comic book types might recognize this, but most people won't. It's a van in the movie The Spirit, and refers to Steve Ditko

Steve Ditko was the comics artist and writer best known for being co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange.

He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man with the characters iconic red and yellow design being revolutionized by Ditko.

His artistic style is recognized as significantly better than the vast majority of comic book artist before or after, until those that grew up influenced BY HIM and all the legends, began entering the comic book business in the 90s

Good with his hands, in junior high school Ditko was part of a group of students who crafted wooden models of German airplanes to aid civilian World War II aircraft-spotters

Ditko graduated high school in 1945, and in Oct he enlisted in the Army. He spend his military service in Allied-occupied Germany. While there, Ditko drew comic strips for a military newspaper. It was his first comics-related work, though he lacked formal training at the time.

Following his discharge, Ditko used the G.I. Bill to enroll at the art school "Cartoonists and Illustrators School" (later known as the School of Visual Arts) in New York City in 1950

While studying at art school, Ditko found a mentor in veteran comic book artist Jerry Robinson who had been one of the main artists of the "Batman" series, and was credited as the co-creator of Robin/Dick Grayson and the Joker. Robinson found Ditko to be a dedicated student, and a very hard worker.

In 1953 he was hired by Jack Kirby, in 1956 he was hired by Stan Lee

Ditko's stories for Atlas and Marvel Comics were composed according to the company's "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration. The writer provided a brief outline of the plot, while the artist fleshed out the story and illustrated it. This gave Ditko significant creative influence on any story, though he did not receive a credit as a co-writer or co-plotter.

In the early 1960s, Stan Lee wanted to create a new teenage hero, called Spider-Man. He first gained permission to create such a story by his publisher Martin Goodman (1908-1992). He then had to design the new character, and then gave the assignment to his main artist at the time: Jack Kirby. Kirby created a 6-page-long draft for the character's first story, but Lee rejected his designs. He then gave the assignment of designing Spider-Man to Ditko, who was the company's second most prominent artist at the time. Ditko's version of the character was accepted by Lee.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0228492/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Steve_Ditko

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/steve-ditko-enigmatic-comic-artist-and-co-creator-of-spider-man-dies-at-90/2018/07/07/fcf34940-81f6-11e8-b851-5319c08f7cee_story.html

the best article about him is https://www.looper.com/128148/the-untold-truth-of-steve-ditko/