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by: Blake Bell  List Price: $39.99 Amazon.com's Price: $26.39 You Save: $13.60 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 741.5973 EAN: 9781560979210 Edition: Reprint ISBN: 1560979216 Label: Fantagraphics Books Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 220 Publication Date: July 16, 2008 Publisher: Fantagraphics Books Studio: Fantagraphics Books Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: The first critical retrospective of the work of the reclusive Spider-Man co-creator. In the wake of the astonishing success of Sam Raimi's three Spider-Man movies, Steve Ditko has become known as the co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the early 1960s character that helped propel Marvel Comics' popularity on college campuses and gave it much of its cultural cachet throughout that decade. But, in the context of Steve Ditko's 50-year career in comics, his creative involvement with Spider-Man is merely the tip of the iceberg. Ditko is known among the cartooning cognoscenti as one of the supreme visual stylists in the history of comics, as well as the most fiercely independent cartoonist of his generation. His unique style and innovative spatial designs moved from the imaginatively hallucinatory landscapes of Dr. Strange to the almost plebeian earthiness of The Amazing Spider-Man. Ditko began his career in the 1950s drawing comics for the notorious low-budget Charlton Comics (the Roger Corman Productions of the comics industry) where he developed his craft on various genre titles. He started working for Stan Lee at Marvel Comics in 1958, churning out monster/horror stories, until he was conscripted to work on Marvel's new super-hero line, for which he provided the visual conceptions of The Hulk, Spider-Man, and Dr. Strange, and plotted and drew these characters' adventures between 1962 and 1966. By 1966, Spider-Man had become a pop culture icon, and it was then that Ditko quit drawing the character over mysterious circumstances that will, for the first time, be investigated here. He immediately created his Ayn Rand-inspired character, Mr. A, whose first story appeared in Witzend, a black-and-white pre-underground independent comics magazine edited and published by Wally Wood, another talented stylist who chafed under the constraints of the mainstream comics publishers of the time. Ditko went on to work at various publishing companies such as DC Comics, Warren Publishing, and even Marvel Comics (albeit steadfastly refusing to ever draw Spider-Man again), writing and drawing his didactic Mr. A stories, relentlessly extolling the philosophical precepts of Ayn Rand, and, more recently, bitter visual jeremiads against the moral status quo of the comics industry. Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko is a coffee table art book tracing Ditko's life and career, his unparalleled stylistic innovations, his strict adherence to his own (and Randian) principles, with lush displays of obscure and popular art from the thousands of pages of comics he's drawn over the last 55 years. Average Rating:
 Rating: - Ditko is a Genius!Seriously, I grew up knowing that Ditko was awesome. This book just proves it further. Lavishly illustrated, well written and researched, this book is easily one of my favorite bios of my favorite comic legends. Steve inspired me to pick up a pencil and do what i do best and has done it once again. Bell, ya did a great job. Rating: - Everything you always wanted to know about Steve Ditko!Finally. Someone has written a definitive history of the life of the creator of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and many other classic comic book heroes. Ditko's statement that he wanted only his work to speak for him was never satisfying enough for his fans, who wanted to know more. This book details his life in the comic book industry to present day and answers so many questions (like, why he left Spider-Man and Marvel Comics at the initial height of Spider-Man's popularity). The book is stuffed with ... Read More Rating: - Ditko!!!Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko A fascinating, thoroughly researched and insightful look into the enigmatic artistic genius that is Steve Ditko. Covers his early life + whole career in comics up to this present day. I cannot help but feel incredible joy for the epic work Ditko provided us and also great sadness for the philosophical choices he has made which rigidly limits his work and distances him from his many admiring fans. A great book which any fan of Ditko will enjoy and learn ... Read More Rating: - Cobwebs and strangeThis oversized book is about the art and life of Steve Ditko. There is not much to be said about his personal life, because he never had much of a social life, having never married or even had a sweetheart as far as we know. His life seems to have been devoted to his art, which is well documented here. The author gives intelligent analysis about the strengths and weaknesses of his artwork, with reproductions of hundreds of examples of his art. Ditko is best known as the co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. ... Read More Rating:  - Not just for Ditko fansI can't claim I was ever a big fan of Steve Ditko, I grew up reading comic books, and of course, I read reprints of his work on Spiderman, but I liked the more realistic work of John Romita (and perhaps, the unrealistically beatiful women he drew). Now I can look at it and see how revolutionary it was in the early 60s, and it was a really unique way to draw a superhero book, I'm sure that was no small part of why Spiderman caught the popular imagination of the day. My main exposure to Ditko's art ... Read More 
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