About 2 months ago I was a guest on Mosley's TALK OBJECTIVISM radio show, basically talking about comic artist Steve Ditko. TALK OBJECTIVISM is a show that discusses the philosophy of Ayn Rand, the founder of Objectivism. Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man, is a long-time Objectivist, so one day after I discovered his talk show, I emailed Mosley and asked him if he was aware of Steve Ditko. Next thing I know, I'm on the show talking about Steve Ditko! Which was a pleasure to do, no doubt about it.
Then I was invited back the following week to moderate a discussion between Blake Bell, author of the recent book STRANGE AND STRANGER:THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO and Mort Todd, a cartoonist and former Editor-In-Chief of CRACKED magazine, whose worked with Ditko since the 1980s. As a long-time Ditko fan, I was more than happy to have a chance to actually lead a discussion about one of my favorite creators of all time. This was literally one of those great opportunities that's come my way simply as a result of me becoming an independent comic creator, I firmly believe that. By taking the steps to create my own comics, and thus becoming active in my little corner of the comics world, I have met all kinds of people and have had numerous avenues in which to celebrate my love of comics.
So I told Jason that I would like to reciprocate the chance he gave me on his show and extended him an invitation to appear on mine. When I found out that he writes his own on-line comic strip, I figured that was his way 'in'! Plus I want to hear about his own reactions to reading the Blake Bell book, as he wasn't aware of Ditko until I had emailed him about Ditko. Also, I think it will be interesting to talk about Mosley's blog, MR. BACON PANTS and his TALK OBJECTIVISM talk show. While these may not be comics related, they are creative endeavors, and he's a big proponent about individual rights and identity, so that fits in line with the majority of my guests.
Please listen to the interview either live or once it's available for downloading.
I'll be returning as a guest to TALK OBJECTIVISM today at 5 pm (PST). Today I will be joined by author Blake Bell (Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko) and my friend Mort Todd, who hired Ditko when he was the Editor-in-Chief of CRACKED magazine, as well as an editor at Marvel!
I was actually on the show last week as well. I was only going to preview today's episode but I ended up talking about Ditko for over an hour!
TALK OBJECTIVISM is a show dedicated to the philosophy founded by Ayn Rand, of which Ditko has been a follower of for decades. I had emailed the host of the show, Jason Mosley, and told him about Steve Ditko. He invited me to come on his show and talk about Dikto's work (Ditko co-created Spider-Man with writer Stan Lee) and how he's incorporated Objectivism in his comics.
If you want to listen to today's episode, just click on the above link. You can even join the Chat Room with a quick registration and participate in the show.
And here's acclaimed comic book writer Alan Moore talking about a song he once performed based on Steve Ditko and his legendary creation, MR. A!
Well, here's a different type of appearance for me!
I was a guest on TALK OBJECTIVISM, a podcast that discusses the philosophy founded by Ayn Rand (author of THE FOUNTAINHEAD and ATLAS SHRUGGED). How, and why, was I a guest on the show? Glad you asked!
As readers of this blog probably know, I'm a big fan or Steve Ditko (his Spider-Man is shown above). Ditko, besides being one of comic's true great talents, has been a follower of Objectivism for most of his life. Much of that philosophy has found it's way into his comic book work, particularly his independent/self-published work (MR. A being a prime example). Over the years I've always been curious about Objectivism, since it's been such a prevalent influence in Ditko's work. When Blake Bell, the author of STRANGE AND STRANGER: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO appeared on my radio show, some of the questions I asked him were about the Randian influence in Ditko's work.
In the interest of learning more about Objectivism, I found the TALK OBJECTIVISM site and started listening to the podcast via iTunes for the last couple of weeks. I immediately found the show interesting because of the host, Jason Mosley. I was hoping the host wouldn't be some stuffy, pedantic, academic stiff, because that would put me to sleep. Mosley is a graphic artist, who maintains a blog about bacon (!), he's a tech-nerd, and even does an online comic-strip. He's what I call a regular guy (only a comic-creating, blogging geek like me would think that, right?!). He's been into Objectivism for about 4 years, and is learning as he goes along. So for me, his view on the philosophy, while he's dedicated to it, is coming from the point of view of someone finding his way into it. As there are things about Objectivism that don't fit in with my world view, I can listen to his show without feeling preached to about the philosophy.
So anyway, I emailed him to tell him all this, and asked him if he was aware of Steve Ditko. I gave him some background on Ditko's work on Spider-Man and his own Objectivist heroes like The Question and Mr. A. Mosley was quite interested in all of this, and soon we are talking about me appearing on his show to talk about Steve Ditko! I was happy to do it, of course. Not because I fancy myself a Steve Ditko expert, or even a representative, but I figured I knew enough about Ditko's history to lend my opinions and share some knowledge. Plus for me it was an opportunity to appear on a talk show and not necessarily promote my own work (not that I'm shy about that!). As a Ditko fan, I thought it would allow me to expose more people to his work, and that gives me satisfaction.
So anyway, I spoke on the show yesterday, and it's now available on the TALK SHOE site as Episode 071 (you can also download via iTunes). I had a really great time talking on the show with Jason and his regular guest Arthur. They were genuinely interested in Ditko's work. Plus it allowed me to talk with them about various philosophical issues, and some political talk. Please check it out and let me know what you think.
By the way, I'm going to be on the show again next Sunday, this time with Blake Bell making an appearance! I'll be there to ask Blake some questions specifically how Ditko's Objectivist views shaped his run on The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as how it affected his other work.
In the meantime though, I have to get ready for my own guest on my own show tomorrow!
