Jonathon Ross is a big comics fan and he produced a documentary for the BBC on his favourite artist Steve Ditko.

Ditko wasn't my favourite, but I thought he was a great visual story teller, and I was impressed enough to paint one of his characters called 'The Creeper' which he created for DC Comics.

Ditko was influenced by the philosophies of Ayn Rand and this is reflected in the characters he created such as 'Hawk and Dove', also for DC Comics.

I first came across Steve Ditko in British 'spook stories' such as Uncanny Tales that had been reprinted from American comics.

But I really noticed how good he was in the first 30 or so issues of Spider Man. Unlike other Superhero comics of that time, Steve Ditko's Spiderman spent a great deal of his time worrying about normal every day life, instead of just having a punch-up with the latest super villan!

Spiderman fans were soon caught up with debates over which girlfriend was best suited for him.  Whether his Aunt May would ever find out he was secretly Spiderman, and how he was ever going to get all his school work done when he was out battling baddies every night!

Steve Ditko worked for Marvel Comics in the early 1960's with Stan Lee, (writer and editor) and Jack Kirby, (main house artist).

At the same time Beatlemania was conquering the world, and a parallel with the Beatles is often drawn. Lee and Kirby being Lennon and McCartney, while Steve Ditko was George Harrison - a talented individual overshadowed by giants.

Ditko really cared about the characters he portrayed, and eventually handed his resignation in to Marvel Comics over an argument about the development of the 'Green Goblin' character. How's that for artistic integrity!

Although Stan Lee created the character and wrote the origin story, Steve Ditko felt restricted by Lee's editorship and asked if he could plot the Spiderman stories. Lee eventually agreed to this, although no other Marvel artist in the early 1960s had won this concession.

Ditko would hand over the completed Spiderman illustrations and Stan Lee would insert the dialogue. This created the unique Spiderman style with numerous pages dealing soley with Peter Parker's private life, instead of battling the latest super-villain, which tended to happen in other Marvel titles.

The partnership lasted for over 30 issues until Ditko resigned over the direction the Green Goblin character should take.

Marvel recognised both Ditko's style and the huge sales generated for Spiderman, and the next artist, John Romita, continued very much in the Ditko vein.
 
My favourite Spiderman story  is "The Final Chapter" in issue 33, and I'm not the only one who like this. Stan Lee himself cites this Ditko illustrated Spider-Man as his favourite:

Inside the comic it takes Ditko numerous panels and many pages to show how Spiderman finally struggles free. By the time he succeeds the reader feels as exhausted as Spiderman! This multiple panel, extended plot device was typical of Ditko's unique style.

I have painted many different comic characters using oils on canvas, but it was only when I painted the cover of Spiderman #33 that I realised just how good Steve Ditko was. Although Ditko uses simple lines, it takes genius to capture the sense of power that the image contains.