Stan Lee Posts Video Tribute To The Late Spider-Man Co-Creator Steve Ditko

In a touching video posted on Friday, Stan Lee paid tribute to friend and comic book artist Steve Ditko. As Entertainment Weekly reports, Ditko was a reclusive, but brilliant artist, who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange before leaving Marvel in 1966. Ditko died earlier this month at the age of 90.

During his time at Marvel, Ditko was instrumental in creating some of the most popular superheroes in the Marvel universe. He was “responsible for many of the most iconic details we today associate with Spider-Man, from his web-shooters to the red-and-blue costume.” He also developed the concepts for Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin, two of the most well-known villains in Marvel’s repertoire. Additionally, Ditko was responsible for the Doctor Strange comic about a surgeon who, after a severe accident damages his hand, attains powers and a cloak of levitation.

Ditko and Lee often had a tense working relationship. Lee oversaw Ditko, and by the time Ditko left Marvel in 1966, “his working relationship with Stan Lee had deteriorated until they never spoke at all, with Steve simply providing any artwork he wanted and Stan writing whatever dialogue fit,” according to the Observation Deck.

Ditko continued to create other comics “often pursuing characters over whom he could exert more exacting creative control than he’d been able to at Marvel.”

In his video, Lee notes that he had to acknowledge Ditko’s passing. He described him as an integral person in the comic book world, and says “his talent was indescribable.”

Remembering Sturdy Steve Ditko – Stan pic.twitter.com/gpmbSF9s5S

— Stan Lee (@TheRealStanLee) July 13, 2018

“I worked with him for many years and was always impressed with how he saw everything in terms of photos and pictures and movement and scenes. He told a story like a fine movie director would. I’m sure there will be a lot written about him as time goes by and I will be one of the guys who buys the first book,” Lee said.

Lee notes that Ditko “made an impression,” and ended the video his own famous catchphrase, “Excelsior.”

Ditko was born in 1927. By the time he was a teen, he had become obsessed with comic books. His career as a comic book artist started in 1953. In 1961 he created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in 1963. He was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1994, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Ditko’s body was found in his Manhattan home on June 29, where he had reportedly passed away two days prior. The cause of death has not been released.