RIP Steve Ditko

[TurtleTitan97]

The co-creator of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Question, etc. has passed away at age 90: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/steve-ditko-dead-spider-man-creator-was-90-1125489

[Leo656]

Well that's a damn shame. Too bad he was mostly a recluse; I'd have been fascinated to hear some of his stories and experiences.

People like Lee get all the credit, but those who do the research know that Ditko easily did the lion's share of the work on a lot of the famous characters and stories that Lee got all the credit for. Very similar to the Bob Kane/Bill Finger situation with Batman.

Nobody really started to recognize Ditko's contributions until he was long done with the business, and that's too bad.

[MikeandRaph87]

I just logged on to report it, but I don't want to create a third thread. Spider-Man's original artist. He gave Spider-Man his look. Spidey loses his heart today and Marvel loses a legend. Its nice to know he a long life and it was good to him despite being greatly under the radar and walking away from Aamzing Spider-Man after #38.

An update states hypertension related heart aliment was his cause of death.

[neatoman]

Can we talk about how unique his character design was? Mysterio, Dormammu, Eternity, Kraven, Electro, etc.

I don't think many artists of his time drew like that.

[ZariusTwo]

Sad day, I love that "In Search of Steve Ditko" documentary about him, even has Alan Moore in it.

Without Mr. A there would be no Rorsarch

[Spike Spiegel]

Well that's a damn shame. Too bad he was mostly a recluse; I'd have been fascinated to hear some of his stories and experiences.

People like Lee get all the credit, but those who do the research know that Ditko easily did the lion's share of the work on a lot of the famous characters and stories that Lee got all the credit for. Very similar to the Bob Kane/Bill Finger situation with Batman.

Nobody really started to recognize Ditko's contributions until he was long done with the business, and that's too bad.

IIRC correctly Ditko wrote and drew a majority of at least the second half of his Spider-Man run that ended with issue 38. Lee was at one point not even involved in the story process; Ditko was just handing things in after so many issues.

[Leo656]

Yep. Like many things in like, recognition mostly goes to those who are more extravagant and ostentatious, versus who did the bulk of the actual work.

I mean, I love Stan Lee and everything, but like Bob Kane he got a great deal of his notoriety from others' work, and that's a tough pill to swallow. He's a good guy by all accounts, but his biggest skill was always promotion, particularly self-promotion.

Ditko never craved the spotlight and hated giving interviews, so a good deal of his contributions have been under-reported. And that's a shame.

[Casey]

Well that's a damn shame. Too bad he was mostly a recluse; I'd have been fascinated to hear some of his stories and experiences.

People like Lee get all the credit, but those who do the research know that Ditko easily did the lion's share of the work on a lot of the famous characters and stories that Lee got all the credit for. Very similar to the Bob Kane/Bill Finger situation with Batman.

Nobody really started to recognize Ditko's contributions until he was long done with the business, and that's too bad.

Kirby/Lee as well.

[Leo656]

Absolutely.

[PApagreg]

Can we talk about how unique his character design was? Mysterio, Dormammu, Eternity, Kraven, Electro, etc.

I don't think many artists of his time drew like that.
You sure you want to add Electro to the mix, to this day I still dont understand what Ditko was thinking of with that design

[Leo656]

Possibly some sort of starfish.

[DarkFell]

I never had a problem with Electro's 'classic' design. To me, it made him iconic. For a lot of folks, taking the jagged electrical bolts off of Electro's face felt like removing Mysterio's fish bowl away from his Quentin Beck noggin.

I think that Mark Bagley handled Max Dillion (in a more 'realistic' way, minus the jagged lightning currents on his mug) alright during his days of illustrating the wall-crawler, his friends & his foes.

That said, Steve Ditko did a great job in co-creating some of the most well-known characters to place within Marvel existence.

[Candy Kappa]

It's sad that he passed. The news threw me off a bit, cause I though he'd passed years ago but I guess that's just because he was so reclusive.


You sure you want to add Electro to the mix, to this day I still dont understand what Ditko was thinking of with that design

It's called fashion, honey.

Sorry :lol:

[PApagreg]

It's called fashion, honey.

Sorry :lol:
If thats fashion then Im surpirsed Hobgoblin hasnt bombed him yet, even the pre 52 Flash Rogues would laugh at him