Spider-Man Co-Creator Steve Ditko: Strange and Stranger Book Review
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The Definitive Biography of the Reclusive Comic Book Artist
Anybody who loves comic books, and especially Spider-Man or Dr. Strange, will find this to be a fascinating tale.
Charting Ditko's Complicated Path Over 50 Years
Author Blake Bell, in providing details of Ditko's childhood lays the ground for the rather off-the-beaten path that Ditko would take, first at comic book companies like Charlton in the 1950s through a bizarre journey of confrontations and imagined betrayals as objectivism began to loom over his work more and more.
Strange and Stranger's 220 pages are packed with lots of artwork from throughout Ditko's 50+ years in comic books, and the large size of the book -- 12.2 inches by 9.2 inches -- really makes the illustrations stand out in full color.
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By Blake Bell
Steve Ditko and the Amazing Spider-Man
Spinning the Tale of the Web-Slinger
Steve Ditko's greatest contribution to comic books was his vision of Spider-Man, of course. Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee, having launched the Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby, asked Ditko to help him develop Spider-Man after deciding that Kirby's version of the character didn't work.Ditko gave Spider-Man his costume design and developed the look of the series, which was very different than the usual Superman and Batman comics of the day. Eventually, Ditko would take over the plotting of each Spider-Man comic as well.
Even though I knew the general story behind the creation of Spider-Man, Blake Bell weaves a strong narrative about that chapter of Ditko's life, neither making him the hero or the villain of the dispute with Lee.
He brings up details that I had never heard -- like readers' reaction to Aunt May and what Lee wanted to do with her.
If you are a real fan of Spider-Man, you will find this chapter absolutely fascinating, and cringe at the thought of what might have been if Lee had had his way on some things.
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Stan Lee on Working With Steve Ditko
From Stan Lee's How to Write Comics
''The challenge for me was to find out what he wanted,'' Lee writes in Stan Lee's How to Write Comics.
The book includes some paragraphs from an old interview by Ditko on how he worked, as well as many pages of observations about writing comics by Stan Lee.
Stan Lee's How to Write Comics: From the Legendary Co-Creator of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Iron Man
Amazon Price: $15.29 (as of 06/04/2012)
Steve Ditko vs. Stan Lee
The contributions of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko to the creation of the Amazing Spider-Man and the wild success of the comic book series have long been disputed by the two men, with Lee at times saying he was responsible for innovations that Ditko felt he should get credit for inventing.The rift between the two creators reached the point where they stopped talking to each other sometime before issue No. 25, and after Ditko left the series after issue No. 38.
Who do you think contributed the most to the success of Spider-Man?
Stan Lee
Steve Ditko
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It's The Art That Matters!
Much has been written about the dispute between Stan Lee and Steve Ditko over the creation and direction of Spider-Man, and about the way Ditko's personal philosophies have gotten in the way of his telling a good story. But no one can deny that when he was at his best Steve Ditko was one of the most creative and interesting artists working in comic books, especially during the 1960s. This Dr. Strange scene from Strange Tales No. 138, reproduced in Bell's book, shows just how otherworldly Ditko's art could be. His art was so different from everyone else's that many 1960s readers suspected he was doing the same drugs that hippies used.
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Ayn Rand and The Creation of Mr. A
Ditko is one of the proponents of objectivism, a philosophical system developed by Russian-born author Ayn Rand that advocates reason and rational self-interest as man's guiding lights. While Ditko sprinkled smatterings of the philosophy in the Amazing Spider-Man stories that he did, he later created Mr. A to embody objectivism. The character argues that the world is black and white, with no gray moral areas.He first appeared in 1967, and in truth many of the Mr. A stories that I have read haven't been that entertaining because of the philosophizing. The illustration here is a panel of Mr. A from his first appearance in 1967's Witzend No. 3.
Ayn Rand and Objectivism
Where Does Steve Ditko Rank?
Steve Ditko greatly influenced many artists and writers that came after his heyday in the 1960s, but where does he rank now among all the comic book giants? I'd probably rank him right behind Jack Kirby in the pantheon of Marvel artists, and among the top 5 in the past 50 years. Your thoughts?
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What Do You Think?
Here's your chance to discuss the book, Steve Ditko or anything else you may want!
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mamabush
Feb 5, 2012 @ 2:05 pm | delete
- I've been showing your comic book lenses to my 11-year old son. He is fascinated by these vintage comics and he has a hard time fathoming that some of his favorite characters have been around so long! :)
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christopherwell
Oct 5, 2011 @ 3:15 pm | delete
- Ditko was such a giant in the history of Marvel Comics! (And his quirky stuff at DC Comics was fun, too!)
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I was a big, big fan of comics back in the 1960s and 1970s, and still have thousands of Marvel comics and DC comics in my attic. The Steve Ditko Spide... more »
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