http://www.ditko.comics.org/ditko/why/whybagge.html Peter Bagge, creator of the legendary independent comic HATE, wrote & drew the April release of THE MEGALOMANIACAL SPIDER-MAN for Marvel Comics. It features Peter's take on the whole Spider-Man mythos. It has received massive critical acclaim and basically follows Bagge's idea of a Peter Parker who turns into Steve Ditko. I'm not sure how Steve will feel about it, but it too has a "created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko" credit on the splash, & a "Tip O' The Pen To Steve Ditko" nod from Peter in the very end. Peter generously shared these thoughts with us on the issue...
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Blake,
I wasn't trying to say anything in particular about either Steve Ditko or Ayn Rand in that Spider-Man story. What I know of both Stan Lee AND Ditko (I've never met or spoke to either of them) seemed to be reflected in Peter Parker's personality when I read the early Spidey stories they did together -- which may explain why Parker comes off as such a tortured and complex character in them, seeing what diverse personatities his creators had.
So I used this notion to fuel my story, by making Parker first become a "Lee" type before evolving (devolving?) into a "Ditko"... The fact that Ditko himself is so heavily influenced by Ayn Rand made me wonder what kind of an effect her books would have on Peter Parker himself, so I used her as reference to illustrate the changes Parker goes through in the story. Critics of Rand claim that she preaches "selfishness" and greed, and that aspect of her philosophy is reflected in Parker's "Lee" phase of the story; while an equally important aspect of her philosophy -- that of being true to yourself; don't bow to societal pressures; to live and let live etc, etc -- is somewhat illustrated in the final part of the story.
- PETER BAGGE
Peter Bagge has tried to distance himself from Conservativism in some interviews I read (he was mistakenly quoted as saying that he was conservative in a Comics Journal article, the correction ran in a letter in a subsequent issue; Fantagraphics was publisher of the Comics Journal and Peter Bagge's Hate).
I take back what I said about not buying anything from DC. I am buying Peter Bagge's Sweatshop although I find the humor to be more pedestrian than anything that Mr. Bagge has done in the past 25 years. With the latest issue (#4) he has relinquished much of the drawing to some other artists who "adapt" his style. The comic has an arch conservative boss but I am not offended by the stereotype. He isn't shown to be an out an out racist or anything and I worked for a man who was much like this character and it didn't shake my conservativism. There is also a black cartoonist in the imaginary staff of the comic. He aims to draw the next Boondocks but that strip is ridiculed in the series (the conservative thought that the characters were named G and Homes because that is how they are referred to every strip. It is nothing but political propaganda and deliberately not even funny). The book is satire, I can deal with this and it appears to cast no one in a horrible light and it does a good job of shifting the focus of the stories on the different members of the cast. My problem with the comic book is that much of it just isn't funny (like the strips that "sweatshop" cartoonists are working on), the storylines in some cases seem cliche or obvious.
Hate was much funnier and it seemed more personal.