I keep thinking that I am ready to wrap up these Steve Ditko retrospective pieces and then you folks just keep on sending in interesting topics to cover and I "have" to keep going! Quotes because, of course, it is always interesting to write these articles, so I am certainly not complaining.

This time around, my pal Glen Cadigan suggested that I spotlight a surprising instance of Steve Ditko actually being recorded talking about comic books! This is a big deal, as Ditko was very well known for his unwillingness to be interviewed. Put it this way, there was no comic book creator that Ditko admired more than Will Eisner (there is a reason why the Eisner Awards are the Eisner Awards, ya know? That dude was REVERED by generations of star artists) and yet he would not even do an interview with Eisner.

RELATED: Steve Ditko's Role in the Creation of the 'Marvel Method'

I have featured this piece before in one of these articles, but it is still interesting. Ditko was SO against being interviewed about his work that he wouldn't even contribute anything to the freaking TEXT PIECE in Showcase #73, the first appearance of Ditko's creation, The Creeper.

That's not a guy who is all about being willing to be moved on things, ya know?

Perhaps the most amusing instance of Ditko being unwilling to talk about stuff occurred in 1965. Marvel had introduced a fan group called the Merry Marvel Marching Society and as part of the membership in the group, they provided fans with a short record that featured Stan Lee and Flo Steinberg (Stan's assistant) interviewing the various members of the already famous "Marvel Bullpen," the artists who drew all of Marvel's hit books.

Jack Kirby is on there, cracking jokes about the readers complaining too much about Sue Storm's hairdo ("I'll make her bald next!") and there's Wallace Wood (then recently working for Marvel on Daredevil, where he created the famous red Daredevil costume) basically just rambling to Flo, but, of course, there is no Steve Ditko.

Stan Lee rolls with it like a pro and while bantering with letterer Artie Simek, Lee explains that Ditko jumped out of the window to avoid talking to them. Lee then jokes that he thinks that Ditko really WAS Spider-Man.

Man, can you imagine how much Ditko must have hated the idea of this record? That's so Ditko.

Amusingly enough, though, while you would think that that would have been our best and last chance to hear Ditko's voice, there actually was another chance and it actually HAPPENED!

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In 1987, Ken VIola, a former roadie for Eric Clapton, produced and directed a documentary about comic books called The Masters of Comic Book Art.

It featured interviews with some of the greatest comic book artists of all-time, including Will Eisner, Bernie Wrightson, Frank Miller, Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Dave Sim and art spiegelman and it also included an introduction by Harlan Ellison, who also introduced the different segments.

Ditko, of course, refused to be interviewed for the project. However, he shockingly agreed to write and then read out loud (with his face not being shown, naturally - there hasn't been an official photo of Ditko made public in FIFTY YEARS) a statement about his work! What a find!

RELATED: The Most Communicative 'Recluse' Around: Letters From Ditko to Fans

Here is that segment.

And here is a snippet from the statement where he specifically discusses comic book superheroes...

Early comicbook heroes were not about life as it is, but creations of how a man with a clear understanding of right and wrong, and more courage, chose to act - even if branded an outlaw. He dispensed a better justice than pervading legal, moral one. He was a moral avenger. He was not like everyone else. Not the average, the common or the ordinary man. He was the exceptional one. The uncommon one. The one doing what others were unwilling to do, regardless of the opposition and the consequences to himself. His success provided a better model. Through a hero, one could identify the foolish, the corrupt and the guilty.

A lead character can be better or worse than society's best model. And if a man with proven better qualities appears, then a new measuring standard for men, and society, is established. A hero is a model for everyone. But not everyone is willing to act at his best. A less demanding model blending good and bad is more comforting, easier to accept. For the self-flawed, an anti-hero provides a heroic label without the need to act better. A crooked cop, a flawed cop, is not a valid model of a good law enforcer. An anti-cop corrupts the legal good, an anti-hero corrupts the moral good. Both corrupt ideals. Both choose the flaw over the perfect.

The perfect is identified and measured by what is possible to man. A perfect bowling score. A perfect response accepts the truth and rejects the lie. The perfect hero, on principle, says yes to a true identity and no to a contradictory one. Ruled by justice, he treats every identity as it deserves. He is the actualized potential for good in its purest form. A true moral measuring ruler. He is the most human and deserving of respect. Today's flawed superheroes are superior in physical strength but common, average, ordinary in mental strength - rich in superpowers, but bankrupt in reasoning powers. They are perfect in overcoming the flawed supervillains, saving the world, the universe!, yet helpless to solve their common, average, ordinary personal problems. It is like creating a perfectly physical adult with the reasoning limits of a six-year-old.

Pretty darn fascinating, right?

Thanks so much to Glen for reminding me of this. I haven't watched this documentary in decades and I totally forgot about Ditko's statement. Honestly, when I first watched it I was probably young enough that I didn't know that it was unusual to hear him talk.

Okay, once again, if you want to delay my collecting these articles into one piece with links to them all, keep sending in suggestions for topics to me at brianc@cbr.com!