In praise of Steve Ditko

You have to understand why sometimes Wally Conger and I drift to the same subjects. Wally and I "met" back when we both were teenagers via his early ventures in the print media, the mimeographed fanzine Spidey Fan to be precise. We were each attracted in a fanatical way to the early issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, and while Stan Lee has every right to say he came up with the idea for a teenaged superhero who is bitten by a radioactive spider, Steve Ditko is the man who gave it life and made that idea worth obsessing over. Peter Parker in costume never looked so much like a spider-man as he did in those brilliant first 41 stories (counting Amazing Fantasy 15, Amazing Spider-Man 1-38 and Spider-Man Annual 1 and 2).

And so, when Wally writes about Steve Ditko, as he did here and here and here, he still has my attention.

The documentary In Search of Steve Ditko is worth hunting down, and I found it here (for now). For folks like me who have always been amazed and thrilled by Ditko's art, this is essential viewing. It's also a valuable hour for folks interested in a unique and Randian individual who has lived his life on his own terms — and, to our dismay, very very privately.

Jonathan Ross' documentary includes a discussion of the opening five pages of Spider-Man #33, which was titled "The Final Chapter" — and, reflecting on the next five issues of the comic book, it's safe to say this was indeed the climax of Ditko's story of Peter Parker.

Aunt May is critically ill, and bad guys working for a mysterious critter called The Master Planner have stolen the serum that might save her life. In the closing pages of issue 32, MP was revealed as none other than Dr. Octopus. Their ensuing fight collapses the room — Doc Ock's last words in this story are "Everything's falling on top of us! We'll be killed!!!" — and an impossibly large piece of machinery drops on Spidey (see illustration). The end of #32 leaves him alone in Ock's lair underneath the Hudson River — a leaky lair with a roof that's about to burst.

In the opening pages of #33, Peter/Spidey is alone with his thoughts. He reflects on how his failure ended Uncle Ben's life — and he resolves not to fail his beloved Aunt May now. Slowly, excruciatingly, he pushes up against the massive machine. Ditko's comic panels grow larger as Peter's resolve grows — nine panels on page 2, six on page 3 (with the bottom two bigger than the top two), four panels on page 4 (with the fourth panel taking up two-thirds of the page). Lee's bubble, as Spider-Man rises up to a squat preparing for the last push, captures the point: "Anyone can win a fight — when the odds are easy! It's when the going's tough — when there seems to be no chance — that's when — it counts."

The most well-placed ad in comic book history came next, because it added an extra moment of anticipation as a turn of the page revealed a full page shot of Spider-Man painfully shrugging the machine off his back, river water streaming from the ceiling, as he exhales, "I did it! I'm free!"

That's actually just the start of his troubles — he still must swim his way to safety, fight through Doc Ock's minions, carry the serum to his friend Dr. Connors to be modified into an antidote, and then rush the vial to the hospital to save Aunt May's life — but in those symbolic first five pages, so brilliantly told by Ditko, Peter has won the most important battle. In the Ross documentary, someone calls it perhaps the greatest comic-book moment ever. I can't think of a greater one.

Later on, a vastly changed Peter Parker confidently negotiates a better price for his photos with J. Jonah Jameson and breaks up with Betty Brant. It's a final chapter, all right. Looking in hindsight at the next five issues of Spider-Man, Ditko's last five, it's almost as if the story that began with that radioactive spider had run its course. Saving Aunt May redeemed the sin of failing Uncle Ben, and Peter Parker grew from an awkward nerd teenager into a confident young man at the close of Spider-Man 33. Issues 34-38 were darn good, as always, but they were anticlimatic.

Much has been made of the maturity of comic books as a medium, about the growth from all-in-color-for-a-dime kids stuff to graphic novels. Down there in the lair of The Master Planner, in the story arc that began with Amazing Fantasy 15 and ended with a bang in Spider-Man 31-33, Ditko and Lee took one of the most important steps in that evolution.

And a generation of readers, when life traps them under an impossible giant machine, reach back to that comic-book moment to find a way, slowly and excruciatingly, to shrug it off.

See why I'm called the Sandman?!!

July 1963, Milton, Vermont, at the old IGA ... wood floors ... a big pile of comic books in the back on the right side of the store. Most years we'd take the quarter Dad alloted us and buy Superman or, in recent years, a spooky comic called Strange Tales that had cool monster stories.

But this year my eye was caught by a red comic book that had a four-panel story on the front instead of the usual single big picture. It was a new comic called "The Amazing Spider-Man," and the hero was getting his butt kicked by a shape-shifting guy called the Sandman who was literally made out of sand. I was hooked, and I've stayed hooked for (ulp!) 44 years.

OK, it's been 20 years or more since I bought every issue religiously - ironically enough, I'm pretty sure I stopped buying shortly after a very good story arc where Spidey got into a new, black costume that turned out to be an evil symbiote from outer space. I liked the story, but other budget priorities were starting to call.

But I still check in every now and then, especially recently with J. Michael Straczynski writing the stories. And I have been over-the-top thrilled by the series of Spider-Man movies that Sam Raimi and company have produced over the past six years. The first two Spider-Man movies are the standard by which all comic-book superhero movies should be measured - and I'm tickled to report that, despite lukewarm reviews, the third film fits comfortably at that same lofty height as the others.

I am flummoxed about those lukewarm reviews, in fact. I was as worried as the next guy when I saw they were cramming three supervillains into Spider-Man 3 - the Batman movies starting going adrift when they began throwing two villains at a time at us, after all. How could Marvel give us three baddies and still have time for the charm and the sweet character interplay that made the first two movies so great?

How they did it still amazes me, but they did it, and those reviewers are full of last month's bologna. The Peter Parker-Mary Jane Watson love story continues - although there's a breakup that I hope will make more sense when I browse the deleted scenes on the DVD. Rosemary Harris has three key scenes in her role as Pete's moral compass, Aunt May. Elizabeth Banks as Betty Brant has more to do, which is always a good thing. J.K. Simmons was born to play J. Jonah Jameson. Bruce Campbell, who played the snooty usher who wouldn't let Pete into the theater in Spider-Man 2, makes a surprising and hilarious encore performance - not a reprise, mind you, an encore. And if a summer movie is supposed to be a roller-coaster action ride, this is one of the great summer movies of all time.

Which brings us to the Sandman, who holds a special place in my heart simply because he was my first Spidey villain. Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2 is the all-time best movie supervillain, because of the humanity Molina gave Doc Ock. But Thomas Haden Church's Flint "Sandman" Marko is a close second. Church makes Marko as sympathetic a man as possible for a guy who makes incredibly bad choices and turns out to be the real - um, er, never mind, that was going to be a spoiler. And the sandy special effects are spectacular to the point of bringing tears to the eyes with their beauty and grace. No, really!

Yeah, yeah, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are great as Pete and MJ, but you knew that. What surprised me is James Franco's turn as Harry Osborn. I always thought of Harry as the cardboard weak link in an otherwise three-dimensional depiction of my childhood obsession, but Franco finally stepped up to the plate. Maybe it's because he has a lot more to do as the New Goblin and - well, he has a lot more to do - but he really showed some acting chops this time around.

Wally Conger concludes, "The movie also passed its biggest test: I can’t wait to see it again." I can go you one better, Wally - The movie passed its biggest test: I've seen it twice already.

Lovin' Elizabeth

When I was a kid I wanted Peter Parker to end up with Betty Brant. Liz, Shmiz ... Gwen, Shmen ... Mary Jane Who? Betty was the one who'd stick by Pete, you just knew.

So I was thrilled to see Betty in the Spider-Man movies, even though she was relegated to a small role - I could always hope that when he got tired of Kirsten Dunst, Spidey would notice J. Jonah Jameson's cute secretary, played by - what's that name? Elizabeth Banks.

Well, something odd started happening - first Elizabeth Banks turned out to be a blonde, not a brunette (That's funny ... Kirsten's not a redhead, either!) and then she started turning up in incredibly appealing roles in movies like Seabiscuit, Slither and (just caught it tonight) Invincible.

She's a sweet kid - or at least she seems to be at home playing sweet kids on the movie screen. I hope she gets to breathe some life into Betty Brant someday. She's already made Betty a fun character given the limits of her short time on stage - it'd be fun to see more of Miss Brant.