W' TH ALL THE CONSTANT CAMEOS, AND THE STORIES OF KIND FAN-ENCOUNTERS,
IT BECOMES EASY TO FORGET THAT BEFORE STAN LEE WAS THE ICON ASSOCIATED
WITH IMARVEL—HE WAS A WRITER WHO CHANGED AN ENTIRE GENRE.

IT 1s TRUE THAT ALONGSIDE PARTNERS LIKE JACK KIRBY AND STEVE DITKo,

LEE MANAGED TO FORGE EARLY INCARNATIONS OF SOME OF THE MOST LEGENDARY
SUPERHEROES. HOWEVER, I’M WRITING MORE TO THE WAY LEE MANAGED TO ALTER
THE EXPECTATIONS OF COMIC WRITING. FOR A LONG TIME, | WROTE “COMIC CORNER,”
A COLUMN REVIEWING VARIOUS NEW AND OLD COMIC BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS
FOR THE OTHER Press. As A cRiTic, | EXPECTED THAT WHAT | READ—NO MATTER

IF IT WAS A SINGLE ISSUE, OMNIBUS, OR STAND-ALONE TITLE—HAD TO BE HELD TO

THE SAME STANDARDS OF WRITING THAT ANY BOOK WOULD. THIS MEANT THAT NO
MATTER THE OVER ARCHING PLOT OR THEME OF THE SERIES, EACH INSTALLMENT HAD TO
HAVE ENOUGH CONTENT TO BE READ INDEPENDENT OF THE COLLECTED WORK. | ALSO
EXPECTED THAT WHAT | READ NOT BE SIMPLE FLUFF MEANT FOR CHILDREN, AND THAT
THE CHARACTERS BE FULLY DEVELOPED, THREE-DIMENSIONAL BEINGS. STAN LEE IS THE
REASON I WAS, AND STILL AM, ABLE TO EXPECT ALL OF THIS FROM A COMIC BOOK.

In THE ‘60s LEE PIONEERED THE IDEA THAT COMIC CHARACTERS NOT BE
SIMPLISTIC, AND THAT SUPERHEROES ESPECIALLY NEEDED TO BE MORE FLESHED OUT.

AT THE TIME, COMICS WERE FILLED WITH CARBON CUT-OUT DO-GOODERS THAT FOUGHT
EVIL BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT GOOD PEOPLE DO. THAT WAS THE ONLY MOTIVATION GIVEN
OR EXPECTED. THEY ALSO WERE WRITTEN TO HAVE NO FLAWS, AND TO BE MORALLY
SUPERIOR NO MATTER WHAT. LEE, WHO ORIGINALLY WANTED TO BE A NOVELIST,
OBVIOUSLY DISLIKED THIS METHOD, BECAUSE HE—ALONGSIDE HIS CREATIVE PARTNERS—
INTRODUCED ASPECTS OF GREY MORALITY, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FLAWS TO THE
CHARACTERS THEY PENNED.

A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THIS IS THE SILVER SURFER, WHO LEE HAS NAMED AS
HIS FAVOURITE CHARACTER HE WORKED ON, ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS. THE SILVER
SURFER FIRST APPEARED IN THE FANTASTIC Four #48, In MaArcH, 1966. ONE
OF HIS KEY TRAITS, AND ONE THAT HAS BEEN CARRIED ON BY MARVEL WRITERS EVEN
BEYOND LEE’S DIRECT INVOLVEMENT, 1S THAT HE IS A SUPERHERO WHO STRUGGLES WITH
THE FACT HE !S A PACIFIST. HE OFTEN SECOND-GUESSES HIMSELF, AND IS PRONE TO
PHILOSOPHICAL MONOLOGUES QUESTIONING THE NATURE OF HUMANITY, VIOLENCE, AND
THE “GREATER GOOD.” THIS KIND OF INTROSPECTION WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE
HAD LEE STUCK WITH THE STATUS-QUO.

Wit Lee, Ditko, AND KIRBY; CHARACTERS WERE ALL THE SUDDEN GIVEN ENTIRE
CHARACTER ARCS, SO THEIR PERSONALITIES COULD EVOLVE AND CHANGE. ESSENTIALLY,
LEE AND THOSE THAT WORKED WITH HIM MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR THEIR CREATIONS TO
BE AFFECTED BY EXPERIENCES. IN AMAZING FANTASY #15, WHICH LEE RELEASED WITH
Steve DiTKoO IN 1962, THEY INTRODUCED SPIDER-MAN, WHO WAS INTENTIONALLY
WRITTEN TO BE RELATABLE. AS SUCH, HE WAS FLAWED IN THAT HIS INITIAL RESPONSE
TO CRIME AND INJUSTICE IS TO NOT INVOLVE HIMSELF. HOWEVER, THIS FAMOUSLY
RESULTS IN HIS UNCLE’S DEATH AND HE BEGINS A PERSONAL QUEST TO MAKE AMENDS
BY FIGHTING CRIME. THIS IS WHERE THE FAMOUS QUOTE, “AND A LEAN, SILENT FIGURE
SLOWLY FADES INTO THE GATHERING DARKNESS, AWARE AT LAST THAT IN THIS WORLD,
WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME—GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.” HOWEVER, THIS
WAS NOT THE CASE FIVE YEARS LATER.

In AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #5, WHICH WAS RELEASED IN 1967, LEE WORKED ON
A STORY ARC WITH WRITER-ARTIST JOHN RoMiTA JR. SPIDER-MAN DECIDES TO QUIT, T Fl E Mi | N D T Fl AT
CITING THAT AFTER SO MANY YEARS AND ALL THE PERSONAL LOSS HE HAS SUFFERED,
HE HAS ALREADY MADE-UP FOR HIS EARLIER MISTAKE. THE ABSENCE DOES NOT LAST, AS
SPIDER-MAN FINDS THAT AFTER SO MUCH TIME SPENT RIGHTING WRONGS, HE |S NOW
INCAPABLE OF PLAYING THE BYSTANDER. THIS SETS THE STAGE FOR HIS NEW FLAW—
HIS INABILITY TO IGNORE ANYTHING AGAINST HIS PERSONAL MORAL CODE. LATER
INCARNATIONS OF THE CHARACTER WOULD SEE FUTURE MARVEL WRITERS RUNNING WITH
THIS. THEY WOULD USE SPIDER-MAN’S NEW ESTABLISHED PSYCHOLOGY TO PROMPT
DIFFICULTY WITH PLUTONIC AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS, AND EVEN AN ARC WHERE
HIS MARRIAGE FALLS APART DUE TO HIM BEING A “WORKAHOLIC.” BEING AS THE
CHARACTERS WERE NOW FULL DEVELOPED, LEE AND HIS COMPATRIOTS FOUND THAT THE
WORLDS THEY PORTRAYED NEEDED A SIMILAR MAKEOVER.

LEE WAS ADAMANT IN HIS BELIEF THAT COMICS WERE NOT ONLY FOR CHILDREN.
THEREFORE, THEY NEEDED COMPLEX STORYLINES, WITH COMPLEX CHARACTERS,

 

 

 

 

"Stan Lee was a revolutionary within the comic

a

industry, more than any one person should be.