DITKO ON MR. A. FROM THE MASTERS OF COMIC BOOK ART Video-Tape, '87, Ken Viola.
In 1987, Ken Viola put out a video-tape featuring featurettes on the most influential
comic creators of this century. The tape ran for 80 minutes and included Eisner, Kurtzman,
Kirby, Ditko, Adams, Wrightson, Moebius, Miller, Sim and Spiegelman. All the artists
except Ditko appeared in interview form. Ditko read a ''statement'' while works of Mr. A.
ran on the screen. Below is the transcript. The video-tape may not have a picture
of Ditko, but it is the only known source of his voice being recorded.
Mister A is based on Ayn Rand's theory of justice and on
Aristotle's law of identity, his definition of man and his view of art.
Aristotle said that art is philosophically more important than history. History tells how
man did act - art shows how man could and should act.
Art creates a model. An ideal man as a measuring standard.
Without a measuring standard, nothing can be identified or judged. But
everything can be measured. Disease and sicknesses are measured by a
healthy organ or body. All measurement requires an appropriate standard.
With it, one can measure down to atoms, up to the stars, and the changes in
a character of a man.
Aristotle defined man as a rational animal. Rationality is a potential that
has to be actualized by choice and the right thinking method of logic
applied to reason. The standard of measurement for all is a rational,
logical ruler. It effectively measures the rational and irrational
thinking.
A hero measures a man at his best in the worst situation. A hero is a man
admired for his qualities or achievements, and regarded as an ideal or
model.
Aristotle formulated the law of identity - A is A - a thing is what it is. It
has a specific nature and identity. The truth cannot contradict itself and
also be a lie.
Mister A's black and white card symbolizes the law of identity. It
identifies the two moral potentials possible; the good and the evil. And by
one's chosen action, the best or the worst potential can be actualized.
The card is also a symbol of justice. For Ayn Rand, justice is
objectively identifying a thing for what it is and treating it accordingly.
No one gets the unearned. The innocent is not penalized. The guilty is not
rewarded. The card is a refusal to violate the rule of
justice and the law of identity by a grey compromise. It is a refusal to
sacrifice the good to the evil or to accept any part of the evil as a
greater good.
Society has its admirable people; its heroes. They are found in all
professions. But hidden by the complexities of society, they are
not as clearly defined, not as understood, and not as effective a model as
in stories with two opposing forces of right and wrong in a dramatic
presentation, revealing the character's choices and actions that identify them
and lead to a just ending, where the hero and the right view of life wins.
Early comic-book heroes were not about life as it is, but creations of
how a man with a clear understanding of right and wrong, and more courage, chose to act, even
if branded an outlaw. He dispensed a better justice than the
prevailing legal/moral one. He was a moral avenger. He was not like
everyone else, not the average, the common, or the ordinary man. He was
the exceptional one; the uncommon one; the one doing what others were unwilling to do,
regardless of the opposition and consequences to himself.
His success provided a better model. Through a hero, one could identify
the foolish, the corrupt, and the guilty.
A lead character can be better or worse than society's best model. And if a man
with proven better qualities appears, then a new measuring standard for men
and society is established.
A hero is a model for everyone. But not everyone is willing to act at his
best. A less demanding model, blending good and bad, is more comforting -
easier to accept.
For the self-flawed, an anti-hero provides a heroic label without the need to act
better. A crooked cop, a flawed cop, is not a valid model of a good law
enforcer. An anti-cop corrupts the legal good. An anti-hero corrupts the
moral good. Both corrupt ideals. Both choose the flaw over the perfect.
The Perfect is identified and measured by what is possible to man, such as a
perfect bowling score. A perfect response accepts the truth and rejects the lie. The
perfect hero, on principle, says yes to a true identity and no to a
contradictory one. Ruled by justice, he treats every identity as it
deserves. He is the actualized potential for good in its purest form. A
true moral measuring ruler. He is the most human and deserving of respect.
Today's flawed super-heroes are superior in physical strength, but common,
average, ordinary in mental strength. Rich in super-powers, but bankrupt
in reasoning powers. They are perfect in overcoming the flawed super-villains,
saving the world - the universe, yet helpless to solve their common, ordinary,
average, personal problems. It is like creating a perfectly physical adult
with the reasoning limits of a six-year-old.
The creators of flawed ideals believe that no real
difference exists between a flawed hero and a flawed villain. Both have
some good and some bad in them, so they blend into greyness, where no one is
better than anyone else and where the worst can justifiably claim that he is
a good as - as grey as the best.
If it is impossible to know what is true and to do what is right, then the
flaw - the worst - will be the new standard of good. Man will be defined as a
flawed, anti-rational animal, and all that corrupts and harms life will be
the new virtues. Like deliberately flawed eye-sight - where self-blindness
is the ideal - anti-life behavior will be the new standard for living.
The resentment against the perfect hero is a resentment against A is A;
against the integration of truth and behavior; against the non-contradictory
identity of a moral ideal; against reality and life's measuring ruler : a
rational, moral standard.