The fascinating figure of Stan Lee, father founder of the Marvel Universe, is not exempt from debate around its real role in creating that first generation of superheroes in the 60s of the 20th century. It is not so much a question of his undeniable legacy but of cHow he minimized the role of his partners and creative partnersespecially that of Jack Kirby.
A subject that has been reopened as a result of ‘Stan Lee’, the documentary about the deceased creative that Disney+ premiered last Friday the 16th. Directed by David Gelb, the film had first-person narrations of the famous character and a version of the facts that have upset Kirby’s family.
Kirby vs. Lee, again
This has been expressed by Neal Kirby, his son, through a statement published on Twitter. In it, he is disappointed by the description what is done at work in those days at Marvel and how he reduces the creative role of cartoonists like his father to a minimum.
“If you take a look at a list and timeline of Marvel characters between 1960 and 1966, the time when the vast majority of major characters were created during Lee’s tenure, you’ll see Lee’s name as co-creator of each character, with the exception of Estela plataada, created alone by my father. Are we to assume that Lee had a hand in the creation of every single Marvel character? We’re assuming it was never the other co-creator who came into Lee’s office saying “Stan, I’ve got a great idea for a character”? According to Lee, it was always his idea.”
Neal then goes on to recount how comic book scholars recognize that Jack Kirby based The Fantastic Four, the founding group of the Marvel Universe, on Challengers of the Unknown. Supergroup that Kirby himself co-created with Dave Wood four years earlier for DC. In addition, the names of Ben and Sue were a nod to the father and the eldest daughter of an indefatigable cartoonist.
“My father worked at home in a basement studio we referred to as ‘The Dungeon’, typically 14-16 hours a day, seven days a week. Most of the artists, writers, inkers, etc., worked at home, not the Marvel offices as described in the show. During high school, I was able to stand at my father’s left shoulder, peering through a cloud of cigar smoke and witness the creation of the Marvel Universe.”
Jack Kirby’s son was also annoyed by the ego that Stan Lee’s figure seemed to display throughout the documentary, calling him “the greatest tribute to himself”. For a server, Lee was a good writer but a better salesman, a very charismatic figure and, it must be admitted, with a certain nose. During those first decades of Marvel, it sold quite well and became the great figure of Marvel.
However, according to Neal, He was not one of the most “cultured” from the Marvel offices on a creative level:
“It is widely accepted that Stan Lee had limited knowledge of history, mythology, or science. On the other hand, my father’s knowledge of these subjects, which I can assure you, was extensive. Einstein summed it up best: “The more knowledge, the less ego. The less knowledge, the greater ego.”»
In fact, was the erosion of the relationship both personal and professional between Lee and Kirby, in addition to issues of copyright and royalties which caused the departure of the cartoonist at the end of the sixties. He will return in the seventies to create Los Eternos, among others, but nothing would be the same.
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