Steve Ditko was born in Johnstown, Pa. He moved to New York in 1950 and began drawing comics, mostly horror and sci-fi. It wasnt until he hooked up with Marvel Comics and Lee in 1955, however, that he took a step toward becoming a legend.
The creation of Spider-Man is muddied by the years, conflicting points of view and the fact that no one involved paid much attention at the time because they never thought the adventures of a teenager who gains the powers of an arachnid would amount to anything.
What we do know: In 1962, Lee, the co-creator of the Fantastic Four and Iron Man, had an idea for a new hero and passed a synopsis on to artist Jack Kirby. The story involved a teen who gained spider powers via a magic ring. Lee was underwhelmed by Kirbys overly heroic take and went to Ditko.
Not only did Ditko design the iconic costume, he may have contributed many of the elements that have made Spidey so popular over the decades. Unlike the godlike other heroes of the time Superman, for example Spider-Man and his alter ego, Peter Parker, had very human, relatable problems.
Ditko took what was a very good superhero comic strip and really turned it into something revolutionary, Bell says.
It was Ditko who wanted to ground the strip in reality, to see what it was like to be a hero through the eyes of a teenager and to struggle.
The direction put Ditko at odds with Lee, but because the writer-editor was so busy running Marvel, he increasingly turned over more story control to Ditko. By about issue No. 10, the artist was also plotting the stories, with Lee just filling in dialogue after the pages were drawn. By No. 25, the two were no longer speaking. Bucking the comic-book formula of the day, Ditko focused less on action scenes involving Spider-Man and more on the troubled life of Parker.
The Amazing Spider-Man No. 18 featured almost no costumed Spidey. In a letter column run in other Marvel books at the time, Lee took a jab at Ditko, writing, A lot of readers are sure to hate [No. 18], so if you want to know what all the criticism is about, be sure to buy a copy.
Spider-Man ultimately became a giant hit, but with issue No. 38, Ditko quit, reportedly walking away with no notice. Bell says the artist was angry with Marvel Comics for failing to deliver on promised royalties.
To this day, Ditko has probably made very little off his billion-dollar co-creation. He has no ownership of the character and was paid a modest per-page rate at the time. He does collect royalties each time the comics are reprinted, but he says he has not earned anything off the films, despite his name appearing in the credits.
