Stan Lee's style?

[stealthwise]

Just read the latest column, where Steven says that Stan Lee's style was less like soap operas, and more like advertising writing. Anyone have an idea what he meant by that?

[Dennis]

Well, what is an advertisement? Ads try to show you what a product can do, and why you should want one. It's all optimism and sunshine. An ad tries to make us like something, because it can do cool things. Whereas a soap opera is about people and their feelings. Cynical people say that kid's cartoons, like gi joe , transformers, pokemon, are really commercials for the toys. and those shows are not soap opera, but more like the stan lee style. They focus on actions, all the cool stuff that the characters can do. They make you want to be like the characters, to buy the action figures. And what do those characters represent? the Ideal Man. and what kinds of things an Ideal Man should do. and the enemies he should fight. products help us live a richer life, to help us attain our dreams. and stan lee type comics are like a Tony Robbins seminar, it helps excite and motivate us. It shows us steps we can take to make our lives better.

when i started reading chris claremont's xmen, i was disappointed. these were cool funky characters, yet they didn't really do anything. they talked about their feelings a lot. it's soap opera. Soap opera is about humans and their weaknesses...it doesn't make you want to buy General Hospital action figures.

Stan lee wants you to take action, and Chris Claremont wants you to feel less alone in this world. a good story is a balance. how a writer feels about flaws helps shape what kind of stories he writes. stan lee knows that flaws are a reality, but they can be overcome, they're not that big of deal. Chris thinks flaws should be obsessed about endlessly. Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison think flaws are funny.

Britney spears in a music video is advertisement. Britney with a shaved head is soap opera. Gossip is soap opera. That's why businessmen & CEOs aren't into gossip, they're totally action oriented men.