Jonathon Ross is a big comics fan and he produced a documentary for the BBC on his favourite artist Steve Ditko.

Ditko wasn’t my favourite, but I thought he was a great visual story teller, and I was impressed enough to paint one of his characters called ‘The Creeper’ which he created for DC Comics.

Ditko was influenced by the philosophies of Ayn Rand and this is reflected in the characters he created such as ‘Hawk and Dove’, also for DC Comics.

I first came across Steve Ditko in British ’spook stories’ such as Uncanny Tales that had been reprinted from American comics. But I really noticed how good he was in the first 30 or so issues of Spider Man. Unlike other superhero comics of that time, Steve Ditko’s Spiderman spent a great deal of his time worrying about normal every day life, instead of just having a punch-up with the latest super villan!

Spiderman fans were soon caught up with debates over which girlfriend was best suited for him.  Whether his Aunt May would ever find out he was secretly Spiderman, and how he was ever going to get all his school work done when he was out battling baddies every night!

Steve Ditko worked for Marvel Comics in the early 1960’s with Stan Lee, (writer and editor) and Jack Kirby, (main house artist). At the same time Beatlemania was conquering the world, and a parallel with the Beatles is often drawn. Lee and Kirby being Lennon and McCartney, while Steve Ditko was George Harrison - a talented individual overshadowed by giants.

Ditko really cared about the characters he portrayed, and eventually handed his resignation in to Marvel Comics over an argument about the development of the ‘Green Goblin’ character. How’s that for artistic integrity!

John McNally