Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, has died aged 90

News of Ditko's death was confirmed by The New York Police Department

Steve Ditko (Fandom/wikia.org)

Comics artist Steve Ditko - who, alongside Stan Lee, created Marvel's Spider-Man and Doctor Strange - has died at age 90.

Born in Pennsylvania to first-generation Americans of Czechoslovak-Ukrainian descent, Ditko inherited his father's own love of newspaper comic strips, accelerated by the introduction of Batman and Will Eisner's The Spirit.

He studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson, before working under Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who had created Captain America, and finally joining Atlas Comics - the precursor to Marvel Comics - in 1955.

Ditko was first assigned to the likes of Strange Tales, Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, where he would first work alongside writer-editor Stan Lee.

This collaboration would later result in the creation of Spider-Man, making his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, in August 1962. Proving popular, the character's first solo outing saw the creation of Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, the Lizard, Electro, and the Green Goblin.

Ditko found later praise in his psychedelic renderings of Doctor Strange and his adventures, first introduced in Strange Tales #110, in July 1963.

However, following a rift between Lee and Ditko, the cause of which remains uncertain, Ditko left Marvel in 1966 to work for Charlton and later DC, co-creating the Creeper in that time.

An ardent supporter of Ayn Rand and objectivism, Ditko created Mr. A in 1967, a newspaper reporter and vigilante with an uncompromising line against criminality - a character which later inspired Watchmen's Rorschach.

He returned to the publisher in 1979, working on Machine Man and The Micronauts, and continued to freelance for Marvel into the '90s, creating fan favourite character Squirrel Girl in 1992. He retired from mainstream comics in 1998.

Unlike Stan Lee, Ditko was a heavily private man, largely declining interviews and public appearances, even as his characters Spider-Man and Doctor Strange were offered a second boom thanks to Hollywood.

News of Ditko's death was confirmed by The New York Police Department. No cause of death has been confirmed.

“Without Steve Ditko there would have been no Spider-Man, no Doctor Strange, no Creeper, no Hawk and Dove, none of the black and white reprint comics I read in seaside resorts as a boy. No The Question (which means no Rorschach). No Mister A. No mystery,” Neil Gaiman tweeted in response to his death.

“Steve Ditko was true to his own ideals. He saw things his own way, and he gave us ways of seeing that were unique. Often copied. Never equaled. I know I’m a different person because he was in the world.”

Jonathan Ross, who hosted an hour-long BBC special on the artist in 2007, tweeted: "I am beyond sad. For me, the single greatest comic book artist and creator who ever lived, Steve Ditko, is gone. Thank you for your tireless brilliance and boundless imagination, Steve, you uncompromising genius.”

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