Grounded in a More Credible World

Easily Ditko’s most well-known creation, Spider-Man is critical to any discussion about Ditko’s work. This chapter focuses on Ditko’s role as writer on the series and the trajectory that he set the character on: a psychological epic not seen in other superhero comics of the period. Ditko puts Spider-Man through his paces, demanding that, like Dr. Strange, he searches his interior in a quest to find and create himself, transitioning from lonely nebbish to confident individualist. Ditko’s interest in Objectivist epistemology takes an increasingly important role with Spider-Man, setting the stage for the superheroes that would follow his departure from Marvel Comics. Among those more grounded and transparently philosophical characters was the Blue Beetle. Ditko created his version of Blue Beetle, and as this chapter argues, uses him to pick up where he left of with Peter Parker, completing the psychological quest that began in Amazing Fantasy #15.