Artist behind SpiderMan’s look influenced comic illustration
STEVE Ditko, the Marvel Comics artist gave the world the woven webs and soaring redandblue shape of SpiderMan.
Ditko was found on June 29, in his Manhattan apartment, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ditko, along with writer Stan Lee, introduced the world to Peter Parker and his alterego SpiderMan in 1962, in an issue of Amazing Fantasy.
A year later, Ditko introduced the world to surgeon-turned-metaphysical superhero Doctor Strange.
SpiderMan would go on to become arguably the most recognisable character in the Marvel universe and Doctor Strange a member of its permanent pantheon.
The adventures of both have been turned into blockbuster films.
‘‘Comics are unimaginable without his influence,’’ tweeted Patch Zircher, a comicbook artist who has worked on Batman and Superman for DC Comics.
While Lee embraced his status among comics fans, appearing at conventions and in Marvel’s films, Ditko was a recluse who won the worship of the most hardcore comicbook geeks.
‘‘He saw things his own way, and he gave us ways of seeing that were unique. Often copied. Never equalled. I know I’m a different person because he was in the world,’’ fantasy author Neil Gaiman tweeted.
The son of a steelmill worker, Ditko was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1927. He served in the army in Europe after World War 2 and began working in comics in the 1950s in New York, eventually landing a drawing job with Marvel forerunner Atlas Comics.
Jack Kirby, Lee’s artist on the Fantastic Four and many other Marvel characters, took a stab at creating SpiderMan in 1961 but Lee was unsatisfied and gave the gig to Ditko, who gave Spidey the essential look he has today.