Steve Ditko
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:20 pm
His real name is Jack Ryder, a television news reporter who was demoted due to his outspoken nature. Relegated to network security, he protected a scientist who gave him two devices. One enabled him to instantly heal from any wound and gave enhanced strength and agility, but at the cost of somewhat unbalanced personality. The other enabled him to instantly change into the costume of a green-haired, yellow-skinned, and red-furred wildman; the costume, "imprinted" on the device and thus capable of being summoned and dispelled at will, was originally adopted by Ryder while rescuing the scientist from kidnappers.
A great deal of Ditko's philosophical views came flowing out in the fan-favorite Ditko creation, The Question. Like The Blue Beetle (who made his debut in Captain Atom), The Question also made his debut as a back-up feature in The Blue Beetle #1 (Jun '67). The face of justice was blank - the only answer to the question of good and evil was A=A; and so Ditko's views developed. The Question was the beginning in a long line of Ditko comics that would feature a moral hero surrounded by a-moral individualists who tried to bring down the hero, who represented the good and just in society.
Shade, the Changing Man told the story of a fugitive from the militant planet Meta in another dimension. Shade (whose full name is Rac Shade) was powered by a stolen "M-vest" which enabled him to project the illusion of becoming a large grotesque version of himself.
Without question, the oddest Ditko creation may be THE MISSING MAN. Debuting in the Pacific Comics' Kirby book Captain Victory #6 (Sep 1982), the character was only comprised of hair, ears, eye-glasses, arms and legs. You couldn't stab him because, to quote Mr. Khill, ''He's here, yet he's not here. I don't know where to stab!'' (courtesy of that issue's dialogue by Marky Mark Evanier). Working with the help of ''Ma's Detective Detective Agency'' - and all of Ma's cronies - the hero, real identity - Syd Mane would tackle whatever case was doled out to them.
The Uni-Power is an extra-dimensional force that possesses an individual (or on one occasion, twins) in a time of crisis, transforming that person into Captain Universe. As Captain Universe, the transformed person typically retains his or her original personality and appearance, though with Captain Universe's costume and heroic traits superimposed over the original. Captain Universe generally possesses superhuman strength, flight, X-ray vision, telekinesis, enhanced senses, and a psychic awareness of imminent danger; when a person already possessing one or more of these abilities was transformed into Captain Universe, those abilities were amplified by a factor of fifty. Some manifesters of the Uni-Power have demonstrated other, less common abilities as well as failing to exhibit some of the more 'usual' powers. Possessing its own sentience, the Uni-Power can and will abandon a host if necessary, or if said host uses the granted abilities in a detrimental or criminal fashion.
