can.” —Michael Main
Unseen by human eyes, the two mighty spirit images race thru time and space . . .
Doctor Strange and Baron Mordo sit entranced beside the Ancient One, while above them, their spirit images battle.
  • Eloi Honorable Mention
  • Fantasy
  • Superhero
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Cameo Time Travel
Comic Book

Strange Tales #123

The Challenge of Loki!

A split cover with the Torch, the Thing, and the Beetle (on the left), and Doctor Strange, Thor, and Loki (on the right).
  • Superhero
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Strange Tales #124

The Lady from Nowhere!

The new menace of Paste-Pot Pete plasters the Human Torch and the Thing to a wall.
  • Superhero
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Comic Book

Strange Tales #129

Beware . . . Tiboro! The Tyrant of the Sixth Dimension!

A mesmerized Doctor Strange levitates three crystal balls containing two images of Tiboro the tyrant and one of an idol.
  • Superhero
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Marvel Cinematic Universe 14

Doctor Strange

After his career is destroyed, a brilliant but arrogant surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under her wing and trains him to defend the world against evil. —from publicity material
Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.
Benedict Cumberbatch (as Doctor Strange) casts a spell with two outstretched, transparent fingers.
  • Eloi Silver Medal
  • Fantasy
  • Superhero
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Cartoon

What If  . . . ? (s01e04)

What If . . . Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?

As we all know, when the world’s formost surgeon, Doctor Strange, lost the use of his hands in a car wreck, it prompted him to search out mystic treatments and eventually become the Master of the Mystic Arts. But what if he had lost something else in that wreck? —Michael Main
The Ancient One: Her death is an Absolute Point in time.
Dr. Strange: Absolute?
A.O.: Unchangable. Unmovable. Without her death, you would never have defeated Dormamu and become the Sorcerer Supreme—and the guardian of the Eye of Agamotto. If you erase her death, you never start your journey.
A computer animated cartoon drawing of Benedict Cumberbatch (as Doctor Strange) casting a spell.
  • Eloi Silver Medal
  • Fantasy
  • Superhero
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel