quick but funny Stan Lee interview

[innocentboy]

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[Steffen]

Gotta love that guy. No matter what criticisms may have goten thrown his way over the decades, nobody can deny that he pretty much made a huge contribution to modern mythology and the way comics are viewed.

[ultimatespyder20]

This is a good interview, I'm actually doing a research paper on him now.

:cool:

[bloodyarts]

Not to bring up this old argument, but did he say he created Spider-Man? I thought that was Ditko's baby...

I've heard stories of Stan taking credit for something he didn't do (Spidey being the biggest story), but I always read those with some skepticism. Now, here in print, Stan says he created him, without mentioning Ditko.

So which is it? Did Ditko really create the character while Stan thought up the adventures, or is it the other way around?

[GRANDPA]

Not to bring up this old argument, but did he say he created Spider-Man? I thought that was Ditko's baby...

I've heard stories of Stan taking credit for something he didn't do (Spidey being the biggest story), but I always read those with some skepticism. Now, here in print, Stan says he created him, without mentioning Ditko.

So which is it? Did Ditko really create the character while Stan thought up the adventures, or is it the other way around?
my understanding is they both created spidey but steve ditko got hard nosed after a point due to not liking the direction spider-man was going and left the title

[filthysize]

Jack Kirby says:

"Spider-Man was discussed between Joe Simon and myself. It was the last thing Joe and I had discussed. We had a strip called the 'The Silver Spider'. The Silver Spider was going into a magazine called Black Magic. Black Magic folded with Crestwood [Simon & Kirby's 1950s comics company] and we were left with the script. I believe I said this could become a thing called Spider-Man, see, a superhero character. I had a lot of faith in the superhero character that they could be brought back... and I said Spider-Man would be a fine character to start with. But Joe had already moved on. So the idea was already there when I talked to Stan".


Joe Simon says:

[T]here were a few holes in Jack's never-dependable memory. For instance, there was no Black Magic involved at all. ... Jack brought in the Spider-Man logo that I had loaned to him before we changed the name to The Silver Spider. Kirby laid out the story to Lee about the kid who finds a ring in a spiderweb, gets his powers from the ring, and goes forth to fight crime armed with The Silver Spider's old web-spinning pistol. Stan Lee said, 'Perfect, just what I want.' [After obtaining permission from publisher Martin Goodman,] Lee told Kirby to pencil-up an origin story. Kirby... using parts of an old rejected superhero named Night Fighter... revamped the old Silver Spider script, including revisions suggested by Lee. But when Kirby showed Lee the sample pages, it was Lee's turn to gripe. He had been expecting a skinny young kid who is transformed into a skinny young kid with spider powers. Kirby had him turn into... Captain America with cobwebs. He turned Spider-Man over to Steve Ditko, who... ignored Kirby's pages, tossed the character's magic ring, web-pistol and goggles... and completely redesigned Spider-Man's costume and equipment. In this life, he became high-school student Peter Parker, who gets his spider powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. ... Lastly, the Spider-Man logo was redone and a dashing hyphen added.


Steve Ditko says:

"Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal."

[maniacmatt]

I'm going to the California Science Center this weekend, and will be happy to share photos if anyone is interested. Great interview. Thnx.

[Agentum]

So which is it? Did Ditko really create the character while Stan thought up the adventures, or is it the other way around?
Ditko did almost everything of it after the first years or so, and i don't think that was very liked by Stan in the long run.
Ditko who is who he is was probably becoming hard to work with and like he did at Charlton he took the control of the whole project.

I wonder what would have happened if they have let him continue his way with Spider-man, had he been som kind of rabiat objectivism character or something?

[Exodus]

To be perfectly fair, Stan only took credit for creating part of the origin story of his powers, specifically the part where he gets bitten by a radioactive spider.
Which IMHO sounds ALOT like a Stan Lee idea.


-Exodus

[innocentboy]

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[Crash-Man]

To be perfectly fair, Stan only took credit for creating part of the origin story of his powers, specifically the part where he gets bitten by a radioactive spider.
Which IMHO sounds ALOT like a Stan Lee idea.


-Exodus


Indeed.
And I think critics often forget the importance of early characterization in the "creation" process. Stan should be cited as co-creator, and his influence on the character shouldn't be understated.

[Agentum]

It's not understated, ordinary people (well those that know anything at all)know nothing of Ditkos part, to most people Spider-man is Stan Lees invention.
Ditkos own fault of course.

[darkhawk76]

doesn't a lot of the gripe stem from the whole "who is the Green Goblin" reveal

Stan wanted it to be somebody who was linked to Peter

Steve wanted it to be some average Joe

Stan won, Steve left the title and we got John Romita (not a bad trade imo)

obviously Steve deserves prominent credit for co-creating Spidey, but I don't think Stan is saying he solely came up with Marvel's greatest hero.

[StoneGold]

obviously Steve deserves prominent credit for co-creating Spidey, but I don't think Stan is saying he solely came up with Marvel's greatest hero.
I've seen Stan say that he never does, but stupid writers don't always get that. Like writers who attribute Captain America to Stan. He usually bills himself as co-creator of characters, but it's tough enough for a writer to explain in a 500 word article about something else completly that anyone created Spider-Man, let alone that it was a group effort. Bringing up Steve Ditko in an interview with Lee and Romita just gets kind of confusing.

[Billy Parker]

Lee is hilarious! "Take that you! You won't get away with it!"