Talk:Steve Ditko

A sea of quotes. Sad!
After Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee obtained permission from publisher Martin Goodman to create a new "ordinary teen" superhero named "Spider-Man", Lee originally approached his leading artist, Jack Kirby. Kirby told Lee about his own 1950s character conception, variously called the Silver Spider and Spiderman, in which an orphaned boy finds a magic ring that gives him super powers. Comics historian Greg Theakston says Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference" and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. "A day or two later", Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, and, as Lee recalled, "I hated the way he was doing it. Not that he did it badly — it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic".

Lee turned to Ditko, who developed a visual motif Lee found satisfactory, although Lee would later replace Ditko's original cover with one penciled by Kirby. Ditko said, "The Spider-Man pages Stan showed me were nothing like the (eventually) published character. In fact, the only drawings of Spider-Man were on the splash and at the end [where] Kirby had the guy leaping at you with a web gun... Anyway, the first five pages took place in the home, and the kid finds a ring and turns into Spider-Man."

Ditko also recalled that, "One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked ... before I did any breakdowns. For example: A clinging power so he wouldn't have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. ... I wasn't sure Stan would like the idea of covering the character's face but I did it because it hid an obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character...."

Much earlier, in a rare contemporaneous account, Ditko described his and Lee's contributions in a mail interview with Gary Martin published in Comic Fan #2 (Summer 1965): "Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal". He added he would continue drawing Spider-Man "[i]f nothing better comes along." That same year, he expressed to the fanzine Voice of Comicdom, regarding a poll of "Best Liked" fan-created comics, "It seems a shame, since comics themselves have so little variety of stories and styles that you would deliberately restrict your own creative efforts to professional comics['] shallow range. What is 'Best Liked' by most readers is what they are most familiar in seeing and any policy based on readers likes has to end up with a lot of look-a-like (sic) strips. You have a great opportunity to show everyone a whole new range of ideas, unlimited types of stories and styles—why FLUB it!"

From 1958 to either 1966, or 1968, Ditko biographer Blake Bell, without citing sources, said, "At one time in history, Ditko denied ever touching Stanton's work, even though Stanton himself said they would each dabble in each other's art; mainly spot-inking", and the introduction to one book of Stanton's work says, "Eric Stanton drew his pictures in India ink, and they were then hand-coloured by Ditko". In a 1988 interview with Theakston, Stanton recalled that although his contribution to Spider-Man was "almost nil", he and Ditko had "worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own... I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands".

Spider-Man debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), the final issue of that science-fiction/fantasy anthology series. When the issue proved to be a top seller, Spider-Man was given his own series, The Amazing Spider-Man. Lee and Ditko's collaboration on the series saw the creation of many of the character's best known antagonists including Doctor Octopus in issue #3 (July 1963); the Sandman in #4 (Sept. 1963); the Lizard in #6 (Nov. 1963); Electro in #9 (March 1964); and the Green Goblin in #14 (July 1964). Ditko eventually demanded credit for the plotting he was contributing under the Marvel Method. Lee concurred, and starting with #25 (June 1965), Ditko received plot credit for the stories.

One of the most celebrated issues of the Lee-Ditko run is #33 (Feb. 1966), the third part of the story arc "If This Be My Destiny...!", and featuring the dramatic scene of Spider-Man, through force of will and thoughts of family, escaping from being pinned by heavy machinery. Comics historian Les Daniels noted, "Steve Ditko squeezes every ounce of anguish out of Spider-Man's predicament, complete with visions of the uncle he failed and the aunt he has sworn to save." Peter David observed, "After his origin, this two-page sequence from Amazing Spider-Man #33 is perhaps the best-loved sequence from the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko era." Steve Saffel stated the "full page Ditko image from The Amazing Spider-Man #33 is one of the most powerful ever to appear in the series and influenced writers and artists for many years to come." Matthew K. Manning wrote that "Ditko's illustrations for the first few pages of this Lee story included what would become one of the most iconic scenes in Spider-Man's history." The story was chosen as #15 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story, "These first five pages are a modern-day equivalent to Shakespeare as Parker's soliloquy sets the stage for his next action. And with dramatic pacing and storytelling, Ditko delivers one of the great sequences in all comics."

See the collapsed section just above. Is this acceptable on Wikipedia? This is the worst section but the whole article is written like this.--- Coffee  and crumbs  11:43, 8 July 2018 (UTC)
 * In my opinion, it's lazy writing: a sign of low effort/interest by the creators. Always easier to copy and paste and than to summarize concisely, but Wikipedia has no minimum length and needs no padding. It also makes articles look more like magazine or newspaper articles (chatty, personable, long-winded), less like a professional-quality encyclopedia (sober, concise, authoritative, well structured). Excessive quotes anywhere are formally discouraged: MOS:QUOTE states While quotations are an indispensable part of Wikipedia, try not to overuse them. Using too many quotes is incompatible with an encyclopedic writing style and may be a copyright infringement. It is generally recommended that content be written in Wikipedia editors' own words. Consider paraphrasing quotations into plain and concise text when appropriate (while being aware that close paraphrasing can still violate copyright). Have at it, nerds ;) --Animalparty! (talk) 21:12, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Ethnicity
The article states that Ditko is the son of first-generation American Ukrainian immigrants, and cites the Ukrainian part from a seemingly reliable source, however, it contradicts citation 4 which states that his parents' graves are located in the cemetery of a Rusyn church. Their graves are indeed in the cemetery of a Rusyn church, as St. Mary's is under the jurisdiction of the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. This leads me to believe his parents were in fact Rusyn and not Ukrainian. Another thing is, the statement that they are Ukrainian in the source text could be a simple mistake, as some believe Rusyns are a sub-group of the Ukrainian people while others believe they are a distinct ethnic group. YoungstownToast (talk) 15:54, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * His parents where indeed Rusyn. Rusyn are sub-ethnos of Ukrainians. They speak in the dialect of Ukrainian - Rusyn dialect.--37.225.43.229 (talk) 16:23, 19 December 2021 (UTC)
 * User talk:37.225.43.229: fixed the indentation on your above comment. I don't disagree that he was indeed Rusyn (all the evidence in this article makes it quite obvious). However, This claim is not sourced in the article. To make this claim, we at least need some reference. Even the autobiography sourced on this article does not mention his parents being Rusyn. If you have a solid source on the claim, I'd love for it to be included...let me know.KaerbaqianRen [ talk ] 21:48, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reasons for deletion at the file description pages linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:55, 5 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Batman Ditko.jpg
 * Ditko-amazing-fantasy.jpg
 * Steve Ditko.png

Bibliography addition
Daredevil 234 and 235 (1986) 185.45.204.13 (talk) 16:51, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

The original version of this article appears to be directly copied
The earliest version of this article appears to be directly copied from Dave Grieber's collecting/consulting website:

https://copyvios.toolforge.org/?lang=en&project=wikipedia&title=Steve+Ditko&oldid=286140&use_engine=0&use_links=0&turnitin=0&action=compare&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com%2Fcomic-book-artists.html

, as you are nominating the current version for a Good Article review, you may want to make sure that all traces of that original version are scrubbed from the article. Rjjiii (talk) 05:53, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Given that the earliest version of this article is from January 2002 and the earliest version of Grieber's website is from April 2005, there's a considerable possibility that his website was the one copying Wikipedia. I can reword this part if that's still necessary however. --FlairTale (talk) 19:58, 12 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Maybe? I'll reach out and let you know if he responds. Rjjiii (talk) 00:37, 13 August 2023 (UTC)