Eric Reynolds on 'How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko'

Fri May 9, 2008 — by Rick Marshall

Eric Reynolds on 'How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko'

Fantagraphics' go-to guy reflects on an encounter gone awry with the comics legend

Fantagraphics' upcoming Steve Ditko retrospective Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko will be available next month, so resident Fantagraphics jack-of-all-trades Eric Reynolds recently took the opportunity to share a story with readers that he's called "How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko."

Reynold's tale is one of those personal experiences with industry legends that I love to hear about, as it puts some substance behind the names and faces of people I've never been lucky enough to interact with myself.

About ten years ago we had the great fortune of publishing a new series by Mr. Ditko, STEVE DITKO'S STRANGE AVENGING TALES. This was incredibly exciting to me, having been a lifelong Ditko fan. Unfortunately, I did not get to interact much with Mr. Ditko. See, I do all of our promotion, and to say that Mr. Ditko is not big on promotion is like saying the Pope is not big on gay marriage. And, he preferred snail mail to phone. As such, I did not have many opportunities to interact with one of the greatest comic book artists of all-time. Except one.

You can also check out a 10-page preview of Strange and Stranger on the Fantagraphics website.

Of course, one of my main reasons for posting this is the fact that I'm fortunate these days to interact with a number of industry veterans every day here on ComicMix -- many of which have had their names grace some of the greatest comics ever created -- and I wonder what they'll have to say about Reynolds' story.

(via Journalista)

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Mike Gold (6:29 PM on Fri May 9, 2008)

I've had the privilege of dining with Steve many times and I'd even been up in his studio. Made my little fanboy heart go pitter-patter. Given the strength of his social and political leanings, a lot of people are surprised when I say Steve is your basic nice guy with a strong sense of humor and a bit of a gleam in his eye. He truly does let his work speak for itself -- in public -- and I always had the feeling he's just a bit shy about meeting groups of fans.

From what I've read of Strange and Stranger (I saw a photocopy of the book last month, and, well, I am quoted in it a few times...!) it appears to be a solid effort although, of course, I'd withhold "official" comment until I've actually read the whole thing. Given his feelings regarding his privacy, Steve isn't going to like its very existence. That's his right: he got into this business before comics creators became public figures, and we-all changed the rules on him mid-way through his career.

Here on ComicMix, I'll have some comments regarding his contribution to one if this summer's major motion picture releases closer to the time the movie comes out. Heh heh heh.

mike weber (10:32 PM on Sat May 10, 2008)

Hmmm.

But who will watch it?

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Fri May 9, 2008 — by Rick Marshall