Steve Ditko, Charlton Comics and the Other Unseen Architects of Watchmen

Comments · 490

• TH

  @ThePhudD · 5 years ago (edited)

  I live in the UK and I’m around the same age as Moore and it was an enjoyable search going around all the newsagents in the area to get American comics in the 60s. Seaside shops were the best and it’s true the comics were well out of date and a lot were water damaged — but being able to buy a 1966 Spider-Man in 1969 for the price of a piece of gum made the trawl all the more rewarding!

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• SM

  @smicha1466 · 5 years ago

  I wrote to Ditko once asking him about the nature of Heroism and who his favorite fictional heroes were when he was younger. He wrote back a two or three page rambling missive that in no way answered my question and also included the Charlton issue of The Question. I got the impression that he considered The Question as his final statement on what makes someone a hero.

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• EU

  @eugenealejandro1003 · 4 years ago

  As a comics historian myself, this is an incredible video about Watchmen's history. Many people (not you of course LOL) really aren't aware of Steve Ditko's indirect contribution to how Watchmen came to exist.

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• OL

  @OlieTheobald · 3 years ago

  When I was a kid Charlton Comics were hard to find and inconsistently available when you found them . The next month none were there and the search was on .

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• CL

  @claywoodral7587 · 5 years ago

  Side note: I live in a river city and a tugboat was about to be launched and sent down the delta. The captain needed something bulky and inexpensive for ballast. He stopped by the grocery store where I work and ordered two whole pallets of bananas. My manager just could not wrap his head around the concept of ballast. "You don't have to understand it Marvin, let's just make the sale." It was a real Charlie Brown "good grief" moment.

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• HA

  @haileyshannon7548 · 1 year ago

  Amazing how now the Charlton characters are all integrated into the expanded DC universe, some even have their own shows and movies

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• MA

  @marcmacaluso2795 · 5 years ago

  This was a university level dissertation

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• BA

  @BanazirGalpsi1968 · 5 years ago

  I have heard Twitter claim you have to use and destroy well known franchise to succeed. But because Giordano insisted they not do that, Moore and gibbons created a masterpiece.

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• RA

  @ralphmontano2843 · 3 years ago

  Just rewatched this after reading GQ interview with Alan. Fantastic work, man.  I can see why Moore might feel a bit like Dr. Frankenstein these days. His creations are out there wrecking havoc that he never intended they would do when he created them. And there is nothing at all he can do about it except disown them completely.

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• JE

  @jeffzeiler346 · 5 years ago

  Your painstaking, encyclopediac research really does justice to this towering classic comic series. These comics came out when I was in my early twenties, and were part of the fabulous comic series of that era that changed to tone and raised the quality standard of the medium. Top shelf content that thoroughly honors the subject. Thank you.

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• BR

  @brianban110 · 3 years ago

  I have mixed feelings when it comes to Allen Moore. On the one hand he's one of the most influential and respected writers who has written some of my favorite comics like V for vendetta,  The killing joke. and of course Watchmen.  On the other he's a curmudgeonly bitter old guy who is just strange (then again most creatives are a little weird).

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• SE

  @Seestaar · 5 years ago

  the research and detail you put in these videos is astonishing...even after years of reading comics, it's amazing how much I still don't know about them, and how much I learn from watching you! Looking forward to the next video!

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