Blake Bell's biography of "Sturdy" Steve Ditko is a big book, full of great images from across the span of Ditko's career. I learned a lot about Ditko I never realized before. He comes across in Bell's bio as the dedicated craftsman we knew him to be, but also a man who is full of compulsions. His absolute acceptance of Randian beliefs has at once inspired and hampered his career, at least in terms of what we might consider success in the classic mold. As described by Bell, Ditko's decisions seem sometimes less motivated by adherence to a code than simple peevishness.
The stories of people who attempt to work with Ditko, only to find themselves cast out because they insult him for some reason or other is lengthy. It becomes a pattern, a man holds not only himself but all those around him to a strict code and even when they insult his integrity, even in a way not commonly understood, they are cut off. Ditko comes across in this book as a real man, not the Randian hero he might imagine himself to be. It often seems unfair and ultimately hurtful to Ditko himself. That's in my estimation a good thing in the final analysis, because it allows me to feel more strongly about the work and the man himself.
One thing this book does is put Ditko in his generation, something I've always been a bit confused about. The tracking of his early career really allows me to see how he fits among the larger history of comics. As a Charlton fanboy, I adore the work of Ditko to whom who they gave such complete control. It's one of the grand ironies of comics that Ditko found Charlton, a place which because it usually cared so little about the editorial content of its comics gave him the free creative rein he craved. It's the very defintion of benign neglect.
I recommend this book, though it is a bit pricey. It makes a great companion to the Kirby book by Mark Evanier. It's a better read, maybe because I knew less about the subject and more of it seemed fresher.
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