Steve Ditko Home Footage 2005 & his Philosophy on Mr. A 1987
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- Опубліковано 16 січ 2021
- My book, Understanding Superhero Comic Books available at a.co/d/8ZSTMh8 & mcfarlandbooks.com/product/un....
With permission from Ditko Estate spokesperson, Mark Ditko: Steve Ditko footage from visiting his home in Johnstown, PA for Christmas 2005 and recorded by Alena Ditko with no sound is aired here, definitely not "leaked." Also overlaid with Steve Ditko's voice from his section of 1987 Masters of Comic Art Documentary discussing Mr. A and an inserted 2015 picture of Steve Ditko in New York.
#SteveDitko #AynRand #Marvel #ComicBooks #SpiderMan #MrA #Ditko
Edited & Produced by Alex Grand
#SteveDitko - Розваги
I wrote a letter to Steve Ditko when I was 7 years old. I’d been given my grandfather’s collection of Spider-Man comics from the 1960s, including some of Ditko’s work. I began to write and draw stories based on what I’d seen him draw.
Long story short I kept the letter, because I was too nervous to send it after what I’d heard about him. Then I hear the news of his death three years ago now. Only recently did I uncover the same letter I’d written to Steve and broke down in tears because of the memories this man gave me as a child.
The fact that this video exists, and it’s the first video I’ve seen of him, is something I just have to say thank you for.
The best thing about this video and seeing Steve laughing. For decades the image of Ditko was of real seriousness. I am glad he enjoyed his life.
Many artists & writers who had worked with Ditko found him very interesting & liked working with him; they respected his privacy as well. Whoever has the rights to Ditko' Mr A should try to get the series published, perhaps as a trade paperback in the future.
He deserved more credit for all of his work and still does. It's hard to find any footage of him thanks for uploading this.
It's 3am in England, I wake up, and suddenly there's Steve Ditko on audio and video? This is a nice dream, and I hope I remember some of it in the morning. Everyone knows there are only two pictures of DItko. It's one of the fundamental laws of the universe, surely?
That universe is about to change even more. Stay tuned...
This was so amazing to watch. A rare glimpse of one of the most creative human beings that graced us with so many wonderful stories.
I have always liked Steve Ditkos art, he creates really interesting looking faces. Thanks for uploading
It’s amazing that this footage and audio exists. Thank you.
WOAH, It’s Spider-man’s other Dad! This is Amazing to see!
I didn't always appreciate Steve Ditko's work, or philosophy but getting to know more about him, seeing more of his work, even as he'd self publish doing his own thing, made me like respect him and his work as well as his code. Thanks for posting the video.
This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! It's great to see Steve Ditko in video footage, since he doesn't like to be photographed. Great video! I have a Mr. A comic from the late 80's. Very deep character and I hope he makes a trip to Washington, DC. Lol
Very glad to see this video about Steve Ditko; hope there's more to come.
Always glad to see Ditko's Objectivist-influenced work, and to see the man himself in motion. Looks like a little standoffishness with the public helped him be positive and happy in his art and lifestyle. The right people, the right time, the right loved ones -- he may have learned what social people like yours truly needed COVID to learn.
Wait a second. You mean Steve didn't have a flaming head a la Dormammu?
Ditko home movies. Nice.
Perfection on how ideals should be....
Steve Ditko kept drawing into his later life. He
When did Ditko make this recording? And what was it originally used for?
Just an awesome video. Steve Ditko VIDEO? Show me your pics of the Holy Grail while you're at it, eh? ;)
Thanks!
But... I don't think I've ever heard anyone say a flawed (i.e anti-) hero is the same as a villain with some good in him. Ditko seems to rail against a standard no one has ever actually claimed.
I agree with much of what he says, but he always takes things too far. Is he extrapolating out from what he thinks other creators are saying as regards anti-heroes or villains with some good in them? Because other than maybe Watchmen at its bleakest interpretations/moments... I can't think of any comic book heroes or stories that give the hero and the villain moral equivalence. Or am I just not reading those books? (Very possible.)
He says a flawed hero gives the label of “hero” without needing to act better. He seems to be saying that to accept flaws into your superhero characters at all is to corrupt them, make them less than perfect and as such, they become a flawed example and set the aspirational bar lower. Taken to it’s extreme, this results in no standards whatsoever, and the heroes and villains DO inherently become blurred - without the need to explicitly express it. He does have a point there. Just look at DC’s treatment of Harley Quinn vs Superman in pop culture the last several years. Superman has been deconstructed to the point of being consistently characterized as villainous and ill-defined, Harley Quinn who started as a villain has been deconstructed to the point of being a hero and the “fourth pillar of the DC Universe.” The argument against aspirational superheroes is always that they’re unrealistic, unrelatable, and we can’t identify with them. But aspirational heroes were not created to be “realistic”, they were created to be... aspirational, inspiring, a glimpse of what we COULD be if we were all that we wish we were - which none of us can ever be. Ditko describes it as “how we could and should act.” Stan Lee contributed to it with the line “with great power, there must also come great responsibility” - which, logically, would translate to a fantastical amount of power would require a fantastical level of responsibility. Jack Kirby himself describes it perfectly as “the transcendent feeling that we could do better.” This is the concept at the heart of all superhero fiction and I would argue that without this concept, the character isn’t even a “superhero” but more of a superpowered rockstar
I’m sure the irony of this being the guy who co-created Spider-Man was not lost on Ditko. Spider-Man, in reality, is probably the worst example in his career of a character that reflected his own personal philosophy. Spider-Man is flawed and not an aspirational character at all, even though he’s still branded as such - given the “hero” label without raising the bar for heroism. At first, I think Ditko accepted it because Peter was a high schooler and had a lot to learn, but he probably saw that Peter wasn’t going to develop to be an aspirational or objectivist hero under Stan Lee’s editorial direction and was sick of not getting story credit and decided to take his ball and go home
I don’t agree with a lot of the objectivist philosophy either, but he has a point about the superhero genre in general
@@bradenhogan2 I can't speak to comics in the last 10 years or so. As a hyperbolic statement meant to show extremes I can accept Ditko's statement about HOW a hero and villain could become "the same." And maybe that's exactly what has happened since Ditko made those comments (in 1985, I believe). Deadpool, Harley, heck... many people view the nihilistic Joker as a hero. So maybe it did happen. If so, that saddens me. OTOH - seems like the reprints of classic heroes sell better than the reboots and retcons, etc., so...
I dunno - I stopped reading new comics around 2006.
Fascinating creator. But I do wish his later work more dramatized the ideas he's discussing rather than just stated them.
Regardless, this video is a real treasure for those who know the value. Thanks again!
@@bradenhogan2 You get it! Nice.
Steve looks exactly how I always envisioned he would in his later years. How come the video doesn't have any audio?
It was recorded without it!
@@ComicBookHistorians A video without sound? I didn't realise cameras from the silent era were still in active use.
@@Da1Dez they're not, the speed of the recording was altered and the sound accidentally silenced.
@@ComicBookHistorians I want to hear him speak on camera so bad.
Mr. Ditko's sneering condemnation of the "flawed hero" makes me wonder... did he really think there was or had ever been such a thing as a perfect hero? And if so, I wonder who that would have been.
Perhaps Superman since that character really was portrayed to be without any human flaws. But we'll never know what Ditko thought of Superman. He did believe in sympathetic superheroes since he created Spider-Man with Peter Parker's financial problems and tragic deaths of his parents and Uncle Ben and the stress of supporting his Aunt May. I wish Stan had just let Ditko do THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN on his own and completely his way but Stan always had to get his cut of everyone else's success.
@@AlanSmitheemanSpider-Man is popular because he is flawed hero. Ditko hates on flawed heroes and grey characters yet is tone deaf that his own creation Mr A is basically an anti-hero.
@@petermj1098 He certainly didn't like the flawed hero concept but he may not have adopted that position at that point in his life when he created Spider'Man. People change over time and his absolutist idealism may not have taken root in the early 60s but later.
@@AlanSmitheeman Ditko was asked to make Spider-Man comics and Dr Strange comics again by Marvel but he refused because he thought Marvel “ruined” the characters after he left.
He himself said in his book The Avenging Mind that: “Both Strange and Spider-Man have been ruined by those people who took over from me and Stan. Within the period from my leaving til now there is the treatment of me, original art, creator credits etc. for me to do a Spider-Man or Strange would be providing the sanction of the victim…The only way I can honor those characters and the integrity of my run on Spider-Man and Strange is by refusing to accept the corruption or destruction of them….Remember one violation destroys, negates, the principle”.
He was a objectivist perfectionist who thought only he should be doing the characters. If someone else took over his art then it is automatically “ruined” to him. Ditko rejected every version or art of his characters that came after him. (Other comic book stories, else-word stories, movies, animated stories, video games etc.).
The only character that wasn’t “ruined” to Ditko was Mr A - which his estate owns, controlled, and personally did himself. Ditko himself said Mr A is his idea of what a perfect hero is. I guess Ditko did do wanted with Mr A, but his own dumb philosophy made him reject the evolution of his Marvel and DC characters.
The Real Spider-Man creator