STAN LEE

I've given the propers to artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, two of the three fathers of the Marvel Universe.

But we can't neglect the other one. The man. Stan 'the man' Lee.

We probably all know this guy already of course, and he's renowned these days as the cameo king in all the Marvel movies (my favorite is probably his appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2. Too funny).

He worked in comics pre-Marvel, but is obviously a comics icon (maybe THE comics icon) because of the creation of the Marvel Universe. With Kirby and Ditko, Stan brought us The X-Men, The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Spider Man, The Hulk, and on and on.

He's actually a bit of a controversial figure, with some doubt as to how much credit should go to him as opposed to his collaborators. A falling out with Steve Ditko resulted from a dispute over credit. Stan and Kirby were similarly not friends a few years after the success of their creations.

The Marvel Method does leave a LOT in the hands of the artist. The initial idea/story comes from the writer, though some were the artists' ideas (there is documentation of Stan writing someone saying of Doctor Strange "t'was Steve's idea").

Anyway, the Method says that the writer comes up with a general story, and the artist goes off and draws it. Then the writer comes in and adds the dialogue (sometimes with contributions from the artist at that point as well).

In any case, we know Stan as the one with the vision of an interconnected comic universe, and of more 'human' and conflicted superhero characters that reinvigorated the genre. He was the main writer in the early days, and editor in chief and then "president" of Marvel Comics until the company was sold and some of the characters went to different rights holders.

Other than being the cameo king, Stan has been comics' greatest Ambassador, with his old editorials "Stan's soapbox" in all the marvel mags, where he adopted his folksy salesman persona and coined phrases like the infamous "EXCELSIOR!" to end his little essays.

The folksy salesman is the character he plays still, constantly. Though my research tells me that in his personal life, "out of character", he's a great guy and loved by all.

Like the artists I profiled previously, Stan did not have ownership of the characters he created, and although he's a successful, rich guy, is not the billionaire I might have expected he'd be.

For all the controversy around credit and the truth (whatever it may be) around the created of the Marvel Universe, I believe Stan Lee was the one crucial element to the whole thing. Without him, it never would have happened.

Still here, still a pistol at 93, and still the man. It's Stan!


'Nuff Said!



Jack Kirby profile:
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/aug/30/jack-kirby/

Steve Ditko profile:
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/sep/20/steve-ditko/