Steve Ditko & Framing Spider-Man - Amazing Fantasy #15 | Strip Panel Naked

[@kaiwilliams141]

Awesome for highlighting the artist here. Everyone recognizes Stan Lee as the creator behind our favorite characters. But many forget the artist. And I'm guilty of this too. But as much as possible I try to remember the duos behind creating characters because comics are indeed a collaborative process. One person I do remember is Steve Ditko. And even though his art can be al little akward sometimes he established so many elements that are part of the character. And many other artists under the marvel method did this too. Creating with very little information from the writers. The artists are storytellers because of the way they shape how you read the story. And that still applies today. While the marvel method probably isnt used as much, artists do more than just draw, ink and color. Thanks for your channel and work. I feel like you make me a more appreciative comic fan.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Kai Williams Hey Kai, thanks for the kind words. You're right. I guess the main aim of this channel is just as a reminder that there is more going on than someone writing a comic and someone drawing it. I don't want to diminish the work by writers, because there is some stellar stuff going on, but artists are contributing so much to every issue. If I can help in anyway to showing a bit of that I guess I've done my job! - Hass

[@geozipper]

Stan Lee didn't create most of the characters for Marvel. That is the BIGGEST misconception propagated, sometimes by Lee himself, for obvious reasons... He didn't write the stories either. The stories were written mostly by Kirby & Ditko, his main two artists, when they submitted their pages they were 'writing the story in pictures.' Lee only scripted the dialogue & narration according to the artist's margin notes THAT TOLD HIM WHAT WAS GOING ON. So I would disagree with the statement: "Everyone recognizes Stan Lee as the creator behind our favorite characters." I don't recognize him that way & neither should anyone else, given the facts.

[@geozipper]

He's a damn good scripter though !

[@mitchgosser2802]

Just read the origin of Doctor Strange in Strange Tales 115, and not only does Ditko use these same techniques, he also does some other neat tricks as well. The borders of the panels change to become rugged when the Ancient One projects Dr. Strange's past. It's a small touch you see more often today, but a small feature without the text nevertheless. A cooler note is the use of color throughout. For example, Strange's flashback starts off yellow, and slowly grows orange as Strange discovers the damage to his hands (the hands exaggeration is also present in this origin as well.) A more clever one is when you see Mordo cast a spell on a the ancient one, the background is blue, despite the walls of the room being yellow brick twice prior. The blue shade matches the color of Strange's cloak, showcased on page 1, but also the color of the background when Ancient One is the focus of the panel throughout the issue. The matching of the pose of the replica to the Ancient One when attacked a page earlier reinforces the identity of the target of Mordo's curse, and attaches the plan without need for Mordo or Strange to explain it to the reader (although context clues from Mordo's speech and the Ancient One are able to convey it to Strange in-story.) Thanks for making me pick up more when I read comics, Hass!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Mitch Gosser Ha nice find Mitch. I'll need to check that issue out! - Hass

[@MarriottPlayer]

So cool of you to cover this. It's great seeing how dialogue and art can compliment each other so well in comics, sometimes to the point where literal dialogue isn't needed to understand a story.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Marriott Player I was always taught that the visuals should tell you the story... To the point that really you only need dialogue when it's absolutely necessary. Ditko really nailed that. - Hass

[@benjaminkellog7311]

Not sure if anyone else has ever commented on this point, but that last-page panel of Spidey staring down in shock at the thief conveys so much more emotion to me because we can see Peter's pupils through the white outlines of his mask. It's an odd look for him, one that I don't think ever really popped up anywhere else, but even if it was an accident or quirk of this being the earliest work done on the character, it does help to sell Peter's whole world being shattered. The reality of the thief's intimate connection with his uncle's murder hits him like a wrecking ball, and we're right there with him as he feels the rug being pulled out from under him. That's the defining panel of this whole origin, the moment when the consequences of great responsibility become all too concrete for Peter; I don't think it's ever been better expressed.

[@WCWit]

Have you seen the tumblr "kirbywithoutwords"? It's a pretty good reflection on where the Marvel-method ended up causing dissonance between Jack Kirby's art and Stan Lee's words.

[@StripPanelNaked]

W.C. Wit Will definitely need to check this out! - Hass

[@rockomundo]

The editing on this episode is stellar!

[@StripPanelNaked]

rockomundo Thanks! - Hass

[@paolorui]

Great work as always! At 2:30 the position of heads\eyes is a pure perspective rule. In fact, a trick to keep the proportion between human figures in perspective is to draw them with the eyes at the same height (depending on the type of perspective, of course).

[@Sarcasticron]

Thank you for this. I can remember "reading" comics as a child before I learned to read, and I could usually follow the stories without the dialogue. (This was in the 70s, and thanks to reprints a lot of the comics I was reading were from the 60s.) It's great to have it explained how this works!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Glad you dug it, thanks for checking it out!

[@erikmussoni9071]

This may be one of my favorite ones you've done yet. A lot of the stylization, symbolism, and careful framing didn't seem possible in early comics where you have nine panels a page and dozens of words per panel. It makes it easy to miss the truly great things that could sometimes occur. Looking at these pages without dialogue is undeniably impressive. Thank you so much.

[@deltagraph]

Love Ditko, so glad you did an episode on him!!! Keep it up

[@StripPanelNaked]

deltagraph Thanks :) Had it planned for a while, and there's definitely a lot more to say so I night revisit in the future. - Hass

[@geozipper]

EXACTLY ! In my essay on the creation of Spider-Man, to be posted soon on my Facebook page Vision Angles, I remember that as a kid I could understand what was going on in a Spider-man comic book before I knew how to read (!) simply by looking at the pictures ! That is Ditko's great gift in storytelling :-)

[@StripPanelNaked]

That was always something I was taught with making films... As much as possible you wanted your film to be watchable without sound. It's a visual medium, and you should be doing as much as possible with the visuals to tell the story... You'll miss certain things, sure, but the key dynamics should be told visually as well. Ditko had that down. - Hass

[@chrisrebar2381]

Play at 0.75 - then he doesn't sound as if he's just done a load of amphetamine

[@geozipper]

I would suggest to the narrator of this great analysis that these things ARE NOT so obvious at all ! It's what missing from a lot of comic book illustrators of today. These are techniques that directors use in their films... they are studied & learned. They are psychological in nature, visual-psychology, to show extreme emotional states or impart a mood simply by how things are framed... like the tilted frame, which denotes that the world is now out of balance, something isn't right, or a mental state that is unbalanced. These techniques are not 'simple' or 'obvious' at all. They are very much advanced !

[@StripPanelNaked]

Hahaha! Sometimes I'm not sure, but I'll take it! - Hass

[@Cregorypk]

Hey, I came here from Nerdsync. I thought you did good over there so I came to see what you can do on your own. I must say I like it, good job.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thanks Craig :) - Hass

[@macsnafu]

Steve Ditko really was a very good storyteller, telling the story from panel to panel, even if you didn't like his more 'cartoony' style of artwork. The Marvel style of doing comic books gave the artist much more control over what happened in the story, as well, and both Ditko and Kirby were masters of plotting.

[@TomCrossley17]

such a good analysis on a great comic, keep knocking it out the park

[@StripPanelNaked]

Tom Crossley Thanks Tom :) - Hass

[@JoeEnglandShow]

I'm considering teaching a course on comic art, and if I do I'll probably use these videos as a resource!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Ah that's cool to hear! I think a few places have mentioned they've used them as extra resources :) - Hass

[@eduardoruiz7600]

Subscribed after your video on homecoming for nerd sync! Great work!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Thanks Eduardo. Hope you enjoy the rest of the content here! - Hass

[@warhawk5451]

im soo glad you talked about older comicbooks btw i loved what ditko did in issue 3 with the watertower, first time i ever felt claustrofobic, its amazing

[@StripPanelNaked]

War Hawk I honestly think as an artist back then you really had to know how to tell a good story over necessarily being a 'great illustrator' or whatever. Your primary job was to design a story visually... You just had to know how to do it. - Hass

[@Spyderist]

like how you're doing classic comics

[@StripPanelNaked]

Spyder Going to try dropping one of these in as regular as I can! - Hass

[@Relevant_Irrelevance]

Weird. I was just reading the Ditko Spiderman comics earlier this week and admiring his skills, then this shows up.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Machibex Ha! I'm not watching you... Honest! - Hass

[@Marco199977]

Man this channel is awesome. Its incredible fascinating. keep it up with the good work

[@StripPanelNaked]

Marco C Thanks Marco, very kind. - Hass

[@sanevoice8706]

Nice video, although you're in error when you say Ditko co-created Dr. Strange with Lee - Ditko created Dr. Strange on his own. Lee admits to this in a letter to a fan in the 1960's, when the fan asked about Dr. Strange's creation Lee replied, "...t'was Steve's idea." This is documented, anyone who's interested can find it on the web.

[@StripPanelNaked]

Sane Voice Yep, I've come across the same letter, but I just use credits based on how they're credited in comics and such. Dr Strange is attributed to Lee & Ditko, so I just go with that! - Hass

[@sanevoice8706]

Ha! My bad! I responded to the wrong video...goes to show what happens when there's too many tabs open! But I liked the Ditko analysis very much!

[@StripPanelNaked]

Sane Voice Haha thanks! The attribution of comics creation is tough at the best of the times. I think it's a wildly complicated thing to get to the heart of how you can say who created what -- always fascinating! - Hass

[@n0bleh]

Whenever I see Strip Panel Naked or Comicana-I FLIP MY PHONE THE FUCK UP! Power to you, Has!

[@StripPanelNaked]

CinnaDork Haha thanks Cinna! Your support is super appreciated man :) - Hass

[@geozipper]

Finally, after almost a year of preparation, here it is: EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about the creation of Spider-Man, with behind-the-scenes anecdotes of the goings-on at Marvel Comics and appearances by heavyweight comic legends Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko - - - with walk-on bits by comics creators Will Eisner, Joe Simon, Wally Wood, John Romita, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Roy Thomas, Denny O’Neil, Dick Ayers, Don Heck, Bill Everett, Joe Orlando, Eric Stanton, Carl Hubble, Stan Goldberg, Sol Brodsky, Danny Fingeroth, Mark Evanier, Alan Moore & Frank Miller ! Even pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, writer Ayn Rand & novelist Mario Puzo get into the act !! And of course we cannot forget the man that made it all possible: publisher Martin Goodman. (And the tiny role that Chief Accountant Maurice Coyne played - - btw, don’t you love it when a person’s name matches his job title, like a librarian named Bookman?) But be forewarned, it’s looooong. It’s the equivalent of 26 pages single-spaced ! I made it a bit easier to digest by breaking up the text into 12 sections: 1. Prologue 2. Amazing Fantasy 3. The Marvel Method 4. Storyteller Steve Ditko 5. Jack Kirby’s Spider-Man 6. Ditko Versus Kirby Versus Romita 7. Ditko’s Twist Ending ? 8. Ditko’s Psychology 9. Stan Lee’s Psychology 10. End Of An Era 11. You Tell Me 12. One Final Thought This is not for the faint of heart lol. But if you read to the very end, there’s a mind-blowing thought awaiting there. Oh, I also have many pics that follow the sequence of examples in the text. And be sure to check out some of the KZbin videos and links, especially the above one on Steve Ditko’s drawings and his great storytelling abilities in the visual medium :-) Have fun happy readers ! 1. To read the article, go to this link. www.writerscafe.org/writing/Sienzant/1954464/ 2. Pics that follow the text are here on my Facebook page called Vision Angles. There are 4 series of pics, so scroll down to start at the 1st series. They follow the text, highlighting points along the way. Even if you just look at the pics & their blurbs, you may find that enlightening by themselves.

[@ripvanstinkle]

Great episode!!

[@StripPanelNaked]

ripvanstinkle Cheers! - Hass

[@carlosnoriega2608]

Can you make one episode about Watchmen?

[@StripPanelNaked]

Carlos Noriega I always get asked this! My only concern is I'll just end up repeating what others have already said. It's actually on my list to go back through it and try and find something new to discuss. So yep, I will get round to it. - Hass