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He was teated so unfairly. I loved this book because of the artwork. It was fun to see the unpublished work, never seen before.
Much later that same editor would pitch the same concept as his own. Perhaps somewhere along the line there can be a complete Steve Ditko archive of all his published work on DVD or hardcover. He stated how the editor would reject his ideas. He went uncredited for many of the stories he ploted or wrote.
Back in 1990 he wrote a graphic novel called the Steve Ditko Package. There were panels that depicted the changes needed in his work. I would have wanted to see an alternate universe title where Steve had complete control over the Spider Man character. He needed a means to cope with the hostility from the editors at Marvel.
I can see why he embraced the philosophy of Rand. I believe that Steve was abused by comic editors who never gave him the chance to shine. It was a commentary on the comic industry.
I was surprised to learn that he scripted a lot of the stories. Though I prefer John Buscema's work, there was no one better than Ditko for Spider-Man's action poses. The book is quite thorough, though it borders on hero worship. He was one of the few artists that was also talented as a writer, much better than Frank Miller or Jack Kirby. The main reason I purchased the book was to learn the story of why the reason for his walking away from the successful franchise. Ditko had a unique style, but I felt there was an un-evenness to it, as though it were rushed sometimes. Other elements in his artwork seemed formulaic.
This garbage wouldn't happen in Ditko's world, period, and I like the thought of that. This is a great book in it's subject matter, art and storytelling about a unique and massively gifted artist, flawed only by the overlay of the writer's small-minded commercial vison of what HE wanted from the artist. Some of us simple-minded comic readers actually "got" the message in Ditko's work, and comic books have never been the same since without him. Steve, thanks from a reader who "got" it.
I like to imagine that, like any great artist with a unique vision, he's been quietly working away for decades on staggering quantities of amazing works that will someday emerge into the world with stunning impact. Any real artist simply wants to create and mainfest his vision, regardless of wether there is a market or if anyone else understands;I only hope that Ditko will eventually share it again with us. Ultimately, Ditko's work transcended "comic" books, and the bean-counting profiteers couldn't understand the more visionary concepts he offered us; so 60 years after their creation, we're still suffering talking mice and "faster than a speeding bullet" one dimensional heros. We've been deprived of decades of visionary art and stories from Steve Ditko, simply because everyone wanted what THEY wanted from him, but no-one would simply allow him to freely create what HE invisioned, nor (it appears) treat him fairly and allow him ownership of his own work.
There are copyright laws for the music business; they should apply retroactively to Ditko and all the other artists in the comic book world that have been exploited. I think we've all been robbed by greedy comic empire thieves and narrow-visioned hypocrites for the last 40 years; no-one told Picasso what to draw nor stole his work from him. If he truly understood Ditko's work or his story, the writer would understand that this is THE very issue that Ditko seems to be fighting all these years;crass commercial exploitation and marginalizing an artist's vision in favor of what the industry seems to perceive as a mindless comic market, while remaining blind to the artist's true vision. The concept of real justice must terrify such every-day con-men criminals; no wonder they squelched Ditko's absolute views on right and wrong.
In our ugly world, the rich man gets away with murder, the banks steal from us then get government bail-outs as a bonus, politicians can start false wars, indulge in criminal war profiteering and illeagal torture, then walk away with billions. I personally think that the world and the message Ditko creates is perfect in itself,and the real loss is that no-one in the industry just let go and let him share it with us, nor would pay him commeasurate with his genius, or honor his ownership of his work. When I think about a lifetime spent creating such subject matter as the endless conflict between good and evil, the directions that Ditko chose make sense; jst as Ditko's Spider-man or the early Batman were conflicted loners trying to fight for justice in an unjust world, the unjust treatment Ditko received at the hands of Marvel set him on his solitary path to create his own unique vision and world wherethere WAS justice for the oppressed, and penalty for the criminals.
A-- but I can't help wondering if Rorschach is actually Moore's portrait of Ditko himself-- who's obsession with 'black and white' morality is continuously playing out on his face. In short, Ditko needed to get laid. It's common knowledge that Alan Moore (a Ditko fan) based Rorschach on Ditko's uncompromising character Mr. This is quite a book; an illustrated biography of sorts that shows how amazing Ditko's work could be when he was happy, and how awful it could get when he wasn't. The book is a fascinating read about a frustrated/frustrating man-- and his contributions to the world of comic art. In his later years, Ditko's story was both tragic and frustrating; he became so obsessed with the philosophy of Objectivism that he refused to accept any job that didn't properly express his absolutist values. I would've liked a few more illustrations from his 'good' periods-- but the collection certainly gives you a vivid picture of the man's life. It seems the only books that were consistent with Objecivism were those of Ayn Rand herself-- although Ditko even refused the chance to illustrate 'The Fountainhead' because he didn't want to depict her characters.
Titles like Mr. Nonetheless, it distinguishes those comic illustrators (in the minds of a more general public) as the draftsmen whose panels merit consideration as "fine art." Bell's Strange and Stranger is substantive, though.Judicially constructed, the text-to-image ratio is ideal. The monstrously talented draftsman became absorbed with the philosophy that challenged the entire postwar era. In-depth where called for; summary where called for.Ditko has been overlooked in the age of retrospection (until now) for perhaps the same reason that his name failed to enter the general public's lexicon back in the day.
Think of the subset of Silver Age comic artists worthy of admittance to the pantheon of lavish coffee-table hardbounds. A and Static - a handful of works which reveled in the challenge of visualizing the most abstract of philosophical concepts.All from within the confines of starkly black-&-white panels in crime and superhero comic books. Eventually, his micropublished titles explored objectivist philosophy without compromise. How could the creator of Spiderman be overlooked.Thanks to Blake Bell's Strange and Stranger, Steve Ditko is no longer so conspicuously underserved.
At the beginning of his peak period, he adopted a fervent devotion to the provocative philosophy of objectivism.As espoused by Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged), students of objectivism often subscribe to the philosophy as acolytes: inflexible, dogmatic, or even sanctimonious.Not pragmatic qualitites in an industry as tiny (incestuous) as midcentury comicbook publishing.This defining moment has long been the focal point of fascination with Ditko, the mystery's fuel heightened by a dearth of extensive information covering this phase. Now the story behind them has finally been given its dignifed treatment. Hardbound status as some purely gratuitous distinction recognizes achievement superficially, if at all. The timeline of Ditko's career is an outline following appropriately-balanced examination of each phase.
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