Should Lee/ Ditko be considered a different writer than Stan Lee?

[Mister Mets]

There's a week left to vote for your favorite Spider-Man writers and artists, so that CBR could come up with a Top 50 creators list.

Cronin made an interesting editorial decision, designating the Lee/ Ditko team as a separate writer from Ditko-less Stan Lee, due to Ditko's contributions to the plot.

6. Stan Lee/Steve Ditko is one writer. Stan Lee with everyone else is another writer. You just can’t fairly separate Lee from Ditko on those first 40 issues (Amazing #1-38 plus Annuals #1-2), so if you want to list Stan Lee by himself, feel free, but do so taking only his post-Ditko work into consideration. So Stan Lee is the one writer who can appear on the list twice, once by himself for his post-Ditko work and once as part of a writing team with Ditko. Ditko, though, of course can appear on the artists list by himself. He just goes on the writing list as a writing team with Lee.

What do you guys think of that decision?
Do you think it should be done in any future "Best Spider-Man writers" lists?

Personally, I agree with it. It makes the top five writers list more interesting, by giving that Stan Lee guy some competition. And it's a recognition of the differences between the writing of Lee/ Ditko and post-Ditko Stan Lee.

[David Walton]

The only problem I see is that Lee/Romita is a better followup than "Ditko-less" or "post-Ditko" Lee.

With the possible exception of Silver Surfer, Lee's work was always shaped by his artists' sensibilities. Romita's romantic preferences come shining through from the very beginning, so let's give credit where credit is due. Peter Parker would not be the chick magnet he is today without Romita...nor would have transitioned so smoothly from the weirdest superhero around to a mainstream icon. We can also credit Romita with bringing street crime into the book.

[Scott Taylor]

Well, the issue I have with it is that most writers collaborate closely with the artist and others on the creative team. We don't tend to look at that because it just gets very complicated with you start looking at creative teams versus individual creators. But Lee/Romita had a definitively different feel than Lee/Kirby or Lee/Ditko, for instance. Logically, those differences would be due to artist differences.

[David Walton]

Well, the issue I have with it is that most writers collaborate closely with the artist and others on the creative team. We don't tend to look at that because it just gets very complicated with you start looking at creative teams versus individual creators. But Lee/Romita had a definitively different feel than Lee/Kirby or Lee/Ditko, for instance. Logically, those differences would be due to artist differences.

And we could likewise attribute the commonalities to Lee.

[Chuckles]

Along the lines of what Scott said, I disagree with it because it's an exception rather than a rule.

[Mister Mets]

Well, the issue I have with it is that most writers collaborate closely with the artist and others on the creative team. We don't tend to look at that because it just gets very complicated with you start looking at creative teams versus individual creators. But Lee/Romita had a definitively different feel than Lee/Kirby or Lee/Ditko, for instance. Logically, those differences would be due to artist differences.

But were the Lee/ Romita issues drastically different (in terms of writing) from the comics Stan Lee wrote with other artists (John Buscema, Gil Kane, Larry Lieber)?

Along the lines of what Scott said, I disagree with it because it's an exception rather than a rule.

In what way?

Is the recognition of the differences an exception?
Or is the significance of the pairing an exception?

[Aziz Abbasi]

Ditko should be considered a different writer, but not their team-up
Their work is equally cheesy
Their work on Spider-Man is equally fantastic, yet just as cheesy
Their work on Hulk is just cheese and cliches, but when Stan works with different artiste his work doesn't get highly effected

This question is weird, but I answer it with a simple no

[Scott Taylor]

But were the Lee/ Romita issues drastically different (in terms of writing) from the comics Stan Lee wrote with other artists (John Buscema, Gil Kane, Larry Lieber)?

Possibly not. Hard to tell. I broke out my copies of "Origins of Marvel Comics" and "Son of Origins of Marvel Comics" last night and read Avengers #1, Daredevil #1, and Silver Surfer #1. They are all quite different stories, but had a pretty consistent type of approach. As an alternative explanation, assuming its mostly Lee, it could also be that Lee was more passionate about some characters than about other characters.

[David Walton]

Possibly not. Hard to tell. I broke out my copies of "Origins of Marvel Comics" and "Son of Origins of Marvel Comics" last night and read Avengers #1, Daredevil #1, and Silver Surfer #1. They are all quite different stories, but had a pretty consistent type of approach. As an alternative explanation, assuming its mostly Lee, it could also be that Lee was more passionate about some characters than about other characters.

There's some consistent threads running through all of Lee's work: destiny, power and responsibility, sacrificing a normal life for the greater good...

[Chuckles]

By exception, I'm referring to the double standard.