Steve Ditko, one of the true giants of comic book creators, has died. Ditko was Ditko, and he was a one-of-a-kind original who was born to draw comic books.
It’s reported that Ditko was found dead in his New York apartment on June 29, and that he had probably been dead for a couple of days.
I have been pledging to Ditko’s Kickstarter campaigns from the beginning, and the last one ended on the 4th of July. I have to wonder when his publisher, Robin Snyder, learned of Ditko’s death. He lived alone, and perhaps it was Robin who called the NYPD to request that a well-being check be made.
Other than the available sketchy facts, and my speculation, there are my feelings about the loss of Steve Ditko. Something I have said before is that if you aren’t a Silver Age comic book fan, there is no way I can convey to you how deeply I feel about Ditko’s compelling artwork. To use a bit of Stan Lee hyperbole, it got under my skin and went all the way to the marrow of my bones.
From what I know, saying that Ditko was co-creator of Dr. Strange is incorrect. In a Marvel Comics blurb from Stan Lee upon the character’s first appearance in 1963, Lee said the character was Steve’s idea. And now he’s being played by Benedict Cumberbatch! Something else I’ve said before is that it’s utterly amazing to me that the comic book characters I loved as a kid, starting over 50 years ago, are now generating billions of dollars in movie ticket sales. It’s un-f-in’ believable. And yet, here we are.
I’m rambling a bit here, but I’m stunned by this inevitable, sad news. Ditko’s greatest character is probably Mr. A, who was an inspiration for the Watchmen character Rorschach, along with Ditko’s The Question. Mr. A is anything but mainstream, but he is the embodiment of Ayn Rand’s “A is A” philosophy of Objectivism. Although I do not agree with Ditko’s closely held personal views, I sincerely respected his right to believe in them, and I am truly grateful for having had the opportunity to provide direct support to him through Kickstarter.
