The Spiderman movies made $1.6 billion even before the toy distribution licenses. But if you strip away the investment bankers, lawyers, production companies and talent scouts, the whole mighty empire began with one lone guy sitting at his drawing board late at night drawing pictures while moths flickered around his fluorescent light.
That guy was Steve Ditko. When you look at his original drawings, such as the one above, you can appreciate how rich and evocative they were. Even when muted by cheap printing on pulp paper, even without computer graphics, explosions in dolby sound and flashing lights on a big screen, they were able to capture the imagination and loyalty of young boys. Ditko's battered drawing board is where it all started, the chain of events that went on to make hundreds of people fabulously wealthy (but not, of course, Steve Ditko).
Ditko reminds me of the ancient Egyptian temple of Karnak.
The Egyptians built that massive temple over a 2,000 year period. The temple grounds cover 200 acres of buildings, sacred lakes and grand courtyards. Karnak's Sacred Enclosure of Amon alone is 61 acres and would hold ten European cathedrals.
But at the very heart of this sprawling temple compound is the Naos, the small primeval mound where ancient people first gathered to worship long before the engineers, builders and armies showed up. A handful of people found religious inspiration from that site, never dreaming that a mighty empire would arise from where they stood. If you are impressed by the wealth and power of Karnak's concentric circles of vast courtyards and massive columns, it is good to remember that they all grew from a small sacred spot at the inner most core of the temple-- the "Holy of Holies."
The place where the original artist's brush touched the paper, that is the holy of holies.
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