Nice to hear a tribue to Steve Ditko, one of my favorite creators in the medium. I would like to point out one error that has become an urban myth, the idea that Ditko and Lee argued over the identity of the Green Goblin. Ditko has stated in essays over the past few years published by Robin Snyder in his newsletter, “The Comics” that he never had a disagreement over the ID of the Green Goblin. Ditko stated that Lee chose to stop speaking to him around the time of Amazing Spider-Man # 25, so there could have been no disagreement over the Goblin. Also, Ditko makes the case that he planted the character who would become the Goblin in the background and in scenes throughout his run. Toward the end of his run this character apeared in stories, as did his son. Lee likely named him Norman Osborn, but there is no doubt that Ditko had planned for him to be the Goblin from early on.

Ditko likely left Marvel for other reasons, including his need to produce stories without what he felt was editorial interference, and he also wanted proper credit for the work he did.

Nick Caputo