Sunday, February 22, 2004

From NeilAlien's overview of the new Comics Journal's Ditko issue:

"Unmasking The Villain: Notes on Ditko, Kirby and Marvel-Style Plotting" by Craig Fischer

This essay argues that Kirby trumps Ditko because Amazing Spider-Man was overly formulaic while Fantastic Four's plots were good, diverse, and constantly introducing new characters, realms, etc. Then it relates the great story about how Kirby wanted the Him/Warlock story of Fantastic Four #66-67 to be a critique of objectivism, but Lee gutted it, which led to their falling out. Very interesting. "When I peel off the mask of the supervillain, all I see is the face of Ayn Rand, the philosopher-bitch who managed to outdo Yoko Ono and blast apart two of the 1960's most creative partnerships." Four poisoned sandwiches.


Dirk, when you take over the Journal, will you please see to it that ignorant, uninformed statements like the one I've highlighted in boldface no longer see print?

One more time, and repeat after me, kiddies: Yoko Ono did NOT break up the Beatles, nor did she prevent Paul and John from continuing to collaborate. She may have added to the tensions already in effect, but she was only one of many contributing factors.

Thank you.

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