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Ditko drawing new Dr. Strange and Spider-Man stories! Details on the OCAL!

Started by glenbru,

60 posts in this topic

Cyclops

Cyclops

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Considering everything I've heard about Ditko, I'd be surprised if anything ever gets published.

 

What's fascinating, is that he may have been drawing (and writing?) his own comics all these years, just for his own enjoyment. What I wouldn't give to see those!

 

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Unca Ben

Unca Ben

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Is it possible those Dr. Strange pages were meant for Strange Tales # 146 - 147 - 148 - 149 -maybe more?

The published story in ST #146 seemed condensed in order for Ditko to wrap up all the Dr. Strange sub-plots before he left Marvel. Sub-plots that took dozens of issues to develop wrapped up in one quick issue.

 

Nothing but full page spreads IIRC. The pacing of ST 146 is definitely hurried compared to all the earlier installments. As I read it (over and over) it appeared to be at least 4 chapters reduced to 1 chapter.

 

Could those chapters have been started by Ditko before he left Marvel? Then he finished them up as he originally intended?

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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Is it possible those Dr. Strange pages were meant for Strange Tales # 146 - 147 - 148 - 149 -maybe more?

The published story in ST #146 seemed condensed in order for Ditko to wrap up all the Dr. Strange sub-plots before he left Marvel. Sub-plots that took dozens of issues to develop wrapped up in one quick issue.

 

Nothing but full page spreads IIRC. The pacing of ST 146 is definitely hurried compared to all the earlier installments. As I read it (over and over) it appeared to be at least 4 chapters reduced to 1 chapter.

 

Could those chapters have been started by Ditko before he left Marvel? Then he finished them up as he originally intended?

 

Very likely.

Much much more likely than the idea that he has something new done.

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Koa

Koa

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What a great "what if" scenario ! What really drives me mad is that these things shouldn't be what if! Why aren't Marvel and DC aren't doing everything in their power to publish new work by Ditko and other legends at this stage. Stan lee is 90 and still active, he should be working on the character he helped give life to in some way. There should be a special projects line that just let's guys like Ditko, Stan lee ,Romita Sr produce work without worrying about BS continuity. Just publish their work darn it!

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glenbru

glenbru

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Well said! Yeah, Disney should open a special projects division that pays tribute to those creators that built Marvel and nurtures them without editorial interference.

 

Why not?

 

I know why not, but still.

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dgarthwaite-migration

dgarthwaite-migration

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From what I've read on Ditko, it's VERY unlikely that he's sitting around drawing Dr. Strange pages. Even if he were, his art style is more loose now and it would not have the same commercial appeal as his silver age work. Ditko has no interest in being remembered for his art in the past. His work is still being published. You can see what interests him if you go search it out and buy the product.

 

DG

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vaillant

vaillant

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What a great "what if" scenario ! What really drives me mad is that these things shouldn't be what if! Why aren't Marvel and DC aren't doing everything in their power to publish new work by Ditko and other legends at this stage. Stan lee is 90 and still active, he should be working on the character he helped give life to in some way. There should be a special projects line that just let's guys like Ditko, Stan lee ,Romita Sr produce work without worrying about BS continuity. Just publish their work darn it!

 

Well, if someone reads all of what he has produced independently, especially after the 1990s, I think the picture you get is Ditko is not so easy to deal with.

He kept following along the lines of the atheist philosophy of Ayn Rand, to a point which – in my opinion – makes the early Mr. A and the like very enjoyable as they were "commercial" stories.

 

I recall when he started working with Shooter on the launch of Defiant. I am sure Dark Dominion would have been a truly awesome series with his contribution. The reason stated for him stopping after #0 was that he felt uncomfortable with the concepts, but again I never understood precisely what this meant.

It can’t simply be because Dark Dominion dealt with some supernatural plane, treated like it was something tangible – he could have easily squeezed his ideas, artistically, within that frame.

 

What I don’t like about what Ditko did in the 2000s is that the comics and texts sound like an improvised essay put into the wrong form of a comic, but I may be missing something… hm

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dgarthwaite-migration

dgarthwaite-migration

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What a great "what if" scenario ! What really drives me mad is that these things shouldn't be what if! Why aren't Marvel and DC aren't doing everything in their power to publish new work by Ditko and other legends at this stage. Stan lee is 90 and still active, he should be working on the character he helped give life to in some way. There should be a special projects line that just let's guys like Ditko, Stan lee ,Romita Sr produce work without worrying about BS continuity. Just publish their work darn it!

 

Well, if someone reads all of what he has produced independently, especially after the 1990s, I think the picture you get is Ditko is not so easy to deal with.

He kept following along the lines of the atheist philosophy of Ayn Rand, to a point which – in my opinion – makes the early Mr. A and the like very enjoyable as they were "commercial" stories.

 

I recall when he started working with Shooter on the launch of Defiant. I am sure Dark Dominion would have been a truly awesome series with his contribution. The reason stated for him stopping after #0 was that he felt uncomfortable with the concepts, but again I never understood precisely what this meant.

It can’t simply be because Dark Dominion dealt with some supernatural plane, treated like it was something tangible – he could have easily squeezed his ideas, artistically, within that frame.

 

What I don’t like about what Ditko did in the 2000s is that the comics and texts sound like an improvised essay put into the wrong form of a comic, but I may be missing something… hm

 

Here is my personal opinion....

It has been admitted much later that the character in Dark Dominion was loosely based upon Steve Ditko. Although Ditko initially found the concepts for the character agreeable, I think he realized it might be a comic inspired by him as a person and he wasn't flattered. Ditko is strongly rooted in principles and morality. An observer could interpret that to mean that Ditko actually sees the evil in the world. The comic is an extension and representation of that. The demons live in a substratum and sit on people's shoulders. I think Ditko was offended and felt the series may have been mocking him.

 

DG

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vaillant

vaillant

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Here is my personal opinion....

It has been admitted much later that the character in Dark Dominion was loosely based upon Steve Ditko. Although Ditko initially found the concepts for the character agreeable, I think he realized it might be a comic inspired by him as a person and he wasn't flattered. Ditko is strongly rooted in principles and morality. An observer could interpret that to mean that Ditko actually sees the evil in the world. The comic is an extension and representation of that. The demons live in a substratum and sit on people's shoulders. I think Ditko was offended and felt the series may have been mocking him.

 

Thanks Doug, I did not know this. But when does this information surfaced? As far as I recall, when I collected the #0 (made available in cards) and bought the early issues, Shooter did not mention it – he just stated more or less what I said.

Wouldn’t it have been silly to base a character on him, have him as the artist, and not telling him? Especially considered I am pretty sure Jim Shooter pretty much admires him.

Besides this, Michael Alexander, a character I have loved deeply even if briefly, is by no means Ditko-like, neither in his phisionomy nor in his attitude (based on his early "philosophic" work, I mean).

I think it is also not correct to say Michael "sees" evil: those evil instances (and not necessarily evil as a persona) are there, in the substratum, and just represent evil – bu they are there. It is not just Michael (or Mercy) that sees them.

It would have been great to see how they’d have treated Bottom, but we never get to see him/it, as the series were canceled.

 

In my opinion, DD was the best Valiant series (Plasm had groundbreaking and disturbing concepts, but was a bit unreal), but they pretty much ruined everything by forcedly imposing a "universal" crossover, as it has been the fad in the last two decades. Too bad.

 

About Ditko’s philosophical reflections themselves: as a believer I found them enjoyable, and enough artistically transfigurated, in the early Mr. A – much like Ayn Rand’s philosophy shines through the movie of "The Fountainhead", but from what I get of randian philosophy after her death, it pretty much degenerated in an extremization, and I find it a lot poorer than the initial concepts.

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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

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What a great "what if" scenario ! What really drives me mad is that these things shouldn't be what if! Why aren't Marvel and DC aren't doing everything in their power to publish new work by Ditko and other legends at this stage. Stan lee is 90 and still active, he should be working on the character he helped give life to in some way. There should be a special projects line that just let's guys like Ditko, Stan lee ,Romita Sr produce work without worrying about BS continuity. Just publish their work darn it!

 

For the same reason that Morrissey and Johnny Marr turned down $5,000,000 to go on tour as Morrissey and Marr (Without Rourke and Joyce as the Smiths)....

 

They just did not want to do it and felt as artists that they were above it.

 

Ditko does as Ditko pleases and he does not owe anyone anything.

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vaillant

vaillant

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Ditko does as Ditko pleases and he does not owe anyone anything.

 

There was also a similar reason for Kirby, related to the characters. Jack would have not felt to work on the Fantastic Four once again, as he returned to Marvel. They would surely have offered it to him, but he preferred to work on different things.

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