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Online usersPollWhat should the government do about ailing financial institutions? Nothing, except to back off and get out—as any Objectivist knows, intervention is treating the disease with the disease 83% Intervene judiciously—enough to avert a catastrophe that is otherwise imminent 3% Intervene massively—as it's doing 3% Nationalize the whole economy and be done with it. Bring on the USSA! 1% Something else (specify) 11% Total votes: 80
 Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
 Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
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My debt to Steve Ditko Submitted by Landon Erp on Sun, 2006-05-28 21:56.
It's just really starting to come to my attention that there are a lot of people who don't know who Steve Ditko is. I know most people here are at least mildly aware of him but I still don't think he has the recognition he deserves (especially among Objectivists). This guy had a major impact on my life and I think for that. I owe him a debt I may never be able to pay completely. This writing is part of my payment. Steve Ditko was of the first generation of comic artists who actually chose comics as a profession purposefully as opposed to just something to do between advertising jobs. His work began in the 1950's mainly on horror/sci-fi comics. Around this time one of the standards in the comic industry was "Twilight Zone" style anthology books. Ditko's work in this period contained what were to become his trademarks in interesting layouts, strongly set moods, and deep characters. His most known work is the co-creation of super-hero Spider-Man with Stan Lee for the company Marvel Comics. Around this time, the company Marvel was using the plot style of writing... it's evolved over time but it basically consists of the writer coming up with a basic idea for a story, hands it off to the artist who develops it into pages of completed art filling in any blanks the writer may have had. Once the art is finished the writer or another writer would come in and write the dialogue. Ditko excelled under this system. It's said eventually it got to the point where Lee's imput pre-art would be a post it (or time appropriate equivalent) "this issue the Rhino" and Ditko would have to develop everything from there. His work in this area of development lead to the first writing credits given to artists who were actually developing much of the story at this point. He used this opportunity to develop ideas like heroic individualism and answering the Hippie "counter culture" (The Master Planner Trilogy) , The impotence of evil (Just a Guy named Joe) and the value of productive ingenuity (everything from page one panel one of Amazing fantasy 15 onward). On a side note Ditko also created the "Master of the Mystic Arts" Dr. Strange during his time at Marvel. An odd creation for an Objectivist but the storys are great and the artwork strong. It's here he developed the quirkiest of his layouts (so quirky in fact that he gained many fans within the hippy culture who thought of him like another Timothy Leary... who were greatly disappointed to see a clean cut upright young man when many of them went to visit Marvel headquarters). In the mid 60's the "Amazing Spider-Man" series was reaching it's first peak in that it was finally selling amounts which were rivaling the book that had been at top since Marvel's inception (The Fantastic Four). At this time Ditko quit the book and ended his association with Marvel Comics as a company for decades to come. Several reasons are given for this but most people will never know which is true. I think it's a combination of many of them, and at times I find it like an entertaining equivilant of the "John Galt stories" in Atlas Shrugged. One of the most popular is the fact that he did not want his favorite villain "the Green Goblin" revealed as productive businessman Norman Osborne. After quitting Marvel he took jobs with DC comics and Charlton comics. DC gave him high profile jobs but often softened his philosophical edge due to commercial factors. His best legacy at DC comics is available in the comics: The Creeper about Reporter Matt Ryder who spends his night fighting crime and corruption as the monstrous Creeper Hawk and Dove a story about two brothers who had completely different personalities and views, but had to work together in spite of this who were imbued with powers from an unknown source And Shade the changing man, One man's fight with an illegal weapon against an oppressive state. I however tend to prefer his Charlton work. Charlton left Ditko alone to do his work for the most part, with the exception of not trusting him to do his own dialogue. As a result sometimes his views come through, sometimes they don't. He was best known there for revitalizing the classic characters The Blue Beetle and Captain Atom, as well as creating the faceless hero The Question. Captain Atom was a military man transformed into a god of the nuclear age. Blue Beetle had been a cop who spent his nights as a vigilante (THAT's dedication) and used a special steroid to get an edge. And then as an archeologist who used a magic scarab to gain powers which he used to fight crime. When Ditko got a hold of the character he gave the Beetle's secret identity an assistant... and promptly killed off the original. His assistant was to take over for him, but the scarab was lost forever. Did this stop the new Beetle... This scientist became a master fighter/gymnast and invented enough tools and weapons to out do the original. And speaking of dedication Vic Sage was an independent reporter who would take on anyone anywhere. He spotted corruption no matter how powerful the person, or how respected he did not let it pass. And when an investigation called for it he pulled out the invention of "Aristotle" Rodor... a second skin which is toxic over an open would but a perfect mask. And as faceless avenger the Question he followed his black and white morals to enact the line "when someone chooses to deal in force, I answer in force. Do not say I am sinking to his level. I am granting his wish. Destruction. And the only destruction he had a right to wish for, his own" Once on his own Ditko created his greatest work. By his own standards. On his own terms. He took the frame work of the Question and took it away from the editorial standards of other companies. And added a huge degree of abstraction. The stories of Mr. A often seem to take place between the concrete world and the abstract principles which guide it. You see the black muck of corruption on government officials and otherwise decent men who turn a blind eye to corruption in any form. You'll see what the united nations would mean in a single neighborhood. A committee of 8 men. Two gangsters, 5 mildly corrupt men who slowly shift further toward helping crime against innocence and the innocence destroyed within the single decent man whose honor the group steals. You'll see the only path to redemption from conscious evil. You'll see how mediocrity and jealousy breeds evil. He did several other smaller works in this vein. Super heroes, crime stories, and straight philosophical tracts (excellent ones). A few years ago when I was finally brave enough to pick up my pen and start working on comics again I drew inspiration from Ditko's originality. I drew further inspiration once I heard about how his unique philosophy had guided his amazing career. Thanks to Steve Ditko I discovered the answers to all the questions I ever had, even the ones I was afraid to ask through the words of his most influential teacher (and I don't mean Will Eisner but I don't think I need to bother nameing her here). That's why I owe him a debt. And that's why I'll keep paying it as long as I'm capable ---Landon
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User loginFeatured BookNavigationSyndicate  The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
 Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
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Now that is an interesting
Now that is an interesting thing to ponder.
---Landon
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
Who really wrote Blue Beetle #2?
In my earlier comment, I indicated that D. Glanzman wrote Blue Beetle #2 and, indeed, in that comic, he is so credited. I didn't want to comment further till I had a chance to research this and not rely on my sometimes inadequate memory. The following excerpt is from an interview with Ditko's then editor, Dick Giordano (someone I used as a role model in my own editing days), from Comic Book Artist #9, August, 2000. Make of it what you will:
CBA: D.C. Glanzman--Sam's brother--wrote for you?
Dick: No, he didn't really write any of that stuff.
CBA: Why was he listed?
Dick: I have no idea why Steve [Ditko] didn't want to take credit for it, but he didn't. Dave Glanzman worked in the office, as a board man, making corrections, taking stories to New York for Code approval, things like that. We just asked him for permission to use his name as writer on some of Steve's stories.
CBA: Did Dave get paid for the stories?
Dick: No. But Charlton didn't care about the credit listings.
Yes!
Was this Atlas when Martin Goodman left Marvel and decided to reuse the old name.
Yes!
Return of the pics
This discussion was looking a little colorless. Actually I wasn't familaiar with the character but that does sound like a great creative team.
Was this Atlas when Martin Goodman left Marvel and decided to reuse the old name.
---Landon
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
The Destructor
One excellent Ditko creation you didn't mention is the Destructor. I don't know if you're familiar with this character but it was published by the short lived Atlas/Seaboard in 1975. There were four issues, all penciled by Ditko, the first three written by one of my favorite comics writers, Archie Goodwin, and the first issue inked by the great Wally Wood. Goodwin, Ditko and Wood: how could you go wrong with a combination like that?
You can read more about the Destructor here: http://www.atlasarchives.com/comics/destructor.html.
I stand corrected
I think the version of the BB origin I was going from was a reprint or retelling, so forgive any inconsistancies with the story and the original. Plus anytime you have somethig to say on the subject it's usually worth listening.
As to the Question, Mr. A question (that was a circular sentance if I ever saw one) it's interesting to ponder. I'd think the Creeper should factor in there as well seeing as those three characters are all kind of slight variations from each other (With Creeper being most traditional super-hero and Mr. A being the most real life/pulpy)
And I'm always glad to to give anyone a chance to relive a good Ditko story or maybe discover one for the first time.
---Landon
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
Hi Landon,I loved your blog
Hi Landon,
I loved your blog entry and thanks for e-mailing me to bring it to my attention. Ditko is my hero and is only superceded by Ayn Rand in that category for me. It was Ditko's work that first triggered my own interest in Rand. And of course, Ditkophile that I am, I have a few amplifications.
Steve Ditko was of the first generation of comic artists who actually chose comics as a profession purposefully as opposed to just something to do between advertising jobs.
He specifically chose not just comics but comic books. He has stated that he never had any interest in doing comic strips, usually considered the "golden grail" of success among comics artists of the past.
He was best known there for revitalizing the classic characters...Captain Atom...
He also co-created Captain Atom with writer Joe Gill in 1959 before revitalizing the character several years later.
On his revitalization of the Blue Beetle, you have a few of the facts wrong. Ted Kord, the new Blue Beetle, was never a lab assistant to Dan Garret, the old Blue Beetle. Ted was assisting his Uncle Jarvis at his uncle's lab. When Ted discovered that his uncle was up to no good (with Ted inadverdently helping him,) he contacted his old college friend, Dan. Together they traveled to Pago Island where Dan was killed. Dan's last words were, "Ted, you must keep my secret...promise me you'll carry on...for the Blue Beetle! You can do it...promise me!" To which Ted replied, "How can I refuse? I'm as much to blame as my uncle for this! I promise, Dan!"
Unfortunately, the Beetle Scareb, from which old BB gained his powers, was buried somewhere on the island in a collapsed cave. But a promise is a promise..."And so, after months of labor, hours of testing and practice with my equipment and a crash physical training program, my promise to Dan Garret reached fullfillment! I emerged as the Blue Beetle!"
Those quotes above are from Blue Beetle #2, August, 1967, plotted and drawn by Ditko, script by D. Glanzman and lettered by A. Machine. Yep, everyone else in the business hand lettered their comics. Ever cost conscious Charlton lettered their comics with A. Machine, in other words, a typewriter.
BB #2 is one of my favorite comics. Thanks, Landon, for giving me an excuse for revisiting it.
On Mr. A and the Question, who came first? Mr. A first appeared in Witzend #3, 1967, and The Question first appeared in Blue Beetle #1, June, 1967. I don't know who came first.
I'm currently reading Steve Ditko's the Thing and Other Stories just released by Pure Imagination and available from Bud Plant at http://budplant.com/product.asp?pn=STDI01. It reprints all Ditko's comics from Charlton's The Thing, and all from 1954 when Ditko was just starting in the business. Good stuff! Great stuff if you're a Ditko fan!
I remember the Void
Void was kind of a "Shadow" like character (ie the template for Batman) who used psychological manipulation to triumph over his foes.
I remember one line where the character told one of the people he was saving "there is nothing mystical about me" but he used a lot of magic trick like tactics to totally psyche out a foe before defeating him.
GOD DAMN, I wish he'd done more with that character, amazing idea amazing execution and as far as I know only a handfull of stories with him.
---Landon
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
It might be the Void I'm
It might be the Void I'm thinking of...
Rule of Thumb
Might have, but what he took from his work on the book was more the look of the layouts for the "battles on the astral plane."
You see a lot of refering back to the layouts and artistic style in his Mr. A stories, where the world seems almost like a surreal painting where real people are enacting real events. And yet the surreal elements play up the abstract concepts at work in the stories.
Like in Right to Kill at the end of the story Mr. A's black and white card is floating in space as he calmly walks along the white side back to happiness and normal life with the kidnapped child and the kidnappers with their growing desperation are begging to be saved as they fall from the crumbling black portion of the card. You definitely see the Dr. Stange influence there.
But the best rule in a Ditko book if the only reference to a bad idea is in the dialogue... it probably wasn't Ditko who put it there
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
Dr. Strange
Thanks, Landon. Not only is the Sorcerer Supreme odd for an Objectivist, but his whole origin is based around being a "selfish" doctor...but Ditko did a few independent stories with a Strange-like character, didn't he?
Something I left out
As to Dr. Strange...? That one's a little tougher to justify. I think most of the Objectivist pro-Harry Potter arguements apply here (value driven plot magic treated as a fact of life with an almost scientific nature) But there are also some altruistic elements to the origin which seem a little hard to square overall.
But to my knowledge he was an Objectivist at this point and it's just another "colaboration" issue.
---Landon
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
Lee, Ditko and Goodman
They strike me as colaborations that he had to sometimes grind his teeth through.
But from the stories I've heard I think he was even then. He always hated the "power and responsibility" speech but had no control over dialogue at that point. You see more of it later in his career where he gets frustratingly close to actually getting some dialogue of value in and then someone came along and softened it up.
Granted this isn't the case with Spider-Man... You had three people running that book (Lee, Ditko, and Martin Goodman). Ditko had ideas he wanted worked in. Lee wasn't as philosophical but did have his own ideas, but more importantly he was a student of the pulp style of writing (covered effectivly in "Bootleg Romanticism" refering to a style that has quests for values/morals, but those values and morals are taken as given and not much thought is spent on them). Martin Goodman was just a good businessman with no real philosophical stake in the issue that saw that students on college campuses (many hippies but not all) were buying Marvel comics in large numbers and he didn't want that fact jeapordized.
To use a Rand metaphor it's like the firm Roark worked for between Francon and Heyer and starting his own firm. Sometimes his ideas came through but they were always diluted with that of the others.
---Landon
Inking is sexy.
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/wickedlakes
Landon, do you know if Ditko
Landon, do you know if Ditko was an Objectivist prior to Spiderman and Dr. Strange? They strike me as being pre-objectivist.