A young Steve Ditko from his high school yearbook, for you to compare with his version of
Peter Parker.
It always made me laugh that throughout 38 issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that Ditko's rendition of Peter Parker and his high school classmates all spoke and dressed more like kids of the early 1940's than those of the 1960's.
Parker, like Ditko, was reclusive and felt bitterly alienated from and disliked by his peers, whether or not he truly was. It was only after Ditko left the series in 1966 that Peter Parker became more hip and with it, socializing with his peers and dating girls. No doubt due to Stan Lee's influence, who was at that point lecturing on college campuses. I don't know if Romita Sr brought any hipness to Peter Parker, or if that was strictly Stan Lee's development. Ditko's resistance to the changes is what made him leave the series. That and Stan Lee hogging the credit.
Kirby (in MISTER MIRACLE 6) created the characters "Funky Flashman" and "HouseRoy" to express his contempt for Stan Lee and his fawning subordinate Roy Thomas. I wonder if Ditko ever similarly did any story characters to vent his opinion of Stan Lee.
