Machine Man: By Steve Ditko

Poor Steve Ditko, for being such a talented artist, he was a very mysterious person, for while at Marvel Comics, he was well-known for the creations of both “Spider-Man and Dr. Strange (and their supporting cast)”, alongside “Smiling Stan Lee”, but there were several characters and ideas that Steve Ditko has worked on for Marvel Comics that don’t get the same recognition as they should do, so allow Ethan Stranger, to share with one of the least creations (or works) of his, that Steve Ditko did at Marvel...and that’s “MACHINE MAN”

Machine Man was solely created by another legendary artist who worked alongside “Smiling Stan Lee”, Jolly Jack Kirby, who had returned to Marvel in the Late 70s (following his time at DC Comics in the early/mid 70s). Inspired by the flick, “2001: A Space Odyssey” ,Jack Kirby crafted the tale of a robot, the only survivor of a series, raised as a human son of scientist Abel Stack before his death & is now a fugitive from the military after the death of his creator, and his first interactions with mankind. Kirby wrote and drew the first nine issues before it’s cancellation in 1978 when X-51 (aka Machine Man) stood up against the military for hunting him down. 

Eventually Machine Man would appear in a three-part Incredible Hulk Story (#235–237)(with Ditko drawing the Cover of “Incredible Hulk#235, Picture, Below”). Machine Man came into conflict with The Hulk while settling in the suburban setting with his human friend, Dr. Peter Spaulding. At the end of the Story, Machine Man’s system is completely shut down, leading to the events that’ll be portrayed in his relaunched ongoing series.

The title was relaunched in issue #10 in August 1979 after a nine-month hiatus. With “Marv Wolfman & Tom DeFalco signing as the new writers (DeFalco took over with Issue #15 & Wolfman served as Editor during his time as Writer)”, Plus the duo were  with artist Steve Ditko (what attracted him into doing this is unknown, probably just for the money), which helped set a different tone from Kirby's previous stories, with Machine Man now living amongst humanity, and dealing with his own new-found emotions. The series ended with issue #19 in February 1980. During this run, it introduces various interesting/colorful characters such as “mechanic ally, WIlbur  (Gears)Garvin, Former Love interest, Pamela Quinn” as well as villains like the “ruthless businessman, Sunset Bain (later a major villain to Iron Man), ionized scientist, Violetta Todd (Ion), Criminal group, Satan Squad (Baron Brimstone, Hammer Harrison & Snake Marston) & the Halloween-themed villain, “Jack O’Lantern (Jason Macendale, who later went on into being an enemy of Spider-Man as Hobgoblin)”.

What I find interesting about Machine Man (besides him being Purple, which is my favorite color) is perhaps the concept that's behind the character, the idea of actually belonging in a society, when you might be different, is as valid then as it is right now. The series was originally created as a Space Odyssey, but was then toned down to a more “Down-to-Earth Setting”, which combined with Ditko’s Artwork makes the final issues worth reading. Machine Man shares many standard comic book tropes, for example “The Hulk” where they’re deemed killers & either a mob or the army are tasked in hunting down these monsters & killing them (The Machine Man concept was heavily inspired for “DC’s The Zeta Project”). I guess what what we can learn from Ditko’s Machine Man Run is that heroes don’t need to perfect, for they come in many forms, they can be Teenagers, Aliens or even Robots, but in the end, they all want to live their lives and try to be happy, they also make mistakes, just like we do, along the way. 

I do want to note that Machine Man shares severals aspects to Spider-Man (also created by Ditko) for both Heroes, despite doing good deeds & battling villains, they’re either wanted by the police (like Spider-Man) or hunted by the Military (like Machine Man) and there will be some who try to start a smear Campaign against these heroes, while Spidey has people like “J.Jonah Jameson discrediting him,  Machine Man has Senator Miles Brickman & Colonel Kragg.” 

While Machine Man never received the same attention as bigger robotic characters  like “Iron Man, Vision, Jocata & even Ultron (I don’t even know if he’ll appear in the MCU)”, what I liked about this run is mainly the story-telling (how it different from Jack Kirby’s Space Odyssey to more “down-to-earth tone”), as well as the art by Steve Ditko, plus I felt like it was inspiration for my “Life as a Teenage Robot Fanfiction (based on the Nickelodeon Cartoon with the Same Name)”.

But that’s another story, for another time. Until my next blog post (or until Arris Quinones does a breakdown of this character), Ethan Stranger says (once again) “Excelsior”.