September 27, 2009
FFF Results Post #182—Ditko!
On Friday,
CR readers were asked to "Name Five Great Things About Steve Ditko." This is how they responded.
Tom Spurgeon
1. The wash work for the Warren Magazines
2. His version of Spider-Man's creation makes most sense
3. In the phone book
4. Killjoy
5. Design For Mindless Ones
*****
Alan David Doane
1. His depiction of New York City
2. His refusal to compromise
3. His work for Charlton
4. His Spider-Man run
5. His other-dimensional freakscapes
*****
Andrew Mansell
1. Designed Iron Man's orange/yellow suit
2. Designed the Mystical Dimensions -- still awe inspiring
3. Drew the greatest single panel in comics history -- hint -- lotsa machinery
4. Designed Electro -- greatest mask EVER!!!!
5. Created the Creeper!!
*****
Ben Ostrander
1. The Question
2. Eternity
3. Mr. A
4. Objectivism advocate
5. All those fantastic hands
*****
Steve Thompson
* His costume and character designs
* Eternity
* The Question
* His collaborations with Wally Wood
* The fact that he's still here to see how appreciated he is...even if he can't allow himself to care.
*****
Stergios Botzakis
1. Plotting/drawing Amazing Spider-Man #1-38
2. Dormammu versus Eternity
3. The M-vest
4. Squirrel Girl
5. Ditko hands!
*****
Buzz Dixon
1. Gives great Gorgo!
2. The only artist who can draw the sole of a character's foot pointed at the reader and still make it look graceful
3. The -- BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! -- Creeper
4. Captain Atom: Best non-DC/Marvel/Tower superhero of the 60s
5. Nobody does crazy better!
*****
Danny Ceballos
1. Dr. Strange origin story
2.
Tales Of Suspense #34 (Oct '62) Splash page extraordinaire
3. creating Spider-Man, for chrissakes!
4. unleashing Mr. A upon an unsuspecting world
5. refusing to kow-tow to "the man"
*****
Douglas Wolk
1. Dormammu's flaming head
2. Named a character Ote Kame
3. Unbelievably high WTF quotient of every issue of Shade the Changing Man
4. The Odd Man
5. Current work looks right at home on the Sparkplug table at indie shows
*****
Evan Dorkin
1. The design for Dormammu
2. The design for Mysterio
3. The Spider-Man sequence where he psyches himself up to lift all that fallen machinery, like Hulk Hogan working out of a sleeper hold
4. Ditko hands! C'mon, free spot on the Bingo card. Ditko hands!
5. I have it on good authority that at a Valiant Comics shindig Ditko got up and went after someone who had taken his photograph, brandishing a chicken leg. No fracas or altercation took place, I just like the image of him shaking a chicken leg at the guy while explaining his reasons for not wishing to be photographed. If I remember correctly, the photograph was "taken care of". I guess that's not a reason why Ditko is great, but it is a reason why Ditko is Ditko. And Ditko is great.
*****
Fred Hembeck
1. His comedic timing, layout-wise, as well as the accompanying facial expressions of the various characters in "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson" are all absolutely perfect, making it my favorite regular-sized issue of my favorite run of any super-hero comic, ever!
2. Amazing Spider-Man Annual#1! All-new -- and all Ditko -- from cover to cover! Full splashes for each of six iconically designed baddies! Cameo's by every Marvel character! Great bonus features -- especially the peek behind the scenes with Stan and Steve! (And look -- they're still TALKING!!!)
3. His Warren work was absolutely breathtaking, never more so than on "Collector's Edition"!
4. Every single one of the many five page features done in conjunction with Stan Lee in the back of a variety of Marvel (and pre-Marvel) books, circa 1959-1963, are both fun to read and are visual treasures, especially the splash pages (ably assisted by Artie Simek's fine display lettering)!
5. THE MYSTERY!!! Oh, the mystery...
*****
Gary Usher
1. The Mocker
2. "Laszlo's Hammer"
3. Been drawing comics for over 50 years!
4. Robin Snyder
5. Did same high quality work no matter what his page rate was, even if there was no pay at all.
*****
Grant Goggans
1. Amazing Spider-Man #25, in which a completely ridiculous robot with Jameson's face appearing on a TV monitor in its head, wanders around the city looking for Spidey. Why can't real newspaper publishers do this?
2. The design for all the Metans in Shade, but especially the Sude robot.
3. I have to go with Killjoy as well, but particularly the giant tears everybody is shedding.
4. He inspired that lovely Hembeck comic where all the Marvel characters spread the news: "Ditko's back..."
5. The Odd Man, the best superhero character DC ever let get away, and clearly a fashion inspiration for the sixth Doctor Who.
*****
James Langdell
1. Lettering with attitude
2. Panels drawn as torn calendar sheets drifting around the pages of a Charlton mystery story
3. Drawings of classic men's hats that make you want to wear them
4. How an all-star series of inkers on ROM Spaceknight were obviously inspired by the chance to work with his art
5. Eternity
*****
Jason Michelitch
1. Whenever someone is disheveled and sweaty.
2. Those eyes.
3. The sparkly effect when someone is dazed.
4. The nine-panel grid.
5. Pride in personal expression.
*****
John Vest
1. All the five page science fiction/horror/suspense stories he did for Marvel in the early sixties
2.
His comment on the donation of his Spider-Man artwork to the Library of Congress
3. The Fantastic Four with Kirby inked by Ditko in FF #13
4. His essays in Robin Snyder's The Comics
5. Shade The Changing Man
*****
Justin J. Major
1. Dormammu's fiery head
2. Fanatic devotion to Ayn Rand/Objectivism
3. Captain Universe ("The hero who could be YOU"!)
4. Beware the Creeper
5. He doesn't care what -- or even if -- we think of him
*****
Lou Copeland
1. Integrity
2. The 24 pages he did for Questar Magazine
3. The way he delineated shading in his seventies and eighties work by applying broad open diagonal hatching
4. Unusual Tales #29 (1961) - "Way Out Man" (5 page humor story)
5. Still making comics in his eighties
*****
Matthew Craig
1. His masks reveal more than they conceal.
2. His hats are dapper on the napper. In fact, his whole wardrobe would make Don Draper drop a log.
3. Spider-Man is fucking awesome, and his is the original, the definitive, the Ne plus ultra.
4. He did a Transformers colouring book, once.
5. Man can cast a shadow.
*****
Michael Grabowski
1. The Incredible Hulk #6
2. Doctor Strange
3. The 1970s reprints of his 1960s Charlton hero comics
4. His odd fill-in issues for various Marvels in the 1970s
5. hands!
*****
Mark Coale
1. Mr. A
2. Shade the Changing Man
3. Prince Gavyn Starman
4. the "half-mask" depiction of Spidey Sense Tingling
5. Dormammu
*****
Scott Dunbier
* Deep Ruby
* The stories he inked over Kirby
* His old Marvel self-portrait
* That only two or three pictures are public
* His refusal to be interviewed for the documentary
*****
Sean Kleefeld
1. Ditko has more artistic and moral integrity than anyone I've ever heard of
2. There are more drawings of Ditko in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 than there are photos of him
3. Ditko came up with those super-funky hand gestures Dr. Strange used
4. Ditko came up with those super-trippy backgrounds for Dr. Strange without the use of drugs
5. There is almost zero chance of Ditko actually reading this, and even less chance of his giving a damn
*****
Vito Delsante
1. His Charlton work (esp his work on the Question).
2. The creation of Mr. A, one of the most true-to-Ditko characters ever.
3. His stubbornness in regards to his position on Marvel, Stan and Spider-Man.
4. Every page of Doctor Strange.
5. The cover of Amazing Spider-Man #33.
*****
topic suggested by Michael Aushenker
*****
*****
posted 7:30 am PST |
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