ACE COMICS
AND THE ART OF STEVE DITKO
by Ron Frantz
Chapter Two
"If you can get Skyman and The Face, I would be interested in
working on either one. I have enough experience working out of the city companies (Marvel
and DC) to realize that if I am not working on my own idea or story, there's no point in my
doing complete pencils or doing the inking. While I have to letter my own work, I am not a
letterer.
I would pencil the story, but not pencil it as a pencil version of an inked page. Too
much small elements (faces, details, etc.) become lost or smudged. I would pencil the story
tight enough for any competent inker. Also, many inkers have their own inking style and never
actually follow the pencilling and shading.
I have worked on bi-monthly books when I got the job back to ink, the job was already
late. I have given up rushing the inking. Even now, at Marvel, this is the most effective
and productive way for me to work.
If you have any problems or questions about the above, let me know."
Things were certainly looking up. I had hoped that Ditko might be willing to do both
the pencils and inks, as it certainly would have made things a lot less complicated for
me. However, since that was not his wish, I was willing to take Ditko's work any way that
I could get it.
The next decision was to determine which of the two characters I wanted to publish
first. By some manner of convoluted logic, which I can't begin to explain now, I decided
The Face had the most commercial potential. I probably would have done as well to flip a
coin.
I had been quite satisfied with the scripts Joe Gill had written for Spencer Spook.
It seemed natural for Gill to write The Face. When working with Gill, I provided him a
two or three page outline to work from. After I had made the decision to update the
character to a modern day setting, it was necessary to first create a cast of supporting
characters and establish a story line.
Before Gill began writing a script for the first issue, I wanted to get some feedback
from Ditko regarding the plot, setting, and support characters that I had in mind. I no
longer have a copy of the letter I sent to Ditko. However, I think Ditko's comments makes
these matters clear:
"A modern day setting is alright, but not a realistic
setting -- New York, Los Angles, etc. It's the problem of getting up to date material.
I turned down a job that had a splash page with the hero flying over the Pittsburgh airport.
No editor has ever sent me sourceable reference. A photo does not provide the kind of
detail necessary to get over an idea. It cuts off a whole area of interest and drama -- the
political area. You can't put your hero in New York or any real city and deal with the
'realistic' political themes -- a crooked major, police commissioner, union, etc. That
whole area of wrongs are outside realism.
You can create interesting dramatic situations impossible in real cities -- a castle
in the park, a haunted city hall, city legends, etc. Realism restricts the continuity to
a narrow area and takes a large important area outside the possibility of passing value
judgements. Real cities make a sacred cow out of the political realm. This does not mean
that stories should deal with political corruption, but that it makes these stories
possible.
Mystery is okay, but it is a slower paced story as opposed to the more adventurous,
hero-villain type. Unless the mystery has visual value, there is going to be a lot of
ordinary actions going on. It may be why regular police stories don't go over too well.
How well the tie in between the old FACE and the new would depend on how much the reader
knew and cared about the old FACE. How much could be revealed in flashbacks comes at the
expense of the new story. That tie in, to me is not interesting.
A hero's convincing reason to exist.
A hero has to respect societies legal and dominant standards -- ideas, procedures.
A hero is claiming this way is more just than what society offers. Societies' legal and
moral setup does not protect citizens. Justice is not being done (courts moral judgements).
A hero is a symbol of a better and correct moral judgement -- of justice -- of right -- a
moral good.
Police = legal force.
Courts = legal justice.
Hero = moral force and moral justice.
If a society's police force, legal court systems prove inadequate, incompetent, corrupt,
then anyone who is willing to take the responsibility of taking more necessary actions to
help, protect, and save innocent people -- or to protect the proper values -- honesty,
rights, justice -- becomes a hero. His reason is that he is willing and able to do he
job and will not stand by while injustice is permitted by society's leaders.
FACE mask -- a reason for it.
The FACE mask could be used as a symbol. It represents the soul -- the real face of
those who are violators -- not only of others' rights, but violators of their own nature.
They choose to be irrational over the rational -- the inhuman over the human. "That Face!
It's horrible! I am the mirror of your true self. The true face hidden under the flesh.
This is how you really look. What you really are."
FACE mask used as a psychological, moral weapon.
It could scare them deeper than mere physical fear. Scare them to their evaded true
nature of what they are by becoming criminals.
Stories in a realistic manner?
Realism in movies doesn't work. It won't work in comics. Drama has to be created,
simplified, exaggerated -- made visually interesting to work. A Jack Kirby created gun
tells more about what a gun represents than any authentic gun, photographically copied
from a gun catalogue. If realism is a standard for police-crime stories, a hero is to
be taken symbolically, not realistically. A hero is an abstraction clothed in a costume.
Supporting cast.
Kindly priest............NEVER!
You want a reason for a man becoming a hero. You need reasons for offering these kind
of suggestions. It means the hero accepts:
Faith over reason
Supernatural over nature
Altruism over rational self-interest
The priest is a man any authentic hero would hold in comtempt...despise.
The supporting cast of characters should grow out of the story context. It depends on
who the hero is, his job, environment, etc.
One major problem with collaborative efforts is the lack of a single ruling premise or
standard. Strong ideas are usually diluted to weaker, more conventional thinking. The more
people involved, the greater the blend of ideas -- and a blend becomes the bland. A something
for everyone. It's not much of a problem with crime stories. Someone breaks the law and has
to be caught. But when stories go into psychology -- moral issues -- few, if any writers have
reasons for what their hero stands for. The best direction might be the old fashioned ideas.
Some crooks steals or kills and the hero goes out to catch him."
For about ten years, I had corresponded with Pete Morisi. Because Morisi had worked
in comics industry for over thirty years, I had great respect for his knowledge and
experience. I sent Morisi a copy of letter I had written to Ditko, asking for his opinion.
Morisi responded as follows:
"Re: Tony Trent being a TV newscaster. Don't tie him down to a
daily or weekly telecast schedule. Make him an investigative reporter who delivers his
telecasts on an irregular basis, depending on the urgency of the information involved.
Give him an office in the TV station building, but let him come and go as he pleases.
(In case he gets shot as The Face and doesn't show up at the TV station for a week, he
won't be missed).
I am not sure I like the murdered parents bit. It's kind of tired by now. Why not just
have Tony Trent as a deeply concerned newscaster, who gets fed up with seeing killers go free
(via bribed juries, crooked judges, loop-hole lawyers, etc.)
Keep the origin a mystery, to be figured out at a later date when reader interest screams
for that information.
Quick thoughts: (1) I don't like the priest bit. (2) I do like the lady district
attorney love interest. (3) I don't like the person in authority at the TV station -- too
similar to The Question. (4) A hard nosed police detective friend might work, but you're
overloading with side people.
After reading the golden age Face stories you sent me, I'm not sure about using old
reprints to back up new artwork. The old stories are bad, dull, and predictable. Only
an old time fan like myself would buy them and there ain't many of me around.
Hope the above has been of some help. I'm looking forward to doing a complete Face
story and art sometime in the future."
Morisi once told me about a chance meeting with Ditko about 1967. Both men were dropping
off artwork at Charlton's New York office, which was then delivered by courier to Derby, CT.
While Ditko and Morisi were talking, Ditko asked: "I understand that you are a police
officer, Pete?" Morisi, of course, replied that he was. During this period, Morisi drew
comic books only in his spare time. Ditko replied that he envied Morisi, in that he would
enjoy an opportunity to arrest criminals.
Ditko had become fascinated with novelist, Ayn Rand. Ditko's evolving philosophical
views, made Morisi feel a little uncomfortable. Working as a police officer in the largest
city in the world, Morisi had a more realistic opinion about the role of law and order in
society, as opposed to the simplistic black and white views expostulated by Rand and her
followers. To the best of my knowledge, the two men never spoke again.
CONTINUED...
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