Steve Ditko: Classic or Dud

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Comique Noir or laughably overrated cave-painter? Classically fascinating recluse, or boring recluse because even if he lived a very public life, hardly anyone would notice?

J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Friday, 3 January 2003 02:49 (twenty-two years ago) link

approximate # of regular ilX0r posters who will be remotely interested in the subject line: one

J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Friday, 3 January 2003 02:51 (twenty-two years ago) link

At least two, John, maybe even more. (Of course, I'm not very regular nowadays - burp.)

Of course, I dunno much from Ditko after his Marvel glory days, but boy is he ever classic re: his work on Spider-man & Dr. Strange. Classic beyond a shadow of a doubt, ESPECIALLY for Dr. Strange. I mean, c'mon, THE ASTRAL PLANE!! (I hope there's an Essential Dr. Strange compendium out there.) But that's an "uh, duh" thing to say, and I can't comment on things he did for Charlton & afterwards, so I shall defer to Mr. Skidmore & others when they arrive.

As much as I adore John Romita's Spidey (oh, those clean & pristine romance comic lines are so dreamy), I can safely say that my awkward dinosaur-lovin' pre-pubescent self wouldn't've identified w/ the stylish red & blue tights so much were it not for Ditko nailing Peter Parker's awkward microscope-lovin' wallflowering mid-pubescent ways & means.

Another "uh, duh" moment - those ASM pages (in issue #37?) where Spidey's trapped under this big hunk of machinery (was he fighting Doc Ock?), & his aunt is dying from radiation poisioning due to a transfusion from her favorite nephew, & he strains & grapples with this big immovable hunk of metal & his own inadequacies & shortcomings (as always) until, through sheer strength of will (take that, Green Lantern!), he tosses the debris aside - awesome awesome awesome, especially the concluding splash page.

David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 3 January 2003 03:15 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ditko falls into an unusual category of artists for me: I absolutely love his stuff, but also find it very hard to take, especially the post-'70 work. I mean, his compositional genius has never left him, but he's also kind of a freaky crank in ways that impede his work badly--the writing is _always_ unintentionally funny, except when it's trying to be funny and is therefore no kind of funny. It's like Ed Wood and Alfred Hitchcock in the same body.

His _Spider-Man_ and especially _Dr. Strange_ stuff (the latter just reprinted in a $15 paperback that blew my mind all over again recently) is, as others have mentioned, extraordinary, and I'm pretty fond of his Question/_Mysterious Suspense_/Creeper period too (less so Hawk & Dove).

I think I actually first encountered Ditko's work on the thoroughly forgotten "Starman" serial he did for _Adventure Comics_ in the late '70s. I remembered thinking "obviously this guy can't draw as well in the usual sense as other people can, but there's something REALLY interesting about the artwork anyway."

Anyone know anything about his working relationship with Eric Stanton?

Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 3 January 2003 03:48 (twenty-two years ago) link

Just found out about the Stanton stuff, actually -- there're some frames of it here, all of which shore up my adult assessment of Ditko as totally awesome. Back when I was a comic-trading 5th grader, though, my friend Barry Benson (the only other kid at my school who was into comics) and I liked to while away Saturday afternoons laughing at Ditko frames and dismissing their amateurish qualities. Barry was a George Perez fan. I liked Jim Starlin: said to be heavily influenced by Ditko, but Starlin was v. serious, and I liked my comics artists all grave and mystical, whereas Ditko seemed almost chaotically playful.

Barry and I also hated Jack Kirby. Dumb kids.

J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Friday, 3 January 2003 04:44 (twenty-two years ago) link

Off-topic: why is Marvel still letting Jim Starlin keep on with that Infinity Gem nonsense? The whole Thanos / Warlock / Pip the Troll thing got old after Warlock Chronicles #1, and that was about six years ago, for the luvva.

Thanks for the link, John - I totally forgot about stuff like Speedball & Dark Dominion! (Gee, I wonder why...)

(Tony 'Rock Me' Isabella???)

David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 3 January 2003 06:55 (twenty-two years ago) link

Did he do 'Amazing Spider-Man' #100-104? Cuz that's fuckin classic whoever did it. Curt Connors is my hero

dave q, Friday, 3 January 2003 07:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

That was Gil Kane.

David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 3 January 2003 07:26 (twenty-two years ago) link

Later stuff gloriously mental, earlier stuff just glorious. His plotting on early Spider-Man is wonderful too - the episode where JJJ acquires a goofy spider-hunting robot is classic sitcom stuff. You wonder how many more comics artists if given the space to say what they Really Meant would turn out as loopy.

Tom (Groke), Friday, 3 January 2003 11:12 (twenty-two years ago) link

Bill Sienkiewicz owns EVERYONE (except maybe Mark Buckingham and Bryan Hitch).

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 3 January 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago) link

(haha spot the common thread in my taste in comic book artists!)

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 3 January 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago) link

No one has mentioned Ditko's wonderful pre-Spidey work - countless SF stories, mostly pretty dumb, but some of his loveliest work. His Warren horror work needs praise too - I don't think there was anything he put more effort into. I regard him as one of the very best American superhero comic book artists, and one of the ten or fifteen best ever of any kind.

As a writer, he was a bonkers Ayn Rand disciple, but at least he was trying to address tough issues when few were, so a bit of credit for that. I have a signed set of the early crazed stuff (Mr A and all that).

My favourite Ditko story was from when Marv Wolfman and he collaborated on something (a back up in something silly like Coyote). They hadn't met before. Ditko invited Wolfman to his home - a flat over Times Square. MW says he was nervous about meeting this well known whacko, but he seemed very reasonable and friendly. When MW was ready to leave, Ditko told him to wait a moment. He grabbed a file card, drew a vertical line down the middle and shaded one half black with a marker pen. He held it up right in front of Marv's face, and pointing at the halves said "Good! Evil! Nothing in between! Remember that!"

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 3 January 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago) link

http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/pictures/vetko.JPG

Tom (Groke), Saturday, 4 January 2003 03:51 (twenty-two years ago) link

Art by Al, script by both of us IIRC.

Tom (Groke), Saturday, 4 January 2003 03:53 (twenty-two years ago) link

He is no Mike Ditka

Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Saturday, 4 January 2003 04:12 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hey Tom & Al: one of my oldest and best friends is a big Ditko fanatic and expert. Can I send him a copy of that wonderfully accurate parody? I'm sure he'd love it. (You might even know him: initials SW.)

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 4 January 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago) link

But of course!!

Tom (Groke), Saturday, 4 January 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago) link

Thanks Tom - I've sent it to him.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 4 January 2003 16:32 (twenty-two years ago) link

I'd completely forgotten The Pointer. Glad one of us held onto it.

Al Ewing (Al Ewing), Sunday, 5 January 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago) link

six years pass...

Um... wow.

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/blash/2009/04/06/steve-ditkos-toyland/

Nhex, Monday, 13 April 2009 22:57 (fifteen years ago) link

A is A!

carson dial, Monday, 13 April 2009 23:00 (fifteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Reading STRANGE AVENGING TALES #1. Tom & Al's Ditko-mage is tremendous in this light.

There's a two page bit about "The Undisplayer", who's this dude wearing a polka-dot bow-tie who gets mangled by fate's banana peel for the cardinal sin of leaving a shelf of books at a big box store in disorder. People need to know, you know?

All posts written by a haunted keyboard, just so ya know (R Baez), Sunday, 27 March 2011 17:59 (thirteen years ago) link

Gigantic love letter to latter-day (70s-00s) Ditko by Jog:

http://comicscomicsmag.com/2011/02/the-avenging-page-in-excelsis-ditko.html

kris menace isn't even french (sic), Sunday, 27 March 2011 23:04 (thirteen years ago) link

A hell of an essay - it inspired this purchase!

All posts written by a haunted keyboard, just so ya know (R Baez), Sunday, 27 March 2011 23:36 (thirteen years ago) link

links right back to the long-haired college kids that served as an early audience for Marvel comics in between rounds of physically blocking the Individual’s rightful access to campus property whilst tacitly supporting the rule of collectivist Force by opposing the conflict in Vietnam.

^^^A+

fuck this bullshit excuse for a biscuit (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link

Back when I was a comic-trading 5th grader, though, my friend Barry Benson (the only other kid at my school who was into comics) and I liked to while away Saturday afternoons laughing at Ditko frames and dismissing their amateurish qualities. Barry was a George Perez fan. I liked Jim Starlin: said to be heavily influenced by Ditko, but Starlin was v. serious, and I liked my comics artists all grave and mystical, whereas Ditko seemed almost chaotically playful.

Barry and I also hated Jack Kirby. Dumb kids.

This was me and my stupid friends at the same age. Nothing but contempt for Ditko and ESPECIALLY Kirby; why couldn't those two draw in lots of constipated little lines like our beloved Byrne and Perez? I think I was 20 when the scales fell from my eyes re: the power of Kirby. Meanwhile all that post-Neil Adams stuff of the mid-70s to mid-80s looks like total shit to me now.

For an example of relatively coherent (because professionally edited) late-era Randian Ditko, be sure you have a copy of Dark Horse's one-shot The Safest Place...

the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 16:39 (thirteen years ago) link

Ditko used to creep me out, especially the Dr Strange stuff - ditto with Kirby's deep-space artwork - I found it hard to look at for long. The artists I liked back then (Byrne and Perez included) were somehow more earthbound and reliable.

Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 16:49 (thirteen years ago) link

I've never read any late 70s/1980s DCs to speak of, I should check some Aparo and Garcia-Lopez out to see if it holds up.

I didn't "get" Kirby until I was well into my 30s. I still haven't gotten Ditko yet, not really. There's a lot of kinetic energy there, but I feel he falls back on a lot of often-repeated visual licks.

The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 16:54 (thirteen years ago) link

Despite my childhood love of Spidey, I always wished that Kirby would have drawn him instead of Ditko. Now I'm just happy that it all got done the way it did. Silver age marvel is stone cold classic, as is silver age Ditko.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 17:08 (thirteen years ago) link

Ditko is great, but I do think that you have to kind of grow into an appreciation of him; I didn't like him that much when I was a kid either...

Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 17:11 (thirteen years ago) link

I wonder why that is. Conversely, some of the artists I went apeshit for when I was about 11, like Todd McFarlane, look appallingly fussy to me now. Though I still love some of the same people, like Sienkewicz and Mazzuchelli.

Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 17:16 (thirteen years ago) link

Siencewicz knows how to draw and has an appreciation of art history-- he puzzled me as a kid, semi abstract and occasionally very scary...but intriguing because of it.

The less said about McFarlane and his spawn the better.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link

...Except that anything good about him he got from Art Adams, who can't be held accountable for what he wrought.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 17:41 (thirteen years ago) link

^right. Both McFarlane and Liefeld started out as Art Adams clones y/n?

Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:05 (thirteen years ago) link

why is this thread here and not on ILC?

in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:07 (thirteen years ago) link

It predates that board I think. I could move it if everybody wants, or leave it to try to lure in the curious.

The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:10 (thirteen years ago) link

eh no bother it's just odd...

I couldn't make it to the end of the essay, although it was definitely interesting. but moerover I jsut see Ditko's devolution as kind of sad. it's weird that his technique has actually DECLINED over time, and not just due to age.

in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:16 (thirteen years ago) link

I only read ILE and ILM so I wouldn't have seen this thread.

Art Adams, IMO, is in the same fussy lineage as Byrne/Perez/Starlin, though he has much more sense of style than those two. Y'all are probly right that he begat the stupefying hashmarks and penis-fists of the Image dudes, and right that he can't be blamed for it.

Besides Perez/Byrne et al, we all adored Michael Golden at that age too (circa his early Micronauts) which is interesting bcuz he was more of a clay-ey Wrightson kinda thing. I haven't looked at his shit in a long time but I might be able to admire it today...

the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:47 (thirteen years ago) link

Art Adams (over Bob Burden roughs and character designs) on the Gumby Summer Fun Special is one of the all-time greats.

The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:51 (thirteen years ago) link

Please keep it here - I never remember to visit ILC.

Had forgotten all about Art Adams - used to love his stuff. Wonder how it holds up now. Liefeld is horrible.

Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link

xpost that Gumby special was great! So was the one Rick Geary drew.

the worst thing Narada Michael Walden has ever been associated with (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 19:13 (thirteen years ago) link

The Gumby one was the first thing I ever saw by AA. Loved it. I would agree (though I hadn't thought of it before) to put him coming out of the Byrne/Perez school but he injected a sense of fun and charm into it. I don't know that I'd call him a classic, but I'll keep my good memories of staring at Adams' pages.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 19:25 (thirteen years ago) link

re: why kids hate Ditko -- I just think his draftsmanship is a bit grotesque and unheroic...which is what made him so great on Spiderman, but if you're coming off John Romita's version of the character, let alone Todd McFarlane's*, his art is going to seem impossibly obscure and ugly.

There's more I want to say on this, and I think it's a really interesting topic, but I would have to search up on old Ditko Spiderman panels (I've yet to read his Dr. Strange stuff) and I'm not really up for that at this exact moment...

Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 19:51 (thirteen years ago) link

*I actually read somewhere that McFarlane had drawn Spidey in much more arachnid poses than anybody else had...so while his style was unabashedly heroic/dynamic, he probably did get closer to a certain alien weirdness that Spiderman embodied when drawn by Ditko

Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 19:51 (thirteen years ago) link

I just think his draftsmanship is a bit grotesque and unheroic...which is what made him so great on Spiderman

so otm.

art adams was my god, when i was 11.

the will & grace taint (stevie), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 20:00 (thirteen years ago) link

"grotesque and unheroic"--it served him well both on Dr. Strange and the Tales of Suspense/Journey into Mystery shorts as well.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 20:03 (thirteen years ago) link

Ditko's work on Dr. Strange >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Spiderman imho

in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 20:05 (thirteen years ago) link

when romita started drawing spidey, it really underlined pete's switch from skinny dweeb to a college kid who could score with gwen and mary jane.

the will & grace taint (stevie), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 20:07 (thirteen years ago) link

His Spider-Man covers are brilliant.

Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Tuesday, 29 March 2011 20:09 (thirteen years ago) link

The Marvel Method was a real thing; the dispute is in how much involvement Lee had in plotting each issue before the pencilling.

The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:00 (thirteen years ago) link

the whole plotting before pencilling, and then writing of the dialogue, this just seems like such a strange way to make a comic book. I imagined that it must have been the way that Stan Lee preferred to work and then he just kind of mandated the method company-wide once he got other writers in there. Otherwise, why split up the writer's job like that?

Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:05 (thirteen years ago) link

in order to cover up the fact that you can't actually write, duh

in my world of loose geirs (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:24 (thirteen years ago) link

makes sense

Oh Shit People Like Your Ballads Oh Nooooo (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link

"I'll just sip my martini by the ocean -- and wait for the next fish to jump!!"

Words to live by.

All posts written by a haunted keyboard, just so ya know (R Baez), Thursday, 31 March 2011 00:18 (thirteen years ago) link

did i already tell you guys my george perez story? i'll make it quick in case i did somewhere. i went to the opening of forbidden planet in nyc when i was kid - huge lines and a big mob scene - and perez was there doing marker drawings for ten bucks a pop. i sat down to get one and he asked me what comics i liked. he asked me if i liked the teen titans - his big book at the time - and i said yeah! i liked the teen titans! he said great! so what character did i want drawn? and i said: nightcrawler!

scott seward, Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:08 (thirteen years ago) link

did he draw Gar Logan transformed into Nightcrawler?

Neo Tony (sic), Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:14 (thirteen years ago) link

Ok, I think I may have found a reason to hate on Stan Lee

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=86075&tsp=1

thanks universe

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:24 (thirteen years ago) link

he did a nice quick bamfing 'crawler. dude was a pro.

x-pst

scott seward, Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:26 (thirteen years ago) link

that was my chillwave x-post.

stan is stan. the man never met a dollar or a reason to have his picture taken that he didn't like.

scott seward, Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:27 (thirteen years ago) link

he's old school corrupt. he probably thinks he's doing you a favor all the time.

scott seward, Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:28 (thirteen years ago) link

hahahaha OTM. He's a Boss Tweed kinda guy.

how do I Mothman a ho? (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:37 (thirteen years ago) link

thanks universe

Stan announces a new cartoon co-developed with a public figure every second Wednesday at 3pm, this will never actually happen

Neo Tony (sic), Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:41 (thirteen years ago) link

stan is doing manga now. he's new wave.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/Heroman_Vol_1.png

scott seward, Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:45 (thirteen years ago) link

Joseph Carter "Joey" Jones (ジョセフ・カーター・“ジョーイ”・ジョーンズ, Josefu Kātā "Jōi" Jōnzu?)
Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu
Joey is an orphaned boy living with his grandmother, working at a restaurant to make ends meet. His life changes when he fixes the Heybo that he names Heroman. He is able to issue commands to Heroman via a controller that forms a gauntlet around his left hand. This controller also gives Joey his own powers, such as super speed and the ability to create force fields.
The name "Joey Jones" was chosen by Minami at the behest of Stan Lee to choose a name that had identical initials, much like various other Marvel protagonists such as Peter Parker.[11]
Komatsu was chosen to voice Joey because of her boyish voice and the difficulty in finding a young man that had the voice the production team wanted.[11]

scott seward, Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:46 (thirteen years ago) link

With great robot, comes great... uh....

All posts written by a haunted keyboard, just so ya know (R Baez), Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:50 (thirteen years ago) link

three months pass...

was flipping though the first issue of Kirby's Silver Star - had totally forgotten this contains a dozen-page long full-color backup feature by Ditko called "The Mocker" which basically looks exactly like 60s-era Ditko. 1981, I think...?

a man is only a guy (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 19:10 (thirteen years ago) link

cool find!

the three stigmata of a (Viceroy), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 20:20 (thirteen years ago) link

d'oh, number 2, not number 1

"According to Ditko1, he first started working with the concept in 1981, drawing the first ten page story and working on the breakdowns for the next episode. The page story found its way to Pacific Comics and was published in Jack Kirby's Silver Star #2. Ditko was not aware of this sale and was not pleased with the format. (The story was meant to be magazine size, or twice the size of a comic book page; and had been colored when it was meant to be published in black and white.) The original story (restored to black and white) and the others were published in a 1990 graphic novel published by Ditko and longtime partner Robin Snyder.

The originally intended format of the book influences much of its look. Planned to be published in a black and white magazine, the art is a study in various methods of adding texture with pen and ink. The Mocker's special power is signified by squiggling thin lines, various characters have an affinity for pinstripe suits or polka dots or have distinctive facial hair patterns that display the various skills Ditko had mastered in decades of comic work. The book was never published in magazine size, however, so the sixteen panels per page are slightly cramped.

Much of the dialogue and especially contents of thought balloons is in sentence fragments. The basic concepts floating around in the characters mind are tied together with commas, partly to display the characters' confused, unfocused, state, and quite possibly partly due to economy of space in the small panels."

a man is only a guy (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 20:22 (thirteen years ago) link

color is actually really nice

a man is only a guy (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 20:22 (thirteen years ago) link

three years pass...

!

soref, Tuesday, 30 June 2015 17:18 (nine years ago) link

love

Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 30 June 2015 19:38 (nine years ago) link

Thank you for inventing Spider-Man.

http://media.giphy.com/media/Ps8nPGlbMctoY/giphy.gif

like a giraffe of nah (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 30 June 2015 19:46 (nine years ago) link

three years pass...

oh no!

v sad news. his run on spider-man is one of the all-time great works in comics.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 7 July 2018 00:53 (six years ago) link

steve wilkos still lives

mookieproof, Saturday, 7 July 2018 00:54 (six years ago) link

it's kind of wild how much some of the self published stuff resembles Ben Garrison cartoons (though better drawn, obv)

https://blogintomystery.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/awc.jpg

soref, Saturday, 7 July 2018 01:35 (six years ago) link

Sending my psychic condolences up the I-5 to Bellingham.

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:00 (six years ago) link

RIP to a truly gifted lunatic

Οὖτις, Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:02 (six years ago) link

reading the obit now and

Ditko maintained a Manhattan studio until his death, where he continued to write and draw, though how much, and what unpublished material remains, is unknown.

a) why not ask Snyder, his publisher and only trusted collaborator of the last three decades, rather than include this vagueness

b) "how much" can be pretty easily estimated by actually adding up his output. it's very clear that he thought what he published was what was fit to publish, and he's generally been putting out around 100pp a year (!) since getting really busy again this decade.

Comic book creator Graig Weich of [...]

"He wasn't 90. He seemed like a young, cool artist who happened to have an aged body," Weich tells THR. Weich recalls asking Ditko about his relationship with Lee, and says the artist looked down and told him, "We're peaceful."

wtf at using a repugnant scam merchant as your source!!? unchecked and without caveat!

also eeesh, Ditko's latest Kickstarter may have finished the day he died. that's some 'Schulz dying the day his final Sunday was shipping' timing

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:16 (six years ago) link

^ belay that, I misread the "two days ago" bit

Graig is promoting his own new comic in a selfie-stick-shot youtube video titled "STEVE DITKO FOUND DEAD AT 90 - CO-CREATOR OF SPIDER-MAN & DOCTOR STRANGE IN NYC Dies NOT STAN LEE"

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:23 (six years ago) link

May we all have “NOT STAN LEE” on our gravestones

devops mom (silby), Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:31 (six years ago) link

I think he had a bigger impact on me than any other artist of any kind. Meant a massive amount to me.

I'm curious about what will happen to all his unseen art in his studio, I assume it'll never be seen, I though he might have burned or shredded the stuff already because he really didn't want people seeing it, some said there was unseen Dr Strange stuff that were like an unabridged version of the ending he did to his run. Still keeping my fingers crossed that he changed his mind and will let people show it all.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:50 (six years ago) link

I thought that Graig guy is the one who broke the news?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 July 2018 02:53 (six years ago) link

That doesn't mean you take his reportage of other peoples' words at face value, after the last 20 years of his reportage.

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 03:10 (six years ago) link

(and the disgusting motivation behind it! is it likely that Snyder had been notified by the NYPD, and knew that Ditko wouldn't want the news publicised?)

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 03:17 (six years ago) link

Mike Dean obit at TCJ.

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 03:19 (six years ago) link

aww rip steve

one of the all-time greats both in artistic achievement and total swivel-eyed lunacy

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 7 July 2018 08:16 (six years ago) link

after the last 20 years of his reportage.

― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, July 7, 2018 4:10 AM

Is he that well known? I never heard of him until now.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 July 2018 08:38 (six years ago) link

<3

An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 7 July 2018 19:24 (six years ago) link

I thought you meant Weich's reportage.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 July 2018 20:18 (six years ago) link

I really liked this Jeet Heer thread about Ditko and Kirby, also the Gail Simone thread he links to

1. This is a good tweet in a good thread & I want to expand on this point. Kirby & Kirby both had styles that were curiously at odds with their politics. https://t.co/5kJacKlCwB

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 7, 2018

soref, Saturday, 7 July 2018 20:37 (six years ago) link

xpost: I did.

kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 7 July 2018 20:40 (six years ago) link

yeah, good stuff - lot to chew on there

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 7 July 2018 20:41 (six years ago) link

I think sometime during the mid-60s Ditko made his characters bolder and more handsome and it was good and different but perhaps not quite as compelling as the earlier look. But there's something different and special about many periods of his work, at least up til the mid 70s when there is a noticeable decline.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 July 2018 22:17 (six years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.