RoR: Forum

Cool!

Bob, where would you suggest I go in order to find Mr. A comics for sale (are they still being reprinted)? It's not important to me that they are the collectors' originals from 1968 or anything. I'd just like to have Objectivist comics around!

Ed

Post 1

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 6:31am

Ed, Ebay is a great place to get reprints and original art by Steve Ditko. There's a "Mr.A" up right now titled "Right to kill"
(Edited by Gigi P Morton on 10/23, 6:40am)

Post 2

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 6:53am

Thanks, Bob - very informative - thought had all of 'Mr. A' but see a few missed.....

ever come across Barney Steel's work - what one could call Objectivist porn?

Post 3

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 10:05am

One huge error on the linked page is shown in these two quotes: "Nothing can be reasonable or beautiful unless it's made by one central idea, and the idea sets every detail. A building is alive, like a man. We are poisoned by the superstition of the ego. We must destroy the ego first." Obviously the author has melded a statement by Roark with one by his antipode, Toohey.

Then he builds on the error a bit later: "Ditko prefers to be known only through his work. What else would we expect from an Objectivist who believes, along with Ayn Rand's Howard Roark, that 'We are poisoned by the superstition of the ego ... we must destroy the ego first.'"

(Edited by Rodney Rawlings on 10/23, 1:30pm)

Post 4

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 10:44am

AND "this incarnation of The Question rarely appeared without his featureless mask. Now THAT'S lack of ego for you! These big, egomaniacal Hollywood stars usually love to ruin comic book movies by refusing to wear a character's mask if it covers their face, but not The Question. Obviously, just as a true Randian Objectivist should, this Steve Ditko superhero has made every effort to destroy his own poisonous ego."

Post 5

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 11:52am

Yes - was surprised at that, considering how otherwise seemed to grasp the Randian message correctly....

Post 6

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 1:33pm

One is left to wonder how the two statements ever got melded, since they are very widely separated in the book. And sharply distinguished in every way!

Post 7

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 7:36pm

Thanks, Gigi!

Ed

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 8:41pm

Your welcome Ed : )

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 4:55pm

Ed, all of Ditko's Mr. A material was published by Fantagraphics in the eighties in The Ditko Collection, Volumes 1 and 2 along with other material that Ditko retained the copyright to. These collections are excellent but expensive to purchase now.

Gigi is right. Your best source is probably eBay.

Robin Synder and Steve Ditko published a new Mr. A story in Steve Ditko's 176-Page Package: Heroes in 2000. The older collections are much better.

A good alternative is Action Heroes Archives, Vol. 2. It collects all of Ditko's Blue Beetle and Question work as well as concluding all of his Captain Atom stories that made up the first volume. The Blue Beetle and the Question are Steve Ditko at his best. Plotted, drawn and often written by Ditko (even when other writers are credited, Ditko is sometimes the actual writer,) these stories are very Objectivist in theme and execution, especially in the later stories. And Mr. A and the Question are essentially the same character in almost all respects.

Post 10

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 8:26pm

Thanks, Bob!

Ed

Friday, October 26, 2007 - 9:27am

This was brilliant by Steve Ditko: http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/298/

but look at the comments from our old friend "Orion Reasoner"

Posted by Orion Reasoner on October 25, 2007, 7:01 am

The problem with Objectivism is that it's only half objectivity. The other half is pure narcissism and egomania... This is because too much of Ayn Rand's philosophy places too much shame and stigma on not constantly being innovative and astronomically superior above all men. In her warped eyes, only the most ruthless, egotistical self-aggrandizer is worthy of being the true "hero" in life. And, sure enough, this is precisely what you see all over the culture of Objectivism: ruthlessly dishonest and narcissistic, shameless self-promoters who form cliques and dishonestly slander those outside their cliques, and those who are worshipping groupies of those egomaniacs. Objectivism is a dishonest philosophy that has little to do with true objectivity

Post 12

Thursday, November 8, 2007 - 6:14pm

Didn't know Action Heroes vol 2 was already out. I'm going to have to pick that up when I get the money, seems like it's getting to the good stuff. If only it keeps going long enough to collect the entire runs of The Creeper, Shade the Changing Man and Hawk and Dove.

---Landon

Post 13

Friday, November 9, 2007 - 4:13pm

Hi Landon,

"Action heroes" was what Charlton called its superheroes in the sixties and included non-Ditko creations like Judomaster, Peacemaker and Peter Cannon,Thunderbolt (below.) So, if they decide to reprint the other Ditko work you mentioned, it probably won't be under the "Action Heroes" title, but they might in spite of this.

The dream project I would most like to see would be a "Complete Steve Ditko Collection" in hardcover similar to the DC Archives and Marvel Masterworks collections, reprinting all of Ditko's works from 1953 to the present in multiple volumes. I'm not holding my breath, though.

I'd be happy to settle for a "Complete Marvel Steve Ditko Collection" or a DC equivalent. Even an "essential" or "showcase presents" version would delight me.

(Edited by Bob Palin on 11/09, 4:15pm)

Post 14

Friday, November 9, 2007 - 6:54pm