Six-Slinger

I’ve been a Ditko fan since the early 1960s, and even as a kid recognized the unique nature of his remarkable work. When he left Marvel and Spider-Man behind, I considered it a tragic loss to the continuity and the future of his characters and their stories. I have wondered exactly what happened between Ditko and Lee that ended their collaboration; here are a few things I have noticed over the years. First, the two are far apart in their basic nature: Ditko lived in his own world and was clearly a loner, with his uncompromising beliefs taking him ever further away from the mainstream, while Lee is his opposite, glib, fast talking, a clever salesman type who ultimately becomes world famous for marketing their co-creations. Artists are loners by nature and by choice, while Stan was a bantering manager type, who helped build Marvel into the Disney juggernaut it is today, willing to step on and over his artists to get the job done. As Ditko became more and more uncompromising, Lee was his opposite. I recently purchased the two volumes of the Lee/Ditko omnibus, Masters of Suspense, which provided some interesting insights into the two individuals. In studying the always intriguing Ditko art, I noticed that the early stories had a simple “Ditko” artist signature, but after a number of stories, suddenly I noticed that Lee was adding his signature to the standard Ditko signature, and even more telling, adding it after Ditko had signed his name, but adding it in front of Ditko’s. Lee’s name is clearly added afterwards, and before Ditko’s, which would certainly be a potential affront to the guy who actually did most of the work. So several years before Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, Lee decided that his name should be featured in addition to the artist, AND before the artist who actually created the work. This implies that Lee saw a value and future in Ditko’s work and wanted to be sure that he was attached to that future value. This seems like the beginning of the friction between the two, and the rift between huckster and artist only became greater over the years. Imagine spending weeks patiently creating something, only to have someone add their own name IN FRONT of yours. So while Stan Lee was the the slick fast-talking marketing guru who helped bring Marvel to world attention and success, he was not equipped to handle the peculiar genius of Ditko, who became more and more dissatisfied with being treated like a disposable commodity. Admittedly, it is not easy to deal with eccentric artists, but that is no excuse for achieving fame and fortune on the work of others, while leaving the actual creator unknown and unpaid for his work, as that work became worth billions. Finally, Lee had decades to get straight with Ditko, and acknowledge his huge contribution to Marvel’s success but never did, which is either oblivious or dishonest. Both contributed massively to Marvel, but only one was fairly compensated, while the other continued onward in obscurity, seeing others reap the rewards of his work. It is a fascinating story of two very different people contributing to a global phenomenon, while the one who created most of the intellectual property being left out of the profits. As Stan would say, Nuff said.