Ditko Collection 1 1

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:42 PM, shadroch said:

Meeting people tells you how that person was at that moment.  The hours I spent talking to Yoko Ono while John played with his son on the floor gave me an insight into them, but I'm quite sure there were other sides to him. My friends who would run into him when he lived nearby didn't have much nice to say about him, but that was a dark period of his life when the government was trying to deport him. 

If I met someone who told me they didn't keep their books, i'd believe him. 

If someone I trust tells me it was told to them , I believe it. 

Namedropper! 

I know what you mean, Shad. I was thinking more about a persons demeanour, and what doesn't come across on the page. You can read everything as a moan, a joke, sarcasm, serious, flippant etc. Ditko is known as a cranky bugger, so I put on a default cranky voice when I read his words. He may have had a twinkle in his eye half the time though, who knows.

[lordbyroncomics]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:42 AM, shadroch said:

Meeting people tells you how that person was at that moment.  The hours I spent talking to Yoko Ono while John played with his son on the floor gave me an insight into them, but I'm quite sure there were other sides to him. My friends who would run into him when he lived nearby didn't have much nice to say about him, but that was a dark period of his life when the government was trying to deport him. 

If I met someone who told me they didn't keep their books, i'd believe him. 

If someone I trust tells me it was told to them , I believe it. 

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!

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:48 PM, lordbyroncomics said:

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!

I asked him about Price Variants and he pretty much told me to f off. To be honest, I'd have told me to f off though, too. 

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:49 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I asked him about Price Variants and he pretty much told me to f off. To be honest, I'd have told me to f off though, too. 

 that just made me bust up laughing.

I was going through what I would say, in my mind, if I was early enough back to collecting to write. Your post hit the spot haha!

[MattTheDuck]

On 8/31/2022 at 8:36 AM, BigLeagueCHEW said:

Must be nice

Yes.  Actual comic collectors - as opposed to shill accounts just trying to stir up trouble - would agree.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:51 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

 that just made me bust up laughing.

I was going through what I would say, in my mind, if I was early enough back to collecting to write. Your post hit the spot haha!

I try not to fly in the face of popular opinion, Mark. Most people seem to be telling me to f off lately if I'm reading the room right. 

[Quicksilver Signs]

On 8/31/2022 at 9:03 AM, shadroch said:

So did he keep a copy of everything he did? Where are they? 

He no doubt knew the impact of Spider-man - keeping a copy of his short run seems like something most people would do. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 8/31/2022 at 9:47 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

You can read everything as a moan, a joke, sarcasm, serious, flippant etc. Ditko is known as a cranky bugger, so I put on a default cranky voice when I read his words. He may have had a twinkle in his eye half the time though, who knows.

I knew for a guy who had rode a rocketship to success with a IPO company (in my field of work), and within three years, the company cratered and left him holding the bag on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of invoices and unpaid work. He hated what that company did to him, derailing his life, and was not a big fan of talking about it. But under his desk, he had kept all his work - because he didn't want to throw it away, as it was part of his own company's portfolio.

The rambling point I'm trying to make is that regardless of what Ditko felt about how he was treated - perhaps deep down he kept his work out of being proud of doing it, or leastways, as a way to mark what he did with his life.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:54 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I try not to fly in the face of popular opinion, Mark. Most people seem to be telling me to f off if I'm reading the room right. 

idk about that, I agree him saying he "didn't want to talk about it" is not the same as "I don't own anything"

as if it's any ones business but his.

I do believe the threads would probably give clarity to that encounter and are beneficial for context, yet, he wasn't in the mood to divulge personal stuff is more likely.

That said, it's hard to take ANYTHING at face value these days, too much analytics? haha idk it is all a bit irrelevant, partial truths. The seller has guts, maybe more data will be presented? There is always that hope  

[lordbyroncomics]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:49 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I asked him about Price Variants and he pretty much told me to f off. To be honest, I'd have told me to f off though, too. 

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

[Krydel4]

It seems kinda fishy to me. I've read that Mr.Ditko wasn't in the greatest of financial position towards the end of his life. I am not really sure why he wouldn't have sold off his collection in the early 2000s. Even back then a Ditko owned AF15 would have probably have netted him around $300000. 

[namisgr]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:47 AM, lordbyroncomics said:

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.

It's a message board for comic fans.  I, for one, really enjoy firsthand accounts from someone who met and chatted with Steve Ditko.  I don't view it at all as though the person sharing their story is doing it for any reason other than to make the information available to interested parties like me.

[lordbyroncomics]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:59 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

idk about that, I agree him saying he "didn't want to talk about it" is not the same as "I don't own anything"

as if it's any ones business but his.

I do believe the threads would probably give clarity to that encounter and are beneficial for context, yet, he wasn't in the mood to divulge personal stuff is more likely.

That said, it's hard to take ANYTHING at face value these days, too much analytics? haha idk it is all a bit irrelevant, partial truths. The seller has guts, maybe more data will be presented? There is always that hope  

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.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:00 AM, Krydel4 said:

It seems kinda fishy to me. I've read that Mr.Ditko wasn't in the greatest of financial position towards the end of his life. I am not really sure why he wouldn't have sold off his collection in the early 2000s. Even back then a Ditko owned AF15 would have probably have netted him around $300000. 

I'm gleaming he had "left that part of him 'behind' or off to the side" as if, I don't want to 'focus on that right now', because he had the rest of his life to live.

Then I hear he did all these books, so maybe it was just partly unavoidable. He still didn't use that "one thing" to get sales on his writings? kudos then, but maybe it was just as cliche and irrelevant to his every day life yet unavoidable  

[lordbyroncomics]

On 8/31/2022 at 12:00 PM, Krydel4 said:

It seems kinda fishy to me. I've read that Mr.Ditko wasn't in the greatest of financial position towards the end of his life. I am not really sure why he wouldn't have sold off his collection in the early 2000s. Even back then a Ditko owned AF15 would have probably have netted him around $300000. 

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.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/31/2022 at 4:57 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I knew for a guy who had rode a rocketship to success with a IPO company (in my field of work), and within three years, the company cratered and left him holding the bag on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of invoices and unpaid work. He hated what that company did to him, derailing his life, and was not a big fan of talking about it. But under his desk, he had kept all his work - because he didn't want to throw it away, as it was part of his own company's portfolio.

The rambling point I'm trying to make is that regardless of what Ditko felt about how he was treated - perhaps deep down he kept his work out of being proud of doing it, or leastways, as a way to mark what he did with his life.

It's a good point - a bad experience can corrupt a persons outlook on any time in their life, or place. We know a lot about his crankiness, but so much of that was likely born of his frustration about how he was treated. Or not, I don't know. Those close to him likely knew. The rest of us are guessing. 

[lordbyroncomics]

On 8/31/2022 at 12:03 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

I'm gleaming he had "left that part of him 'behind' or off to the side" as if, I don't want to 'focus on that right now', because he had the rest of his life to live.

Then I hear he did all these books, so maybe it was just partly unavoidable. He still didn't use that "one thing" to get sales on his writings? kudos then, but maybe it was just as cliche and irrelevant to his every day life yet unavoidable  

The thing is, Ditko talked about "that part of him" ALL THE TIME... he just did it on his terms, he didn't want to give interviews and such. He wrote about his time at Marvel constantly, you just had to get his books to read them which I don't think is dastardly on his part. I used to pick them up at Jim Hanley's Universe back in the day. Ditko wrote to TIME Magazine, he wrote to COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE in the 90s', correcting them and taking Stan to task for statements he made in previous issues... these things all exist and can be sought out. Don't always just trust the stuff you heard or read from other people who also just heard or read someone else's assumption, you know? Ditko had an image that was more misunderstood than anything else. In reality, it could be hard to shut him up!

[shadroch]

On 8/31/2022 at 9:01 AM, lordbyroncomics said:

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.

A prestigious auction house--  now that is an oxymoron.

[Dr. Balls]

On 8/31/2022 at 10:03 AM, lordbyroncomics said:

He had a humble life and was devoted to his work and drew every single day without fail.

He was an old school illustrator by trade. I would have loved to meet him and talk about the days of drawing in a studio with other illustrators. Spider-man is great and all, but man - to talk to one of those guys who illustrated for a living would have been amazing. I'd have had 100 questions for him, and it probably wouldn't have involved a single super hero. That vocation and the way people made it as a viable career is fascinating.

[Mr Sneeze]

Something like this coming to light 4 years after his passing is certainly going to invite some skepticism.