Devon's Fave Five Ditko Visuals

5. THE ASTRAL PLANE

Wanna blow a kid's mind? Give a kid raised under blacklight posters of afro-ed chicks reclining against black panthers reprints of comics featuring a guy who looks like David Niven from that crappy James Bond flick, dressed in tights and a cape, doing weird sh*t with his fingers, while speaking in tongues while fighting a guy with his head on fire done while running through mouths and eyeballs and stuff.

That kid will go on to write in run-on sentences on this blog.

4. SQUIRREL GIRL

I mean, c'mon... just look at her. She's just so gosh darned cute with her little furry sweater vest, Dorothy Hamill cut and bucked teeth! She has a tail. She's bright-eyed. She's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! She has the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a squirrel, as well. And a squirrel named Monkey Joe. If I woke up one morning in The Marvel Universe and saw her sitting on a branch, I'd know that it was going to be a great day.

3. THE CREEPER

You really don't want a sinewy, yellow man in a Speedo laughing maniacally your way in an alley. Trust me, Jon Carey's told me stories.

As a visual, The Creeper is just... well, downright creepy and inspired.

2. SPIDER-MAN

This costume shouldn't work at all. For one, it's sort of ugly, really. The color scheme doesn't scream "spider" or "man," yet, somehow, it's somehow elegant in its design. Under Ditko, it suggested an implied inhumanity that's never quite been duplicated. Today, whenever an artist wants to suggest how menacing Spider-Man can be, they reference the visuals Ditko laid down over 46 years ago!

1. THE QUESTION

He is, simply put, one of the most stunning visuals in the medium of comics.

Take a ordinary man, put him in a plain everyday single-breasted suit and fedora and then...

REMOVE HIS FACE.

Allow no emotion to be shown, no questions answered from his facial features.

He becomes the epitome of "the element of surprise." He is the blank slate ready to be written.

"Unnerving" as an element of design.

Devon's Fave Five Kirby Visuals

5. Kirby Dots

Shorthand for "Koiby here. I'm about to make something epic happen here, people." The dots get to dottin' and out comes the pseudo-science! Kirby Dots are to be used sparingly, too many and it's all like being in a room with too much weed smoke. Everything's cloudy, everyone's bug-eyed and somebody just needs to get up off their damned ass and open a f*ckin' window and let out some of these Kirby Dots!

4. M.O.D.O.K. (Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing)

It's a giant killin' head.

'Nuff Said.

3. A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics)

A.I.M. is an organization of scientists dedicated to taking over the world through scientific means.

Where M.O.D.O.K. goes these yellow jumpsuit sportin' science dudes can't be far behind.

A.I.M. is shorthand for:

Lasers.

When you join A.I.M., you must be issued a pack of cigarettes, an I.D. number, a book on bee-keeping and a laser cannon.

Seriously, when A.I.M. shows up in any Marvel book, instantly, it becomes Laser Tag: The Comic.

Science quiz: Has there ever been a time when shooting lasers in comics wasn't awesome? No and thanks to Kirby, there won't ever have to find out.

I mean, look at them. Is it me or doesn't the thought of the science club nerd you picked on in high school joining a science-based terrorist organization serving the whims of a giant head with tiny li'l arms and legs just do it for you?

Seriously, how fed up with trying to getting the word out about the dangers of smoking and unprotected sex do you have to be to join a terrorist organization?

If this sound like you then, you just may be A.I.M. material.

2. The Black Racer

Why The Black Racer? Well, it's just what he symbolizes. He's the Apokoliptian version the ferryman at the River Styx. And, let's be honest with each other, if you see a black man from another planet barreling down on your ass on skis, you pretty much've seen everything you've needed to see in this life, so...

1. Lila

Just so wrong and sexy on so many wrong levels. As far as Lila goes as a character, she's either feminist statement or "vagina dentata," I haven't quite decided yet. As a visual, Lila is simply incredible.