The Mystery of the Disappearing "Steve Ditko"

[CBR News]

CSBG looks into why Steve Ditko's name was edited out of Marvel's "Spider-Man" letter columns and what Stan Lee's reasoning was at the time.



Full article here.

[jackolover]

It seems reasonable what Stan Lee writes.

Mind you, the opening horror by Stan led me to believe he honestly thought broaching Ditkos exit was taboo in the least, until he changed direction to the misspelling of ECCH. It sounded humorous at first, but the intensity and sternness in Stans words makes me think he was peeved at a few things the writer addressed - Ditko being better, and criticism of Romita.

I can see the criticism of wanting Spidey to remain the dank, grubby, crime story it started as. But there is an argument that Romita turning it into a more soap opera, clean living story has its benefits too. That impression of cleaner handsomer faces, is only visual, though, as the personal tensions never left the book, lumping poor Peter with Gwen Stacy's needy, claustrophobic presence for almost 100 issues more. That's not a criticism of Gwen, because young people do go through those stages where they have to find out if they want commitment and how much. I have a feeling if Peter had hooked up with MJ instead of Gwen, the books would have had no tension in them for Peter and his frequent disappearances. MJ would have let Peter alone on that front, but Stan and John would have had to find some other foible that MJ brings to the party making Petes life miserable.