Why Steve Ditko Quit

oh hi you caught me hiding under the docks speaking of being a recluse let's talk about Steve Ditko hello welcome to comic tropes I'm your host Chris this past week Steve Ditko passed away at the age of 89 he'll always be remembered for his distinctive artistic style and his many creations and co creations from Hawk and Dove to The Creeper the question mister a Doctor Strange and of course spider-man he's often been referred to as a bit of a recluse and while there's some truth to that I think that if we look at his entire career through the lens of his personal philosophies it makes a little bit more sense why he believes so many high-profile jobs so that's what we're going to do today we're gonna take a look at some of the essays and rare interviews that Steve Ditko has given as well as here actual audio from the man himself describing his work after graduating high school and just a week before his 18th birthday Ditko enlisted in the US Army and served in post-war Germany starting in late 1945 he Illustrated comics for the army newspaper in Europe and after his discharge he studied at the cartoonists in illustrators school of New York City under Jerry Robinson the successful Batman artist he used his GI Bill to move to New York and study there for two years beginning in 1950 and began working professionally in 1953 with stories published in Fantastic fears number 5 and daring love number 1 he began working as an inker in Jack Kirby and Joe Simon studio in 1953 and began doing work for Atlas comics which eventually became Marvel Comics and also Charlton comics it was around this time that dick Co became an ardent follower of writer iron rands new philosophy that she named objectivism red began to a explore this set of beliefs enter fictional novels like 1943's The Fountainhead and 1957 s Atlas Shrugged and then began following it up with various essays at its core objectivism argues that the purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness which Rand referred to as rational self-interest at the end of the day individual rights Trump all arts place within the worldview of Objectivism is to transform metaphysical ideas into physical understandable form to this end Steve Ditko insisted that his work should speak for itself and generally refused most interview requests Iran's philosophy was a direct response to romanticism which was a popular philosophy at the time Romanticism would argue that truth can be subjective and found by exploring our emotions Rand said that truths exists objectively no matter how someone felt about it she wrote quote my philosophy in essence is the concept of man as a heroic being with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life with productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute Rand had a formula for this she liked to say a is a essentially this meant that a fully realized hero had no room for moral equivocation he knew right from wrong and refused to allow evil to exist or even to allow others to stand by to allow evil to exist because most fully realized creations to live by these principles were created around this time in 1967 his own character mr. a which we'll come back to and the question for Charlton comments both were reporters who put on a simple mask and suit and would not change at all for the world around them DC Comics later bought Charlton's characters and the question would eventually appear in an episode of Justice League Unlimited where the writers actually had him espouse this theory what do you babble about everything that exists has a specific nature each entity exists as something in particular and has characteristics that are part of what it is a is a and no matter what reality he calls home Luthor is Steve Ditko believed that you were either good or evil and he refused to portray morally confused characters heroically he excused spider-man because he was young and still learning otherwise he had great disdain for characters that could be said to have feet of clay since the days of Greek tragedies writers have found that the most interesting stories have characters with flaws so that they can go on a journey where they learn and improve generally the least compromising characters in superhero comics are the villains who have a central goal like stealing money or power dip those stories are much different especially when he would later co-write his own stories his heroes don't change at all the world around them does Alan Moore later commented on this when he created Rorschach in The Watchmen based strongly on the question dico co-created spider-man with Stan Lee in 1962 after Lee first asked Jack Kirby to come up with some sketches for his idea but they look too much like Captain America no one drew spider-man quite like Steve Ditko he moved in a certain way he had those utterly unique eyes and a costume designed head-to-toe unlike anything else in comics at the time the power of the panels showing spider-man struggled to escape this collapsed machinery is arguably the most iconic spider-man scene of all time if you ever want to experience everything great about spider-man it's all found in those first three years that Lee and Ditko work together on the character at the same time dick co-created Doctor Strange and would plot and illustrate one of the most visually exciting characters in comics his artwork is surreal and psychedelic yet Ditko didn't use any hallucinogenics or other drugs then in 1966 Ditko suddenly quit working at Marvel without explanation while spider-man incredibly popular title or at least that's what most people think Stanley has said that it's because he and Ditko disagreed over the reveal of Green Goblin as an established supporting character Norman Osborn and if we view that through the lens of Objectivism that almost makes sense Norman is a self-made man an industrialist who can be seen to be a hero but that's just not the case dico actually has explained what happened in the form of essays in his self-published comics but because he doesn't go to conventions or grant interviews many people aren't aware of this but Ditko says he was never surprised at the Norman Osborn plan he explains he even inserted Norman in earlier issues at a social club with newspaper publisher Jay jonah Jameson and at spider-man's friend Harry Osborn's College scenes this was done so that the reveal would later have more impact on the supporting cast instead dico says he was simply not getting along with Lee the two men had very different ideas on how to portray heroes dico would illustrate pages with Peter Parker being annoyed at protesters but Lee would script it to be no big deal for instance the real reason that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko stopped getting along was probably that Steve got tired of Stan not giving him his proper credit after two years of working on spider-man Ditko demanded a co-writer credit since he was actually plotting the entire issues Stan was allegedly pretty angry but he did grant plot credit to Steve Ditko but Stan began taking shots at Steve in the media in a 1965 interview with the New York Herald Tribune Stan said dico thinks he's the genius of the world Stan even openly mocked dick O's first credited issue writing this spider-man number 18 features a different type and aren't they all entitled the end of spider-man a lot of readers are sure to hate it so if you'll want to know what all the criticism is about be sure to buy a copy how's that for a left-handed sell what criticism the issue wasn't even out yet there are alleged stories of other comic visiting Steve Ditko at his studio in Manhattan and finding stacks of uncashed checks from Marvel Comics to Steve it was either full credit for what he did or nothing at all they stopped communicating directly one day dico came to the Marvel offices to tell Stan he was quitting production managers saw Brodsky was acting as their go-between and went to tell Stan but according to dick Co Stan wouldn't come out of his office so he refused to understand why he co decided to quit from Steve's point of view there was no such thing as compromise if he wasn't able to put forward his Objectivist philosophy and his work the mortal thing to do was to leave according to objectivism you don't have to win a fight but you must stand by your convictions at all times Ditka went to Charlton comics where he had briefly worked in 1960 creating the first version of Captain Atom he created the second Blue Beetle Ted Kord an industrialist and inventor in late 1966 he then created one of his most personal creations the question in later essays Ditko says he wanted to make his eventual creation mr. a but figured to do that character right it wouldn't pass the comics code so he created a similar but tamer version in the question very shortly later he debuted his creation mr. a as a story in Wally woods underground comic wits and number three he will continue to tell stories with mr. a over the years the last completed story was as recent as 2016 and is the clearest view of his beliefs most of these stories were published by his friend Robyn Schneider who was an editor dico worked with at both Archie comics and Charlton Charlton's freedom was great but the pay was low so Ditka went over to DC Comics and did a bunch of work there under editor dick Giordano in 1968 he created both The Creeper and Hawk and Dove he didn't last long The Creeper debuted in April of 1968 in showcase number 73 followed by his own ongoing series beware the creeper the dico Illustrated five issues of at about the same time he did two issues of Hawk and Dove but dico didn't like Hawk and Dove writer Steve Skeets ideas for the characters and editor dick to your Don Oh seemed to side with Skeets so dick Oh again suddenly quit with half of issue six of Creeper done but he's not credited and even fans and experts aren't sure if any of Ditko's work made it into the issue it may have been done by Neil Adams trying to mimic his style Hawk and Dove were brothers with opposite ideas of philosophy playing off the politics of the late 60s Hawk was tough and aggressive event dove more passive and an intellectual you think this might lend itself to a situation where there's the brains of the team and the brute force instead according to dick hos beliefs he illustrated Hawk is ready for action and full of conviction and drew dove more effeminate and weak Skeets scripts didn't match with Dicky's ideals so he left DC and began working on stories himself with the most regular being more adventures for mr. a mr. a fit Ditko's worldview vest he was a reporter searching for the objective truth he would come across criminals of many different types and leave them with his calling card one side white and one side black to both dick oh and mr. a you were one or the other because there could be no gray without black and white actually existing I'm going to show some of mr. E's stories in just a moment but I think it's worth noting that a lot of them can be a bit repetitive mr. a will frequently track down fight and intimidate a criminal or someone he views as evil but many times the antagonist ends up in a life-or-death situation thanks to his own mistakes and mr. a will simply stand by and let them die it's not the most proactive thing for a hero to do just stand by and let stuff happen in other words a superhero in an Objectivist story is frequently quite passive because they have such black and white convictions superheroes are frequently selfless ready to help others but an Objectivist is only responsible for his own success and is entitled to reap the rewards of their work let's take a look at another follower of Objectivism who's worked on superheroes director Zack Sneijder critics of Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman dawn of Justice point out that Superman does very little typical Superman stuff it happens but it never really seems to bring him joy and just listen to his own parents tell him repeatedly that he really doesn't need to be using his powers to help others just as this version of Superman doesn't feel obligated to help others mr. a may feel the need to oppose evil when he sees it but that's for his own benefit if he were to stand by and let evil happen he would be betraying his own views here's audio of Steve Ditko describing in his own words mr. a's outlook mr. a is based on iron rants theory of justice on Aristotle's law of identity his definition of man and his a few of art Aristotle said that art is philosophically more important than history history tells how men did act art shows a man could and should act the perfect hero one principle says yes to a true identity and no to a contradictory one ruled by Justice he treats every identity as it deserves he is the actual eyes potential for good in its purest form a true moral measuring ruler he is the most human and deserving a respect today's flawed superheroes are superior in physical strength but common average ordinary in mental strength rich in superpowers but bankrupt in reasoning powers they are perfect in overcoming the flaws supervillains saving the world the universe yet helped us to solve their common ordinary average personal problems it is like creating a perfectly physical adult with the reasoning limits of a six-year-old in this early mr. a story a young criminal named angel is extended some sympathy by a welfare worker named miss kinder dick Oh clearly has no sympathy for their work as the office has signs reading don't think feel among others mr. a worthlessly hunts down the teenager who has just stabbed miss kinder mr. eat punches angel atop a roof and he clings to a flagpole miss kinder tells mr. e to save angel but mr. a points out that in the time it takes him to save angel she could bleed to death you don't want to die but you're ashamed to say you want to live left to you you'd make no decision you'd rather let yourself die than admit your life is more important to you than the life of a killer it's not fair to have to make that choice who should make it for you who should decide if you live or die everyone but you but angel poor angel I I failed him I'm sorry angel I'm sorry you're cruel you don't have any mercy or pity I don't abuse my emotions I have no mercy or compassion for aggressors only for their victims for the innocent to have any sympathy for a killer is an insult to their victims even if you weren't hurt I wouldn't have saved angel mr. a let's angel fall to his death in the final mystery a story a husband and father commits suicide mr. a as his civilian identity of Rex cranes newspaper reporter investigates and finds that his three partners in his real estate business pressured him into suicide so mr. a pretends to be a mercenary working for two of the partners to kill the third this leads to the third man shooting his two partners and then mr. a shows up to reveal that he tricked him and he's now a murder mr. a leaves the man to kill himself by Objectivist standards mr. a is not a hypocrite but rather someone who witnessed evil and stood up to it at which point the evil man killed himself rather than face consequences so now we understand how Steve Ditko lived by his Objectivist views and inserted them into his work now it might help us to look back to the 60s when he walked away from spider-man spider-man invented web shooters but used them for altruistic purposes when by Objectivist standards he should cash in on his amazing invention Peter Parker sold his photos to the Daily Bugle paper for less than what they were worth just turned some money he was desperate for meanwhile newspaper publisher Jay jonah Jameson a self-made and successful industrialist is frequently portrayed as a buffoon but rather than compromise dico walked away in this fashion he had what could be called a Howard Roark compulsion Howard Roark was the protagonist of Iran's book The Fountainhead a brilliant architect work quit his prestigious job rather than make changes requested by a client when the client has another architect implement their changes Roark actually blows the building up dico would do work for others but he would only give the effort he deemed worthy of what he was being compensated dico came back to both DC and Marvel when there were different editors in charge but some of his work was considered not up to his previous standards he had a run on ROM space night in the 80s that received a lukewarm reception he created speedball at Marvel in 1988 and worked on it for almost a year but his interest seemed to wane every issue his last mainstream work was the co-creation of Squirrel Girl in 1992 prior to that he created shade the changing man for DC in 1977 character creation seemed to come more easily to dico than to many other artists as almost every character he created for Marvel Charlton and DC is still in use today but ultimately dico was content to let mr. a and some of his other creations speak to his ideology a lot of these issues are still available to order online directly from Robyn Schneider it isn't as fun and cheery as Blue Beetle or spider-man or even Doctor Strange but it is the best look at who Steve Ditko was and many issues feature essays as well as long exposition from mr. a or his supporting cast in the second to last story with mr. a there's a long monologue by mr. Hayes publisher boss after firing his brother and wife from the paper for printing stories that suited their ideal instead of his una you and Henry get out of this building and stay up put Bart please listen whose paper is it who owns it it it's yours but no buts my policies rule my property I decide on the uses and disposal of my earned property if you and Henry want to promote your causes earn create your own paper now get out dico was a creator unlike any other and we're all better for the contributions he made to the field it's unlikely that most people would agree with his Objectivist standards but you still have to admire how he lived by his own convictions no one could ever accuse Steve Ditko of selling out his artwork was beautiful and unique unlike anything else and I think that his contributions and his influence will outlast his life evil is powerless a mind that refuses to accept or defend the truth by that act permits lies to exist to give them respectability and influence thereby undercutting and eventually destroying everything that is over real value destroyed not by the power of evil but by the Goods refusal to protect itself against an enemy that could exist only with Goods permission all right folks thank you so much for watching this episode I really appreciate it by the time this launches I should even have just hit or be just about to hit 10,000 subscribers so I really want to say a sincere thank you to all of you for watching hitting like and subscribe commenting it means a lot to me it's really nice I'm not gonna show any fan art this week I'm gonna hold it for next week because there was only one piece and that guy decided that he didn't want to be up for winning the gotcha Pond prize of the week but if you have fan art about this channel that you want to send send it to conduct ropes at gmail.com and I'll include everything I receive thank you so much for watching and until next week keep reading comics

Channel: ComicTropes

Views: 375,083

Keywords: comic tropes, comic books, history, steve ditko, spider-man, doctor strange, dr. strange, stan lee, marvel comics, mr. a, ayn rand, objectivism, dc comics, hawk and dove, creeper, charlton comics, blue beetle, question, vic sage, captain atom

Id: xe21fi7wAxw

Length: 21min 58sec (1318 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 15 2018