Steve Ditko – DC Comics, Marvel, Charlton & More – Co-Creator Legend Of Amazing Spider-Man, Titans’ Hawk & Dove, Doctor Strange, Blue Beetle and More Passes Away At 90!
THR reports:
- Steve Ditko, Spider-Man Co-Creator and Legendary Comics Artist, Dies at 90
He also created Doctor Strange with Stan Lee during his years at Marvel.
Artist Steve Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee, has died at age 90.
The New York Police Department confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was announced. Ditko was found dead in his apartment on June 29 and it is believed he died about two days earlier.
In 1961, Ditko and Lee created Spider-Man. Lee, the editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, gave Ditko the assignment after he wasn’t satisfied with Jack Kirby’s take on the idea of a teen superhero with spider powers. The look of Spider-Man — the costume, the web-shooters, the red and blue design — all came from Ditko. Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy No. 15. The comic was an unexpected hit, and the character was spun off into The Amazing Spider-Man. Ditko helped create such classic Spider-Man characters as Doctor Octopus, Sandman, the Lizard and Green Goblin. Starting with issue No. 25, Ditko received a plot credit in addition to his artist credit. Ditko’s run ended with issue No. 38.
In 1963, Ditko created the surreal and psychedelic hero, Doctor Strange. The character debuted in Strange Tales No. 110, and Ditko continued on the comic through issue No. 146, cover dated July 1966.
After that, Ditko left Marvel Comics over a fight with Lee, the causes of which have always remained murky. The pair had not been on speaking terms for several years. Ditko never explained his side, and Lee claimed not to really know what motivated Ditko’s exit. The best explanation suggests Ditko was frustrated at Lee’s oversight and his failure to properly share credit for Ditko’s contributions to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. The charismatic Lee was always the face of Marvel Comics, but Ditko (and Jack Kirby) thought Lee was more interested in self-promotion than selling the company, and, in the process, implied that he deserved the lion’s share of the credit for creating the characters in the Marvel Universe.
Ditko went on to work for Charlton, DC Comics and other small independent publishers. He returned to Marvel in 1979, where he worked on Machine Man and the Micronauts, and he continued working for them as a freelancer in the 1990s. Among his last creations was Squirrel Girl in 1992, who has become a cult favorite in recent years.
After his work at Marvel, Ditko is probably best known for creating Mr. A in 1967. The character embodied Ayn Rand’s objectivist philosophy, which Ditko was an ardent believer in from the mid-1960s on. Other objectivist-inspired characters Ditko created included The Question, Hawk and Dove and the Creeper — all for DC Comics.
The reclusive Ditko was known as the “J.D. Salinger” of comics. From the 1970s on, he rarely spoke on the record, declining almost every interview request. He sat out the publicity booms that accompanied the Spider-Man films and the Doctor Strange movie.
“We didn’t approach him. He’s like J.D. Salinger. He is private and has intentionally stayed out of the spotlight like J.D. Salinger,” Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson told THR in 2016. “I hope he goes to see the movie, wherever he is, because I think we paid homage to his work.”
Derrickson, author Neil Gaiman and filmmaker Edgar Wright paid tribute on Twitter upon learning news of Ditko’s death…
On behalf of the Comics Nexus and Inside Pulse team, I’d like to offer our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Steve Ditko at this difficult time.
