RIP Steve Ditko

[edhopper]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/steve-ditko-dead-spider-man-creator-was-90-1125489

those here who know who he was, know what a giant of the field he was.
A quirky, gentle man, who was also bit of a Ayn Randian nut.

For everyone else, he was the artist who co-created Spider-Man and Dr. Strange.

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[Auggie]

1. The posted image looks like the John Romita Spiderman

Sure you got the right one?

[Blue_Adept]

2. It's from this issue

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_33

[edhopper]

4. there is no doubt

this is from Spider-Man #33, perhaps the greatest sequence in the history of the book and Ditko's high point on the book.

[Auggie]

9. Yep -- sorry

John Romita started penciling Spidey with issue #39, though he thought Ditko might return to the book and thus mimikced his style. According to Romita (from Wikipedia):

"People laugh when I say this, but I did not want to do Spider-Man. I wanted to stay on Daredevil. The only reason I did Spider-Man was because Stan asked me and I felt that I should help out, like a good soldier. I never really felt comfortable on Spider-Man for years. ...I felt obliged to [mimic] Ditko because ... I was convinced, in my own mind, that he was going to come back in two or three issues. ... I couldn't believe that a guy would walk away from a successful book that was the second-highest seller at Marvel. ... After six months, when I realized it wasn't temporary, I finally stopped trying to [mimic] Ditko. ...I was doing these nine-panel pages and the thin line, and I was doing Peter Parker without any bone structure — just like Ditko was doing, I thought."

(Stan) Lee later commented that this transition in Romita's style actually worked out for the benefit of the series, as it gradually weaned readers off of the Ditko look while ultimately allowing Romita to work in the style he most excelled at.

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Not to take anything away from Ditko -- a fabulous visualizer and story-teller. But the above explains why their styles were so similar for a while.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Romita_Sr.

[edhopper]

10. Yep

Romita's Spider-Man became the House style for decades. Including when his son took over the book.

But Ditko remains the originator. Spider-Man was unlike any superhero.

[Blue_Adept]

3. One of the gifteds

He was instrumental in such a great range of villains for Spidey in the first couple of years, on par with Batman's rogues gallery.

[edhopper]

5. I think the were more interesting

than Batman's who were mainly men in silly costumes.

[Blue_Adept]

6. I tend to not to try and compare because they come from different generations

Batman's rogues largely came out of the 40's with the influence of pulp storytelling and larger than life colorfulness. Spidey's villains came in the 60's with the push for more grounded characters with their backgrounds to humanize them as the heroes were as well.

Both have great characters that in the right hands, which we've seen in the decades since, can become even more than what they started as.

[edhopper]

7. This is true.

[Kingofalldems]

8. FYI--According to Wikipedia he was an objectivist.

http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Steve_Ditko.html

[edhopper]

11. Yes

my OP mentions his devotion to Ayn Rand.
His individual work throughout the 70s to present is rife with objectivism.
His character The Question (the basis for Rorschach in The Watchmen) is full on Libertarian.
This does not diminish his art and contributions to the field.

[Blue_Adept]

12. If anything it enhances it because it brings variety to how he produced the worlds

in which these characters lived, keeping it from being a cookie cutter view.

[Anon-C]

13. When I heard the news I immediately thought of an old Captain Universe cover...

...which was quintessential Ditko. RIP!

[Blue_Adept]

14. STEVE DITKO's 10 Greatest Creations Of All Time

https://www.newsarama.com/35639-steve-ditko-s-greatest-creations-of-all-time.html

Steve Ditko is one of the original architects of the Marvel Universe, co-creating Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, as well as greats like Ted Kord and the Question for Charlton (later bought by DC).
But it all comes back to Spider-Man, one of the greatest superheroes of all time, who debuted 55 years ago today on August 10, 1962 in Amazing Fantasy #15.

In honor of the anniversary of Spidey's first appearance, we're looking back at the greatest characters created and co-created by the enigmatic and aloof Ditko.

Hawk and Dove is a fave of mine, though I was frustrated by Rob Liefield's interpretation because the artwork.

I love that his Squirrel Girl has taken on a new life in the modern audience.

So much of what he created has been built upon in so many awesome ways.