The Stan Lee Universe by TwoMorrows Publishing

THE

Stan UnIVERSE Lee Interviews with and mementos from “THE Man” who changed comics and pop culture

Includes rarities from THE STan LEE aRCHIVES!

edited by Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas

THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE Edited by

Designer

Danny Fingeroth & Roy Thomas

David Greenawalt

Contributing Editor

Proofreading by:

Robert Greenberger

Rob Smentek

e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com

Research Consultant

Publisher

Barry Pearl

John Morrow

First Printing, September 2011 Printed in Canada Softcover ISBN: 978-1-60549-029-8 Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-60549-030-4

Transcriber

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614

Steven Tice www.twomorrows.com

Special Thanks to: Ger Apeldoorn Mike Bourne Jerry K. Boyd Tom Brevoort Bob Brodsky Gill Champion David Bennett Cohen Neal Conan Richard Corben Kevin Dooley Gary Dunaier Roger Ebert Barry Farber Mike Feder Eric Fein Jim Fingeroth Pat Fingeroth Jaimee Greenawalt Scott Hanna David Kasakove Michael Kelly Jackie Knox

Stan Lee Joan Lee Joan Cecilia Lee Nancy Maneely Country Joe McDonald Jay Maeder Russ Maheras Jeff McLaughlin Barry Melton John Morrow Barry Pearl Steve Post John Romita, Jr. Bob Rozakis Paul Ryan Peter Sanderson Mark Sinnott Joe Sinnott Varda Steinhardt Dann Thomas Seven Tice Michael Uslan

Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Ted White Will Eisner Studios, Inc.: Nancy & Carl Gropper Ken Wong

Staff at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming at Laramie: Susan Gilmore Mark A. Greene William Hopkins Ginny Kilander Gregory J. Kocken Shannon Maier Mark Potter Keith Reynolds Sarah Rundall John R. Waggener Rick Walters

The Stan Lee Universe is published by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Road, Raleigh, NC 27614. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Fax: (919) 449-0327. Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas, Editors. John Morrow, Publisher. Website: www.twomorrows.com. All characters are TM & © their respective companies unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © the respective authors. Editorial package is © 2011 Danny Fingeroth, Roy Thomas, and TwoMorrows Publishing. All rights reserved. Mr. Lee has not participated in, nor does he endorse this book. All illustrations contained herein are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders and are reproduced for historical reference and research purposes. Every effort has been made to trace the ownership of all illustrated copyrighted material for the purpose of giving proper credit. In the event of any question arising as to the use of any material, we regret any inadvertent error and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in future printings. 2 | THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE

CONTENTS About the material that makes up THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE Some of this book’s contents originally appeared in TwoMorrows’ Write Now! #18 and Alter Ego #74, as well as various other sources. This material has been redesigned and much of it is accompanied by different illustrations than when it first appeared. Some material is from Roy Thomas’s personal archives. Some was created especially for this book. Approximately one-third of the material in the SLU was found by Danny Fingeroth in June 2010 at the Stan Lee Collection (aka “The Stan Lee Archives”) of the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and is material that has rarely, if ever, been seen by the general public. The transcriptions—done especially for this book—of audiotapes of 1960s radio programs featuring Stan with other notable personalities, should be of special interest to fans and scholars alike.

INTRODUCTION

A COMEBACK FOR COMIC BOOKS

by Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas, editors..................................5

1966 MidWest Magazine article by Roger Ebert ............71

LEGEND MEETS LEGEND

CUB SCOUTS STRIP RATES EAGLE AWARD 1957 interview with Stan Lee and Joe Maneely, from Editor & Publisher magazine, by James L. Collings ................7

Stan interviewed in 1969 by Jud Hurd of Cartoonist PROfiles magazine............................................................77

STAN LEE MEETS CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN

STAN THE SELF-PUBLISHING MAN

1965 interview by Ted White ............................................................9

Stan’s own Blushing Blurbs: A Ribald Reader for the Bon Vivant ........................................................81

A FANTASTIC FIRST The Creation of the Fantastic Four—and Beyond, by Roy Thomas ..............................................................................15

STAN LEE’S TOP TEN TIPS FOR WRITERS The Man shares his most closely guarded secrets ..................82

Romita Sr., Lieber, Colan, Mooney, Sinnott, Esposito, Jaffee, Goldberg, Robinson, Ayers, and Steinberg recall working with Stan ..................................................................21

TELL IT TO THE DOCTOR Stan’s correspondence with comics fandom pioneer, Dr. Jerry G. Bails ..............................................................35

ARE THESE LETTERS ABOUT AL JAFFEE? Correspondence with “Alfred E. Neuman” ....................38

STAN THE MAN MEETS CONAN (BUT NOT THE BARBARIAN) 1968 radio interview with Neal Conan ............................................39

THE MISSOURI CONNECTION Thomas, O’Neil and Friedrich reflect on Stan ................................47

CORRESONDENCE WITH FUTURE COMICS PROS Bob Rozakis and Kevin Dooley exchange missives with The Man ....................................................55

FACE-TO-FACE WITH WERTHAM’S PARTNER Stan debates Dr. Hilde Mosse in 1968 on the Barry Farber radio show ......................................................57

FULL COLOR SECTION

GOLD AND SILVER MEMORIES STAN THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL MAN Stan’s fans include superstar rockers from the 1960s to today..............................................84

STAN’S NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM The gala opening of “Stan Lee: A Retrospective,” a 2007 exhibition at New York’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA). by Danny Fingeroth. Photos by Gary Dunaier ....................................88

TO HOLLYWOOD AND BEYOND Stan and directors Resnais, Cameron, Stone, Fellini, Smith, Branagh, Story, Favreau, and Hamill by Danny Fingeroth ..........................................................90

”THIS GENERATION’S HOMER” Stan and Marvel take the college crowd by storm............................................................93

ESQUIRE AND ME Richard Weingroff looks back on the 1966 magazine article that gave him his “15 minutes of fame” as one of the campus Marvel fans interviewed by “The Magazine for Men” ................94

STAN LEE: THE MARVEL BARD A 1970 interview conducted by Mike Bourne in Changes Magazine ............................................................................97 THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE | 3

ENDORSED BY STAN LEE Stan’s non-comics salesmanship on display......103

MY LUNCH WITH STAN Professor Jeff McLaughlin tells the (sort of) sensational story behind an interview with Stan ..........................143

WORKING WITH THE MAN Creators from the ’70s to the present day (Wolfman, Trimpe,Conway, Buscema, Romita Jr., McFarlane, DiDio, Ryan, Meth and Kaplan) talk about Stan ..........................105

MEANWHILE, DOWN THE HALL... Stan’s writing and editing for Martin Goodman’s non-comics publications ................................145

STAN THE FAMILY MAN Photos from the Lees’ personal collection ....................................113

SCRIPT PAGES FROMTHE MONSTER MAKER A glimpse at the 1970 screenplay Stan wrote for director Alain Resnais ............................................................147

PROJECTS THAT WEREN’T Ideas pitched to Stan from comics greats Will Eisner and Richard Corben that never saw print ..................115

STAN LEE: 1974 A classic conversation with Marvel’s master, by Jay Maeder, from Comics Feature magazine ..........................122

THE SAGA OF... THE SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL Lee & Kirby’s last team-up (including correspondence from Kirby) has the groundbreaking duo going out with a bang. by Danny Fingeroth ......................................................................150

STAN KEEPS A PROMISE—25 YEARS LATER! In 1972, fan Russell Maheras held Stan to an offer he made in 1947..........................................................129

THE SILVER SURFER BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY Script and pencils from the 1978 Silver Surfer graphic novel ....................................156

FINDING MARVEL’S VOICE SILVER AGE STAN AND JACK INTERVIEW

An appreciation of Stan Lee’s Bullpen Bulletins and Soapboxes, by David Kasakove ................130

Lee & Kirby 1967 radio interview with Mike Hodel....161

[NOT] THE LAST FANTASTIC FOUR STORY

STAN LEE COMMENDS! A letter of thanks for a job well done..........................137

JUST IMAGINE... WORKING WITH STAN LEE Michael Uslan, executive producer of the Batman movies, on re-imagining DC’s top heroes with Stan ..................................138

Stan and John Romita Jr. team up in 2007 to tell a tale of Marvel’s First Family ................................170

NEITHER SHY NOR RETIRING Stan Lee in the 21st Century ........................................................172

AFTERWORD: WHAT IS A STAN LEE?

WRITTEN BY STAN LEE Comics scholar Peter Sanderson talks about Stan’s inimitable writing style..............................................141

Roy Thomas’s 1968 tribute to the subject of this book ......................................................................174

Dedications To the memory of Blanche S. Fingeroth, who, above and beyond the call of maternal duty, bought comic books for me, per my detailed written instructions, during those sweltering Julys and Augusts. And to Stan Lee, who wrote and edited the best of those comics, and continues to amaze to this day. —DF

To Stan— for being an inspiration and often mentor for the past half century. —RT

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Introduction:

Who is Stan Lee ... and why does he have a Universe when you don’t? by Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas, editors If you’re reading this book, odds are you know who Stan Lee is. But the Universe is a strange and mysterious place, and perhaps you don’t know who Stan Lee is. It’s a good bet, though, that, if nothing else, his name is familiar to you, even if you’re not sure why. So if you just have a few seconds, here’s the lowdown: Stan Lee is the co-creator of some of the most significant popular culture characters in existence. Among those are Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk. Beyond that, Stan Lee made sure that the whole world knew about the characters, about the Marvel Comics Group, and about the medium of comic books in general. To get more specific: Stan was the writer, editor, and art director of Marvel Comics who, with artist-collaborators, conceived those characters and chronicled their earliest adventures in the pages of said comics. He created most of those characters with Jack Kirby, some of them with Steve Ditko, and a bunch of others with artists like Don Heck, John Romita, Sr., Gene Colan, and Bill Everett. Together, they created characters people the world over know and love. Stan was also the guy who spread the word about Marvel and about comics in general to the world. He spoke at colleges and on radio and TV shows. He was interviewed for countless publications, from the most obscure local pamphlets to internationally known newspapers and websites. For many decades—up to the present, actually—Stan promoted a feeling among his readers that comics were great, Marvel was great, the artists and writers (the “Bullpen”) were great, that YOU were great just for reading those comics—and that he, himself, wasn’t so bad, either. And then he went back to his desk and made sure the comics he wrote and edited were so good that they lived up to the publicity he was scoring for them. In the course of all the above, Stan (a classic “overnight success” who took 20 years of hard work and craft-honing to get there) became arguably the most well known practitioner of comic books in the world. As such, he came into contact with accomplished, famous, and prominent people in media, entertainment, and politics. The kid from DeWitt Clinton High School would hobnob with culture makers and big shots— while never forgetting the folks whose twelve-cent comic book purchases put him on the map. And then, Stan went on to become a major force in the translation

of Marvel’s characters into TV and movie and gaming adaptations, and today—after more than 70 years as a professional storyteller—is still the moving force behind a seemingly endless stream of new characters and concepts through his own Pow! Entertainment company, while also serving as Chairman Emeritus of Marvel. Heck, he even has his own star on Hollywood Boulevard now! The Stan Lee you know may be the guy in the Frank Sinatra hat, perched on a stool on the inside cover of Fantasy Masterpieces #1—the first time many of us had seen a photo of Stan. Or he may be the guy who came to lecture at your college. He may be the fellow who convinced you that Personna was the razor blade for you. He may be familiar as the sage advice-giver in Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, or the gentleman who stops Ben Affleck from stepping into traffic in the Daredevil movie. He may be the guy overseeing the goings on of Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, or Craig Ferguson’s “nemesis” on The Late Show. For many more than a few of us, he was the written voice telling us tales of drama, adventure, and romance that fueled our imaginations. So Stan Lee’s universe came to encompass not just the “Marvel Universe,” as he dubbed the interrelated

THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE | 5

approach, evolving your characters. In Thor, for instance, you’ve gotten into some great mythological conflicts... and away from the nonsense with alter egos, the doctor turning into Thor, and... LEE: We’ve gotten many letters from readers who say, “Heyl We haven’t seen Dr. Blake in a while!” So we’re trying to see how we can get back to that a little bit. Although I will admit I myself would like to just keep him Thor and keep the stories as they’re going. It makes it easier and more palatable to me.

In this interview, Stan says that, “Some artists, such as Jack Kirby, need no plot at all... I’ll just say to Jack, ‘Let the next villain be Dr. Doom’... and then he goes home and does it.” Here, a Kirby-Joe Sinnott full-page splash of the not-so-good Doctor (did he ever get his degree, anyway?) from Fantastic Four #86 (May 1969). The words, of course, are by Stan. [© 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

LEE: Right. But, as it is, at this particular moment, I still think that we are doing the only somewhat significant work in this field. There’s the occasional exception. TW: You’re up against something which is a periodic phenomenon in the comic book industry. Back in the early ’50s, the EC group set really high standards. I don’t think you’ve beat them on art yet. When Mad came out, and it was a sleeper, someone realized, “My God! That thing is selling!” Suddenly, the stands were covered with Mad imitations. Whenever someone notices that someone is doing something original that is making money, they’ll all jump on the bandwagon. But for some reason none of them bother doing anything which has the quality of the original. It would seem that if someone wants to capture the Marvel audience... or enlarge upon it in any way... they should be less concerned with the superficialities... such as having “chatty” covers. That’s a gimmick they’ve taken from you, and now you’ve dropped it. They never attempt the quality of writing you’re doing. And you’ve kept changing your 14 | THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE

TW: Originally Thor [i.e., Journey into Mystery] was a very schizophrenic thing. You had the “Thor” feature at the front, essentially a standard superhero with his civilian identity and his civilian lovelife problems, and in the back you had your “Tales of Asgard,” which was pretty much pure myth reinterpreted in comic form. Now, although you are dealing less with myth in its original sense, you are including all the mythic figures... you’ve gotten into Grecian mythology... Pluto and the Underworld. That’s marvelous stuff; that’s sense-of-wonder stuff. LEE: Oh, you’re quite right. Quite right. In fact, we don’t really have any set plan for anything... so you’ll always find changes in our books. One day I’ll wake up in the morning... or Jack will... or any of our artists... or Roy Thomas... or anybody... and say, “Hey! Why don’t we do thus and such?” We’re very lucky that there is nobody clamping down on us and saying, “You have to stay within these prescribed channels.” To me, any new idea is worth exploring. Even a bad new idea is better than a good formulized rut you might be in. So I like to change things. As far as the FF goes, they are getting a little bit science-fictiony. I would like to give them a different feeling than, let’s say, Spider-Man, which isn’t science-fictiony. I’m very hard-pressed to find out how to make Spider-Man very different from Daredevil. I, sooner or later, will find a way. I would like all of our books to be different from each other... to have their own individual style. It’s difficult... because we still don’t have enough artists. Consequently, I have to alternate. One fellow may draw “Hulk” this month... he may have to draw Daredevil next month... and so forth. We still don’t have one artist for one feature except in the case of Thor and Spider-Man and a few others. TW: Why is this? LEE: We just don’t have enough men. So if one man is ill... or if one man breaks an arm... or anything... somebody else has to do his strip. Then somebody else’s strip is now late. Somebody else has to do this. We’re continually running into crises of that sort. TW: Is there any way out? LEE: Just getting more artists. We’re looking all the time. But this is what we’re up against. The reason I mention this about the art is that it’s one of the reasons that it’s a little difficult also to stay with a definite theory for each book. As you change artists, you change your approach, you see. But sooner or later things will level off. Maybe they never will, because we’re always in a state of flux. But it keeps it exciting. TW: Well, our time is up. LEE: I’m awfully sorry. Nobody enjoys this sort of thing more than I do. I wish we had another ten hours to go through it.

A Fantastic First The Creation of the Fantastic Four – and Beyond [This article originally appeared in somewhat different form in Alter Ego v2, #2.] One late-1960s day in New York, Stan Lee asked me to step into his office. As his associate editor and left-hand man, I figured the summons probably meant one of three things: 1.) A new comics title had been added to the Marvel schedule (and was doubtless already two weeks late). 2.) It was time to play “musical chairs” again, moving “Artist A” to a new feature (with “Artist B” taking over “A’s” current strip, and so on down the line assignment-wise, until a harmonious equilibrium was again achieved—for the moment). 3.) The cover price of comics was going up again (it had already risen since 1961 from 10¢ to 12¢ to 15¢, at the very least; where would it all end?). This time, however, Stan simply had something he wanted to show me: his two-page synopsis for the first half of Fantastic Four #1!

by Roy Thomas

He had stumbled onto it the previous day at home, not having realized till then that it still existed. (I’d asked him about such hoary artifacts once or twice, but Stan didn’t think he had saved anything. Why should he have? Who could possibly care?) As photocopiers were not then the omnipresent office furniture they’ve since become—and our Photostat machine was way too precious to waste on non-essentials—it didn’t occur to me to try to make a copy of the synopsis. The more fool, me. But I did read it through, before giving it back and returning to whatever I’d been doing. And I never forgot certain salient details... Actually, this wasn’t the first early-’60s synopsis of Stan’s I’d seen (see latter part of article). And when I’d gone to work for him in July 1965, I’d learned that he was increasingly dispensing with written synopses, with Marvel artists often working merely from brief conversations, in person or over the phone. Still, I knew that in my hands was an important document in comics history. For this was the synopsis for the very first issue of the flagship title of what had later become Marvel Comics. This was the one that had started it all! CUT TO: 1998. Let it be said at this point that I was always reluctant to accost Stan in Los Angeles, where we were both living at the time. Though my erstwhile mentor and I have generally had a good relationship, whether or not I was working for Marvel at the time, I didn’t want to impose on him. But I did, anyway. Biting the proverbial bullet, I dropped him a note asking if by any chance he still had that F.F. #1 plot he’d shown me three decades ago, because I’d like to print it in Alter Ego. To my amazement, a few nights later I received the following breezy fax:

Jack Kirby’s cover to Fantastic Four #1 has become one of the most famous since the first issue of Action Comics. The inker’s identity is uncertain after all these years, although historians have narrowed it down to most likely being George Klein. [©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Timely Holidays Christmas cards from the Bullpen to Stan

In the early 1950s, Timely was putting out hundreds of comics a month. The deadline pressure on the artists, writers, and editors was enormous. But somehow, there was always time to do these inspired, humorous holiday cards. And just take a look at who signed them! It’s a who’s who of comics history! 1950s holiday cards from the Bullpen to Stan, Stan Lee Collection, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Stan Lee: The Marvel Bard An interview conducted by Mike Bourne, 1970 This conversation is reprinted from Changes magazine for April 15, 1970, and was located for us by Barry Pearl, Fearless Front Facer (a ’60s Marvel designation of high fan achievement). It is reprinted with permission of Mike Bourne.[The interview also appeared in Alter Ego #74.] Marvel Comics spring from modest Madison Avenue offices randomly decorated by oversize drawings, copy, and other assorted fanciful diversions. In several small cubicles, like freaky monks, a staff of artists variously evoke the next month’s adventures in all-brilliant color and style. While in his office, his complete Shakespeare close at hand, editor Stan Lee smiles broadly behind his cigar and beckons me enter his head. MIKE BOURNE: With which superhero do you personally most identify? STAN LEE: Probably Homer the Happy Ghost. You know, I honestly don’t identify with any of them. Or maybe I identify with all of them. But I’ve never thought of it. I’ve been asked this question before and I never know how to answer it, because I think I identify with whichever one I’m writing at the moment. If I’m writing Thor, I’m a Norse god at that moment. If I’m writing The Hulk, I have green skin and everyone hates me. And when I stop writing them, they’re sort of out of my mind. I’m not identifying with anyone. MB: You’re like an actor when you write. LEE: Yeah, I think more than anything. In fact, when I was young I thought I would be an actor, and I did act. And when I write now, my wife always makes fun of me. She says: “Stan, what did you say?” I say: “Nothing, I’m writing.” She says: “Well, you talk to yourself.” And I find very often I’m saying the lines out loud. And I’m acting! You know: “Take that, you rat!”

MB: Asking a writer where he gets his ideas is like asking an actor how he learned all those lines, but Marvel is known as the House of Ideas. LEE: Only because I originally said we were the House of Ideas. MB: All right, but obviously you have mythological influences. And Jim Steranko’s “House of Ravenlock” for S.H.I.E.L.D. was very much from the Gothic novel. But what are your primary sources, or your favorite sources for material? Just out of your head, or where? LEE: Mostly. I think it all has to do with things I read and learned and observed when I was young, because I don’t do as much

reading or movie-going or anything now as I would like. I’m so busy writing all the time. But I was a voracious reader when I was a teenager. And actually, I think my biggest influence was Shakespeare, who was my god. I mean, I loved Shakespeare because when he was dramatic; no one was more dramatic than he was. When he was humorous, the humor was so earthy and rich. To me he was the complete writer. I was just telling somebody this morning who was up here to try to do some writing for us to get as close to Shakespeare as possible. Because whatever Shakespeare did, he did it in the extreme. It’s almost like the Yiddish theatre. When they act, they act! Or the old silent movies where everything was exaggerated so the audience THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE | 97

Another sensational Stan-dorsement The Coming of... Personna Man!

Apparently, Stan had been thinking about “TV shaving commercials” for a good long while before he made the Personna spot. Here, Reed Richards tidies up before facing off with Galactus in Fantastic Four #49 (April 1966). Script by Stan, art by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott. [©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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The Man and the Work Creators from the ’70s to the present talk about Stan as writer, editor and art director Over his career, Stan has worked with hundreds of outstanding creative talents in comics alone. We’ve heard from Golden and Silver Age luminaries, as well as the Missouri-spawned folks who helped Stan move the Marvel Age into high gear. Now, here are recollections of, and reflections on, Stan from comics pros from the 1970s to today. [This article first appeared in slightly different form in Write Now #18.]

Marv Wolfman Marv Wolfman has written extensively for Marvel and DC, including runs on Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four, and the landmark Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series. Co-creator of The New Teen Titans, Marv also had a memorable run with Gene Colan and Tom Palmer on Tomb of Dracula, and served as Marvel’s editor-in-chief. Currently writing novels, animation, and video games, Marv is also the author of the recent award-winning non-fiction graphic novel, Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel.

was very firm about the books being the best they could be. He would often jump up and demonstrate how panels needed to be the most exciting moment of each action. He would get excited about the work, talk about the pacing and show us how to place balloons so they moved the story forward without covering the art. He actually was incredible about that. I’d often bring him a cover where I couldn’t figure out the balloon placement and he’d solve it in a second. Stan would extensively mark up copies of the book after they came out with all his thoughts, notations, etc. He would let us do what we thought was right, and rather than stop us before we tried something, he would let us know afterward where there might have been mistakes, or where things Here, Marv recalls what he worked. I thought that was a learned from working with great way of doing it; he encourStan. aged our own individual voices, never asked us to write like him —DF & RT and actually preferred we didn’t. But he firmly understood the Stan wasn’t writing quite as characters and wouldn’t hesitate much by the time I was to guide us in that department. working at Marvel, and he was He also very much cared about off to California later on, so I quality, and insisted the top wasn’t in any of those fabled books had to have the top talent. plot sessions. But I did work Stan also had a style that would with him directly on writing enable him to tell you if your and editing of the books I story was awful, yet somehow controlled. He was a good he wouldn’t make you feel bad teacher, although he probably about it. I don’t know how he never realized he was teachdid that, but you came out of a ing. He’d point out character meeting with him understanding and story problems, show what the problem was and you’d how art should be manipulated work harder next time because to fix things, understood what you weren’t being put down. It’s was important and what just your story that needed wasn’t. He took a very relaxed improvement, not you. I guess view of the work, never going one of his strongest points is insane over it as many of us that he didn’t make the work did. I think he knew this wasn’t personal, so you didn’t feel brain surgery or rocket science. In Amazing Spider-Man #200 (January 1980), Marv developed awful if something you did failed plot-points first laid down by Stan in Spidey’s first appearance. If we did a bad book, nobody to work. would die. But despite this, he Cover art is by John Romita, Sr. [© 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.] THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE | 105

Stan, Joan, and daughter Joan Cecelia in their new home on Long Island, in a pic dated “1951.”

Here’s the little family group circa 1953-54, in front of the same house, whose address is given as 226 Richards Lane, Hewlett Harbor, NY. Stan liked to write outside, weather permitting—which gave him plenty of room for his two-finger typing style! This snapshot of a bearded Stan banging out a script at home is dated “1955-60,” though since Stan probably typed out the note that says he was “about 30” when it was taken, that would make it closer to the early 1950s. The note says: “Always wrote standing up—good for the figure—and always faced the sun—good for the suntan!”

Stan, Joan (standing), and Joan Cecilia in the 1970s, in their Hewlett Harbor home. Once in a while, though, a fella’s just got to get out with the boys! Here’s Stan with a couple of unidentified pals, reportedly at 220 E. 63rd Street in Manhattan, circa 1975-80. 114 | THE STAN LEE UNIVERSE

Projects that Weren’t Ideas from comics greats Will Eisner and Richard Corben that never saw print Memos from Will Eisner re: 2/12/73 editorial conference and ideas for proposed humor magazine, Stan Lee Collection, box #7, folder #1, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

by Danny Fingeroth

Even top creators have projects that never see the light of day for all sorts of reasons. In Stan’s Wyoming archives is some early 1970s correspondence between Stan—by then Marvel’s publisher—and two acknowledged comics titans, Will Eisner and Richard Corben, relating to projects that never got off the ground.

Will Eisner

Will Eisner (1917-2005) was raised in the tenement Bronx of the Great Depression. He was a pioneer in the creation of comics of the “Golden Age” of the 1930s and ’40s, achieving immortality with his noir crime-sighting hero, the Spirit, the first character to star in a comics insert distributed in newspapers. At one Will Eisner in the 1960s. [©2011 Will Eisner Studios] time or another, just about every comics great of his own and succeeding generations worked with and for Eisner, including Jules Feiffer, Wallace Wood, Jack Kirby, Al Jaffee and Mike Ploog. When The Spirit ceased publication in 1952, Eisner devoted himself to producing educational and instructional comics. Then, in 1978, Eisner reinvented himself—and the medium—with his graphic novel, A Contract with God. Other notable Eisner graphic novels included To The Heart of the Storm, A Life Force, and The Name of the Game. In 1973, Eisner, probably at Marvel’s request, submitted ideas for a humor magazine. Eisner was no stranger to humor, using it often in The Spirit and in his instructional comics work, as well as in publications. Will’s Memo about “Editorial Conference 2/12/73” gives his overview of the points discussed on that day. [©2011 the copyright holders.]

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The Making of an Epic

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Panel descriptions for Silver Surfer graphic novel, Stan Lee Collection, box #55, folders 2 & 4, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Photocopies of pencil art with balloon placements; script for Silver Surfer graphic novel, Stan Lee Collection, box #55, folder #1, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Here’s the opening page to The Silver Surfer graphic novel. As with the rest of the pages from the book in this article, Jack’s notes that accompanied the art are reproduced at the top of the page, Stan’s typed script is at the bottom. Stan’s handwritten notes are in the margins of the photocopies of the pencil art. We also see the lettered and colored pages from the book itself.

FROM THE

STAN LEE ARCHIVES

Here’s page two of the story. Note how, since Stan, when scripting, decided the title would go on the previous page, the space Jack left for a title was no longer needed, hence the instruction on the art to raise up the section of the page with the Surfer and extend the artwork along the bottom. Note also that the second caption in Stan’s script isn’t in the finished story. He must have decided that it wasn’t necessary, possibly because we don’t see Galactus again for another ten pages.