lordbyroncomics

The things you read about that were not written by him so don't trust him. It's basically classist bias; because Ditko was humble and not flashy and didn't live how other people thought how they would live with his accomplishments, they tend to project on him- still. He had a rent controlled studio in Times Square. Ditko did get royalties on certain things, just not on ALL things that he could have, because the specifications of those agreements were not things he could abide by. So he was not broke or in poverty by any means. He had a humble life and was devoted to his work and drew every single day without fail.

I don't know Ivan Briggs well but have pointed him to a few things over the years and he's well known in certain circles as a curator and someone who specializes in extremely rare items, preferably from the Golden Age. Seeing his name added credibility to it for me, just because I know who he is. I know he's appointed for- I believe- a prestigious auction house in this regard.

Ditko refused to look at Wizard magazine back then, much preferring HERO Illustrated if that tells you anything

One of the keys to talking to Mr. Ditko was to NOT talk about things you knew he didn't want to talk about. Which is why I was always amazed to see people KEPT writing him asking about Spider-Man, etc... but people often think they'll be the exception- or just didn't know their history!

Yes, that's obvious. I didn't mean disrespect, but I do think it's unsavory to keep mentioning you met Ditko a handful of times and direct people to your other threads about it, especially because you're using it as some foundation for you having some special insight. 4 times and a half hour conversation, wow...! The reason for this is because Mr. Ditko was private. People who got a tense and short letter from him broadcast it, like it makes them unique. There's a FB group for such letters, and I respect Craig Yoe very much who runs it, but- this is dishonoring Steve Ditko all to get a little attention and it rubs me the wrong way. I met him and knew him and exchanged a lot more with him than you did which is why your "this is how he was" in passing to other members here is kind of bemusing. Cherish the times you got to speak to him. Don't use it as a platform to talk about yourself- you're a lot less interesting than Ditko.

You are correct, my apologies if it seemed directed at you. It would slide off Mr HG anyhow and therefore is irrelevant!

http://fourrealities.blogspot.com/2008/05/avenging-mind-by-steve-ditko.html

These are easy to find, actually- Ditko's self published works with Robin Synder contained numerous essays by Ditko, some were about then-modern Marvel developments, sometimes it was about Spider-Man, and so forth. Not all of it is about comics but what IS is well worthwhile. http://ditko.blogspot.com/p/ditko-book-in-print.html

Ahh, it's all about your meetings and accomplishments. Got it!

I really don't want to get into a competition with anybody but I think sharing that you spoke with him one time for "over half an hour" does more to serve you than honor anything about Mr. Ditko. I get you want to dine out on your brief handful of encounters but it gave you no expertise or consultant credit so the fact that you keep referencing this stuff is very curious to me and seems self-serving. Forget about a 30+ minute conversation and 4 meetings in the sense of giving you special insight towards this. It obviously didn't increase your awareness of the slow reveal of photos and memories of Ditko from his nephews of whom he was very close, or the fact that he gave several vintage comics to Robin Synder before his death.

You asked him if he still had any old Spidey comics and, per you, his answer was to make it clear he didn't want anything to do with his past. That is not specifically saying he didn't HAVE them. He gave many comics to his nephews. It is completely plausible, I know meeting him four times is a thrill of sorts but in no way makes anyone an expert on a deeply private man. I don't see why bringing up a thread when you met him 15 years ago adds any relevance other than you (understandably) being grateful at those meetings. Those meetings are irrelevant to this since they shed no light on what he may have had or didn't have.

I don't know if he kept copies of all of his books. Whatever he had, I presume that his nephew Mark obtained ownership of them and is handling them via the estate. If Mark is at another event like last year's Ditko Con, one could ask him.

As for "how Ditko treated" his old art- this comes from ONE anecdote from Greg Theakson who many believe embellished tons of stories regarding himself with veteran artists. I believe it's a lie and it's even possible that Theakson saw something amid Ditko's stuff and assumed. This is often the problem with how beliefs start in fandom- one anecdote becomes hearsay and joins the subconscious tapestry of what people think IS when you can research these things yourself rather than continue to perpetuate things which aren't so.

Ivan Briggs has been pretty reputable so far so he should be given the benefit of the doubt. People are still surprised that because Ditko didn't act as they expected him to act, that he should be at all different from what they assumed. Because he didn't give interviews or sign for QVC or go to comic cons, this didn't mean he wasn't proud of his work. He was forward thinking and still wrote at length about Spider-Man, Stan, his views on Marvel and Joe Quesada, and so forth- fans just chose to ignore it. The ones that knew about his self-published essays were more inclined to write him off as a crank, etc. It does not surprise me that Mr. Ditko would have copies of his work- and the people running the Ditko estate are his nephews and others so this seems highly plausible to me.

I've got to say that his being a coach of a boxing gym probably helps deter these people as well. Why the f**k would someone challenge someone IN THE SPORT OF BOXING. It's ridiculous, it's Ashida Kim s**t. I bet your friend is NOT ever making these challenges.

Guys in the collecting community talking about showing up for a fight... gosh, there's nothing sadder. That's something that happens on a disturbingly routine basis in the Martial Arts community- those guys never show up either- but, if two guys were that serious about having a scrap, I think they should do it in an organized fashion: do it in a place where other comic fans can watch, having it regulated in the sense of someone being a referee and give it three two minute rounds or something similar. Then, collect money for this spectacle and donate it to the HERO Initiative. But they're never gonna show up to fight so this is all irrelevant.

Find a relative in Delaware. MCS does not charge sales tax when shipping to Delaware (as Delaware has none). I myself was excited to read that MCS/Lone Star will be at this year's Baltimore Comic Con. I'm such a happy customer I look forward to giving my appreciation in person to Conan and whomever else from the team or the Saunders family is gonna be there.

For context last night I played an episode of some show and these hosts don't even have the context of basic comics history, it was sort of amazing. Nothing wrong with coming into comics via the MCU by any means but if you're going to host a show and share things, shouldn't you at least know rudiment stuff about the history of the publishers and the characters? Speculation Bros- they're among us.

Yes. The hobby of collecting comics is secondary to promoting themselves. I'm personally amazed at how many views they get- these "Speculation Bros"- it's always guys with prominent statues and CGC books behind them and them talking about grails and investments and blah blah blah... there's some sort of backwards elitism with these guys but that's my personal thing. People are watching this content and enjoying it, so who am I to say anything.

Shad ol' boy, this is the most obvious attempt to troll/provoke I've seen in a bit. It doesn't irk me though, I think grown men resorting to these tactics is f**king hilarious! But let's give you the benefit of a doubt since you've well established your distressing lack of basic knowledge of comics history as well as applying context to different eras. When you say everything about Stan "experimenting" with mini-series- you do not take into account just how different the publishing industry and the comics industry was i the 1950s'. You are applying modern concepts and promotional techniques that were initially created for the direct market to a very unstable field from literally decades ago. (Again, you're trolling but I'll pretend you're just this uneducated) This is akin to people believing Stan created 'Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos' as a bet with publisher Martin Goodman (!)- it's not even a criticism of Stan to point out this is untrue. It's because of the publishing and distribution details of the time that make it completely impossible. People are prone to apply broad statements to things from the past under the assumption that it can't be researched. On the contrary, nothing could be further from the truth. It takes time and a proactive approach towards applying yourself, but it's done- Dr. Michael J Vassallo, a well regarded comics historian has done the work for us, thankfully. He has compiled exhaustive and comprehensive stats based on circulation and distribution records, all of which exist, besides the fact that the Atlas Implosion is very well documented and many interviews with professionals from that era have been published in Alter Ego and other places. So- Stan was not coming up with groundbreaking concepts decades ahead. Also, if he HAD- he wouldn't have been "held back" by his creative partners, especially during this period as he was the only one working in the office. Literally, your statement is so ridiculous that I feel bad for you considering you're so significantly older than me Like, who would have been able to "hold him back"?! LMAO!!!! Martin Goodman was in the building. He made every decision on publication, cancelling books, and so forth- all of that is documented but is also helpfully supported per Stan himself. Read some interviews with your idol there, real Frantic One!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha Held back when every artist is a freelancer with multiple accounts?!!! Wow- I really do expect more from my elders, but especially when they're steeped in comics. Maybe I can gift you a subscription to Alter Ego.. they're pretty pro Stan. I'd start with Ger Aperdorn's comprehensive article on Stan's attempts to break away from Martin Goodman and how badly he failed each time. It's pretty good on a historical context. Also, read up on Michael Vassallo's documentation of Martin Goodman's publishing empire. You should be well versed in all this stuff anytime you want to bring a debate at the table, but that goes for most subjects: https://timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com/2016/10/atlas-errata-cover-alterations-and.html So yeah- the groundbreaking people in comics trying things ahead of their contemporaries (and especially Stan, but I don't mean that as a critique on ol' Smiley, just pointing out factual context)- I'd look at Charles Biro who tried to get TOPS going, I'd look at Matt Baker who did one of the first graphic novels, I'd go with Arnold Drake, I'd go with a bunch of guys who literally were ahead of their time- and it's documented, all the better! So there's no speculation because- and remember this- the documented work and history will always tell a better story than a fan's assumptions. 'Nuff Said! ;)

I think it's incredibly subjective and depends upon the owner or prospective buyer. Some people prefer to have everything CGC'd; some people are flatly interested in only 9.8. I have a bunch of Bronze Age 7.0 and think it's better than having a Bronze Age 3.0.

Yeah, exactly. So perhaps I have hope to get a good price for my complete set of Nightwatch. But I really did get some weirdness to the point that I thought one guy was pranking me- he thought I was an eBay seller he dealt with before (I am not an eBay seller and do not have an eBay store) and then argued with me when I told him I wasn't, before bizarrely making a reference to Stargate. I really thought it was a prank before a google search showed this guy was indeed really how he presented himself to be.

Appreciate both responses. I got some good feedback too a couple months back, I have listed once but got so many space cadets it just didn't seem worth the trouble but I also considered that maybe that it's sometimes dependent on who is looking through CL at what time.

I've really appreciated and enjoyed this thread and all the experiences shared and posted here. It's something I've been weighing- what do you guys think of listing collections on Craigslist? It's generally hit or miss, right? It's a safer bet to list a collection for sale on a community messageboard like right here or is selling on CL beneficial sometimes?

I met him in 2005 in New York and he was very gregarious and had a lot of stuff signed. We talked about handcuff escapes; I met him next in 2016 with James Romberger and he still shook hands like he was gonna break every bone in yours. A man's man sort of guy. I found him very charming and still the ladies man.