About the Author

Blake Bell is the author of Strange & Stranger (a retrospective of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko); The Secret History of Marvel Comics, Fire & Water: Bill Everett, The Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics; Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives; and Strange Suspense and Unexplored Worlds (two volumes in The Steve Ditko Archives). He lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his son.

Reviews

[An] effervescently written history about this peculiar and tremendously talented writer and artist. With additions of reprinted strips and un-inked pages, Bell strips away the heavily-shaded areas of this man's life and helps the reader better understand him.--Steven M. Bari "Weekly Comic Book Reviews"

A must have for both fans of the artist in particular and comic book history in general.--Rick Klaw "Sfsite.com"

A personal and professional portrait of the brilliant storyteller and polemicist.--Richard Pachter "Miami Herald"

Bell's insight into Ditko's work and its enduring appeal combine with an abundance of powerful artwork to make this lavish volume indispensable to comics fans.--Gordon Flagg "Booklist"

Blake Bell does the impossible and explains Steve Ditko.--Alan David Doane "Comicbook Galaxy"

Ditko is one of the most enigmatic, mercurial talents in comic history.-- "Newsarama"

Ditko remains widely recognized as one of the comic world's most admired visual stylists.-- "The List"

Ditko's life, like that of R. Crumb or Harvey Pekar, has enough obsessive oddity and outside struggle to be a tale told wide. But Bell goes the opposite direction, getting as narrow as the lines Ditko used to restrain the action in the old Marvel and Charlton comics.--Geoff Boucher "Los Angeles Times"

His legacy is undeniable...visually he was revolutionary.-- "Macleans Magazine"

Now even the comics newbie can experience the full range of Ditko's accomplishments, thanks to Blake Bell's masterful, copiously illustrated biographical study. With passionate, yet unremittingly objective scholarship, Bell chronicles the life and work of this notoriously reclusive and stubborn artist.--Paul DiFilippio "Barnes and Noble Review"

Peculiar and tremendously talented writer and artist.--Steven M. Bari "Weekly Comic Book Reviews"

The portrait that emerges here is of an artist whose principles have ossified into bitter perversity.--Douglas Wolk "The New York Times Book Review"

This fascinating tale of a bull-headed individual who gave his all to the masses and then withdrew from their adulation offers a stark twist on the American Dream.--R. C. Baker "The Village Voice"