Steve Ditko is another famous artist who helped make Marvel Comics a big deal, namely through his co-creation/drawing of Spider-Man. If I recall correctly (and I hope my friend who actually draws comics can chime in), Stan Lee chose Ditko over the more popular Jack Kirby because Stan wanted this new character to be lanky/thin. As awesome as Kirby was, I would have to agree, his characters were very “wide,” so the gymnastics Spider-Man does might not have popped off the page.
Besides Spider-Man, Ditko is credited with co-creating Dr. Strange before he left Marvel in the late Sixties for Charlton to work on their superhero line. With this publisher he created The Question, a vigilante-type along the lines of The Shadow, Green Hornet, etc. but he utilized the character to spout the Ayn Rand nonsense he believed in. The “philosophy” continued to pepper the character’s dialog and you get a demonstration in an episode of Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network when he says “A is A.”
Thankfully his stuff wasn’t always riddled with political/social stances since my favorite Ditko creation Shade the Changing Man happened in the mid-Seventies when he went to work for DC. The original comic only lasted eight issues but John Ostrander plucked the character out of obscurity in Suicide Squad (the good version from the Eighties, not the puerile crap we have to today) and then Shade was moved to Vertigo. DC revived Shade again briefly for Justice League Dark but he soon left the team. Today, Shade (full name Rac Shade) lives on through the Young Animal line with a young, non-human alien lady (also named Shade) wearing the Madness Vest, traveling the US. The Shade I love appears occasionally to advise Shade the Changing Woman while being revered on their homeward as a great poet.
Other contributions which live on today at DC…the Creeper and Hawk & Dove.
Although Ditko rarely gave interviews and what he was like can only be pieced together through his past co-workers, maybe there will be a decent biography about him. Meanwhile, thanks for all the cool ideas Mr. Ditko.