Ditko may have a signature style, and he definitely has many
signature characters, but certainly Ditko has created one visual motif
so grand, so unique, that its majesty shall remain intact, long after
you and I, or Ditko, have shuffled off life's mortal coil. The object
of such rarified exultation is the Osborn Family Hair Line. Yes, Ditko
couldn't draw women worth a drab, but oh, could he draw hair. Witness
below - a panel containing the Osborn Famile Hair Line. Norman Obsorn,
loving father and Green Goblin, from Issue #37 of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
(Jun '66), side-by-side with the Heir to the Osborn (and Green Goblin)
throne......
Clearly, they have achieved Hairvana, with what appears to be
a tight-beaded, red, parted-down-the-middle, style given to all Rasta
business in the '60s. Worms growing out of the scalp, you say? Nonsense!
The first of its kind in comics? Nonsense!
For while Norman and Harry Osborn may have been Ditko's most
FAMOUS Hair Creation, it would appear Norman Osborn's Hair Origins
preceed his run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
 Ditko brought many
visual ideas over to Marvel from his Charlton days of 1957 and afterwards,
but Ditko also worked for Atlas during 1956, where the first sighting
of Norman and his Hair appeared in the October 1956 issue of WORLD
OF MYSTERY; a four-page story entitled ''The Mystery Man''. How
appropo for the man who would later use that hair to throw us off the
track from his extracuricular activities as the Green Goblin eight years
later!
In the panel to your left, we see a slightly more exaggerated Osborn -
a somewhat more 'expressionist' style of working with which Ditko played
during his 1957 days at Charlton.
Of course, Norman's hair was still in the developmental stages;
Ditko having not yet given him the part down the middle to really
emphasize the 'short-worm' effect. Still, it leaves no doubt, Ditko
reference all the way back to 1956 for the right look for Spider-Man's
greatest nemesis.
 In this story, Norman took on the guise of a do-gooder, investigating
one Professor Markham Moros. The Professor would lecture, traveling from
town-to-town, on his theory of 'Cosmic Harmony'.
Apparently, he was very 'convincing' as each town fell before him,
offering their hard-earned dollars to their 'saviour'; the man
who would bring the cosmos harmony for the first time.
But that would not be the end
for the cunning Osborn, and his hair. Another step would take place before
his climatic run into Ditko's signature series. From October 1956 at
Atlas, to August 1957 at Charlton, Osborn's hair would re-surface again
in the STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #33 story ''Director Of The Board''.
 But Norman was no one's fool. His
plan to bring the Green Goblin to fruition was taking roots long before
his time in the Amazing Spider-Man series. Here, Osborn has risen through
the ranks, now the director of a great company, building the resources
needed to give birth to his evil alter-ego. But money is not enough; no,
a disguise is necessary, so Osborn donned a yellow cap of hair to hide
his intentions from the world. But, looming like the Sword Of Damacles,
we witness (for the first time) the 'Part'! Yes, Ditko brings the Part
Down The Middle to Osborn's head for the first time in this story.
The journey is almost complete. Realizing the yellow quaff made him
stand out more than Dr. Doom on a New York suburb's lawn, he brings his
colour closer to its final, grand destination in UNUSUAL TALES #27, the
April 1961 issue. And while it will not be another five years until Peter
Parker unmasks Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin, one must ask what was
this fellow in the familiar blue suit and red tie named ''Peters'' doing
talking to Norman about a career? Who is this young man? Could it be.....
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