Steve Ditko

Spider-man and Dr Strange co-creator who turned his back on mainstream comics

on fight scenes and more on Peter Parker’s psyche, had broad licence with plotting and drawing ‘Spidey’.

Ditko’s conception of the series had been shifting, influenced by Ayn Rand’s libertarian philosophy. Spider-man’s villain, the Looter, was named after Rand’s term for those leeching from the creative elite; phrases like “equal value trade” crept into Parker’s words, and he voiced resentment toward student protesters.

Ditkobristledatbeingdenied royalties when Spider-man had his own TV cartoon and was used in product tie-ins. He left Marvel in 1965 and worked for various other publishers before returning to Charlton. Ditko further pursued Randian notions, particularly with Mr A, a character he created for Witzend, a black-andwhite comic aimed at adults and unconstrained by the Comics Code. Mr A, attired in a white suit and conservative hat, was named after “A is A,” the idea in Rand’s Atlas Shrugged that there is one unassailable truth, one reality, and only white (good) and black (evil) forces in society. Unlike mainstream superheroes, he killed criminals.

For Charlton, Ditko created the Question, also in a suit and hat but devoid of facial features. Like Mr A, he spoke in a stilted, didactic vernacular akin to a philosophical tract. In 1968, Ditko joined DC Comics, where he created, among other characters, Hawk and Dove, superpowered brothers of opposing moral dispositions, and the Creeper, a crime fighter with a maniacal laugh. Another bout with tuberculosis derailed those series, and both ended within a year.

Ditko’s aversion to attending comic conventions and meeting fans was well known. By 1964, he had withdrawn from the public eye, limiting exchanges to post or telephone. The 1970s and 80s proved comparatively fallow. Ditko’s output plummeted, especially after Charlton’s demise in 1978. In the 1980s, there were more stints at Marvel and DC, and at the independent publisher Eclipse.

In later years, Ditko created black-and-white digest-size comics financed with Kickstarter funds and sold online.