Spider-Man and the best contributions of Steve Ditko

Credit: Marvel Comics

2. Dr. Strange

Dr. Strange is co-creation along with Stan Lee, though he actually gives most of the credit to Steve Ditko on this. The character never had a mass appeal like a Captain America or an Iron Man. Dr. Strange first debuts in Strange Tales #110 in July of 1963. He was completely created by Steve Ditko, as basically filler for a comic. In 2008, he wrote ‘On my own, I brought in to Lee a five-page, penciled story with a page/panel script of my idea of a new, different kind of character for variety in Marvel Comics.’ The name came from appearing in Strange Tales. Ditko would leave the character roughly three years later.

Oddly, Dr. Strange was somewhat before his time. Ditko had all of these odd shapes, otherworldly dimensions and effects all over his pages. Everything is draped with this far eastern culture, mysticism and psychedelia. Once the hippies come to be in the mid to late sixties, they are hopping all over this character. Some people even thought the heads at Marvel were on drugs. What else could rationalize this work? No proof of drugs, plus people collectively feel Ditko was hardly the type.

Another fascinating detail about  Dr. Strange is the character of Steven Strange prior to becoming Sorcerer Supreme. In his earlier life he was an arrogant, wealthy surgeon, who lost the control of his hands in an accident. He seeks help to regain the control of his hands, but for his own selfish needs. However, his journey leads him down a more heroic path. The character would go on to have his own comic series, joining various Marvel teams like The Avengers and get his own successful Hollywood film.