Ditko Unleashed! Hardcover – December 20, 2016

Enormous, very well-produced hardcover catalog written by Florentino Florez to complement a 2016-17 Spanish exhibition of Steve Ditko art. The entirety of the artist's career is represented by color reproductions of printed work and page after page of lovely original art. The color art is sometimes pleasingly sized, other times quite small. The original art, though, is typically full page, and it is glorious. As another reviewer has noted, the prose is sometimes awkward and vague--a result, perhaps, of a sketchy translation or, alternatively, that English is Florez's second language. Whichever the case, the text is detailed almost issue by issue, down to the individual panel level, and thoughtfully covers more than sixty years of output.The book's final section, looking at Ditko's increasingly personal and idiosyncratic output from the late 1970s onward, is at once fascinating and tedious. Ditko's longtime commitment to Randian individualism is laudable or just eccentric, depending on your point of view. To me, his black-and-white view of personal responsibility and justice is superficial; in much of this later work, Ditko sets up straw men so that he can noisily knock them down, and that's too easy. Life's enormous complexities seem to elude him. Florez struggles to give praise to Mr. A, Static, Ditko Presents, and other latter-day projects that are energetic but visually undisciplined (Ditko really needs to stop ding his own lettering, for it is awful), and hectoring rather than instructive. But my opinion about his beliefs doesn't matter to Ditko; nor should it. He remains true to himself, producing lively pages as he approaches his ninetieth birthday. When you acknowledge Ditko, you acknowledge ALL of his work. In the history of comics, he looms large.

OK, it goes without saying that any fan of Steve Ditko’s work should own this book for the amazing amount of original art pages it contains alone. And it is thrilling to see the entire career of this important commercial and popular artist captured between hard covers. What an amazing exhibition this must’ve been to see in person!Sometimes though, the color reproductions of panels and pages are so small that it’s hard to understand what you’re supposed to appreciate here.For examples, the art on pages 130 and 252 is barely larger than a postage stamp! I would’ve cut the copy by Florentino Flórez to allow for larger reproductions in many instances. (I don’t think there’s any new ground broken here for the Ditko scholars among us).Indeed, overall the text is a bit of an issue. It contains insipid sentences like “The mind-blowing trips that Ditko or Kirby’s colorful pages took you on would always be far better than attempts to get high by re-reading Hegel.”Yeah, we all remember back in the 1960s when John Lennon said getting high re-reading Hegel was better than pot or acid.Where, oh where was editor Frédéric Manzano when this copy was being proofed? Writer Flórez also seems to think that beatniks and hippies are the same thing. Or perhaps this is a problem with the translation by Rachel Waters?So, a must-have for the art work and congratulations to the team who put this exhibition together. Unfortunately, the text does not equal the care or quality that the rest of this skilled production deserves. (But don’t let that stop you from purchasing this book).

This book is without question the most attractively designed, objectively written, and encompassing book published to date on the work of Steve Ditko. A fair amount of the text quotes Ditko in his own words, from early published interviews and more recent essays. To page through the book, front to back, is in itself a great pleasure, but the text - which, incidentally, is bilingual (English and Spanish) - is clear and comprehensive, a feast of information. The illustrations include quite a few examples of Ditko's original comic art boards, including some of the key pages from Ditko's tenure on THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (his origin story, and the legendary story of his entrapment under heavy fallen machinery). Importantly, this is the first book on Ditko to really come to grips with his most recent work for publisher Robin Snyder. A must-have for anyone interested in the subject of the most original comics artist of our time.

Great details about Ditko’s life, his battles with Stan Lee, and plenty of full scale original art pages to look at.

This book is a thorough look at the work of master creator Steve Ditko up to the present day. It discuss his style, techniques and innovatons from his over sixty year career and is a visual feast as well, showcasing page after page of original art. An exceptional book spotlighting an exceptional artist.

I am thrilled to have this book in my library. The reproduction of the artwork is wonderful, the text is a work of love, well designed to present. a clear look into the genius of Steve Ditko. This is a must-have for any Ditko fan.

This book is an outstanding compilation of both insight and real gems of Steve Ditko's original art covering his expansive and long career as one of America's greatest artistic talents. It is beautifully compiled in dual languages.

One of the best books I have read on the work of Steve Ditko.

A truly awesome book packed solid with a comprehensive biographical study of the super artist, Steve Ditko. The book includes many original art pages from most periods of his work as well as 100s of colorful examples of his amazing work for Charlton, Warren, Marvel, Atlas etc and also a lot of images of his own publishing (most I have never heard of or seen). A lot of wonderful Spider-man original artwork is included (though no complete stories it seems) as well Dr Strange. It weighs a ton, it looks impressive, and there are many hours of reading and re-reading). Probably better than the previous volumes in the series (though not an official series as this is a museum catalogue and there are other similar books such as for Wally Wood and Russ Heath) for me.I wonder when there will be a Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Alex Toth, Bill Everett etc exhibition and catalogue??

Steve Ditko divides opinion like few other comic book artists. His art is so stylised that it’s impossible to mistake for anyone else’s, and it’s one you either love or hate. Which camp you fall into may be a generational thing. If, like me, you discovered Ditko in the early 1960s through the short monster stories he produced for Marvel Comics and then his co-creation of The Amazing Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, you’ll probably love his style. If you came to comics after about 1975, when they turned to the ‘enhanced realist’ style of John Buscema and John Byrne, or the pumped-up, overblown, Image Comics era of the 80s-90s, then Ditko’s style will probably strike you as an archaic relic of a bygone age.It was, however, precisely that style that led Marvel editor, Stan Lee, to cast Ditko as the artist on Spider-Man. The legendary Jack Kirby, creator of the Marvel house style, narrative rules and most of their best-selling characters, produced a five-page sample for Spider-Man. Lee, however, felt that Kirby’s treatment made the character look too much like a standard superhero. Lee wanted the character in costume to still be essentially the same geeky, skinny schoolkid his alter ego, Peter Parker, was. To render this, he gave the job to Steve Ditko. Ditko not only came up with the goods, but added huge extra value by creating the iconic Spider-Man costume and web-shooters, putting him in weird, spider-like poses, and creating a range of bizarre, disturbed, freakish adversaries for him to face; the Vulture, Doctor Octopus, and the Lizard, among others.It was also Ditko who created what remains perhaps the best five-page sequence in the whole Spider-Man canon, and one of the best in the whole of superhero comicdom. This was in issue # 33 of the Amazing Spider-Man, which opens with Spidey hopelessly pinned beneath several tons of machinery amid the ruins of Doctor Octopus’ underwater lair, the roof of which is leaking and about to give way. Agonisingly beyond reach is a container holding the only substance that can save the life of Peter Parker’s beloved aunt May. Things look about as grim as they could get. Another artist would have resolved the problem on the next page. Not Ditko. He wanted to fully express just how potentially deadly this situation was and do so in as realistic a way as possible. Therefore, each time the young hero strained against the immense weight pressing him to the floor, he failed to lift it. Time and again he tried and failed, all the while desperately willing himself on in a taught, fraught internal monologue. The reader thus became completely immersed in the drama, feeling the character’s oppressive sense of frustration, hopelessness, pain and sorrow, alternating with grim determination. Those five pages are an unsurpassed master-class in visual story-telling. One of the outstanding things about ‘Ditko Unleashed’ is that it includes four of those five extraordinary pages, lovingly reproduced at full page size from Ditko’s original artwork. They are stunning and almost worth the price of admission on their own.Not surprisingly, it is Ditko’s role as co-creator of Spider-Man for which he is best remembered, eclipsing even his other great Marvel co-creation, Doctor Strange, for which he created some of the weirdest, most psychedelic settings ever seen in comic books, as though he were channelling the combined spirits of Heironymous Bosch and Salvador Dali.Then, at the height of his fame, in the midst of a run of unrivalled creativity, Ditko quit Marvel. There has been much coverage of the reasons why, not least from Ditko himself. Key elements are covered in the ample, well-researched chronological study of Ditko’s work and life that forms the backbone of this book. ‘Ditko Unleashed’ excels in the detailed insights author, Florentino Florez, brings to Ditko’s development as an artist and as a human being. Time is devoted to understanding Ditko’s personal philosophy, since it was this that determined his decision to quit Marvel and has motivated every decision he’s made since, personally and artistically. Much has been made of the artist’s adoption of the Objectivist philosophy espoused by writer, Ayn Rand. Florez makes it clear that, although Rand is an influence, Ditko has ploughed his own philosophical and political furrow.Over the last few decades, his beliefs and work have become increasingly intertwined and his main outlet has been a series of comics independently published with his friend, Robin Snyder. Here again, ‘Ditko Unleashed’ excels in that it gives due attention not only to Ditko’s rightly famed 1960s heyday, but to every subsequent phase of his career, including work for many small, independent comic companies, occasional returns to ‘the big two,’ Marvel and DC, and increasingly frequent forays into self-publishing. Florez brings an acute critical eye to Ditko’s work, noting how the artist’s style has continually changed and grown throughout a career now spanning seven decades.My one quibble with the book is that the text is printed in dual columns in English and the Spanish in which it was originally written. The problem with this is that it allows less space on the page in which to reproduce the artwork. One result is that pages or frames being talked about may appear a couple of pages before or several pages after the relevant text, leaving the reader to choose whether to stop reading and hunt for the images or plough on regardless and hope to run across them, and remember what was said about them, on turning the page. Frustration is increased by the realisation that quite a few of the pieces referred to in the text are not reproduced in the book at all. And when the work is there, lack of space means that it is often too small to properly appreciate. Entire comic book pages are reproduced at the size of a single comic book panel, making dialogue and captions unreadable without a magnifying glass. I don’t know why IDW chose to go this way. Surely it would have made better artistic and commercial sense to produce separate English and Spanish versions, thereby allowing more room for the art? If not for this curious choice, 'Ditko Unleashed' would more than qualify for the full five stars.Under the circumstances, the sensible editorial choice was made to reproduce original art pages at full page size while scans from comic books are reduced. The choice of original art pages should satisfy most Ditko fans, including as it does 42 from Spider-Man, including the splash page from issue #1 where we see Peter Parker for the first time.One of the great things about ‘Ditko Unleashed,’ though, is that it shows the extent to which Ditko refuses to be defined by his most famous work but has continued to re-invent himself through his work. Demonstrating this, we have, among much else, full-page covers from Charlton Comics’ ‘Captain Atom,’ beautifully painted ink wash pages from Warren’s horror magazines, ‘Creepy’ and ‘Eerie,’ splash pages from Marvel’s, ‘Rom: the Spaceknight,’ and perhaps the artist’s most controversial creation, ‘Mr. A.’ The work covered runs from the 1950s right through until 2015 and spans just about every genre imaginable, including romance, westerns, horror, detective, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, superhero and personal philosophy.All in all, ‘Ditko Unleashed’ represents the most comprehensive look to date at the work, life and thoughts of a great, under-rated, much misunderstood and often mis-represented artist.

brilliant.

Aunque no tengan la publicidad que merecen, hace años que Casal Solleric, un organismo cultural de Palma de Mallorca, monta unas exposiciones sobre autores de cómic que remata con "catálogos" que en realidad no son tales, sino unos libros monográficos deslumbrantes sobre el autor expuesto. A los ya editados en su día sobre Buscema, Heath o Wood, se añade en este 2016 un tocho igualmente lujoso (gran formato, tapa dura, buen papel) sobre la vida y obra de Steve Ditko. Aunque se comercialice a través de la americana IDW, el libro tiene texto bilingüe en inglés y español (en plan Taschen, vaya), por lo que el idioma no es problema para leerlo en su integridad si no sabes inglés.Lejos de ser una mera colección de dibujos, el volumen traza una detallada y muy completa trayectoria de la vida y obra de Ditko hasta la actualidad, bastante meritoria considerando que, como es conocido, el famoso artista se opone radicalmente a dar entrevistas o a colocarse bajo los focos de la popularidad desde hace décadas. Se repasan sus inicios con las pequeñas historias de terror "a lo EC", por supuesto su mítico paso por Marvel, sus series "excéntricas" posteriores ("Creeper", etc.) y los trabajos más oscuros de tiempos recientes. Ninguna etapa, conocida o no, se deja en el tintero. Pero por interesante que sea el texto, la parte mayoritaria del libro lógicamente es la gráfica. Se reproducen montones de originales (en blanco y negro, claro) a toda página de sus historias (cuatro o cinco de ellas incluso completas) de todas las épocas de su producción, y se añaden numerosas páginas en color tomadas de comic books y otros medios en los que Ditko publicó. Estas últimas son quizá el único defecto del libro : Son tantas que, pese a las más de 300 páginas del volumen, se han visto obligados a reproducirlas en pequeño tamaño, lo cual decepciona un poco, en especial teniendo a su lado docenas de originales en gran tamaño que hacen aún más notable el contraste. Quizá hubiera sido mejor no querer abarcar tanto y recopilar menos imágenes pero todas en tamaño grande (no muchísimas pero mitad a gran formato y mitad a pequeño tamaño, como han hecho), pero de cualquier forma es un defecto menor que no desmerece mucho un impresionante trabajo que tiene muchas opciones de convertirse en "EL" libro sobre Ditko por excelencia.

Steve Ditko ist der Schöpfer von "Spider Man" (so wie wir ihn kennen), von Dr. Strange, The Question und eigentlich der gesamten Besetzung der WATCHMEN (Captain Atom=Dr. Manhatten, Blue Beetle=Night Owl, The Question / Mr.A= Rohrschach, Nightshade=Silk Spectre, allesamt Charlton Comic Charactere, von Ditko erschaffen). Der Mann ist also genauso wichtig für die Entwicklung der Superheldencomics wie Jack Kirby es war. Vollends zur Kultfigur wurde er, als er ein Leben in Armut und Belanglosigkeit vorzog anstatt einfache Kompromisse einzugehen und reich und berühmt zu sein. Der Mann hat strikte Vorstellungen von Gut und Böse ist und zieht sein Ding durch. Das ist heutzutage selten und brachte ihm in den letzten Jahren viel Ruhm ein, dem er sich aber konsequent über die Weigerung, Interviews zu geben, entzieht. Tatsächlich ist der Mann ein Enigma, genau so gesichtslos (das letzte bekannte Foto ist von ca 1970!!!), genauso arm (er weigert sich, Tantiemen für Spider-Man oder Dr. Strange anzunehmen und finanziert sich ausschließlich über Fanbasierte Crowdfundings auf Kickstarter) und genau so unbeugsam.Dieser Ausstellungskatalog, gute 6 KG schwer, großformatig und auf gutem Papier stellt Ditko (auf Englisch und Spanisch) in all seinen Schaffensphasen vor. Das Buch enthälte viele seltene Exponate in Großformat, schöne Originalseiten und Zeichnungen, und sehr viele kleine/re Abbildungen, die allerdings dann auch meistens, im Internet in HiRes gefunden werden können. Das ist aber üblich für einen Ausstellungskatalog - es ist eben nicht ganz ein Bildband. Die Texte, die chronologisch Ditkos Leben (zumindest seine Jugend) und Schaffen einordnen sind sehr gut recherchiert und punktgenau zusammengetragen, aber dann doch wenig überraschend. Ein A ist ein A und Ditko ist wohl Ditko. Was gut tat, war das Marvel und vor allem sein Spider-Man Weggang zwar gebührend aber nicht übertrieben dargestellt wird (was wieder typisch Ditkoesque ist: Ein Comic ist halt ein Comic und ein Dr. Strange genau so viel wert wie Static, da die gleiche Arbeit reingesteckt wrude. Die öffentliche Rezeption interessiert hier nicht und entsprechend nüchtern geht der Katalog genau gleich auf Hawk&Dove oder the Mocker ein.Schade fand ich das Vorwort von Robyn Snyder, das wie immer kryptisch/autistisch gehalten ist und eigentlich gar nichts sagt "außer kauft "The Comics"", sehr wenig über Ditkos Privatleben nach seinem Start als Comiczeichner und gar nichts über seine Zusammenarbeit mit Eric Stanton, mit dem er sich nicht nur ein Studio teilte. Alles in Allem ein würdiges, schweres, imposantes Buch, leider ohne Ditkos direkten Input, aber das war so zu erwarten. Für jeden Comic-Fan empfohlen und ein angemessenes Werk in jedem Sinn.