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It’s probably accurate to say that most people don’t know who Steve Ditko was, and in fact, were probably saturated more with false information, lack of information, and rumors than actual facts. But you can’t really fault them since he didn’t make his life a public spectacle like some others might have done in the same shoes. dedicated to sharing our passion with the world and providing the best selection of comics and graphic novels.
The question then becomes “So, who was he?”
The 1964 New York Comicon: The True Story Behind the World's First Comic Book Convention
The story of the first comic con ever held. The story of the 1964 New York Comicon is the story of Bernie Bubnis, Ron Fradkin, Art Tripp, and Ethan Roberts. Four boys who, like an early 1960s Kirby kid gang of boy commandoes, took Comic Fandom by storm by writing and publishing their own fanzines, pillaging used-book stores and flea markets for back-issue comics, visiting the offices of Marvel, DC, and Gold Key Comics, and meeting with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, Julius Schwartz, Bill Harris, Flo Steinberg, Curt Swan, Mike Sekowsky, Don Heck, Gil Kane, and Joe Giella. Tired of hearing about other fans' failed attempts to stage a convention for years, these four boys took it upon themselves to make a convention happen. They pooled their resources and used their contacts with the comic professionals they knew to get them to attend and donate door prizes that included stacks of original art pages. They even convinced Spider-man artist Steve Ditko to attend the con - and to this day it is the only con Steve Ditko has ever attended.
Ditko Shrugged by David Currie
Steve Ditko was the last of a sturdy generation of American comic book artists who produced iconic, modern day mythology and was among the most influential and original creators of the 20th Century. A prime architect, together with Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, of a universe of heroic characters that took Marvel Comics from an underdog New York publisher in the 1960s to the world-recognized brand of comic book superheroes and multi-million-dollar movies of today, Ditko co-created Spider-Man but walked away from the character he designed over 50 years ago, to never again return to the enduring superhero and retreating completely from the public eye thereafter. Seeking his own individualistic paths for creative and personal expression would lead to condemnation from some, restricted work opportunities from others and a reclusive life peppered with memories of interfering editors; original artwork that had been stolen from him and a life-long adherence to his Objectivist convictions. With the book sourcing a decade-long correspondence between Steve Ditko and its author David Currie, the history of the formative years of American comic books and the rise of Marvel Comics is revealed, illuminated further by interviews with many other comic book creators from all periods. It's an intrigue-filled story of heroes and villains, both fictional and real; visionary artists on zero-hour contracts and one man's artistically productive and diligently uncompromising life.
Steve Ditko: Mysterious Traveler by Zack Kruse
Steve Ditko (1927?2018) is one of the most important contributors to American comic books. As the cocreator of Spider-Man and sole creator of Doctor Strange, Ditko made an indelible mark on American popular culture. Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity resets the conversation about his heady and powerful work. Always inward facing, Ditko?s narratives employed superhero and supernatural fantasy in the service of self-examination, and with characters like the Question, Mr. A, and Static, Ditko turned ordinary superhero comics into philosophic treatises. Many of Ditko?s philosophy-driven comics show a clear debt to ideas found in Ayn Rand?s Objectivism. Unfortunately, readers often reduce Ditko?s work to a mouthpiece for Rand?s vision. Mysterious Travelers unsettles this notion.
In this book, Zack Kruse argues that Ditko?s philosophy draws on a complicated network of ideas that is best understood as mystic liberalism. Although Ditko is not the originator of mystic liberalism, his comics provide a unique window into how such an ideology operates in popular media. Examining selections of Ditko?s output from 1953 to 1986, Kruse demonstrates how Ditko?s comics provide insight into a unique strand of American thought that has had a lasting impact.
Working With Steve Ditko by Jack C. Harris
Working With Ditko takes a unique and nostalgic journey through comics’ Bronze Age, as editor and writer Jack C. Harris recalls his numerous collaborations with legendary comics master Steve Ditko! It features never-before-seen preliminary sketches and pencil art from Harris’ tenure working with Ditko on The Creeper, Shade the Changing Man, the Odd Man, the Demon, Wonder Woman, Legion of Super-Heroes, The Fly, and even Ditko’s unused redesign for Batman! Plus, it documents their work on numerous independent properties, and offers glimpses of original characters from Ditko’s drawing board that have never been viewed by even his most avid fans! This illustrated volume is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the creative comic book process by one of the industry’s most revered creators, as seen through the eyes of one of his most frequent collaborators!
For Bread with Butter: The Life-Worlds of East Central Europeans in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1890–1940
Fifty years ago, enactment of the Wagner National Labor Relations Act gave American organized labour what it has regarded ever since as one of its greatest assets: a legislative guarantee of the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. Yet although the Wagner Act's guarantees remain substantially unaltered, organized labour in America today is in deep decline. Addressing this apparent paradox, Christopher Tomlins offers here a critical examination of the impact of the National Labor Relations Act on American unions. By studying the intentions and goals of policy makers in the context of the development of labour law from the late nineteenth century, and by looking carefully at the course of labour history since the act's passage, Dr Tomlins shows how public policy has been shaped to confine labour's role in the American economy, and that many of the unions' problems stem from the laws which purport to protect them.
