Home > Steve Ditko

Ditko studied at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City under Jerry Robinson and began professionally illustrating comic books in 1953. His early works were for Charlton Comics, producing science fiction, horror and mystery stories. Ditko then began working for what would become Marvel Comics.

He co-created the superhero characters of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange for Marvel with writer and editor Stan Lee. His idiosyncratic art style emphasizing mood and anxiety found favor with the reading public. The character of Spider-Man with his anxiety, angst and troubled social life meshed well with Ditko's personal style and interests which Marvel Comics eventually acknowledged with the artist getting a cowriter credit in the latter part of his run. After a run of four years on the title, Ditko is believed to have had a falling out with Lee and left the company. The exact details of this are uncertain to this day although the last straw is often cited to have been a disagreement as to the secret identityA secret identity is the practice of hiding a person's identity so the actual identity of the person is not known or suspected. Legal uses of secret identity include people placed under witness protection programs to protect witnesses in criminal trials f of the Green GoblinThe Green Goblin is a Marvel Comics supervillain who is the greatest enemy of Spider-Man. The Green Goblin dresses in a garish green costume resembling a goblin and uses an arsenal of high-tech weapons, notably grenade-like "pumpkin bombs", and rides on a. Ditko is said to have wanted it to be wholely unknown character to suggest the random nature of life, while Lee was adament that readers would feel cheated if they didn't get a real surprise. However this version has been challenged by some, who point out that the trick of revealing a villain's secret identity to be a complete unknown had already been undertaken in an earlier story (thus making a repeat of the trick much less likely) and that furthermore that earlier story had also featured the Green Goblin on the last occasion Ditko drew him.

He is said to have shared a studio with bondage artist Eric StantonEric Stanton ( September 30 1926 March 17 1999) was a 20th century bondage artist. Eric Stanton was a pseudonym; his real name was Ernest Stanzoni. Unlike some other bondage artists, Stanton generally depicted female dominant bondage of men by women. in the period 1958Events January January 1 Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented January 4 Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4 1957) January 8 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship January 18 Armed Lumbee Nat to 1966Events January January 1 In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. January 2 Strike of public transportation workers in New York City ends January 13 January 3 First Acid Test at the Fil.

He returned to Charlton where he produced such titles as Captain AtomJustice League Unlimited Captain Atom is a comic book superhero. He was created by Steve Ditko for Charlton Comics, and was later acquired and revised by DC Comics. Charlton Comics The Charlton Comics version of Captain Atom first appeared in 1960 and foc, Blue BeetleThe Blue Beetle is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. The first Blue Beetle was created by Fox Features Syndicate; the rights to the name and character were sold to Charlton Comics, who were in turn bought by DC Comics, who introduced their own, and The QuestionJustice League Unlimited The Question is a superhero created by Steve Ditko originally for Charlton Comics and now is owned by DC Comics. The character's real name is Victor Sage, a crusading television reporter who is out to root out corruption where he. In the pages of The Question Ditko began infusing his own philosophy which stemmed from Ayn Rand's objectivism.

By 1968, Ditko was producing work for DC Comics where he created characters such as The Creeper and The Hawk and the Dove. Ditko used these tales, ostensibly in the superhero genre, to espouse and explore various ethical issues. Either because many readers found the preachiness in some of these stories unpalatable, or perhaps due to disagreement with the artist's philosophy, Ditko's work was not as popularly received as previously. Ditko's more personal projects, such as Mr. A and Avenging World , display his political sentiments vividly, and have demonstrated little commercial appeal.

Ditko currently resides in New York City. Though a prolific and hard-working artist he is also an intensely private man. Preferring to let his work speak for itself, he has refused interviews, profiles and public appearances.