Comic-book artist, Steve Ditko, was found dead at his Manhattan apartment on 29 June. He had co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee. Ditko was born in 1927 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His love for comics grew at an early age with the influence of Batman character and Will Eisner’s The Spirit.
Ditko created Doctor Strange, which debuted in 1963. His other works include Squirrel Girl, Mr. A, Captain Atom and The Question. After leaving Marvel in 1966, he worked for DC Comics for a brief period. His second stint at DC yielded characters like Shade, the Changing Man, and a particularly underrated version of Starman. In his last years, Ditko did more personal work for smaller publishers.
Following the end of World War II, he enlisted in the US Army and drew comics for the Army’s newspaper in Germany. After his discharge from the Army, he attended The Cartoonists & Illustrators School in New York City, where he studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson and eventually sold his first comic in 1953.
With his death, Ditko left behind a legacy of his art and stories, giving the industry some best characters.
