Ditko vs. a Grizzly Bear? Ditko!

Julian Sanchez | June 3, 2005

A piece in Salon today (annoying ad firewall) explores the legacy of comics pioneer turned hardcore Randian Steve Ditko. Though he's largely dropped off the scene since his days in the nascent superhero comics scene, the piece notes his continuing influence through his inspiration of, for instance, Alan Moore's memorable Watchmen antihero Rorschach. It also notes, alas, that nothing strangles art quite as being obsessed with didactic exposition of an ideology. (Cf., sadly, Dave Sim.)

Comments

|6.3.05 @ 6:42PM|#

through his inspiration of, for instance, Alan Moore's memorable Watchmen antihero Rorschach.

In that he created the blatantly Objectivist masked hero the Question (upon whom Rorshach was based), not that he was a psychotic vigilante.

(Alan Moore, great writer that he is, took the natural lefty/Brit viewpoint that anyone "very right-wing" was really a poorly-educated mass of seething Manichean rage and barely-suppressed ultra-violence. Ah, well - he still did a great job with Watchmen. Readers here might find the too-brief Objectivist/Communist sparring between the Question and Green Arrow in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Strikes Again - and the Question's great, heaping boatloads of Randian pretension - rather amusing and more than a bit frighteningly realistic...)

Just clarifying so Ditko doesn't stuff Julian in a refrigerator. ;)

Jeff|6.3.05 @ 7:17PM|#

Actually I think Mr. A was more of a hardcore Objectivist than The Question was, at least for Ditko characters.

Also, although Alan Moore had nothing but contempt for Thatcher, the Totalitarian England of V for Vendetta was his take on what would happen if a reactionary Labor Party had won in the 80s.

Jeff|6.3.05 @ 7:20PM|#

It should also be noted that Paul Chadwick's Concrete, always dripping with idealology (from the far left), has consistently been hailed as high art. Same goes for the pragmatic political leanings of Ex Machina.

|6.3.05 @ 7:22PM|#

You know, Moore's original intent notwithstanding, I think Rorschach ends up coming off much more sympathetic than the caricature we meet in the early issues would lead one to believe. Consider [SPOLER ALERT] how it ends, after all:

The conscientious liberal for whom the means justify the ends carries out an appalling mass murder; Rorschach is sacrificed for his insistence that the truth must out. And, just in case we're tempted to think that, as Ozymandias hopes, "it all worked out in the end," the clairvoyant Dr. Manhattan reminds us that "nothing ever ends," as an ominous mushroom cloud appears reflected in glass.

|6.3.05 @ 7:24PM|#

Bitchin' costume, Julian.

|6.3.05 @ 7:39PM|#

The conscientious liberal for whom the means justify the ends carries out an appalling mass murder; Rorschach is sacrificed for his insistence that the truth must out. And, just in case we're tempted to think that, as Ozymandias hopes, "it all worked out in the end," the clairvoyant Dr. Manhattan reminds us that "nothing ever ends," as an ominous mushroom cloud appears reflected in glass.

BINGO. I've always thought that Ozymandias was one of the best comic book villans ever created because he wasn't the mustache twirling, Snidely Whiplash, "I'm just evil for the sake of being evil" character. He was a guy that sincerly felt that he was making the world a better place, and if that meant he told a few lies to the "sheeple" and killed a few hundred thousand people in the process, so what. Its all in the name of progress. Brings to mind Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, that German guy with the funky facial hair...

(what's the over/under on someone adding Bush to that list)

|6.3.05 @ 9:50PM|#

I gotta go wid da bear on dis. Cuz he's a bear.

So anyway, my doctor said I gotta eat more pork sausage for my heart. My heart's clogged with beef fat, and I gotta eat more pork fat to balance it out.

Jeff|6.3.05 @ 10:10PM|#

My problem with the end of Watchmen was that I cannot for a minute believe that if a massive cthulhu-esque corpse materialized in NYC and killed millions that world peace would occur. As I got close to the book's end I expected paranoia and distrust to run rampant (remember, Nixon was prez in the story) and the world to fall apart. I came away thinking that Moore didn't view Ozy as the villain. I was rather pissed at the ending, as was DC editor Julius Schwartz.
I am, however, a huge V for Vendetta fan, although I doubt the movie will be any good.

|6.4.05 @ 12:59AM|#

My problem with the end of Watchmen was that I cannot for a minute believe that if a massive cthulhu-esque corpse materialized in NYC and killed millions that world peace would occur.

But world peace wasn't supposed to occur. At least in the "hey, I love you man" sort of way. What it was supposed to do (according to Oz) was scare the living crap out of the planet and make them think there was something bigger and badder out to get them in space. This, so the theory goes, world force the peoples of the world to band together and prepare to fight the massive cthulhu-esque corpse people. Paranoia *was* stupposed to run rampant. The plan was very Orwellian in nature.

|6.4.05 @ 3:39AM|#

someone's making a V for Vendetta movie?

Handsome Dan|6.4.05 @ 3:57AM|#

Pfff, forget the V FOR VENDETTA movie (never liked VFV too much, for what its worth); I hope you liked THE BOURNE SUPREMACY 'cause that's the guy who's directing 2006's WATCHMEN movie. Fantasy casting, anyone? Best suggestions I've heard are Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Owl and - this sounds absurd at first, but I think it'd work great - Owen Wilson as Ozymandias.

And just think, Terry Gilliam was supposed to make this waaaaaay back in the early '90s...

|6.4.05 @ 9:38AM|#

"The conscientious liberal for whom the means justify the ends carries out an appalling mass murder"

Comical. Your Freudian slip is showing.

-Nicanor

|6.5.05 @ 12:13AM|#

Also, although Alan Moore had nothing but contempt for Thatcher, the Totalitarian England of V for Vendetta was his take on what would happen if a reactionary Labor Party had won in the 80s.

Actually, in VFV, the Labor Party wins out and the UK rejects any American military presence (particularly nuclear missiles), so the UK is spared when the US and USSR nuke each other. Then the fascists take over.

|6.5.05 @ 12:17AM|#

You know, Moore's original intent notwithstanding, I think Rorschach ends up coming off much more sympathetic than the caricature we meet in the early issues would lead one to believe.

Oh, absolutely.

|6.5.05 @ 12:31AM|#

I want to know how Squirrel Girl fits in Ditko's staunch objectivist world.
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/sqlgrl.htm

Warren|6.5.05 @ 2:39PM|#

Hey comic guys. The only super hero's I ever cared enough to actually buy and read are coming to the big screen.

So what's your guys' opinion on the Fantastic 4 and their upcoming silver screen debut?

Jeff|6.6.05 @ 8:39AM|#

Apparently comic readers are women-hating freaks
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14931-1636789,00.html

|6.6.05 @ 9:14AM|#

I would be very surprised if there is ever a Watchmen movie. The narrative is all over the place. It would take an act of God to tighten the story into a cohesive 2-hour feature.

Now if Peter Jackson was to do it..

Jeff|6.6.05 @ 12:15PM|#

Watchman should be a 12 hour HBO series. Each "issue" being an hour long. Flashbacks could stay intact.