While comic book legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko have had their differences in the past, Marvel’s mustachioed mastermind posted a video on his Twitter page to say farewell to his old partner after his recent passing.
Lee posted the video with the title ‘Remembering Sturdy Steve Ditko’. This rather sentimental description of Steve also reflects Lee’s characteristic love for hyperbolic alliteration in his comics, particularly when it came to listing the artists he worked with.
Remembering Sturdy Steve Ditko – Stan pic.twitter.com/gpmbSF9s5S
— Stan Lee (@TheRealStanLee) July 13, 2018
In the minute-and-a-half long video, Lee reflects on his Spider-Man co-creator’s artistic abilities, stating that:
Steve was certainly one of the most important creators in the comic book business. His talent was indescribable. I worked with him for many years, and was always impressed with how he saw everything in terms of photos and pictures and movement and scenes. He told a story like a fine movie director would. I think that he will be very greatly missed by the public and by his fans, and I’m sure there will be a lot written about him as time goes by and I will be one of the guys who buys the first book. You made a real impression here in the world. Excelsior.
Steve Ditko started his journey into the world of comic book illustration when he attended Batman artist Jerry Robinson’s classes in New York in 1950. Robinson, who occasionally brought in artists and editors to speak in the class, invited Stan Lee to the school – it was here that Lee allegedly first saw Steve’s work in action.
Ditko started working for Marvel Comics (or Atlas Comics as it was then known) in 1955, and eventually started working with Lee on a number of fantasy tales. He would go on to draw a version of Spider-Man that Lee found satisfactory after the latter fund Kirby’s treatment “too heroic” for the character.
Spider-Man would go on to become one of Marvel’s flagship characters after appearing in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962.
