There is a telling story about Steve Ditko where he sent a 6 page letter to writer Steve Skeates who had written a -script for a The Question story when both worked at Charlton Comics. From CBR, "This 6-page letter was sent because of the loose wording Steve Skeates employed when The Question was engaged with a criminal -- calling him "friend"." Skeates referred to the letter as "scary"

http://ditkocultist.com/2012/01/19/related-articles-cbrs-urban-legends-revealed-steve-ditko-3/

This was not the only encounter between the two Steve's. They co-created Hawk and Dove and that collaboration lasted a whopping 1 issue before Ditko left in disgust. Skeates identified with the mild Dove while Ditko naturally identified with the aggressive and uncompromising Hawk but Ditko felt Hawk was given the short shrift which is ironic because I read issue one and Dove was a useless pantywaist who contributed nothing. Hawk may have been hyper aggressive and reckless but at least he did something. This is not me taking Hawk's side this is simply how the story was written. One wonders how much more worthless Ditko would have made Dove if Skeates hadn't been there to defend him.

Ditko had a second "Grey Negotiator" story in "...Ditko Continued..." This time Violence and Force are beating up a white guy who's shouting, "M... My Money..." The story is pretty much the same with The Grey Negotiator advising against extremism and advocating compromise. This time, however, Violence and Force proceed to pummel The Grey Negotiator mocking him as they beat him mercilessly. The Grey Negotiator is thrilled that the two saw the light when they toss him a single dollar bill while walking away. Then he... dies? Hard to tell with Ditko's art.

Ditko is interesting in that on the one hand his stories have all the subtlety of a brick to the skull but on other occasions he's very coy. Obviously all the characters in The Grey Negotiator are intended to be representational rather than literal. Both of the victims are stark white bordering on luminescent which in the world of Ditko means they are good. Both of the victims clearly have money, the woman is literally holding cash and the man's chief concern is his "M.. My Money". Money means they aren't needy so they are deserving of protection. Most people probably think of a physical attack when they hear the words force and violence but it's much more likely than Ditko is referring to legal compelling as in taxes or regulations but you'd have to be plugged into the Objectivist/Conservative/Libertarian mindset to get that.

I'm not 100% sure who The Grey Negotiator and I'm not convinced Steve Ditko fully thought this through. The Grey Negotiator might represent politicians who negotiate to allow taxes and regulations on the wealthy. Or given the fact that The Grey Negotiator blames the victim I can only assume that in Ditko's world he must be a liberal. One of the problems in understanding Ditko's stories is that they run counter to what we would expect in a superhero story. Self-sacrifice is wrong, self-interest is right. Affluence is seen is a virtue and poverty is seen as a vice. Mercy is bad. If Mr. A faced off against The Joker he would kill the Joker without a second thought. What the reader ends up with is Steve Ditko's interpretation of Ayn Rand's philosophy which was often a muddled mess to begin with.

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