Jonathan Ross' STEVE DITKO Documentary on YouTube

[brasseye]

Must admit it was more just a Marvel come Charlton fest, with a few references to the DC work sounding like a offshoot from his 'psycodelic influences' from him Doctor Strange days.

 

I have to say the whole mini cult of hippies following his work in their 'altered states' was a real revelation. I know it's been mildly joked towards that possible interpretation before.. but that was a whole new level 'make mine Marvel'

 

[Artemaria]

Well worth watching

 

I must ask Trent (resident big Ditko fan) were there any revelations?

 

Best.

 

- A

 

It was good to see many long-held views about Ditko's pivotal role in the co-creation and devolpment of Spider-Man being endorsed and confirmed by many top creators.

 

The documentary should be force-fed to those people who tend to dismiss Ditko (i.e. the, "Gee, I like Spidey, but I just don't get Ditko?" species of so-called fan) without having any real insight into his work.

 

Is it me, or did anyone else who watched the documentary get the feeling Stan Lee and John Romita looked uncomfortable with the thrust of the interviews they were faced with? In the sense, the makers were focussed on Ditko's genius - not Lee or Romita's . . .

 

Only disappoint for me was that no mention was made of CAPTAIN ATOM - which was Ditko's first superhero series (pre-dating ASM).

 

Trent -

 

Of the Marvel people, Ralph Macchio was the most generous in his praise of Ditko.

 

Romita and Lee seemed less so. Perhaps this is because they were legendary creators in their own right.

 

The most uncomfortable moment for Lee was when he answered dead on that Ditko did not create Spider-man, but that Lee "considered" Ditko as a co-creator. A very telling exchange -

Q (Ross): What if someone else drew Spiderman and it did not have the appeal that Ditko gave it?

A (Lee): Well then, I would have created something that was not popular.

 

Romita apparently could not resist attributing increased sales to whatever he did on Spiderman rather than to a natural growth curve increase in the character's popularity. While Romita is a great artist in his own right and does not need to resort to self aggrandizement to cement his legacy as one of the Marvel greats, according to the documentary, Spidey sales were increasing at an incredibly rapid clip long before Romita was put on the title.

 

Happily, however, when it counted, Lee appears to have been very gracious in sharing credit. In the Spiderman movies, which will reach a great many more people than the comics do today, Ditko's name appears right up there next to Lee's. Not only that, but in the first movie at least, many of the poses and fights were almost frame for frame Ditko fight scenes or poses.

 

A great tribute to as Ross put it "a genius."

 

Best regards.

 

- A

 

 

[Mister Trent]

Well worth watching

 

I must ask Trent (resident big Ditko fan) were there any revelations?

 

Best.

 

- A

 

It was good to see many long-held views about Ditko's pivotal role in the co-creation and devolpment of Spider-Man being endorsed and confirmed by many top creators.

 

The documentary should be force-fed to those people who tend to dismiss Ditko (i.e. the, "Gee, I like Spidey, but I just don't get Ditko?" species of so-called fan) without having any real insight into his work.

 

Is it me, or did anyone else who watched the documentary get the feeling Stan Lee and John Romita looked uncomfortable with the thrust of the interviews they were faced with? In the sense, the makers were focussed on Ditko's genius - not Lee or Romita's . . .

 

Only disappoint for me was that no mention was made of CAPTAIN ATOM - which was Ditko's first superhero series (pre-dating ASM).

 

Trent -

 

Of the Marvel people, Ralph Macchio was the most generous in his praise of Ditko.

 

Romita and Lee seemed less so. Perhaps this is because they were legendary creators in their own right.

 

The most uncomfortable moment for Lee was when he answered dead on that Ditko did not create Spider-man, but that Lee "considered" Ditko as a co-creator. A very telling exchange -

Q (Ross): What if someone else drew Spiderman and it did not have the appeal that Ditko gave it?

A (Lee): Well then, I would have created something that was not popular.

 

Romita apparently could not resist attributing increased sales to whatever he did on Spiderman rather than to a natural growth curve increase in the character's popularity. While Romita is a great artist in his own right and does not need to resort to self aggrandizement to cement his legacy as one of the Marvel greats, according to the documentary, Spidey sales were increasing at an incredibly rapid clip long before Romita was put on the title.

 

Happily, however, when it counted, Lee appears to have been very gracious in sharing credit. In the Spiderman movies, which will reach a great many more people than the comics do today, Ditko's name appears right up there next to Lee's. Not only that, but in the first movie at least, many of the poses and fights were almost frame for frame Ditko fight scenes or poses.

 

A great tribute to as Ross put it "a genius."

 

Best regards.

 

- A

 

 

Forgot to mention . . . Paul Gambaccini produced a note or something he'd received from Stan Lee in the early 1960s, that says something to the effect that Ditko had come up with an idea for a new character called DR STRANGE . . .

 

I don't have time to trawl through the documentary right now, but I'd appreciate it if someone here could provide a transcript of this revelation?

[chromium]

Looks like the BBC had Youtube pull all the Jonathan Ross-Ditko videos.

 

Tried to watch them again and "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation."

[Sharkey]

Looks like the BBC had Youtube pull all the Jonathan Ross-Ditko videos.

 

Tried to watch them again and "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation."

 

Yes, from the Inquisitor. But somebody else named MercWithAMouth has posted them, so if you search by that poster you can find them.

 

This is a well-done documentary and retells a lot of stories that have been speculated on, but it didn't really have any new information that I could see. The telling thing to me is how Stan Lee couldn't bring himself to admit Ditko co-created Spider-Man.

 

And I still think Ross had no business whatsoever going up to Ditko's office after Ditko pointed told him not to stop by.

 

I would like to have seen more interviews with people who have worked with Ditko. He did work for DC (I don't think anyone from DC was interviewed, were they?), Charlton, and more recently with Jim Shooter on Valiant material as well as Dark Dominion for Defiant, even though it was short-lived. He's done lots of independent stuff too. If Ross really wanted to get an in-depth piece with background on Ditko he could have done more legwork. Instead I kind of felt he used the documentary angle to wrangle his way into a meeting with his an idol who wanted no part of it.

 

Now I worry for Ditko that he's going to have to move his offices in order to keep self-justified egotistical fan-boys from stopping by unannounced even after being asked not to bother him.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see someone give tribute to a guy I think is a genius and who does not get the credit he deserves in terms of his contributions to and creation of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, but I don't like that Ross took advantage of the premise of the documentary to harrass Steve Ditko.

 

 

[Sharkey]

Well worth watching

 

I must ask Trent (resident big Ditko fan) were there any revelations?

 

Best.

 

- A

 

It was good to see many long-held views about Ditko's pivotal role in the co-creation and devolpment of Spider-Man being endorsed and confirmed by many top creators.

 

The documentary should be force-fed to those people who tend to dismiss Ditko (i.e. the, "Gee, I like Spidey, but I just don't get Ditko?" species of so-called fan) without having any real insight into his work.

 

Is it me, or did anyone else who watched the documentary get the feeling Stan Lee and John Romita looked uncomfortable with the thrust of the interviews they were faced with? In the sense, the makers were focussed on Ditko's genius - not Lee or Romita's . . .

 

Only disappoint for me was that no mention was made of CAPTAIN ATOM - which was Ditko's first superhero series (pre-dating ASM).

 

Trent -

 

Of the Marvel people, Ralph Macchio was the most generous in his praise of Ditko.

 

Romita and Lee seemed less so. Perhaps this is because they were legendary creators in their own right.

 

The most uncomfortable moment for Lee was when he answered dead on that Ditko did not create Spider-man, but that Lee "considered" Ditko as a co-creator. A very telling exchange -

Q (Ross): What if someone else drew Spiderman and it did not have the appeal that Ditko gave it?

A (Lee): Well then, I would have created something that was not popular.

 

Romita apparently could not resist attributing increased sales to whatever he did on Spiderman rather than to a natural growth curve increase in the character's popularity. While Romita is a great artist in his own right and does not need to resort to self aggrandizement to cement his legacy as one of the Marvel greats, according to the documentary, Spidey sales were increasing at an incredibly rapid clip long before Romita was put on the title.

 

Happily, however, when it counted, Lee appears to have been very gracious in sharing credit. In the Spiderman movies, which will reach a great many more people than the comics do today, Ditko's name appears right up there next to Lee's. Not only that, but in the first movie at least, many of the poses and fights were almost frame for frame Ditko fight scenes or poses.

 

A great tribute to as Ross put it "a genius."

 

Best regards.

 

- A

 

 

Forgot to mention . . . Paul Gambaccini produced a note or something he'd received from Stan Lee in the early 1960s, that says something to the effect that Ditko had come up with an idea for a new character called DR STRANGE . . .

 

I don't have time to trawl through the documentary right now, but I'd appreciate it if someone here could provide a transcript of this revelation?

 

 

The note is published in the Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko book. I'll try to post a scan tonight after I get home.

 

[grandz-migration]

It was fun to watch various comic book creators give their take

on Steve Ditko. I'm not as big a fan of Mr. Ditko as some others

are, but I certainly admire his creative work, and his strength in

the business. His storytelling is fantastic.

 

It appears that Steve is doing pretty well for him self to be able

to afford that office in N.Y. I'm glad to see that.

 

If people have not seen it: check out the '87 video "The Masters

of Comic Book Art", by Rhino. Ditko gives a audio on his Mr. A

creation.

[irchooker]

That was an interesting little program. I'm still not certain it was appropriate to go against Mr. Ditko's wishes but Ross managed to spin the whole thing very well, leaving us with a sense that he did the right thing. Of course, for some, there is black and there is white.

[MONSTER]

Damn I didn't get a chance to finish the series.

[Artemaria]

If I remember correctly, the note was from Stan Lee and was talking about a five page story that involved a main character called "Dr. Strange" that may turn out to be something good, or not. The ostensible purpose of the note was to help the recipient decide whether to run the feature in Strange Tales.

 

However, the most relevant part of the note was the last sentence, in which Stan Lee, discussing the Dr. Strange character says "Twas Steve's idea."

 

Ross interpreted this to mean that all of the credit for creating Dr. Strange should go to Steve Ditko and should not be shared with Stan Lee (who apparently has claimed creator credit for Dr. Strange).

 

- A

 

[Anfield Fox]

Anyone know what the 1999 fanzine was?

[TheWatcher]

It's still up

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/MercWithAMouth

[clemso]

The point is, there is a Documentary out there about Steve Ditko stating clearly his contribution to Spider-Man & Dr Strange. Hopefullly this will generate more interest in Steve's work and more porgrammes on his lifes work.

 

Clem...

[chromium]

The point is, there is a Documentary out there about Steve Ditko stating clearly his contribution to Spider-Man & Dr Strange. Hopefullly this will generate more interest in Steve's work and more porgrammes on his lifes work.

 

Clem...

 

I agree 100% with the above....whichever side of the Ditko/Lee debate you take, there is an intelligent and lovingly made Ditko-doc out there now, a whole lot more than we've ever had.

 

[Mister Trent]

The point is, there is a Documentary out there about Steve Ditko stating clearly his contribution to Spider-Man & Dr Strange. Hopefullly this will generate more interest in Steve's work and more porgrammes on his lifes work.

 

Clem...

 

Where did I suggest otherwise (bearing in mind your post appears to be in reference to mine)?

[Anfield Fox]

Anyone know what the 1999 fanzine was?

 

[Sharkey]

Anyone know what the 1999 fanzine was?

 

 

Hi Anfield, I haven't even had time to scan that bit from the Marvel Visionaries but I'll see if I can dig this up too as I probably have a copy of it -- or at least the reprinted collection.

 

The Fanzine was Robin Snyder's The Comics #11 from 1999 and was reprinted in Ditko's 2000 "Tsk Tsk Tsk" collection, also published by Robin Snyder.

 

--Steve

[clemso]

The point is, there is a Documentary out there about Steve Ditko stating clearly his contribution to Spider-Man & Dr Strange. Hopefullly this will generate more interest in Steve's work and more porgrammes on his lifes work.

 

Clem...

 

Where did I suggest otherwise (bearing in mind your post appears to be in reference to mine)?

 

It doesn't, I just hit the reply button and wanted to make that statement. Sorry that yours appears in the reference Terry. I will look more carefully next time.

 

Clem...

[Solar]

The reposted videos are down now. Damn.

[He11blazer]

I missed this programme but really want to see it. Properly too, not on youtube!

 

Does anyone know where I can get a download? I found a couple of old torrents but they were dead