A letter to Steve Ditko 1 1

[Unca Ben]

3 hours ago, mr_highgrade said:

A few years ago I and another boardie actually had a very nice conversation with Ditko for over a half an hour. Although, he was a little rude  to Greggy. 

That's 'cuz Greggy's reputation precedes him.

[01TheDude]

Dear Mr. Ditko,

I never thought that I would be writing this, but sometimes, life can get pretty crazy. I’m a 51-year-old guy, and I’m pretty well built, muscular but not ripped. Last spring break, me and my friends took a trip to Lake Havasu. At a drinking contest on the beach one day, I met a girl named Kimmi, and she was gorgeous – blond, tan, possessing breasts and attractive legs. Well, one thing led to another and we found ourselves back in her hotel room, going at it pretty hot and heavy. She taught me things I’d never even thought of, and the sex was incredible. Kimmi was a very experienced girl. So experienced that my doctor says I have a heretofore-undiscovered strain of chlamydia (picture enclosed).

Yours Truly,

01TheDude

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/04/2017 at 0:09 AM, 01TheDude said:

Dear Mr. Ditko,

I never thought that I would be writing this, but sometimes, life can get pretty crazy. I’m a 51-year-old guy, and I’m pretty well built, muscular but not ripped. Last spring break, me and my friends took a trip to Lake Havasu. At a drinking contest on the beach one day, I met a girl named Kimmi, and she was gorgeous – blond, tan, possessing breasts and attractive legs. Well, one thing led to another and we found ourselves back in her hotel room, going at it pretty hot and heavy. She taught me things I’d never even thought of, and the sex was incredible. Kimmi was a very experienced girl. So experienced that my doctor says I have a heretofore-undiscovered strain of chlamydia (picture enclosed).

Yours Truly,

01TheDude

Dear 01TheDude,

Can I have this girls phone number please. SSAE enclosed.

Best Wishes

Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko

Edited April 14, 2017 by Marwood & I

[Captain Canuck]

On 4/30/2015 at 10:48 PM, AnkurJ said:

A few weeks ago, I wrote a letter to Steve Ditko. I am aware that he has been unapproachable for the most part and does not have much interest in Spiderman and comics he worked on during the 60's. But I thought it was worth a shot.

 

I wrote a letter in which I explained that I have loved his work since I was 12, and now am introducing it to my son. I asked if he saw any of the Spiderman movies and if he liked any of them. Lastly I included a 8x10 of the first page from AF15 and asked him to sign it. He returned it unsigned, but did include this letter:

 

 

Interesting that he signed his name twice!

I felt it was a very gracious response and was more than I expected.

 

Ankur

Ankur here is a letter I found in my collection that he wrote to me in 2012. Every time I wrote to him his signature varied from S. Ditko to S.D. to Steve Ditko. I have always found his responses pleasant, but the length has greatly decreased over the years. This is the best response I received from him over the years.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Captain Canuck

[Captain Canuck]

2 minutes ago, Captain Canuck said:

Ankur here is a letter I found in my collection that he wrote to me in 2012. Every time I wrote to him his signature varied from S. Ditko to S.D. to Steve Ditko. I have always found his responses pleasant, but the length has greatly decreased over the years. This is the best response I received from him over the years.

I'm curious if I should get this signed by Stan Lee, but in pencil. 

[kav]

Dear Steve Ditko:  you say 'your real interests should guide you'.  well my real interest is getting to the bottom of who created spider man and dr strange.  Please elaborate on that, as per your advice thx.

[Bronty]

35 minutes ago, Captain Canuck said:

I'm curious if I should get this signed by Stan Lee, but in pencil. 

IMO, no.   Let it stand as it is.  

[Bird]

On 4/10/2017 at 9:45 PM, Unca Ben said:

Construing Ditko's no-nonsense attitude as rudeness is a lot of spoiled applesauce by those with no empathetic purchase, or know only nonsense themselves.
There are plenty of examples of extended corrospondence with Ditko where he reponds with continued patience and kindness, just talk with Robin Snyder about this.

With all the information we have now, folks can't pretend they don't know what Ditko's feelings and thoughts are about autographs and interviews and subjects like Spider-Man.
Persistently annoying the man about these things is rude and shows a conscious disregard of his wishes and ideas.

Ditko is not a landmark attraction, he is a person - and deserves to be treated as such. 
.

This is the same board where people complain about the lack of respect given to the creator of old, how wonderful the memories generated by comics are etc. And then purposely berate and annoy Steve Ditko. Go and ring some doorbells and run away and leave the man in peace. It is the height on obnoxious entitlement to harass this man.

[kav]

Once again i will point out he solicits letters.  If he didn't, what you say would be entirely legitimate.  

[newshane]

Dear Steve:

Who was your anatomy professor? Rob Liefeld?

Just curious. Thanks.

- S

[kav]

[Bronty]

I'm in the 'leave the old coot alone' camp.   Yeah he brings it on himself but he's in his 90s for crying out loud.

[kav]

5 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I'm in the 'leave the old coot alone' camp.   Yeah he brings it on himself but he's in his 90s for crying out loud.

Now this makes sense.  

[01TheDude]

I find some of his letters fascinating-- not so much for the content/topic but the general tone. I personally have no interest in sending him a letter. I like his Dr. Strange stuff and his ASM is cool (not a major collection focus) but I don't have real questions about the art. Or his life really. I find his pre-hero stuff much more interesting. That last letter where he basically compared himself to a newspaper writer sums it up well for me. He is not vested in these characters to the point collectors often do. That is sort of refreshing in a world where people tend to milk to death whatever the public finds entertaining, typically well past it jumping the shark.

Keep the responses coming* -- I'm sure there are more out there. Someday, someone should put together a compilation "From the desk of S. Ditko"

 

PS-- * that wasn't an endorsement to keep writing to the guy--  but if you got a response, please share it.

Edited April 18, 2017 by 01TheDude

[NoMan]

.

Edited August 4, 2017 by NoMan

[BlowUpTheMoon]

On 4/2/2017 at 3:05 PM, 01TheDude said:

maybe we should just leave Steve alone. It is his life - he owes us nothing.

Yup.

[tv horror]

I also wrote to him and received a nice reply even though he was telling me off as I asked for his autograph, I had grown up on his Spider-man and just wanted to tell him how much I admired his work which I do to this day. Actually I find Stan to be the bad guy (all hate mail c/o the waste paper bin) and wonder if he reads everything before he signs his soul away every time he signs an autograph. 

[kav]

My 3rd try at Ditko with the revised address that was posted and deleted got returned 'no such address'.  I know there is such address as it is in the video 'in search of steve ditko'.  At this point if ditko sent me a page from ASM 1 I would burn it.

Edited August 5, 2017 by kav

[Jimmy Linguini]

I sent a letter on July 11 and received a letter back today.
He also cut out where I had written my address and in red pen wrote "VERY BAD".
 

Edited August 11, 2017 by Jimmy Linguini

[Jimmy Linguini]

Here is my letter from Ditko and the part of my letter where I wrote my address (as well as the envelope I wrote my address on) cut out. He either can't read my writing or hates Canada.