It’s not every day you get rejected by proxy by the guy who co-created Spider-Man

Dear Mr. Snyder,

Bob from the Steve Ditko Comics Weblog passed your email address to me. I’m writing to you with a question for Mr. Steve Ditko about a possible artist’s commission.

I run a gag website called Monkey Punch Dinosaur (http://monkeypunchdinosaur.blogspot.com), which is simply that: lots of pictures of monkeys punching dinosaurs. It’s been going since 2006 or thereabouts, and my ultimate aim is to publish 100 of these pictures by different artists, and then retire the blog. I have, at this time, received 99 submissions, and would like to do something special for the 100th picture.

Do you think Mr. Ditko would be interested in contributing a picture of a monkey punching a dinosaur to my blog?

I am a huge fan – as many are – of Mr. Ditko’s body of work, and when it came time to think about who to approach to draw the 100th monkeypunch, Mr. Ditko was the top of my “shoot for the moon” list of possible illustrators.

The site is a nonprofit venture, although I am considering approaching some Australian publishers (I am based in Australia) about a print collection of the pictures, with proceeds from sales going to charity (it seems to me that it’s the simplest way to deal with the royalties question for an anthology volume).

What I would be hoping for from Mr. Ditko, should he be interested in contributing, would be one-time publication rights for the image on the blog. If any print volume is produced in the future from the blog, I would not include his work without obtaining express permission to do so.

Copyright for the image would remain with Mr. Ditko.

Given the nonprofit nature of this blog, I am unable to offer any payment for this illustration, but if Mr. Ditko is interested in this commission and is reluctant to contribute solely because of financial concerns, I would be happy to consider a proposed payment amount. I can’t guarantee that I will be able to afford Mr. Ditko’s rates, but I would be prepared to accept a quote in the first instance.

Thanks for taking the time to read this email. I appreciate it and look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Adam Ford

 

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Dear Dan,

Thanks for the offer but Ditko is busy with his own work and not available for other projects.

Best,

Robin