Earlier this year we saw the release of Kirby: King of Comics, an excellent look at the life and work of the late Jack Kirby. Now another comics art pioneer finally gets a book worthy of his talent and influence in the form of Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko.
I grew up reading and treasuring the first thirty-eight issues of Spider-Man, all drawn by Ditko. His quirky style was perfect for an awkward teenager like Peter Parker, yet Ditko could also portray the acrobatics of Spider-Man in a way no other artist ever quite captured. I never really got into Dr. Strange as a kid, but now as an adult, I can really see the reaches of Ditko's incredible imagination and creativity. In my opinion, his work on Dr. Strange far surpasses his work on Spider-Man, which is no small accomplishment.
Yet Ditko was (and apparently still is) a strange one indeed. Ditko was always a quiet loner, but his growing devotion to Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism separated him even further from his coworkers and fans. Unfortunately, it affected his work to the point that he became obsessed with devoting all of his work to Objectivism. Of course it didn't help that Stan Lee didn't give Ditko his due while he was at Marvel. Come on, the guy co-created Spider-Man! (It's ironic that Ditko spent years drawing Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson gypping Peter Parker in nearly the same way.)
In the end, Ditko refused to have much of anything to do with anyone, even turning down offers (many of them quite lucrative) that would help him finance his Objectivist ideals in comic form. For the past several years, the quality of Ditko's art (what little there has been) has been disappointing, but Bell's book displays some stunning images that helped influence comic art and storytelling for decades. An outstanding book/biography/retrospective that any comics lover will want to own.
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