STAN LEE interviewed by Mark Millar
I don’t think Alan Moore was far off the mark when he said to me that every comic-book creator owes Stan Lee the very shirts on our backs. Sure, Siegel and Shuster might have kicked the whole thing off with their kiss-curled super-immigrant, but it was Stan who defined the modern superhero and co-created characters that have, for over four decades, provided the backbone of our entire industry. You can count on one hand- Hell, you can count on Mickey Mouse’s hand- the number of successful Marvel characters Stan didn’t kick-start. We can argue all night how much of this was Stan and how much of it was Jack Kirby, but the truth is quite simple: Without Kirby, there probably wouldn’t even BE a Marvel Comics. Without Stan, there DEFINITELY wouldn’t be. The action and the ideas were a big part of what drew me to this world as a child, but the voice and personality of those uniquely odd super-people is what kept me there and that voice, those captions and those insane thought balloons were pure, unadulterated Stan. In terms of brand name recognition, Stan is our Walt Disney and our Calvin Klein; the epitome of pop-art cool without even trying with a seven letter signature that strikes a chord with every guy in the Western world. Ageless, timeless and always tirelessly warm and engaging, every freelancer I know has a Stan story and they revel just a little in hanging out with a guy who’s as big and as mythical to our community as Spider-Man or The Hulk. Well-dressed, well-groomed and always loving what he’s working on, Stan is the Man comic-writers want to be whenever we grow up.
Mark: Stan, it struck me recently that you’re a few years younger than Superman’s co-creators and you were smack-bang in the perfect demographic for these National Periodical books when you were a teenager. Did you ever read Superman, Batman or The Flash growing up or did your love of science-fiction and fantasy come from elsewhere?
Stan: Sure, I read Superman, Batman and all the comics. But I also read all the books I could get my hands on, Mark. Now that I think of it, I read everything. Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, O.Henry, Edgar Allen Poe, Dickens, Shakespeare, everything. It’s not only science-fiction and fantasy that turn me on; it’s anything of any type that’s high-concept, unusual and imaginative.
Mark: Who was Stan Lee’s first crush and what happened to her?
Stan: When I was about 16 I belonged to a small acting group in a neighborhood social club. There was a girl named Martha who also acted there and we had a thing going for a while. But when I started working full time a few months later there was no time for the acting group and things tapered off between Martha and me. She probably ended up with some great guy because she was a great gal.
Mark: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? What was your career plan when relatives asked you what you wanted to do?
Stan: When I was young, I wanted to be an actor. Then I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, the kind who delivered impassioned oratory in court and masterfully swayed juries. I also loved advertising and wanted to be a guy who wrote terrific ads. Later, I hoped to be a writer and write “The Great American Novel” So nothing could be more ridiculous than ending up as a comicbook writer!
Mark: We all know that Marvel Comics was on its knees in the months prior to your revamp of the genre with people like Jack and Steve. But it must have seemed like a very real possibility that this could all go as wrong as all those old National books ten or fifteen years before. As a husband and father, did you have an escape route planned in terms of how you would make a living?
Stan: Nope! One of my most persistent fears was—if I lost my job, what would I do? In the early days, nobody had any respect for comicbook writers. No newspapers or major book publishers or radio stations or movie companies would give a hoot about a lowly comicbook writer. Saying that you wrote for comics wasn’t considered a viable reference. I guess that’s why I stayed in the job so long—it seemed there was no place else to go—until years later, and by then, I was having too much fun.
Mark: At what point did you realize that your characters (and your own brand name) was becoming very, very famous in the popular culture?
Stan: I became very much aware when the fan mail started pouring in, as well as the countless invitations to do radio interviews and to lecture at colleges and universities all over America as well as Europe, South America and parts of Asia. Man, how I loved to travel and lecture in those days!
Mark: You pioneered comics cool and paved the way for people like me to have nice, easy rides in the mainstream, but you did so at a time when comics were really a despised medium. What did your friends and family think about the fact that you wrote superhero books for a living back in those days?
Stan: My friends and family were hip enough to know that comics were really a great form of entertainment and had no problem with the fact that I worked in that field. However, I’ll admit a few neighbors did think I was somewhat eccentric.
Mark: Describe a typical working day when you were in the New York
office? How did you split writing, editing and all the PR work? What time did you get to bed?
Stan: I got very little sleep. I did my editing in the office during the day and my writing at home evenings and week-ends. Of course, being the editor-in-chief gave me an advantage. Since I did most of the writing myself, and since I was my own biggest fan, I loved whatever I wrote and never felt it needed much editing! So my job as editor wasn’t as tough as it might have been if I had been editing a lot of stories from other writers. Also, my job as writer wasn’t as tough as it might have been because my editor was rather partial to me.
Mark: Again, people forget that you were the first guy to make the jump from comic-book writer to Hollywood producer. They all want a piece of us now, but you really were the first to beat that path. How easy was it to get stuff off the ground in an era before blockbuster cinema as we understand it right now?
Stan: I can give you a very brief answer for this one. It was tough as
hell!
Mark: Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman and Kirby have all been honoured with not only lifetime awards, but entire award ceremonies named after them year after year. Not to denigrate those guys in any way (because they were some of the greatest voices the industry has ever known), but I think it’s fair to say that nobody has achieved more for the industry than you have. Isn’t it time for The Stans?
Stan: Hey, that would be nice. I just wish “Stans” had more of a ring to it. The Stanies? The Stanlees? Too bad my name isn’t Oscar or Emmy.
Mark: Who would be your first call if you were reinstated as Marvel EIC
tomorrow morning?
Stan: I’d keep most of the great artists and writers they presently have, but I’d do my best to bring Harlan Ellison, Michael Chabon and writers of that ilk into the fold.
Mark: As a kid, it used to disturb me when I found out that all the writers I liked ended up being fat guys with beards who looked a lot like Charles Manson. Thankfully, you always had more of a Hugh Hefner thing going on and looked as if you’d be more at home in the Playboy mansion than a Star Trek convention. How did you avoid the fat-guy-with-a-beard curse in a job where you spend all those hours sitting on your backside?
Stan: Wouldja believe that during the ‘50s and ‘60s, when I did my greatest amount of writing, I would write standing up. I’d put a small carton atop a bridge table and put my typewriter on top of that and pound away for hours. I did it because I felt it was the closest I could come to exercising while writing hour after hour after hour. Although I did have a cool beard for a few years.
Mark: Your career goes back through Clinton and Reagan, Vietnam, JFK
and Ike. You started writing funny-books when FDR was still in office and Hitler was a tangible threat to Britain and America. And yet here you are still the most famous writer in the industry, in terms of mainstream recognition, with cameos in the Marvel movies now as important to the kids as Alfred Hitchcock in North by Northwest. Any tips on longevity?
Stan: Sure. The most important thing is—try not to die. The next thing is—be lucky. If there’s anything more important than luck I still haven’t found it. Of course, being a superstitious guy, I’m sure I’ll keel over right after I finish writing this and everyone will say, “Wasn’t that ironic? There he was telling how to live long, and pooof, he’s gone!” -Well, at least it would be dramatic, and what writer could want anything better than that?
Excelsior!
Mark Millar was born on December 24th, 1969. Growing up he was into all the same stuff you’re into and so, when the opportunity arose, he dropped out of university towards the end of his degree and became a full-time comic-book writer.