Spider-Man's Creator Controversy

First off I just want to say Stan Lee and Steve Ditko made one of the best teams in comics ever. Period. Together they collaborated on the first 38 issues, then Ditko left and Stan continued on for another 60 something issues. Most people think of Stan as the creator of Spider-Man, including himself. Even shy Steve Ditko was extremely concerned by this and Ditko wrote a 1999 standalone issue explaining how Stan took all the credit for just writing a one page synopsis, while he did the art for 22-24 pages. Steve has only about 3 pictures of him from the 60's, no interviews and little to no contact with the press. Seeing Ditko's frustration, Stan sent him a letter saying he always CONSIDERED Steve to be the co-creator, but in an interview Stan said he still considers himself the only creator (as he came up with the idea for Spiderman). Stan was then asked this "Without Steve Ditko the series might not have been a success, are you still willing to say you CREATED Spider-Man?" Stan replied "If the series wasn't successful I would have CREATED a non-successful character." This conflict seems to have gone on behind the scenes since Spider-Man's creation 50 years ago and both sides have given their point. For example: without Steve Ditko, we wouldn't have Spider-Man's unique and original costume still used today. Stan, however does hold a strong point. Who is the true creator? Stan or Ditko (the Writer, who created an incredibly famous tale of With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, OR the Artist who breathed "life" into the character and created his look we know and love today) Is it truly a co-creation? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Hard to say,If Ditko created his personality and the concept of his character then I believe he was the creator and Stan Lee was the co-creator.

Stan Lee created Spiderman. Steve Ditko fleshed Spiderman out, thus being a co creator. That is what I choose to believe.

50/50

Stan Lee came up with the concept, and thru his writing via 'the marvel method', fleshed out Peter's personality, as well as the supporting cast and villains, and wrote some very charming stories that I consider to this day, fun to read.

Steve Ditko's imagination and talents as a artist cemented Spidey's place as one of the greatest comic book Superheros ever created, and it's very questionable if the character would have taken off if it had been not for him. Ditko's artwork really sold itself to readers as something different. That was very essential to the character.

They are both co-creators.

I give Stan Lee all the credit in the world for selling Super Heroes back to the general public at a time when they were about to die out completely but I agree that his reputation for creating the Marvel universe is greatly exaggerated. Here's the thing about Stan Lee, he could sell lighters in a burning building. He did a better job of selling himself as the creator of all these characters than people like Ditko and Kirby were capable of. Case in point even the people who did most of the work while Stan got most of the credit still like the guy, he's the Batman of self promotion.

I respect and admire Ditko's work, however I would give the creation rights to Stan Lee for this. The character of Spider-man is more than just the artwork and costume style. If this was not true, then the character should have seen a massive decrease in popularity when he switched to the symbiote suit in the 80s. This, as we all know, did not happen. The true compelling force of Spider-man comes from Peter Parker's character and attitude. He is the average nerdy teen (and genius), who happens to have spider powers. Spider-man was different due to his age, a time when most kids were used as sidekicks, and his impending sense of responsibility. These factors were made by Stan Lee, and therefore I give him credit for Spidey

they're both co-creators, they both had a hand in it, so they both should get credit.

I've created a bunch of characters but Im not a great artist. If a good artist ever drew a character I created a lot better than me and made him look good and we made a comic and the character became a success I feel like he would be a co-creator and Id be the original creator. Steve Ditko was important for spiderman but Stan lee is the creator.

I like how Stan put it with his "If the series wasn't successful I would have CREATED a non-successful character." comment; he may have created Spider-Man, but Ditko gave him life.

They both did it, IMO. Stan thought it up, Steve put it to paper.

We don't know how much work each did, though. Therefore, we can't really determine. It's like that episode of South Park where Cartman and Jimmy argued over who created the Fishsticks joke.

It's a 30/70 thing, with Stan taking up the 70.

I do acknowledge however that Ditko's job was harder. I think they even poked fun at this back in the second annual if I remember correctly.

these kinds of stories are floating around every successful character ex. bob kane and bill finger. i still think finger got screwed. at least ditko is remembered by some. 70/30 is good. stan created the character on paper. ditko had an easier job.

@KainScion said:

these kinds of stories are floating around every successful character ex. bob kane and bill finger. i still think finger got screwed. at least ditko is remembered by some. 70/30 is good. stan created the character on paper. ditko had an easier job.

No way, being the artist back then was a WAAYYYY tougher than being the writer.

They both created spider-man

spiderman wouldnt of existed if it wernt for stan lee if steve ditko never existed stan would of probably gotten another artist to draw him he would look different but have the same basic powers and still be spiderman steve is a co creator but i wouldnt say 50/50 its more like 75 stan lee 25 steve ditko all he did was draw spidey it wasnt his idea everything about him from his powers to personality was stan lee not steve diko

@son_of_simba:

sorry, but i don't agree with you, you are right here if Ditko wasn't there someone else might have drawn spidey, and it actually happened, Stan tried one or two artist but he didn't like the way they draw spidey, so he finally went to Ditko and Ditko captured the way Stan pictured Peter. if Ditko wasn't there at all maybe no one would have been abled to capture what Stan want it and spidey might end up been shelved.

Lee had the idea,Ditko gave life to it.

The rest is just useless gossip.

It sounds like Stan gives Ditko enough credit. He considers him the Co-creator, but the idea came from Lee.

Exacly.And still everyone talks about it,as it's something secret and mysterious.......

Lee = idea
Ditko = Character design.

That's ,F-ing, it.

I love ditko just as much as the next guy but hes mainly responsible for just the costume and don't get me wrong he did an amazing job with that it still holds up today without looking cheesy but giving him credit for anything beyond that is just being generous, Cool costume or not its the character itself that's the most interesting and unique the first teenage actual superhero(not sidekick) with all the problems and relatability as the majority of his readers & fans thats the reason he became an a list fictional character and i believe i owe that mainly to stan once again not discredit ditko he did his job above and beyond and deserves all the credit he gets but i don't like how people try and castrate stan as if hes stealing credit from ditko.

if Stan doesn't care, why anyone else should? Stan has always been happy to share the credit, he even published a letter where he said exactly that.

I've never read or heard a Stan Lee interview where he didn't give credit to the artiests. I prefer to think of it as just another example of the Marvel method used back then, just a collective pool.

How does the Silver Spider controversy mentioned by Jack Kirby fit into all this?