I knew he was an Ayn Rand individualist, but somewhere I’d picked up the notion that Ditko had tried LSD with a shrink or as a test subject. This seems to be a myth. Understandable, because his work, particularly on Dr. Strange, is so trippy. Tom Wolfe famously noted Ken Kesey’s fondness in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. To the extent that Ditko contributed to the “set” of aspiring hippies, it’s a case of the artist influencing the drug, instead of vice versa.

More generally about Dr. Strange (including the great Steve Englehart period) this is pretty good.

And speaking of Wolfe, I meant to note his recent death as well. He was reactionary in some ways, but did tend to tell some hard truths. Even though Electric Kool-Aid paints a downbeat picture of where the Pranksters ended up (and that was before Altamont,) he made their high points so appealing that it’s inspired multiple generations of hippie and Deadhead reprisers. In terms of its effect in the world at large, his most important work.