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Stan Lee: The Rise and Fall of The American Comic Book
If you don't know who Stan Lee is, you will have little to no interest in this book. But who are we kidding? Any geek worth his or her metal knows Stan "The Man" Lee, the co-creator of Spider-man, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four and countless other beloved Marvel Comics characters. What most people don't really know is the real story behind the creation of these characters. Many have never heard of the artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who contributed a great deal to the creation and development of these superheroes. In the past years a bit of a rift has formed in comics fandom, the hard-core siding with the late Kirby, claiming that Lee and Marvel did the artist wrong. The other side blithely backs the amiable Lee. Through interviews with artists, family members and Stan Lee himself, Spurgeon and Raphael try to shed some light on the subject.
Anyone who's read Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will notice a great deal of similarities between Stan Lee's origins and the fictionalized settings Chabon created for his book. Both stories start in the time of the pulps, when publishers cranked out fantastic publications by the truck-load. The parallels are fascinating. If you're a comic book fan and you haven't read Chabon's book, you need to read it.
Anyway, the book I'm supposed to be reviewing tracks Stan Lee's star from his position as a lowly writer at Timely Comics, to the editor behind the most famous run of comic books in history; Marvel's Silver Age comics. This is when the Fantastic Four, Spider-man and The Hulk were born. The book doesn't stop there. It follows Lee through the decades detailing his involvement with the Marvel titles all the way. It examines his rocky relationship with Hollywood and decades of attempts to bring Marvel characters to life on television or in the movies. Even more fascinating are the segments of the book that deal with Stan Lee Media and the enormous financial flame-out that occurred when the business went sour.
The book paints Lee in a very humanistic light. It brings his flaws into sharp contrast and at the same time gives him credit for his amazing accomplishments, unceasing drive and wild imagination. Most interesting is the way the book tells the story of all comics in the context of Marvel and Lee's story. As much as underground geniuses such as R. Crumb or Art Spiegelman must hate the association, it's hard to argue that the fates of all comics are influenced by Marvel's gravitational pull.
There's been a mild knee-jerk reaction in the comics community that the book is blatant attack on Lee, being that both Spurgeon and Raphael both worked at The Comics Journal, a publication that has publicly supported Jack Kirby's claims against Lee. To be fair, the authors put an exceptional amount of work into trying to tell the truth, which is reflected in the sheer number of annotated resources they've provided in the book's source notes.
In all seriousness, try to forget for a moment that I'm friends with the authors. As a lifelong comics reader I found the information presented in this book fascinating. It made me want to run to my comics shop and buy reprints of the old issues. Don't take my word for it, though.
There are several excerpts of the book available online. You can read the prologue at the book's official website. Part of Chapter 17, "Stan in Hollywood" is excerpted at The Comic's Journal's website."
You can purchase Stan Lee: The Rise and Fall of The American Comic Book from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
As Mark Evanier (once Jack Kirby's Assistant) said "Well, it's safe to say Jack did all the pencilling. Beyond that, we run into all sorts of semantic arguments having to do with definitions of the word "writing" and with the fact that Mssrs. Lee and Kirby both have/had notoriously poor memories. You also have the fact that, when two creative talents get together and come up with an idea, each of them might honestly believe that he suggested at least the core of the concept if not the entire thing. This happens in any collaboration anywhere and, ultimately, you usually have to just say that they both had the idea. Ergo, I say that the Lee-Kirby creations are Lee-Kirby creations."
I think that quote says it all--except for the fact that Stan Lee created/inspired a whole generation of HUMANISTIC superheroes--ones with flaws, foibles and problems that were not outweighed by ultra-human abilities. Peter Parker was still somewhat introverted and Geeky, Stephen Strange was still an alcoholic and somewhat arrogant, Ben Grimm had self-esteem problems relating to his appearance. The list is Endless.
Stan Lee and Marvel Comics brought us some of the greatest comics and heroes. Thanks Stan!!
In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the c
Not to mention the obscure story lines, re-hashed plots, standardized hero/villain archetypes, and generally diminished quality of American graphic novels / comic boos. Seriously, how many more times can we see a time travel / surprise-I-am-your-father issue?
Call me crazybutt; I liked DC's Bloodline series, even if it was only a pathetic attempt to create a new mass of super-types a la' X-men. Oh and the new Superman is ridiculous.
-theGreater Soapbox Evangelist.
When you've been raised reading belgo-french heavy-metal comics, and as you grow-up, see the same character take on adult stories (and I mean with explicit, graphic sex), it's no wonder that american comics don't look too exiting.
I really wish comics were more popular than they are in America. The reasons why have been hashed out ad nauseum but I think it boils down to a bad stereotyped image ... that comics are for kids and mostly center around superheroes in spandex, muscles, with a hugely breasted babe on each arm. It's because companies like Marvel and DC saturate the market with their corny superhero escapades, leading people to assume that's all comics can be and all they're about.
There's a lot of great stuff there, but in order to truly break through the aformentioned kiddie / funny / superhero / alienated loser stereotype something more mainstream and substantial needs to come out of the comics world. My primary gripe is not about the art. The art is great and wonderful things are being done every day. It's the subject matter and the writing.
The handful of comics folks I really admire these days are Chris Ware, Posy Simmonds and Dan Clowes. Chris Ware's stuff transcends narrative and writing. Posy Simmonds' "Gemma Bovery" is a re-telling of Madame Bovery with a really complex merging of novel and art. It doesn't look that great at first but there's subtle patterns to when it lapses into comic and back to novel. Dan Clowes I mention because he's done comics that read more like films and his latest 8ball, frankly, blew me away with it's genere hopping and Altmanesque interweaving story lines.
I've been hopeful as of late as finally we got to see Ghost World, American Splendor, heck even Road To Perdition which are great examples of films based on comics that do not have the aforementioned superhero complex. For better or worse, it's hard to tell they in fact were comics to begin with. Now don't get me wrong, I still enjoy X-Men and Hulk, but I don't think these films are doing anything to break down the stereotypes of what comics are.
Frankly, we need more boundry-breaking artists than Stan Lee, who keeps rehashing the same old archetypes. Otherwise we'll just continue with the situation we have now, where comic book stores go under, fewer people can make a living at it, and the comics section is delegated to some far corner of the bookstore near the porno mags...
Having followed this situation as it unfolded, I think the effect of it has been overstated. Whatever factors are working behind the scenes, it appears that there are more independant or small press books on the shelves in "mainstream" comic stores than I remember being there before the whole distributer consolidation. I can only really speak for the comic stores I frequent, of course, but I do see things inproving.
Another fun Marvel strategy seems worth mentioning: the whole "no reorders" policy. It seems like sort of a ploy to restart speculative comic buying. If nothing else, it has helped them get some spectacular first-day sales.
One thing I like about manga is the price. In Japan they're generally printed on cheap pulpy paper and are disposable. You can read and enjoy them, without having to treat them like treasured investments whose pages you're afraid to turn.
American comics are just too expensive. I haven't been to a comics store in a while but last time I was there most comics were like, four bucks for something I'd finish reading in 15 minutes. The art is generally fantastic these days, insanely detailed and printed on nice paper. But they're way too expensive- I prefer the lengthier stories that manga gives me for the same amount of money, as opposed to the short, pretty, and expensive American comics.
(there are exceptions to those generalizations, of course!)
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Does the book explain how Iceman travelled? As far as I can tell a stream of water shot out of his hand and froze instantly in what just happened to be a perfectly smooth track that was strong enough to support him no matter how long it got. And he always managed to have enough momentum to slide along it, was this momentum an undocumented feature of his power?
Drill baby drill - on Mars
They can run all the banners they want, give premium members the right to see duplicate stories early, etc. I don't even mind the massive square ad they started putting in the middle of stories.
But the stories themselves should not be ads. Unless they want to make "Slashvertizements" a new category, so I can filter them out.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
It is worth noting that Stan Lee's Marvel was the first US company to treat comic book artists as talents, by crediting them on stories. Of course, they still made them sign away virtually all rights in "work-for-hire" contracts. Still, by turning comic book creators into stars, Marvel ultimately improved their bargaining power.
You should check out the the Sandman Companion. It came out a few years ago, and covers the entire run of the Sandman, offering interviews with Neil Gaiman and others, and provides an excellent analysis of the BEST comic book series ever. Anywho, there is section in the book where Gaiman discusses the stigma attached to comic books. He recounted the story of when he was introduced to a person at a party. When the person asked him what he did for a living, he replied that he wrote comic books. Ther person acted like he just cut a fart in an elevator, but out of politeness, asked if he wrote anything that he might have read. When he told the gentleman that he wrote the Sandman, the guy became excited and said something like "Good lord! you're Neil Gaiman!. You don't write comic books, you write graphc novels." Gaiman compared it to being called a lady of the evening instead of a prostitute.
Underground Comics:
Daniel Clowes
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Ghost World (The Comic)
David Boring
20th Century Eightball
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Robert Crumb
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Book of Mr. Natural
The Life and Death of Fritz the Cat
Complete Crumb (several volumes)
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Harvey Pekar
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American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar
The New American Splendor Anthology
Our Cancer Year
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Maus: A Survivor's Tale (by Art Spiegelman)
Comic Culture:
Ghost World (the Terry Zwigoff movie based on the Daniel Clowes comic of the same name)
Crumb (a biography of underground comic artist Robert Crumb)
American Splendor (a biography of underground comic artist Harvey Pekar)
Online Comics:
Dilbert
Calvin and Hobbes
Ziggy
Sexy Losers (hentai parodies, Not Safe For Work)
This Modern World ("Fair and Balanced" political cartoons with a clear liberal slant)
The Editorial Cartoons of Clay Bennett (2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist)
Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index (2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist)
Anyone who knows of more good, free online comics links, or of some little know starving underground artists with godlike skills, feel free to add to this list! (note: excessive use of adjectives due to attempt of avoidance of the overwhelmingly troublesome, inflammatory, odious, objectionable, innefective, senseless, inappropriate, obtuse, antisocial, disjunctive, annoying, obnoxious, irritating, monotonous, wearisome, dull, dispirited, lackluster, uninspired, babble bubble bobble, puzzling, bewildering, headache-inducing, useless, stupid, lame slashdot usefulness filter.)
"You should never doubt what nobody is sure about." -- Willy Wonka
I felt that the telepath war should have been the natural spin-off series to B5.
I actually think it may have been a mistake to do full blown series as sequels to B5. Instead, single year series may have been the way to go. If that series was good enough, maybe that would have a sequel.
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