Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko

Seriously, I grew up knowing that Ditko was awesome. This book just proves it further. Lavishly illustrated, well written and researched, this book is easily one of my favorite bios of my favorite comic legends. Steve inspired me to pick up a pencil and do what i do best and has done it once again. Bell, ya did a great job.

Finally. Someone has written a definitive history of the life of the creator of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and many other classic comic book heroes. Ditko's statement that he wanted only his work to speak for him was never satisfying enough for his fans, who wanted to know more. This book details his life in the comic book industry to present day and answers so many questions (like, why he left Spider-Man and Marvel Comics at the initial height of Spider-Man's popularity). The book is stuffed with quality reproductions of Ditko's art through his entire career and the stories told keep the reader turning page after page, just to see what happens next. Blake Bell is to be commended for producing a quality book on one of the greatest comic book artists ever.

Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko
A fascinating, thoroughly researched and insightful look into the enigmatic artistic genius that is Steve Ditko. Covers his early life + whole career in comics up to this present day. I cannot help but feel incredible joy for the epic work Ditko provided us and also great sadness for the philosophical choices he has made which rigidly limits his work and distances him from his many admiring fans. A great book which any fan of Ditko will enjoy and learn from.

This oversized book is about the art and life of Steve Ditko. There is not much to be said about his personal life, because he never had much of a social life, having never married or even had a sweetheart as far as we know. His life seems to have been devoted to his art, which is well documented here. The author gives intelligent analysis about the strengths and weaknesses of his artwork, with reproductions of hundreds of examples of his art. Ditko is best known as the co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, but he also created or co-created other heroes like Capt. Atom, the Question, the Creeper and the Hawk & the Dove. He also worked on just about every other type of comic book; including horror, science fiction, romance, western, humor and others. His work changed noticeably when he discovered the writings of Ayn Rand and became a proponent of her philosophy of Objectivism. Objectivism became the major influence not only on his life, but also on his art. His beliefs kept him from experiencing the financial success that he deserved, and they continue to do so today. An excellent book about one of the most important artists in the history of comic books.

I can't claim I was ever a big fan of Steve Ditko, I grew up reading comic books, and of course, I read reprints of his work on Spiderman, but I liked the more realistic work of John Romita (and perhaps, the unrealistically beatiful women he drew). Now I can look at it and see how revolutionary it was in the early 60s, and it was a really unique way to draw a superhero book, I'm sure that was no small part of why Spiderman caught the popular imagination of the day.

My main exposure to Ditko's art was his work on Rom: Spaceknight, and I hated it, my views have softened some since then, but I still don't care for it. But after reading this book, I have an understanding of why his later work wasn't as good as his earlier work, all the characters were so stiff, and almost unfinished, they all kind of blended together into one look. Ditko was an avid believer in objectivism, I don't claim to know a lot about it, it was covered briefly in a college philosphy class I was in years ago, but apparently part of the dogma is that you do the minimum in your unfulfilling job, so that you can focus all your creative energy on what you truly care about(it's just my understanding from what I read in the book, I'm sure the philosphy is more complicated than that).

I wasn't a Ditko fan, but you don't have to be to enjoy this book, it serves as sort of a history of the comic book industry from the point of view of one of its silver age pioneers. I really enjoyed the inside stories behind Ditko's interactions with Stan Lee and others in the comic industry.

On one hand, I really admire Ditko's unwavering artistic integrity, and on the other, I wish that he would at least be willing to relent a little, and make some money from his creations, he has original artwork that would sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but chooses to instead live a meager existence. Of coarse, that's his choice, and on one level, I do admire it.

What I can't get behind is turning in inferior work, and justifying it to himself that it's all part of a grand philosophy. Rom was one of my favorite characters at the time, and his weak artistery (intentionally weak, it appears) was part of what led to that books demise. The way I see it, Marvel was paying him, and I was plunking down my allowance to read about one of my favorite characters, he wasn't making widgets, he should have given it his full artistic attention.

But in the scheme of things, that is a small part of his story, Steve Ditko is a pioneer of the comic book industry, co-creating Spiderman, and deserves all accolades that he gets. It's an interesting story, and Ditko is an endlessly interesting man, I highly reccomend this book.