Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko found dead at 90

Police say Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko has died at the age of 90 in New York, reports the BBC.

Ditko, one of Marvel Comics’ legendary staffers was found unresponsive at his flat in Manhattan on 29 June and was declared dead by paramedics who attended the scene.

Police said that they believed he had been dead for two days when he was found, reports Ars Technica.

Media reports say Ditko left behind no family or survivors.

Ditko rose to fame for his work with Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, working with the company's future CEO Stan Lee on ideas including Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

Lee came up with the idea of a teen superhero with the powers of a spider, says BBC North America correspondent Chris Buckler.

But it was Ditko who created Spider-Man's distinctive blue and red costume and the web-shooters he wore on his wrists.

 

After creating and developing Spider-Man with Lee in 1961, Ditko premiered lasting hero Dr Strange in 1963, and continued to write and draw Dr Strange stories for Marvel until 1966.

Disputes over money and friction with Lee reportedly drove Ditko to leave Marvel in 1966 and he shunned the public spotlight subce, even refusing to appear on air for the 2007 BBC film In Search of Steve Ditko.

British TV presenter Jonathan Ross, who met Ditko while making the documentary, described Ditko as "the single greatest comic book artist and creator who ever lived."

Fans, including author Neil Gaiman, have paid tribute to the artist. “Steve Ditko was true to his own ideals. He saw things his own way, and he gave us ways of seeing that were unique. Often copied. Never equalled. I know I'm a different person because he was in the world,” Gaiman wrote in Twitter.