DITKOMIC!

SteamshovelPress.com

Still can't help from being wowed by the idea that Steve Ditko, the artistic genius who gave Spiderman to every baby boomer's youth, continues to produce original comics much better than those found in the comics shops. His latest, Sixteen, includes several full page takes on "The Celebrity," a generalized caricature that surely has in part Stan Lee as its inspiration. Much as he does with Jack Kirby, Lee relies on a professed bad memory to give Ditko short shrift when it comes to the creation of Spiderman. Ditko's over that certainly, although it's something to remember now that Hollywood plans a reboot of the Spiderman movie franchise, but he has generalized a celebrity type that certainly includes Lee--who still rides Ditko and Kirby creations to fame and fortune via movie cameos and interviews. The likes of the shallow celebrity are legion in the media and they all fit on Ditko's skewer. Mad quotes fall over the pages depicting him: "We want...a new...different... change...same...better...keep...ad...why...who is...where...have to...why that... why not...who did you swipe that from.?" Sixteen also has a character called "The Madman-"-deriving inspiration perhaps from that current television hit about the advertising world set in the time of Ditko's creative zenith. Ditko long ago went down philosophical paths that went places where many of his readers can only wave to, but how can anyone not be fascinated by what this elder statesman of the comics industry still has to say? Four dollars from Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko, 3745 Canterbury Lane #81, Bellingham, WA 98225-1186. As for Stan Lee, his memory may be poor but he hasn't forgotten how they do business in the comics industry.