Launch for The World of Steve Ditko

This June, The Beguiling will be working with The Toronto Public Library and The Merril Collection to officially launch The World of Steve Ditko, the first-ever biography of the reclusive co-creator of Spider-man! Toronto author and comics historian Blake Bell has exhaustively researched the life and career of Ditko, and it's on every page of this lavishly illustrated book. Bell will be on hand to launch the book with an audio/visual presentation of Ditko’s artistic career on Wednesday, June 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lillian H. Smith Library, 239 College St. (at Spadina) of the Toronto Public Library.

U.K. television and radio personality Jonathan Ross, who debuted his hour-long In Search of Steve Ditko documentary on the BBC last September, has granted The Beguiling the rights to show the documentary at the Toronto event! This will be the first official screening in Canada, and attendees will get to view it for free!

The World of Steve Ditko: Steve Ditko is best known as the co-creator, with Stan Lee, of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and other classic Marvel and DC characters. But, in the context of Steve Ditko's 50-year career in comics, his creative involvement with Spider-Man is merely the tip of the iceberg. Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko is a coffee table art book tracing Ditko's life and career, his unparalleled stylistic innovations, and his strict adherence to his philosophical principles, with lush displays of obscure and popular art from the thousands of pages of comics he's drawn over the last 55 years. It is $39.99 and published by Fantagraphics Books. The book will be available for sale at the event and afterwards from The Beguiling and better bookstores everywhere.