For some eight years, from 1958 to 1966, Spiderman co-creator Steve Ditko shared a studio in Hell's Kitchen at 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue with Fetish illustrator Eric Stanton. Earlier the two had attended art school at the forerunner of the School of Visual Arts, then known as The Cartoonists and Illustrators School.
Did they help each other with their drawings? Duh.
Did Stanton help invent Spiderman?
Stanton has been quoted on the subject. "Eric Stanton drew his pictures in indian ink and they were then hand-coloured by Ditko" according to Eric Stanton: For the Man Who Knows His Place (Taschen 1997.) In 1988 Stanton addressed the issue of Spiderman directly in The Steve Ditko Reader (Pure Imagination, Brooklyn, NY, 2002.) He minimizes his work on Ditko's pieces, yet says they "worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own... I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands"
The illustration above (spider logo, spider webs and big dames!) is credited to Stanton and appeared in Diabolique Magazine, issue number 3. Diabolique was published by Leonard Burtman and appeared in 1962...1963 at the latest. The publication has no date, but it comes from Selbee, the corporate name Lenny was using at the time. Burtman published Stanton's work regularly during the time period, and I believe the artist was even credited as Art Director on some of the Selbee publications.
Spiderman made his debut in Amazing Fantasy in 1962, quite likely the exact same year this Stanton illustration appeared in Diabolique, while the two young artists were sharing a studio.
A number of writers and comic historians have both documented and speculated on the artistic relationship between the two cartoonists, some approaching from the comic book side of things, others from fetish art... but to my knowledge this is the first time since the original publication of Diabolique the illustrations above have been shown...webs and all.
Illustrations from "Black Widow Sorority" by Stanton, inside back cover Diabloique Magazine Number 3, circa 1960-1963 (No Date in Publication) Selbee Associates, New York. Collection Victor Minx
