Maybe I'm misguided, but I see a lot
of humor in Ditko's comics, including his Objectivist work.
Take "The Avenging World," for example. From the description (a comic
entirely about philosophy, without a narrative), this comic SOUNDS like
pretty dull reading. But when one opens it up, one finds a caricature of
the Earth with a bandage on his head and hobbling along with a crutch.
Following that, we are shown caricatures of various types of individuals.
But in my opinion, the writing is even funnier than the exaggerated art used
to depict them. We see the sobbing humanitarian kick out a naked unworthy
from the line receiving his "fair share" of sustinance: one droplet.
When I once heard Rush Limbaugh mocking a liberal who had vowed to live as
the homeless did, to draw attention to their plight, sleeping on park
benches (and, Limbaugh added, probably kicking out a real homeless person
off the bench in the process). Listening to that Limbaugh description, a
few years ago, I immediately saw it as an amusing Ditko panel, like the
Humanitarian in "Avenging World." (And no, I'm not a Limbaugh fan, by the
way.)
"The Neutralist Settles a Dispute" uses exaggeration and humor to get its
point across. Ditko even has the criminal, after getting only half of the
honest worker's wages, fling down his hat in frustration and then promising
he'll go along "to prove I'm willing to sacrifice for the common good," and
walks away grumbling about how next time he'll "hold out for 3/4's of the
money"! This is an absurd and amusing depiction of the world, but we can
also see the element of truth in it, too.
MURDER #3 (Oct. 1986) contains 2 of my favorite Ditko stories. The 2-pger,
"Social Justice" is obviously making fun of the idea that TV can influence
bad behavior. The second page shows how this cop-out deflects
responsibility for one's own actions to the TV. Thus, the man guilty of bad
behavior becomes an "innocent victim." Ditko goes further by having the
assaulted woman say "sob! You poor soul! Please forgive me interfering --
or better yet, why not sue me for resisting you!" And then the final irony
of the TV news planning to "expose technology and big business as
corrupters." This tale has a serious point but is done in a very
entertaining style, almost like a cartoon. When the cop says "So that's how
it is!," learning that the TV is the real villain, I expect it to sound like
a smart-alecky line in an old Warner Bros. cartoon. We also see a few of
those huge exaggerated "Ditko teardrops" like on the "Humanitarian" -- tears
so big that they leave puddles on the ground!
So, what's so funny about "My Brother...My Enemy," the other story in MURDER
#3? Well, there is always something amusing and ironic when Ditko
juxtaposes opposites, as when he juxtaposes events in the lives of a
law-abiding man and his criminal brother. The scenes when they are
teenagers stick out in my mind.
Gang-member: "Ah! We're just gonna take old Ted's TV! It's just a gag!"
Bad brother: "Well, if it's a gag!"
Good brother: "That's no gag!"
Gang-member: "Well, are you guys with the he-men or are you joining the
girls' sewing group!"
That last line is the kind of thing Flash Thompson might have said in an old
Spidey comic. The peer pressure here also resembles Peter Parker's life.
The weak-willed bad brother, has his hand to his face like Jack Benny,
saying "well, if it's a gag..." while the good brother is raising his hand
in an "I'm outta here" brush-off to the gang, the way Peter Parker indicated
he was not one of the crowd. Anyway, the humor comes from the
irrationality and weak-willed go-along-with-the-crowd attitude of the bad
brother ("Butt out, Ray! They're my friends! Why don't you go read a
book?!"). Of course, the conclusion is anything but humorous, but even in
this powerful, realistic drama, Ditko finds a way to inject some humor.
The "Midnight Special" one-pager from 1967, with the oncoming train turning
out to be an owl, was reprinted as the back cover of Revolver #6 (April
1986). It was mentioned recently regarding examples of Ditko humor, as was
"Get Mr. Quiver!" from Ditko's World #2 (June 1986). Mr. Quiver is a fat
bald character who has little black dots for eyes and usually has his tongue
sticking out of his mouth. He walks around eating a bowl of Jello with a
spoon, and has a sidekick called Puffy who serves his Jello. A host of
super-villain type characters (The Iron Gripper, Bullseye Best, The Basher,
etc.) tries to lay Quiver low, but everything bounces off his curvy figure,
even bullets. This story reminds me of a sillier, goofier version of a
Killjoy-type story.
Killjoy also had some one-time-only super-villain types to tangle with, like
Jungle Jake (who uses animals in his bank robberies), who may be seen as
perhaps a take-off on Kraven the Hunter. Killjoy gets his own J. Jonah
Jameson in the form of the weepy "Humanitarian"-type Mr. Hart, leader of the
Foundation to Protect the Guilty From Justice. (In the 2nd Killjoy story,
Mr. Hart met a hobo-like Mr Sole in a wonderfully weepy page full of absurd
statements.) Sheesh, I don't have to explain why I think Killjoy is a funny
strip, do I? The hero wears a smiling masquerade face for a mask, after
all.
Speaking of masquerade, there's Masquerade, with its silly humorous
gimmicks. There's the silliness in the Screamer. "The Spoliers" and "Tsk!
Tsk!" pages almost function as gag pages -- except with Ditko handling the
job and injecting his philosophy, unlike Henry Boltinoff. How about the new
"Avenging World" sequence in the current 160-Page Package where the smirking
dealer tells the customer to hand over his money whether he wants to buy the
thing or not. If Ditko didn't have a healthy sense of humor, I doubt he
could tell these amusing tales. Characters like I. Smi (in Mr. A.) and Ort
Krim (in Static) are characters that Ditko uses to show people he doesn't
agree with, but the prospect of comedy coming from their "irrational" acts
or words is a result of their presence, too.
How about those 5-page Lee-Ditko fantasy stories from the late 1950s and
early 1960s? An absent-minded professor can't seem to recall what he is
forgetting, only to realize that he is an alien! An unknown object is
hurtling toward the surface, causing everyone to flee for space -- only it
turns out to be a baseball hitting a mitt.
In Ditkomania a few years ago, there was a fascinating example of an Amazing
Adult Fantasy short story where a character shows up at the office of
Lee-Ditko to sell an idea they can use for their magazine. Ditko ends up
giving the guy a kick out the door, if I recall right. (Maybe that's what
"The Spoilers" was: profiles of people Ditko thinks deserve a kick in the
rear.) The cartoony style was a revelation to me, since I didn't know Ditko
used that style during that pre-Spidey period.
If I had more comics in front of me, I'd dig out more examples, but at least
that's a start. I think Ditko's stuff can be funny. It's not always
funny -- sometimes the story isn't about something funny -- but Ditko
usually will throw something amusing in there. Usually it's the villains or
the ignorant populace who are the most ridiculous, both in appearance and by
their words. A lot of Ditko's heroes and villains are intrinsically
goofy-looking -- it's a must for it to be truly Ditkoesque for them to look
odd, or have a weird name. Whether one finds "goofy" things to be "funny,"
too, is up to the individual reader.
I think Ditko has as much or more humor in his work as any other creator
known for their hero work. How much humor is in Gil Kane's body of work?
Jack Kirby did some humor strips, but I don't think his later ones worked as
well as Ditko's later ones like "Get Mr. Quiver!" or "Social Justice." I
don't see how Ditko's work, especially his Objectivist work, is lacking in
humor.