The artist Steve Ditko collaborated with writer Stan Lee to forge a unique style for Spider-Man that the film director Sam Raimi has reinterpreted for the screen.

Although Stan Lee created the character and wrote the origin story, Steve Ditko felt restricted by Lee’s editorship and asked if he could plot the Spiderman stories. Lee eventually agreed to this, although no other Marvel artist in the early 1960s had won this concession.

Ditko would hand over the completed Spiderman illustrations and Stan Lee would insert the dialogue. This created the unique Spiderman style with numerous pages dealing soley with Peter Parker’s private life, instead of battling the latest super-villain, which tended to happen in other Marvel titles.

The partnership lasted for over 30 issues until Ditko resigned over the direction the Green Goblin character should take.

Marvel recognised both Ditko’s style and the huge sales generated for Spiderman, and the next artist, John Romita, continued very much in the Ditko vein.
 
My favourite Spiderman story  is “The Final Chapter” in issue 33, and I’m not the only one who like this. Stan Lee himself cites this Ditko illustrated Spider-Man as his favourite:

The cover of Spiderman #33 has always fascinated me. It’s such a simple image yet Steve Ditko manages to imbue it with a real sense of restrained power. The cover shows Spiderman trapped under a huge block of metal, the floor flooded and more water pouring down over him.

Inside the comic it takes Ditko numerous panels and many pages to show how Spiderman finally struggles free. By the time he succeeds the reader feels as exhausted as Spiderman! This multiple panel, extended plot device was typical of Ditko’s unique style.

I have painted many different comic characters using oils on canvas, but it was only when I painted the cover of Spiderman #33 that I realised just how good Steve Ditko was. Although Ditko uses simple lines, it takes genius to capture the sense of power that the image contains.

If you are interested in comic book artwork take a look at my website: http://www.popartoilpaintings.com/Steve-Ditko

John McNally