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Steve Ditko's later work. Quality or not
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Started by NoMan,

28 posts in this topic

grebal

grebal

Posted
Posted

^ I felt the same way about his Shade the Changing Man, but liked his brief stint on Machine Man.   Stopped reading/collecting by his time on Rom but heard ok things about it.   Enjoyed his couple of very early Hulk books as different. 

It may be pure crotchetyness  that keeps him going at this point, which may even be understandable.  It's common among artists that worked with Stan (partly tongue-in-cheek, yes).  I love that he replies to letters still even though his replies seem to boil down to 'get off my lawn blasted kids'.

I'm a fan (his last work on Dr. Strange is also the first time Doc Strange got his own cover, and I just had to have a nice copy which I got this week !):

st146.thumb.jpg.8cda3d734f53fc17f410acb13ce7cd51.jpg

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NoMan

NoMan

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Posted (edited)

I'm asking specifically about his output w/Robin Snyder as editor staring in the 00s. It's ALL about his proselytizing about Objectivism. Art is splendid for someone in their 90s. But I'm asking about the total package: ART AND STORY! 

I have read and tried to read it and just flat out have given up.  It's insufferable. 

I like his stuff from the 60s, 70s (just picked up Bewere the Creeper #1 from Boardie Real Frantic One to read) and up through the 80s, including his work on Shoney's Big Boy freebie comic book.

Edited by NoMan
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NoMan

NoMan

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23 minutes ago, Bronty said:

I haven't read it, but the dude is over 90.   90!!

 

Just now, grebal said:

^ I felt the same way about his Shade the Changing Man, but liked his brief stint on Machine Man.   Stopped reading/collecting by his time on Rom but heard ok things about it.   Enjoyed his couple of very early Hulk books as different. 

It may be pure crotchetyness  that keeps him going at this point, which may even be understandable.  It's common among artists that worked with Stan (partly tongue-in-cheek, yes).  I love that he replies to letters still even though his replies seem to boil down to 'get off my lawn blasted kids'.

I'm a fan (his last work on Dr. Strange is also the first time Doc Strange got his own cover, and I just had to have a nice copy which I got this week !):

st146.thumb.jpg.8cda3d734f53fc17f410acb13ce7cd51.jpg

Nice!

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Bird

Bird

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Posted

He long ago gave up any of the things that made his work special...the shading, focus on the whole image/panel/page, etc. The art serves the message now. Yes it is admirable that he is still going and it is worth buying if only to document the career arc of one of comic's great creators and help understand his story.

All that sounds like I know what I am talking about alot more than I really do. (shrug) I do have an 80 page giant or two such things here somewhere that are Robin Snyder associated works. 

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NoMan

NoMan

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27 minutes ago, grebal said:

Ya think I could persuade Mr Ditko to sign it?

Sure! I'll give you his address. If you enjoy getting screamed at as if you're Dennis The Menace and he's Mr. Wilson, he's great!

Edited by NoMan
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NoMan

NoMan

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24 minutes ago, Bird said:

He long ago gave up any of the things that made his work special...the shading, focus on the whole image/panel/page, etc. The art serves the message now. Yes it is admirable that he is still going and it is worth buying if only to document the career arc of one of comic's great creators and help understand his story.

All that sounds like I know what I am talking about alot more than I really do. (shrug) I do have an 80 page giant or two such things here somewhere that are Robin Snyder associated works. 

"He long ago gave up any of the things that made his work special...the shading, focus on the whole image/panel/page."

Well said and spot on. I'm guessing this may be a result of age. Maybe not. Maybe it's all about the written word now for him, beating you over the head again and again that A=A and the brain needs clarity only achieved thru Ann Ryand. 

Edited by NoMan
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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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Posted (edited)

His earlier Mr A artwork is quite nice, but his style starts to get a bit too stiff-figured and simplified for me once we reach the late 70s / early 80s.

The Objectivist standpoint he has in his solo work is one-note, often headache-inducing and a philosophy I don't share, certainly not as being generally, inflexibly applicable to every situation.  Simply put, quickly repetitive and tedious.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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entalmighty1

entalmighty1

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Posted
13 hours ago, grebal said:

^ I felt the same way about his Shade the Changing Man, but liked his brief stint on Machine Man.   Stopped reading/collecting by his time on Rom but heard ok things about it.   Enjoyed his couple of very early Hulk books as different. 

It may be pure crotchetyness  that keeps him going at this point, which may even be understandable.  It's common among artists that worked with Stan (partly tongue-in-cheek, yes).  I love that he replies to letters still even though his replies seem to boil down to 'get off my lawn blasted kids'.

I'm a fan (his last work on Dr. Strange is also the first time Doc Strange got his own cover, and I just had to have a nice copy which I got this week !):

st146.thumb.jpg.8cda3d734f53fc17f410acb13ce7cd51.jpg

 

Not sure what you qualify as Strange's first cover, because he has a ton of appearances on the cover before 146. (shrug) 

 

s-l1600.jpg

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grebal

grebal

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, entalmighty1 said:

 

Not sure what you qualify as Strange's first cover, because he has a ton of appearances on the cover before 146. (shrug) 

 

s-l1600.jpg

Half that cover looks to me devoted to the Torch and Thing story inside.

Edited by grebal
I mentioned his first "own" cover, and didn't count split feature or floating blurb appearance to find it.
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kpaqu1

kpaqu1

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Posted
2 hours ago, comicstock said:

I really enjoyed Ditko's 10 issues of Dark Dominion at Defiant back in the mid-90s.

He only penciled the #0 trading card issue. I seem to remember a story about Shooter having a hell of a time getting Ditko to complete it too.

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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Posted
On 11/30/2017 at 6:05 PM, Black_Adam said:

I didn't even like his stuff from the 80s :p

To be fair this happens to most comic book artists and not just Ditko.

Compare Neal Adams, Steranko, Frank Miller and John Byrne art now to what they did in the 1960s to 1980s and we get the same answer.

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