Listen to 90 mins on Ditko, Everett & My Upcoming Projects

Want the latest update on the next Steve Ditko Archives (v4), Bill Everett Archives (v2), and our Secret History of Marvel Comics book that's due later this year?

Click here for the Distinguished Comic Book Podcast page run by Zack Kruse and Ben Tiede. Episode #38 is 90 minutes of yours truly discussing the aforementioned topics with Zack and Ben, easily downloadable into your tacknology. We also take a look behind the scenes at Fantagraphics with how these projects are put together, and discuss the Golden Age of comics that we've existed in for the past 10 years on two fronts. First, the stunning amount of archival reprint material put out by companies like Fantagraphics, Marvel, DC, etc. Second, the superb quality of graphic storytelling by the likes of Joe Sacco, Guy Delisle, Seth, Chester Brown, Chris Ware, etc. We're in the golden age of (cable) television drama and of comics, and we discuss the latter at length.

Ditko article in the New York Post

The reboot of the movie franchise, the Amazing Spider-Man, opens today across North America. If you're going to the movie under the impression that its co-creator and original artist, Steve Ditko, is reaping some financial benefit from either this movie, or the original three (starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man), well, Steve Ditko puts that myth to rest in today's New York Post.

(Click HERE to read the article.)

Reed Tucker, the author of the piece, went right to Ditko's studio and got a couple of quotes from Ditko for the piece. Many people have passed around the rumour in the past decade that Ditko accepted a big chunk of money when the first movie came out a decade ago, but Ditko confirms this as a falsehood. Other than the pittance he receives when Marvel reprints his old run on Spider-Man, there has never been a single, confirmed report that Steve Ditko has received a penny from the entire, billion dollar Spider-Man franchise since he walked away from it in 1965 over concerns about Marvel's editorial direction and promised royalties (the only thing I would have changed about Reed's piece - for which I was interviewed for almost an hour - is that emphasis, but I think it does come through indirectly in the rest of the piece.)

Kinda makes that whole "Before Watchmen" debate look like kids arguing over lunch money in comparison, doesn't it?