Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the six hundred and ninety-second installment where we examine comic book legends and whether they are true or false.
As always, there will be three different posts for each legend this week!
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COMIC LEGEND:
Steve Ditko's studio mate, Eric Stanton, helped co-create Spider-Man
STATUS:
False Enough for a False
For ten years, Steve Ditko shared a studio with the renowned erotic artist, Eric Stanton. They worked together in the same studio from about 1958-1968.
Here is the tamest example of Stanton's work that I could find...
Stanton was known for his female dominant work, as well as his bondage stuff. Just do a Google Image search and you'll see some of his more explicit work.
Anyhow, the major question over the years is how much did the two men help each other out on their work?
Ditko would always deny doing ANYthing with Stanton's work, but it seems evident that the two men, at the VERY least, occasionally helped each other out on stuff, like inking or coloring or whatever.
This has led, though, to the question of what role, if any, did Stanton play in the creation of Spider-Man.
In an 1988 interview (Stanton passed away in 1999), Stanton described his role as follows:
My contribution [to] Spider-Man was almost nil. When we worked on storyboards together, I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own. The whole thing was Steve Ditko. I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands, and we talked about the characters, and in turn, he helped me with my stuff.
Stanton's daughter, Amber, called Ditko soon after her father's death and asked about Stanton's role in Spider-Man's creation and Ditko told her that Stanton had nothing to do with it. Amber later recalled her mother being very upset that Stanton claimed no involvement in the creation, as obviously that closed out possible financial opportunities for their family.
So, did Stanton help create Spider-Man?
I mean, if we take the guy at what he says, it seems like he certainly played a role, but not in the sense of what you typically think of as the "creator" of a character. Of course, he could be downplaying his involvement, but at the end of the day, what else can we go on by what he and Ditko both say, which is that Ditko did it on his own?
So I have to give this one a tentative false.
Check out some legends from Legends Revealed:
Did Walt Disney Originally Not Allow Women to be Trained as Animators?
Did B.A. Baracus Never Actually Say “I Pity the Fool” On The A-Team?
What is the Tragic Origin of “No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Film?”
Did the CIA Really Help the Author of Doctor Zhivago Win a Nobel Prize?
Check back tomorrow for part 2 of this week's legends!
And remember, if you have a legend that you're curious about, drop me a line at either brianc@cbr.com or cronb01@aol.com!