Steve Ditko

Normally at Madman with a Book, I review books, comics, and movies. But today I felt that I needed to pay tribute to a man who greatly influenced my decision to start collecting.

The news broke yesterday of the death of a comic book legend- Steve Ditko. Ditko was 90 and actually had died on June 29th. Why it took a week for news to get around is anybody's guess. But it hit a lot of people very hard- myself being one of those people.

I'm not going to be one of those people who claim that the loss of Steve Ditko is so devastating and yet have zero connection to the man. True, when I list my 5 favorite artists of all-time, I admit, that the co-creator of Spider-Man is not in it. When I list my top 5 favorite writers in the medium, again I admit that the co-creator of Doctor Strange is not among the group. But my nearly life-long love of comic books might not even exist at all it not for Steve Ditko. 

Around 1981 my parents took me to a used book store called Tales Resold in Raleigh, NC for the very first time. I was about 4 or 5 and my parents showed me this room filled with kids books and more importantly- comics. There was a box of books for .25 cents a piece and I was allowed to choose one book from it. That day, I choose Charlton Comics' Ghostly Tales #152.

Looking back, I have to question my parents decision to allow a young child to buy a horror comic book. But for the moment, the image of the ghoulish I.M. Dedd holding a skull and looking resplendent in his flowing blue cape just appealed to me visually. The interiors were just as intriguing, though a little dated. 

While the book was only a year or two old, all of the stories inside were reprints from the 60s and 70s. But most importantly about those ghost tales was that one of them was drawn and possibly written by Steve Ditko. Even at 5, I could tell talent when I saw it. 

I probably read that comic book a hundred times. Though sadly I no longer own that original copy, having lost that book as well as my original collection decades ago due to theft. But Ditko's contribution to Ghostly Tales #152 opened my life up to a hundred-hundred times that many more comics over the span of another 35 years. And as my current collection nears 10,000 books, I now have a replacement as a keystone issue to reflect my first purchase. 

Steve Ditko will never know how much his art meant to my life and my hobby. That's okay, as I am sure he knows now. But without him, who knows what I would be doing now instead of typing a tribute to a sequential art legend. I'd probably would had been quite popular in high school, a former jock, now selling vinyl siding or used cars. Ugh... That thought is more terrifying than anything found in the pages of my first comic book purchase.

Thank you, Steve Ditko... and Rest In Peace.

This tribute was published concurrently on Outrightgeekery.com.