Does Ditko's corpus of Precode work rate up there with the best of that era?

[bronze johnny]

Does Ditko's corpus of Precode work rate up there with the best of that era?

 

Thanks for any insight!

 

John

[jimbo_707]

If Ditko was as responsible as some people say for the development of Spider-Man and his early foes, he deserves a lot of credit for that. His artwork, on the other hand, doesn't impress me much. True, his action scenes are lively, but his human figures are not particularly well rendered, imho. His pre-code work looks average (from what I've seen of it). I don't think anybody would know the name Steve Ditko if not for his ASM work.

[Jayman]

I voted YES!

Ditko has a great flare for dramatic compelling stylized layouts!

 

 

[jimbo_707]

Ditko has a great flare for dramatic compelling stylized layouts!

 

Are layouts enough for a claim to greatness? I won't argue that the layouts are good, but the artwork itself is so-so.

[jimjum12]

I had to vote "no" as much as I love his stuff...... to me, it just isn't on the level of Ingels, Everett, Wolverton, etc....... but it certainly is above average. GOD BLESS...

 

jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[bluechip]

Seemed to me that the Marvel stories Ditko worked on were more imaginative than most. Don't know how much input he had in the stories, but the ones he drew had similar themes and style in the story as well as the art.

 

[MrBedrock]

I'm totally guessing there were at least a thousand different artists doing comic illustration work in the pre-code era. I think Ditko would be one of the 100 best, or top 10%. But I don't think he is one of the ten best, or top 1%.

[Jayman]

Ditko has a great flare for dramatic compelling stylized layouts!

 

Are layouts enough for a claim to greatness? I won't argue that the layouts are good, but the artwork itself is so-so.

 

To each there own I guess. I like his simplistic style of drawing. His clean line approach is pleasing to me. Some of his ink washtone work (albiet postcode) is technically stunning also!

[Cat-Man_America]

Not sure. It depends on who Ditko is being compared with and which of his covers/interiors are being used for comparison. Of course, it's all subjective. Ditko's style is very distinct and several of his pre-code covers are classics in my estimation. That said, he didn't reach his full potential as an illustrator until well after the CCA.

 

My insight: ...hazy

 

In comparing iconic pre-code horror covers by Ditko and his seasoned contemporary Graham Ingles, "Ghastly" is clearly the more accomplished illustrator...

 

 

... but that doesn't mean Ditko was less successful at dramatizing a scene:

 

 

Like I said, rating artists by their work is very subjective.

The appeal of Ditko's work is manifested in it's controlled simplicity. In Ingle's work, complexity & detail are the hallmarks.

 

IMO, there's no objective way to compare one artist's work with another's to assign an overall "best" without shoe-horning the work into categories using more specific criteria.

 

My gut feeling is that Ditko was still developing his style as an illustrator in the pre-code era, and as such doesn't merit such a comparison, but it was clear early on that he was going to be a phenomenal artist with a highly recognizable style.

 

Bottom line: There's no right answer to the $64,000 question. My (adjusted for inflation)

[rjpb]

I'm totally guessing there were at least a thousand different artists doing comic illustration work in the pre-code era. I think Ditko would be one of the 100 best, or top 10%. But I don't think he is one of the ten best, or top 1%.

 

 

My thoughts as well. I voted yes, as top 10% is still "up there with the best" for me, and while a few of his earliest pieces are a little shaky, I was impressed with the quality of most of his pre-code work when I picked up the Strange Suspense Archive.

[Bronty]

I'm totally guessing there were at least a thousand different artists doing comic illustration work in the pre-code era. I think Ditko would be one of the 100 best, or top 10%. But I don't think he is one of the ten best, or top 1%.

 

spot on!

 

(thumbs u

[Cat-Man_America]

I'm totally guessing there were at least a thousand different artists doing comic illustration work in the pre-code era. I think Ditko would be one of the 100 best, or top 10%. But I don't think he is one of the ten best, or top 1%.

 

spot on!

 

(thumbs u

 

Bedrock says you can take that spot right out with a little of this...

 

 

 

[sfcityduck]

The question's a little ambiguous to me. Are you asking only about his rank compared to other pre-code horror/sf artists of the 50s or are you trying to compare him to all artists who worked on comics prior to implementation of the code? Because if its the later, I think Top 100 is way too high.

 

My guess is that you are asking just about Ditko's contemporaries in the pre-Code horror/sf genres. And if that's the case, I rank Ditko in the mid-range. There were a lot of truly great artists in the 1950s who tend to be overlooked because, unlike Ditko, they didn't do Silver Age superhero comics. IMHO Ditko deserves to be near the top for his fantastic contributions to Spiderman. But, his contributions to the pre-Code 50s horror/sf genres seem to pale in comparison to many of his peers of the time and I view them as Ditko's early and lesser works. He definitely wouldn't make my Top 10 50s horror/sf artists, and might not make my Top 50 or more.

[Sqeggs]

One of my all-time favorite covers.

 

[MrBedrock]

Racket Squad 12 is a great one. I like this one as well (or maybe a little better)...

[Johnny545]

Voted No - the work doesn't hold up next to the best of the bunch IMHO.

[Flex Mentallo]

Racket Squad 12 is a great one. I like this one as well (or maybe a little better)...

 

 

Where I think he excelled is in his ability to render a concept in a striking and unusual way. The Racket Squad cover is a case in point. But his style hadn't really matured in the pre-code era. There are flashes of brilliance, a handful of covers I like tremendously. Thing #12, Strange Suspense #18 and Space Adventures #12 are among the best covers of the era for me.

 

 

I think he saved his best for Doctor Strange - I especially love the surrealist magical dimensions as he rendered them and "The End of Eternity" is one of my favorite Marvel issues.

 

 

I started a thread on "ten best artists" a few years back and some fellow boardies offered some thoughtful choices, though it wasnt orientated towards PCH.

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=5028220&fpart=1

 

 

[october]

His early horror stuff was pretty awesome. I said "yes".

 

Here are some of my favorites from my collection...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jayman]

Very nice Andy!

I'll add this one for the record, another classic IMO!

 

[fifties]

I voted no.

 

I do feel that any artist entrusted to do cover illustrations is a cut above the pack, and Ditko did have a unique way to show expressions of horror on faces, but beyond that, I would simply consider him a good artist, but certainly not a great one in the PCH era.

 

I would reserve that for the likes of Kelly Freas, Bill Everett and Joe Maneely, as a few examples of superior artists (eliminating the EC masters from this). And then of course you have Basil Wolverton and Matt Fox, each with an extremely distinctive style. How do we categorize them?

 

I think Ditko, in the PCH era, was on par with other journeymen artists, such as the Igor Shop, Joe Kubert, Myron Fass, Goldfarb/Baer, etc., and certainly above the talent employed to illustrate the stories in Weird Mysteries, many of the Standard Comics output, and to a large extent, the ACG books.

 

JMHO.