Happy 80th Birthday, Steve Ditko!
Eighty years ago on this day in Johnston, PA, Steve Ditko was born.
If you know anything about comics, you know Ditko’s work as the creator of Blue Beetle, the Creeper, Killjoy, Mr. A., the Odd Man, the Question, Shade, the Changing Man, and Speedball, and the co-creator of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Captain Atom, Hawk and Dove, Doctor Octopus, Dormammu, Electro, Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, the Sandman, the Scorpion, Squirrel Girl, Stalker, the Lizard, and the Vulture.
He is, of course, well known for a great many other things:
- Ditko hands.
- His incredible ability to hit deadlines. There are stories of him receiving a script at 9 and completing the eight page story by 5, pencils and inks.
- philosophical stands, well discussed by Dial B for Blog in this piece on Mr. A.
- His one of a kind backgrounds, so completely impossible to reproduce by anyone else that they had to use his art for 1602.
- His complete reluctance to be interviewed– the photo at left is one of only four photos known to exist of the man. While most of the BBC documentary In Search Of Steve Ditko has been taken offline, here’s a clip from the show of Alan Moore talking about Mr. A:
We of the web salute this one-of-a-kind creator.
Happy Birthday Steve. This guy is one of comics' all-time original greats. His impact on the industry can never really be measured.
Actually saw him once about 15 years ago. I was making one of my occasional trips to NYC to make the rounds of the editorial offices, and when I went to sign in at Marvel, there was Ditko's signiture in the book. Wished I'd had an x-acto knife on me. I got someone to point him out to me, and when he left the editor's office I went in and asked if I might ink Ditko, whatever the project might be. Turned out it was Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (they should have been giving him something far better), but as I was still kind of new and this editor had never worked with me, I didn't get it. Never did get to ink him. I found myself riding down in the elevator with Ditko later. I wanted to say something to him, but I heard he didn't like people gushing over him, and I couldn't think of myself doing anything but gushing…. lots…. so I didn't talk to him. I should have. Ditko… WOW!
Great story. I think I actually kept that issue from my comp pile because he'd drawn it. Yup, he deserves better.