Posted on 07/05/2012 11:39:02 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
The sidewalk vendors of Times Square sell cheap metal signs bearing the image of Spider-Man, no doubt unaware that the superhero’s co-creator walks right past them every day, completely unrecognized.
Then again, only a handful of people in the world would recognize Steve Ditko, the mysterious 84-year-old artist who, with writer Stan Lee, dreamed up the wall crawler back in 1962.
...When The Post knocked on his door, Ditko — who turns out to be a owlish man with wisps of white hair and ink-stained hands, wearing large black glasses and an unbuttoned white shirt with a white tee beneath — pleasantly but firmly declines to answer any questions. Though he did say he reads The Post.
“I don’t have anything to say,” he says, standing in the doorway to his studio...
...Sitting alone behind a windowless steel door with a nameplate reading “S. Ditko,” the artist, who long ago left mainstream and superhero comics behind, creates strange, self-published comic books often steeped in the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand, of whom he is a devoted adherent...
Ditko has long been thought of as the J.D. Salinger of the comics world. He has not given a formal interview since the 1960s — and even back then, he would often respond to a journalist’s questions via mail. Only a few public photographs are known to exist of him, the last taken in his dingy Hell’s Kitchen studio 53 years ago. He lives a rigorously private life, refusing to appear in public, to autograph work or to take a casual snapshot with a fan, should one somehow manage to track him down...
...“He’s never been interested in celebrity, and he’s obviously at peace with it,” says Blake Bell, author of “Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
A true genius of the visual medium. Thanks for the post!
When I first read a compilation of the earliest Spider-Man stories, I reacted somewhat negatively to Ditko's artwork, having been raised on Buscema/Romita/Byrne art with the impossibly large pecs, shoulders, etc. Ditko's characters looked skinny, for lack of a better term, but I quickly grew to appreciate the difference and value Ditko's idiosyncratic style.
One can only imagine his reaction to the bombastic Stan Lee - what a contrast between the two.
I always thought Dr. Strange to be his best work.
He probably hates stanliar i mean lee almost as much as Kirby.
I too learned to appreciate his work. but he didnt create spider-man but he did create the first 20 issues and a lot of villians.
Stan Liar is living off all the creative talent of the artists of marvel. he created none of the characters.
Mel Blanc was the go-to guy for decades when people discussed the Warner Brothers characters although many of the famous ones had earlier voice actors filling the rolls. Eventually it got to Chuck Jones (who became a televised interview subject late in his career).
An unacceptably chunky Spidey for today's NYC.
I like this guy.
...I wonder how true that is. And how true it will be.
His short-lived Creeper series for DC circa 1968 (?) kicked ass...
I met Mr. Jones twice, great man. great director.He once said, “we all want to be Bugs Bunny, but we’re all more like Daffy.”
Check out his self-published character “Mr. A” sometime, named after the “A is A” section of Atlas Shrugged. The reason why Ditko is a recluse is he “went Galt” in the 1960s. I’d love to see his private work...
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