JB, can you tell us about your collaborations with Steve Ditko?

P.S. Did you get a kick of seeing Steve Ditko illustrate characters you created?

story by DeFalco & Diko, cover by Buckler

How did that cover get OK'd with that coloring job?!?!?

~Bob

Until we do, I found where he made a brief mention of their collaboration in this thread on the JB board (May 31 2003, 8:11 AM): http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/thread?forumid=248951&messageid=1054333990

"Of the 3 times I got to work "with" Ditko -- in Charlton Bullseys , Avengers , and ROM , the second was the least satisfying. There I was instructed to "fix" Ditko's pencils and make sure the characters were more "on model". (Try to imagine anyone giving that instruction up at the Condo of Concept today!) Much more satisfying was the ROM job (right, Linda?) which was "Ditko's book", so I just inked what Ditko drew.

Also -- under the heading of why 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is "a good start", the original topcopy for that cover was "HOLOCAUSTS IS 100 HULKS!" The lawyers instructed us to change it, saying a pluralization of "Hulk" diminished the mark and made it harder to protect from infringement."

Avengers Annual # 13



Here is a ROM # 74 Ditko/Byrne page from the collection of Dwayne Ferguson


Byrne's cover


Secret City Saga # 2 Ditko/ Byrne

Sad to say, I have never really had a chance to "collaborate" with Steve Ditko. I have inked several different jobs by him -- including one in my fan days! -- and he even inked a cover I did once, but we have never actually worked together . It's all about the weird way comics are assembled. Joe Sinnott did not meet Jack Kirby, for instance, until years after their "collaboration" on FANTASTIC FOUR.

(A not on that coloring -- the Twins turned blonde for the same reason Storm's costume turned white on the animated X-Men series: People are crazy! Load a tonne of black into an area, but if the highlight is white -- not the required blue = black -- some people will insist the area is. . . white!)

Thank you, JB! The issue you mentioned must be this one:


Front Cover Artist: John Byrne / Steve Ditko

From http://www.ffplaza.com/commcenter/interview/stern2.shtml

Roger Stern interviewed by Sean Kleefeld

SK: Since you've been working in the business for so long, you've obviously worked with all kinds of artists.

RS: Oh, yeah. I've been very lucky. I've been very, very lucky.

SK: Are there any that stand out for whatever reason? You just really admire their work or they were a blast to work with?

RS: I've got a huge list obviously. And John Buscema is far and away the best illustrator, but Sal [Buscmea, John's brother], I think, is a better cartoonist. He's actually a better storyteller. Not that there's anything wrong with John's storytelling, but Sal's stories are far better whereas John's illustration is better. But they're both great.

I got to work with [Steve] Ditko on a few projects. That was great. Not only some of the stuff he came up with, but when he'd draw the stories I'd come up with. There's that Avengers Annual. I came up with this story with Arnim Zola. You know there's maybe only half a dozen guys in the business who can draw Arnim Zola and not have him seem silly. "He's actually not working for Marvel right now. Now John's busy and this guy I don't think... and, well, Golden: we'd like for it come out this year." I was talking to Tom DeFalco and he says, "You know... what about Ditko? Ditko would be great! And it'd be real sharp!" Ditko drew it and John [Byrne] had some time open up in his schedule, so he inked it.

SK: Yeah, I remember that one.

(Author's Note: It was Avengers Annual #13.)

RS: It was just a joy; it was wonderful. It had some great stuff.

SK: I think the thing that impressed me about that was how clearly all the creators' little bits came out. I remember that looking at each panel you could see this was very Ditko, but at the same time you could see this was definitely Byrne's inks over that. And at the same time, it was clearly a Roger Stern story, too.

RS: It was great fun. It was a hoot, a real fun story.

The Spanish edition of this one with a new coloring job:

Most of the foreign edition covers that are being posted here and there are a lot nicer than most of the American ones! Kudos to the art directors (or whomever) who put them together.

...on this thread, I thought I'd steal this image:


Dave Pruitt mentioned that Cap's face looks heavily influenced by Ditko. I have mentioned many instances where I thought Byrne revealed his deep connection to Ditko, most recently in G3.
Any others?


DADDIO