You've just created the best document/ documentary on Steve Ditko, and you put it out for free for all to see and experience? words can't convey how appreciative I am of this video
I don't know of anyone else who's delved so deeply into Steve Ditko's personal life, such as it was. It goes to show just how private he really was, even with his family. But now I will never unsee Ditko dressed as a baby!
This interview advances Ditko scholarship tremendously! Our most vivid portrait yet of Steve Ditko as a person/family man/prankster. Alex, you did a fantastic job in drawing out some great memories from the family. And seeing those treasures... Ditko's early artwork, his art tools, his video collection... Well, that was a fantastic extra bonus. Thanks to Pat and Patrick for sharing so much of his life.
The group Steve Ditko gave money to was the Ayn Rand Institute, not the Atlas Society, which is another group. People at ARI would get the contribution from Ditko in check form, which meant they could look at a genuine Ditko signature. They thought it was super cool. My source on this is Yaron Brook, the chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute, either on his RUclips channel or in personal communication. Ditko himself contributed to an initiative by ARI to promote Ayn Rand's works in Eastern Europe. This was reported in an ARI newsletter in the late 1980s.
I’ve been slowly watching this over the past week or so. I always knew that just because Ditko lived a private life, did not mean that he lived a lonely life. This is such a wealth of information and great pictures and anecdotes. It’s really touching to hear about someone you view as a personal hero from their loved ones. Thank you so much for this 💙
Incredible! I love the Ditkos! They’re so humble, kind and intelligent. Very grateful for them for opening up, and they have a great rapport with Alex. Such a wonderful experience
I actually never once thought about Tarzan swinging on vines being the inspiration for Spidey's web-slinging... great call. Fantastic background on the mysterious Steve, and they are really nice guys.
Some Ayn Rand points, from a genuine Objectivist who's received a letter from Ditko: 1) Pronounce "Ayn" correctly. Rhymes with "mine." 2) That "Psycho-Epistemology" course is pretty interesting on the creative process; Ditko would have listened to it carefully. 3) Dr. Strange is never taken by Objectivists as a betrayal of Objectivism, and none of us criticize magical fantasy as a genre.
Been a Ditko fan for decades now and for years bought into the idea that this was a man who was alone in the world. To have seen now his family and seeing these video clips of him at play are wonderful.
The Ditkos are wonderful! A much more human side of Steve shown here: I’m so very grateful. Documentary level interview as well. Such a wonderful job done by all including Alex who clearly respects the family in a major way.
Such a wonderful interview, done right here where I've lived my whole life! The upcoming book you mention, about Steve Ditko from the family's point of view, is really going to be a treasure! I am so thankful to have gotten to know Pat and Patrick and other Ditko family members over the past 3 years, as we have been doing so much to celebrate Steve here in Johnstown, PA!
Can't thankyou enouph ! after more than 50 years !! you've got the best character reveal on the Man behind the reclusive myth - seeing his home films and video collection and notes priceless -...Now- if we can only find someone who attended his only Comic convention appearance in '65....
Such a great interview you conducted here, it was interesting to hear that he never got on a plane. It's always fascinated me as a native New Yorker that people can live a very reclusive life while some of us are/were the opposites. Both Pat & Patrick really have a fondness for telling these stories and I'm glad they had a chance to. Thanks for giving us a big slice of comic history with this interview alone, and a great channel overall!
I collect everything Steve Ditko..Pre- spiderman! He did some amazing stuff! What i never understood was why in his later years he never publically came out to tell it as it is himself? I mean the guy was basically a mystery.
Incredible work, and many thanks to his family for honoring his legacy and showing the side of Steve Ditko that I and so many others never knew existed. A genius on so many levels, my life has been shaped so much by his work and I cant thank you enough for this documentary.
FANTASTIC interview/feature here! Pat and Patrick, thank you very much for sharing all of this with us. A lot of people have seemed to think for many years that they had Steve Ditko figured out, I am willing to bet they never imagined their vision of Steve as goofing around and making funny home movies!
😎Two films came immediately to mind Alex with this in depth interview : 1957s "Artists and Models" starring Dean Martin ( who was an avid comic book reader ; Batman being his favorite character) and Jerry Lewis ( who in a TV interview recorded a short time after Dean's passing spoke of Dean's comic book fascination and how wherever they traveled to Dean would ask Jerry to go out and buy him comic books similar to Steve 's dad with his sons); the film directed by Frank Tashlin ( former animator and the screenwriter for 1950s " The Good Humor Man " starring Jack Carson in the title role is the only film about a super hero -Captain Marvel - that doesn't have an actual live action appearance of the hero in it only plenty of references : comic books , a radio show excerpt , cos playing kid members of a Captain Marvel fan club. "Artists and Models" involves artist Dean and writer Jerry caught up in the comics controversy of the time and the comic book character causing concern is the sci-fi /horror super heroine The Bat Lady. The second film is 1965s "How To Murder Your Wife" starring Jack Lemmon as a cartoonist ( Lemmon was a fan of Bill Everett) who experiments with actual situations before depicting them in his adventure comic strip. Steve's background definitely seems relatable to these films in certain ways. His time with Stanton was his experimentation with swinging society culture of the time. His "reclusiveness" was his Batcave analysis of human interaction with life itself. For me his pre hero material (Charlton , Atlas/Marvel) and his 1970s Charlton contributions reflect his personality more intimately and entertaining. He was committed to creativity is what it all adds up to. I do not mourn Steve's passing I 🍻celebrate his choosing to communicate with us his consciouness creatively !
I'm 30 minutes in and am amazed at how many "I don't knows," "I don't remembers," or "maybe our mother knew but I don'ts" is being spun into a portrait of this elusive figure. Great kudos to the interviewer!
This is a wonderful interview about my all-time favourite comics artist. Needless to say it's enlightening beyond measure. Fascinating at long last to get a true picture of the man, who was clearly highly individualistic but at the same time a much different, much warmer person than the mythology that abounded in his lifetime suggested. Such a pleasure to 'meet' the members of the Ditko family through CBH too, who all come across as intelligent, kind and good-humoured people with great love and respect for their departed relative. Thank you so much for publishing this.
Wow,VHS cassettes,that takes me back;I still remember the first two movies my family and I watched on the first VCR we ever bought:it was Dune and Robocop(the original films,not the remakes.) Good days.
Thanks for this interview. Im not necessarily a Comic fan, but I wanted to find out more of this Legend from my city. It saddens me, that we didn't/don't see much to commemerate him and his work. I am glad to see some of his art on the buildings....which ultimately led me here today. Much Luv and Thanks again
This is just wonderful. Thanks so much for doing this. Ditko deserves this and more. I never imagined I would get a glimpse into his personal life, with him being so private and everything! I particulary liked the part about his personal belongings.
Alex .. simply terrific. I’ve watched several of your interviews- you handle them perfectly. Being an artist myself, you actually anticipate the very questions I would ask … and you deliver them in exactly the right way. I enjoyed your Roy Thomas interview for the same reasons. Well done! 😊
You generally get a form from your Parish in the Latin Rite Catholic Church. My experience was having the Parish secretary ask the Pastor if I was a practicing Catholic and having him say, "Practicing, yeah, he sure hasn't gotten it right yet."
Great interview Alex. U ask important questions and they gave some great answers. If I had a chance I would also ask 1) how do you feel about Steve never finding romance or love in his life. Did it bother you that he lived alone for most of his life and never had kids 2) why did steve never try to monetize his creation of spiderman or Dr strange or other characters 3) how could Steve afford two apartments in New York. Did someone pay for them for him and if so who was it
Very cool and important video at least to me. Also dug Mr. Ditko's work and being a huge Spider-Man fan as a kid I really was drawn to his work there and with other comics like Blue Beetle, etc. His work was so amazing and wild to me all at once. I still wish I could of met him! Sadly the closest I met to any of the early Spider-Man artists I met was Gil Kane.
I like to think I have the largest collection of Ditko comics west of the Mississippi after the former editor of Eclipse Comics Kat Yronwood lost hers in a flood I got to know her well sharing stories she said she interviewed Steve's relatives I had Amazing Adult Fantasy #15 bought it September 1962 yeah I'm a boomer have 17 issues of his Spiper-man run that he drew in the 60's yeah he's perfect story teller 😂
This was History class for me! How often do we know the family of famous artists.....very rare! I have tons of Ditko books pre-marvel which was better than Spiderman!
Wow well, Steve Ditko was one of my favorite artists . Anyway, if he was able to keep lots of his original Spider-Man artwork, he would have had millions millions of dollars if he wanted it nobody really knew years ago how much original art and comic books would be worth, especially original Spider-Man artwork by the creator himself. Every page is worth a small fortune. Yes, he is very missed He was one of a kind.
Curious: What was the cut at 1:03:42? Not that I doubt the Ditko side of the story in the slightest, but in terms of journalism it seems a bad place to do an edit and it stuck out, particularly in the context of the question asked.
This person is not a comic book artist, but he is a retired voice actor, I have long liked to compare him to Steve Ditko. I've always felt they are very similar in the sense of how extremely reclusive they are, how they always avoided the public, would never do interviews, very few or if any photos exist of them. John Erwin, best known as the original voice of He-Man from the classic 1980s cartoon. He has always been extremely reclusive and has always avoided the public.
![Method Writing: The First Four Concepts - Jack Grapes [FULL INTERVIEW]](/img/1.gif)
You've just created the best document/ documentary on Steve Ditko, and you put it out for free for all to see and experience? words can't convey how appreciative I am of this video
Thank you!
@@ComicBookHistoriansit is wonderful ❤
I don't know of anyone else who's delved so deeply into Steve Ditko's personal life, such as it was. It goes to show just how private he really was, even with his family.
But now I will never unsee Ditko dressed as a baby!
This interview advances Ditko scholarship tremendously! Our most vivid portrait yet of Steve Ditko as a person/family man/prankster. Alex, you did a fantastic job in drawing out some great memories from the family. And seeing those treasures... Ditko's early artwork, his art tools, his video collection... Well, that was a fantastic extra bonus. Thanks to Pat and Patrick for sharing so much of his life.
Javier thank you!
Kinda fits, when you consider his characters. Creeper, Spider-Man, speedball, Ted kord. All kinda pranksters
@@ComicBookHistorians Great interview! What's the book you keep referencing throughout? It sounds like you're saying "Jushonic"?
@@Yanolala Robert T. Jeschonek wrote a Ditko bio with the family which I read and hasn’t been released yet.
@@ComicBookHistorians How exciting! Thanks for the response and I can't wait for when that releases!
The group Steve Ditko gave money to was the Ayn Rand Institute, not the Atlas Society, which is another group. People at ARI would get the contribution from Ditko in check form, which meant they could look at a genuine Ditko signature. They thought it was super cool. My source on this is Yaron Brook, the chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute, either on his RUclips channel or in personal communication. Ditko himself contributed to an initiative by ARI to promote Ayn Rand's works in Eastern Europe. This was reported in an ARI newsletter in the late 1980s.
Fantastic interview, I've met Steve a few times when I worked at Marvel over 20 years ago it is so great to see him through the eyes of family.
I’ve been slowly watching this over the past week or so. I always knew that just because Ditko lived a private life, did not mean that he lived a lonely life. This is such a wealth of information and great pictures and anecdotes. It’s really touching to hear about someone you view as a personal hero from their loved ones. Thank you so much for this 💙
Incredible! I love the Ditkos! They’re so humble, kind and intelligent. Very grateful for them for opening up, and they have a great rapport with Alex. Such a wonderful experience
This was great to see! This def needs more viewers!
I actually never once thought about Tarzan swinging on vines being the inspiration for Spidey's web-slinging... great call. Fantastic background on the mysterious Steve, and they are really nice guys.
This is incredible! Steve never did any interviews. Finally!!!❤😂😂😂 The Rockstar!!!
Some Ayn Rand points, from a genuine Objectivist who's received a letter from Ditko: 1) Pronounce "Ayn" correctly. Rhymes with "mine." 2) That "Psycho-Epistemology" course is pretty interesting on the creative process; Ditko would have listened to it carefully. 3) Dr. Strange is never taken by Objectivists as a betrayal of Objectivism, and none of us criticize magical fantasy as a genre.
Thanks for the clarification Roger!
Been a Ditko fan for decades now and for years bought into the idea that this was a man who was alone in the world. To have seen now his family and seeing these video clips of him at play are wonderful.
How are not more people talking about this? This is fascinating.
The Ditkos are wonderful! A much more human side of Steve shown here: I’m so very grateful. Documentary level interview as well. Such a wonderful job done by all including Alex who clearly respects the family in a major way.
Such a wonderful interview, done right here where I've lived my whole life! The upcoming book you mention, about Steve Ditko from the family's point of view, is really going to be a treasure! I am so thankful to have gotten to know Pat and Patrick and other Ditko family members over the past 3 years, as we have been doing so much to celebrate Steve here in Johnstown, PA!
Excellent interview and the best ever insight into a genius. Perhaps Stan had the "idea", but It's clear that Spidey is more Steve's.
We should conceive of it as: created and developed by... which you've described so well.
That's certainly true of Dr. Strange, even Stan Lee said as much. Spidey perhaps was more 50/50...
@@warlockofwordschannel7901I always got the feeling that Spider-Man meant more to ditko than he’d ever admit
The Amazing Spider-Man improved after Ditko left and John Romita took it into the stratosphere. That's just the truth.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Well, it's your truth. Not everyone's.
This is really terrific. This interview puts many Ditko pieces together. Thanks.
My all time favorite artist I bought anything Steve Ditko plot and created.
Can't thankyou enouph ! after more than 50 years !! you've got the best character reveal on the Man behind the reclusive myth - seeing his home films and video collection and notes priceless -...Now- if we can only find someone who attended his only Comic convention appearance in '65....
Amazing Interview! A must ser to ALL Ditko fans out there. I'm a Ditko fan since 1986.
Same here! I buy all the PS Artbooks that have his art
Such a great interview you conducted here, it was interesting to hear that he never got on a plane. It's always fascinated me as a native New Yorker that people can live a very reclusive life while some of us are/were the opposites. Both Pat & Patrick really have a fondness for telling these stories and I'm glad they had a chance to. Thanks for giving us a big slice of comic history with this interview alone, and a great channel overall!
I collect everything Steve Ditko..Pre- spiderman! He did some amazing stuff! What i never understood was why in his later years he never publically came out to tell it as it is himself? I mean the guy was basically a mystery.
He wrote many essays on the subject.
@@ComicBookHistorians yea..but he should have left some on camera interview for his fans!
What a great treat for any fan of Steve Ditko, Spider-Man, and pop culture in general!
*This is incredible! I like the part (mid way) of Steve’s private cut out if his favorite super hero clips.* 💕
What an absolutely interesting guy Steve was.
This is an extraordinary revealing of one comic's most elusive figures. Kuddos Alex! What you've done here certainly raises the bar.
Incredible work, and many thanks to his family for honoring his legacy and showing the side of Steve Ditko that I and so many others never knew existed. A genius on so many levels, my life has been shaped so much by his work and I cant thank you enough for this documentary.
Alex the 🐐 talking about Steve Ditko the 🐐…can’t much better than this. 💪
FANTASTIC interview/feature here! Pat and Patrick, thank you very much for sharing all of this with us. A lot of people have seemed to think for many years that they had Steve Ditko figured out, I am willing to bet they never imagined their vision of Steve as goofing around and making funny home movies!
This interview is awesome and is the most informative and revealing insight into Ditko's life and as a person. Thank you for doing this interview.
😎Two films came immediately to mind Alex with this in depth interview : 1957s "Artists and Models" starring Dean Martin ( who was an avid comic book reader ; Batman being his favorite character) and Jerry Lewis ( who in a TV interview recorded a short time after Dean's passing spoke of Dean's comic book fascination and how wherever they traveled to Dean would ask Jerry to go out and buy him comic books similar to Steve 's dad with his sons); the film directed by Frank Tashlin ( former animator and the screenwriter for 1950s " The Good Humor Man " starring Jack Carson in the title role is the only film about a super hero -Captain Marvel - that doesn't have an actual live action appearance of the hero in it only plenty of references : comic books , a radio show excerpt , cos playing kid members of a Captain Marvel fan club. "Artists and Models" involves artist Dean and writer Jerry caught up in the comics controversy of the time and the comic book character causing concern is the sci-fi /horror super heroine The Bat Lady. The second film is 1965s "How To Murder Your Wife" starring Jack Lemmon as a cartoonist ( Lemmon was a fan of Bill Everett) who experiments with actual situations before depicting them in his adventure comic strip. Steve's background definitely seems relatable to these films in certain ways. His time with Stanton was his experimentation with swinging society culture of the time. His "reclusiveness" was his Batcave analysis of human interaction with life itself. For me his pre hero material (Charlton , Atlas/Marvel) and his 1970s Charlton contributions reflect his personality more intimately and entertaining. He was committed to creativity is what it all adds up to. I do not mourn Steve's passing I 🍻celebrate his choosing to communicate with us his consciouness creatively !
I'm 30 minutes in and am amazed at how many "I don't knows," "I don't remembers," or "maybe our mother knew but I don'ts" is being spun into a portrait of this elusive figure. Great kudos to the interviewer!
Wonderful interview, thanks to all!
Thank you so much for this ! And thanks to the Ditko family, I'm glad they're opening to present a new side of the man
This is a wonderful interview about my all-time favourite comics artist. Needless to say it's enlightening beyond measure. Fascinating at long last to get a true picture of the man, who was clearly highly individualistic but at the same time a much different, much warmer person than the mythology that abounded in his lifetime suggested. Such a pleasure to 'meet' the members of the Ditko family through CBH too, who all come across as intelligent, kind and good-humoured people with great love and respect for their departed relative. Thank you so much for publishing this.
Wow,VHS cassettes,that takes me back;I still remember the first two movies my family and I watched on the first VCR we ever bought:it was Dune and Robocop(the original films,not the remakes.) Good days.
Thanks for this interview. Im not necessarily a Comic fan, but I wanted to find out more of this Legend from my city. It saddens me, that we didn't/don't see much to commemerate him and his work. I am glad to see some of his art on the buildings....which ultimately led me here today. Much Luv and Thanks again
Keep an eye out! There will be ongoing tributes to Steve Ditko right here in Johnstown, PA, in many forms, for years to come.
Thank you for this awesome interview, Alex. Going to buy your book on payday.
Awesome, thank you!
This is incredible! Thank you all!
This is just wonderful. Thanks so much for doing this. Ditko deserves this and more. I never imagined I would get a glimpse into his personal life, with him being so private and everything! I particulary liked the part about his personal belongings.
What a great interview; very interesting. Thanks for doing this and thanks to both Pat and Patrick.
Awesome ! Thank you for this precious interview. Ditko was a fascinating artist.
incredible job getting this interview! 1:07:00 the gloves are off!!
Thanks
Wonderful segment. THANK YOU for sharing this very interesting world of Mr. Steve Ditko. Respects to all.
I love how you index the topics at the bottom of the screen...I've never seen that before!
Thanks, I’m a stickler for the details! It’s in most or all of my videos
This is such a great piece go history!!! Thank you so much!
Thank you for this!
Thank you for this. It warms my heart.
Fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing this, Alex. The whole comics community owes you a debt of gratitude. And thanks to Pat and Patrick, too.
It was an esteemed pleasure spending time with those two.
Fantastic interview. Those early wood blocks are so cool.
I love the original spider-man stories, art and villains
Historic moment...thanks so much!
I am so looking forward to watching this Alex!😀
Alex .. simply terrific. I’ve watched several of your interviews- you handle them perfectly. Being an artist myself, you actually anticipate the very questions I would ask … and you deliver them in exactly the right way. I enjoyed your Roy Thomas interview for the same reasons. Well done! 😊
I love that feedback, thank you Chris!
Thank you so much for this.
If I had the money, I’d make a Steve Ditko biopic cuz I think he deserves it 👍
I think it would be kinda cool and boring at the same time. He was too private
Thanks for posting. I very much enjoyed this.
This was a great interview. It offered a lot of insight into a very private man.
This is amazing
You generally get a form from your Parish in the Latin Rite Catholic Church.
My experience was having the Parish secretary ask the Pastor if I was a practicing Catholic and having him say, "Practicing, yeah, he sure hasn't gotten it right yet."
Great interview guys
By the way, Alex I ordered your book after checking out your channel. Your work’s important
Thank you!
Omg...I have the same bday as Steve ditko.INCREDIBLE!
Great interview Alex. U ask important questions and they gave some great answers. If I had a chance I would also ask 1) how do you feel about Steve never finding romance or love in his life. Did it bother you that he lived alone for most of his life and never had kids 2) why did steve never try to monetize his creation of spiderman or Dr strange or other characters 3) how could Steve afford two apartments in New York. Did someone pay for them for him and if so who was it
3) Rent control would likely mean he paid very little for them.
Great interview. I hope those woodblocks and other cool stuff will show up in their book.
Fascinating. I wonder if they took video of his studio?
Amazing interview. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks Alex for this 🙏🏼
This is fantastic.
Very cool and important video at least to me. Also dug Mr. Ditko's work and being a huge Spider-Man fan as a kid I really was drawn to his work there and with other comics like Blue Beetle, etc. His work was so amazing and wild to me all at once. I still wish I could of met him! Sadly the closest I met to any of the early Spider-Man artists I met was Gil Kane.
This is fantastic
I like to think I have the largest collection of Ditko comics west of the Mississippi after the former editor of Eclipse Comics Kat Yronwood lost hers in a flood I got to know her well sharing stories she said she interviewed Steve's relatives I had Amazing Adult Fantasy #15 bought it September 1962 yeah I'm a boomer have 17 issues of his Spiper-man run that he drew in the 60's yeah he's perfect story teller 😂
This is excellent. Thank you for it
This was History class for me! How often do we know the family of famous artists.....very rare! I have tons of Ditko books pre-marvel which was better than Spiderman!
Alex Grand, Comic book detective.
I’m just an enthusiastic friend of the family.
Wow well, Steve Ditko was one of my favorite artists . Anyway, if he was able to keep lots of his original Spider-Man artwork, he would have had millions millions of dollars if he wanted it nobody really knew years ago how much original art and comic books would be worth, especially original Spider-Man artwork by the creator himself. Every page is worth a small fortune. Yes, he is very missed He was one of a kind.
This is a real treasure!
Oh wow!
Did you ask if he ever saw any of the adaptations of his work?
I want to like this, but I can't because it'd go over 666 xD. Great interview, BTW.
Curious: What was the cut at 1:03:42? Not that I doubt the Ditko side of the story in the slightest, but in terms of journalism it seems a bad place to do an edit and it stuck out, particularly in the context of the question asked.
Just coughing and drinking water. No sinister play at work.
@@ComicBookHistorians Honestly, my guess was further confusion over dates like the previous couple of minutes, but I figured I'd be "that guy"
They probably talked how bad Stan Lee was. Lol
Sounds like his younger brother didn't really know him any better than anybody else did. Seven years is just too big a gap, it seems.
It amazes me how much the opposite of Stan Lee he was
This person is not a comic book artist, but he is a retired voice actor, I have long liked to compare him to Steve Ditko.
I've always felt they are very similar in the sense of how extremely reclusive they are, how they always avoided the public, would never do interviews, very few or if any photos exist of them.
John Erwin, best known as the original voice of He-Man from the classic 1980s cartoon.
He has always been extremely reclusive and has always avoided the public.
🔥💙🔥
Please, in Spanish sub
Mcdonalds made better product til the 1980's came.
Thank you for this!!