I would be forced to actually be utterly confused by Ditko and Dr. Strange.  Ditko invested a lot of work, effort, creativity, time, and swear into Dr. Strange. 

* * * * * * * *

In his Permanent Damage column over at Comic Book Resources, Steven Grant has argued - quite persuasively, I might add - that Ditko's work on Dr. Strange in STRANGE TALES #130-146 deserves to be recognised as the first American graphic novel, containing as it does a single storyline, a specific theme, real character development, and a satisfying conclusion.

The original column is worth reading in its entirety.

While Ditko has a very loyal fan base, he doesn't seem to get the credit that others of his era receive. The man has his own set of principles he lives by and I have nothing but respect for that. Maybe the fact that he keeps out of the public eye is a factor. If so that is a shame that ones personal life over powers the artistic contributions he brought to this medium. I think his art is of high quality and would enjoy seeing more new work be published by him. Sure who wouldn't enjoy another Dr. Strange or Spider-Man story? However, I would prefer to read whatever project he thought would be worth doing over a nostalgia appearance on one of his old titles.

When Steve Ditko finally passes way, he will enter legend...

and become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

It'll be like Elvis or Andy Kaufmann.

I hope he gets the satisfaction he deserves.

Glenn, does Blake Bell know about this near miss on the Ditko, Spider-Man reunion? It would be amazing if there were any notes or sketches produced during these conversations.

Sad it never happened, but glad too. It would have been just another Spider-book on the shelf at that point.

BC:  "I'm not inclined to credit the story that Ditko had several unpublished Dr. Strange stories lying around. If you look at the last Ditko Dr. Strange story, it's very much in the nature of a wrap up--clearing away Eternity and characters like that so the new artist could start with his own, fresh take. [Of course, Marvel had the new artist (Bill Everett) begin by recapping the recent Ditko tale--oh, well . . . ]. "

Tom Brevoort (posting to the Ditko list) has acknowledged that Marvel has approached Ditko about publishing them, and he said that Ditko wasn't interested, not Ditko denied the stories existed.  Again, I'm not speaking from first-hand knowledge, but my source confirmed they exist.  Plus, everyone who was on scene at Marvel at the time said that Ditko left unexpectedly, without warning; that doesn't sound to me like a situation where he'd be prepping things for a new artist.

(I'm almost alone in this, but I've never seen the end of the Ditko run as being all that definitive a conclusion.  Certainly, the major serial concludes, but there'd been non-serial stories before then, and that last panel has always looked to me like a last-minute patch (figure moved up, big blurb added). Speculation on my part, of course...)

By the way, the Everett recap is composed almost entirely of photostats of Ditko panels, and Roy Thomas has commented (in ALTER-EGO) that Stan was pretty unhappy about the shortcut.

Glenn:  Blake Bell is a Ditko expert who runs the Ditko Looked Up web site and is reportedly working on a Ditko art book for Fantagraphics.  I don't believe he has any official connection with Ditko, though. 

Blake Bell's Ditko site:

 http://www.ditko.comics.org/ditko.html

He also posts on the Ditkoland board:

http://www.imwan.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=edb2db b2cbfb897eccd593a3793a2d65/

 I have had the privilege of turning a few people into Ditko fans. That Essential Dr. Strange is powerful. Or maybe it's just my copy.

 I know Kirby is always given more attention but I'll always be a bigger Ditko fan. Love the work he's done over the years.