The Ditko Collection Vol. I: 1966-1973

The Ditko Collection

by Steve Ditko, Robin Snyder (Editor)

From the co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange comes this series of visually brilliant, philosophically controversial stories and vignettes–many starring his hero Mr. A.

Genres: Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko was an American comic book artist and writer best known as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

He was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure that it's possible to call oneself a Steve Ditko fan without having experienced Mr. A. And just knowing about the stories isn't enough; you have to have read at least a few of them.

Understand: I’m not saying that you have to like them, or approve of their message. These are less stories and more objectivist musings on good and evil and justice and the like. It's only Ditko’s skills as a storyteller that save these from being completely incoherent. Expository dialogue is routine. It gets so bad that the last panel of the final story in this volume is almost entirely a dialog balloon, with two tiny figures squashed up against the top (“No man really escapes justice because psychologically, no man escapes himself! Irrationality is injustice to oneself! …” and so on.)

That said, I wouldn't call this a bad book, by any means. It's still work by Steve Ditko, one of the more wildly creative artists to work in comics. These stories and illustrations originally appeared in places like Witzend and Comic Crusader, fan publications from the late 60's and early 70's. Ditko was famously reluctant to be interviewed or appear at conventions. The best way to know him is through his work, and the work in this book was clearly deeply personal. It's what he chose to do in his spare time between assignments for Marvel, DC, Charlton, and the like.

Some favorite moments:
- Mr. A’s expressionless mask ringing with laughter upon being offered a bribe.
- The wraparound cover from The Collector #26.
- The entire “When Is A Man to Be Judged Evil?” story, one of the better Mr. A tales.
- “H Series”, not a Mr. A tale, featuring a hero who tailors his identity to the needs of the moment. It's an interesting idea, and a memorable villain with Spot.

Fans of his work know that the Man In A Suit was a recurring theme among Ditko’s heroes. Mr. A is arguably one of the more memorable iterations, on a par with The Question if you ask me. You don't have to (and possibly won't) take the philosophical underpinnings seriously, but the Ditko Collection is one of the keys to the man’s career. Highly recommended!

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

My introduction to logic was a class as an undergrad (in place of calculus). I didn't expect much, but I ended up enjoying the mental exercise. I ended up with an A and a way to appraise ideas. My guess is that in the 60s and 70s, there were a lot of comic book fans that were introduced to logic through the work of Steve Ditko.

This collection is a fascinating read if you aren't primarily looking for a good story. If you want plot, this ain't it. (Maybe check out his work on Spider-Man?) Most of the work here is didactic in nature. Ditko's love of Randian Objectivism is well known. If you approach his work here as an opportunity to engage with Ditko's rhetoric, anything extra will be an added bonus.

...and there are some added bonuses. Teaching philosophy and rhetoric through storytelling and pictures is a fascinating idea. While there are elements of the fantastical (e.g. superheroes), the stories are rooted in the real world. Yes, the dialogue and characters are stilted and dated, but Ditko does an excellent job of explaining that ideas have consequences. Particularly, he's interested in the intersection of freedom and ideas – when people disagree. How do you resolve conflict? Is force ever justified? What is the nature of good and evil (if they exist at all)? What is innocence? When is mercy justified? The reader doesn't have to wonder what Steve Ditko believes about these important issues. Yet, his art is at its best when its most esoteric and abstract, often at the end and beginning each story. It's a wonderful complement to his direct, straightforward writing. His cover for Mr. A #26 is a standout.

So what can we take away from a work like this? First of all, Ditko's work is rather unique. I'm sure there are other didactic comic books, but Ditko's artwork here is good. It's really good. Using the comic book medium in this way is brilliant. (Whether you agree with his assertions is another matter completely.) Given the heat that Ditko gets, I wasn't expecting to really learn anything. But this isn't hack work. He knows what he believes, and he is prepared to explain it and back it up via stories and pictures. He's giving concrete examples. He's forcing the reader to deal with cognitive dissonance. He's arguing that there is a right and wrong way to live in the world because choices have consequences.

[_Liebert · Rating 3 out of 5]

for being black and white, Mr A sure gets into a load of murky areas. he says, their act makes them fair game - but how often these he targets have already been considered fair game all this time, by invisible processes of force. instead, we should say this of those using these pressures to force all his "mutual consent". harming the guilty will do nothing for the victim. he seeks to absolved and called good in his own mind for doing the bidding of the Empire, toss him a bone and a hint of revolutionary fever as They may. he is not stainless.

[an infinite number of monkeys · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this, so you won't have to. You're welcome. This volume is almost entirely made up of Ditko's Mr. A stories, his attempt to bring his Objectionable views to the masses through comics. At the start of each episode, Mr. A preaches to us that there is only white (good) and black (evil), there can be no grey. So there's no shading, no character development, no symbolism, no metaphor, nothing at all which might make fiction worth reading. Each story has an evil type, motivated by who knows what, doing bad things while thought balloons let us know that he thinks he's only misguided and that it's all society's fault, and he's only human so nothing more can be expected of him. Mr. A shows up in his metal mask and preaches the bad guy into submission. With lines like "INITIATORS of FORCE have abandonned (sic) their minds, reason and rights", he evidently puts them to sleep (he's usually weaponless, but the corrupt can be counted on to blunder themselves to death). Even by comic dialogue standards, Mr. A is terrible. There's also some heavy essays about violence and the right to kill which are just Us vs. Them incitements. Mr. A's mask gives away the whole game. It makes him inhuman, which shows us (unintentionally, I'm sure) that we Homos can't be all good. We are grey, and if Steve Ditko doesn't like it, maybe he should just go all Howard Roark and stop creating comics for the corrupt audience. Oh, yeah.