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THE_SOURCE

                                              October 12, 2008

When I was a kid, I treated
"Stan Lee's Soapbox" (a one
page spiel run every month in
all Marvel comics) as gospel.
But later I realized that Stan
Lee had this smarmy, egomaniac
vibe about him -- he was the
boss with a lock on the                  The "Marvel Method" of production
communications channel,                  began with a story conference
feeding the kids whatever line           including writer and artist, then
he felt like...                          the artist went to work on the
                                         drawings, and only afterwards
                                         would the writer add dialog.
   I once saw Lee and Kirby
   interviewed on some talk show.             This can make the
   Kirby was answering a question --          "who did what"
   saying what I don't remember.              question hard to
                                              settle.

   Lee interjected "This is the               The artists working at Marvel
   last time I bring anyone on                certainly did more than just
   television who talks more                  draw pictures -- they may well
   than I do."                                have contributed to the concept
                                              and plot, and they certainly
   Kirby gives him this grim, sour            controlled the pacing and
   look without even a trace of a             presentation of the story,
   weak smile at this "joke", and
   it spoke volumes about what                    Kirby himself denies that
   Kirby really thought about Lee.                it makes sense to call Lee
                                                  "the writer": Lee filled in
                                                  the dialog using hints
   When Kirby quit Marvel and began               Kirby wrote in the margin.
   working for DC (or "Brand Eeech",
   as Lee liked to call them in his
   Soapbox), I was vaguely shocked,
   with a sense of confused loyalties.         SOUL_SO_DEAD

   I reluctantly began reading "The New Gods"
   series, and found it to be some of the
   best work that Kirby had ever done.               It also took me some
   Certainly better than anything that had had       time to discover the
   "Stan Lee"s by-line plastered all over it.        Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil
                                                     rendition of "Green
                                                     Lantern/Green Arrow"
                                                     (meticulously rendered
                                                     Relevence, 60s-style).

                                                       The "Brand Eeech" sneer
          In retrospect, some of                       had some justice to it
          the stories Lee liked                        in the early sixties,
          to tell seem to be                           but they snapped out of
          intentionally                                it eventually.
          insulting to Kirby --
                                                              And Marvel had
          Stan Lee kept going                                 some trouble
          around talking about                                hanging on to the
          how he had to get          (Kirby claims            "Marvel Magic".
          Ditko to do Spider-man     that Spider-man
          because Kirby just         was an idea he
          couldn't bring himself     worked out long
          to draw a skinny           before with Joe
          teenager.                  Simon.)

             But back in the early 40s
             Kirby drew a whole gang
             of "Dead End Kids" types.    "The Newsboy Legion",
                                          sidekicks of "The Guardian"

                One of the more puzzling
                entries in the New Gods
                series: Kirby took control
                of the (formerly) rather
                dull, cheesy "Jimmy Olsen"
                title.

                Maybe the point was to show
                one more time that he could
                indeed render teenage kids.



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