SOAP BOX MEGAPHONE_0016

 

  

There is no way to "solve" the riddle of who "created" the Marvel characters without understanding the power of the megaphone pulpit that Stan wielded. Digital collage by Rick Arthur.

"I felt that comics grew because they became the common man's literature, the common man's art, the common man's publishing" - Jack Kirby

Stan Lee was ahead of his time. There was no internet or social media back in the 60s and 70s, so he invented it on paper - by using a "soap box" to promote his company. Make no mistake that Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and the rest of the artists were NOT equals. Stan held all the power in the relationships, and he "owned" the megaphone he wielded. Stan built the Marvel brand by hawking it to whoever would listen, as often and as loud as he could. The month that the Fantastic Four launched, Kirby penciled over 100 pages of content for Marvel. What captured the imagination of the reading public at that time was how different the Fantastic Four was from the rest of the comics on the stands. The images were bold, larger than life, and fresh takes with sweeping, dynamic, powerful action sequences.

What promises were made to Jack or Steve? We don't hear a lot about Ditko, in comparison, because he always remained relatively silent about his falling out with Marvel. The artists were (and still are...) treated like replaceable cogs by management. Stan built the Marvel brand, no doubt, but it was built on the backs of giants like Jack and Steve. I think of Stan as a cross between PT Barnum and Ray Kroc - but in the tiny, corrupt, brutal cage-match world of comic publishing. So, there is a talent in that, a kind of world-building/brand-building component-type of skill that Stan had which other comic publishers/editors did not have. Stan was a natural huckster, a self-made internet influencer, before the internet. Many picture Stan and Marvel as being interchangeable or Stan and comics as interchangeable, based solely on the wall-to-wall hype he created.

This picture was achieved in a variety of ways. Mostly, having the last and loudest word in terms of narrating the brand on a micro and macro level gives the impression that he created everything. It is a notion that is hard to shake for many and countless books, articles, and documentaries seek to delve into the inner workings of the early 60s Marvel revolution.

Hype started on the covers with bold, commanding blurbs directing readers to pay attention to what was inside. Stan wrote the cover copy and orchestrated how the covers looked. The writing all conformed to one vision and one voice. Popping a comic open, Stan's name appears prominently in the credit boxes and those, too, are playfully worded by Stan. Splash pages often also included introductions to stories that guided the reader into the experience and told them what to expect. Again, one voice speaking directly to the reader and creating an emotional bond. You can't fault Stan Lee for good, catchy blurb writing and brand building. 

Perhaps his biggest contribution was Stan Lee's Soap Box, a space in the early comics that allowed Stan to really connect with readers personally. He hyped an imaginary "bullpen" of merry but hard-working artists and gave them all colorful nicknames, a shorthand to intimacy. Lee touted upcoming projects and both social and personal topics that appealed to him. He did this by congratulating and conspiring with his audience. Each soap box column also ended with Stan's distinctive signature which again cemented the emotional bond readers had with him and Marvel. Excelsior! Face front, true believers! Stan even popularized Marvel with a distinctive series of catch-phrases. In effect, his voice became a giant, loud, consistent component of the Marvel brand.

The potential problem here is that of accepting the words coming out of the megaphone as true. Based on Stan's position in the company as a dialogue writer, editor, and company figurehead, it can easily be forgotten that freelance artists and writers had no voice and no power in the relationship. They could not speak out and were treated as replaceable, being dependent on a page rate that kept many chained to the drawing table for ten plus hours a day, seven days a week. Voicing concerns might see an artist lose assignments or even be black balled in a tiny industry chugging away at the edge of oblivion. 

There were no safety nets for artists. No health insurance. No ownership. No profit sharing. No cut of licensing...

...And the continued message was always that everyone was replaceable - which kept wages down.

Readers did not understand this economic and power dynamic. In their minds, the hierarchy was clear. Stan made the comics. Everyone else, no matter how talented, drifted in and out but Stan's contribution was outsized, ever present, and constant. This is what you believed if you read the soap boxes.  

I know this is a brutal take on the situation. My view has shifted over time. I still love Stan. He contributed mightily to the development and outreach of comics as a pop culture form. Comics would not have grown without someone tirelessly fanning the flames. Comics and other industries are piled high with companies that failed to connect with audiences despite having quality products. Stan's hype helped fuel the reader's imagination. I won't entertain how Stan positioned himself in lectures, magazine articles, print interviews, on TV, and even in cameos in Marvel movies. He will forever be connected to comics and Marvel in an indelible way.

There is one last important area to touch on and that is the power of having the last word.

The Marvel Method ONLY works

if the artists are exceptionally strong storytellers.

A large part of the success of Marvel during the explosive period of the 60s was due to something called The Marvel Method. It sounds simple enough. A plot outline, often verbal and sometimes being just one or two sentences, would be given to an artist who would disappear and come back with finished pencil artwork fleshing out the entire story, all the visual elements, all the story beats, all the action. Having the story as artwork, the "writer", Stan, would dialogue the pages, get them off to letterers, inkers, and colorists then printing for the newsstands.

This was an important "innovation" for a variety of reasons. In a visual medium, it is a hundred times easier to stroke in dialogue with completed artwork in hand. The burden of crafting the story was shifted entirely to the artists. They did all the heavy lifting in terms of problem solving. There are many instances of the artists scrawling in key dialogue on the page margins of the original comic pages so that Stan could "read" the story before adding dialogue. This was a method that was custom suited to Stan and allowed him to say whatever he wanted over the top of the art and after the fact. In the comics' production line, he would have the last word.

It should be noted that there is a reason why this method was able to flourish during a certain period of time at Marvel. Stan held all the keys. Artists that he was working with already knew how to tell compelling visual stories. Kirby and Ditko in particular were products of art studios that encouraged independence. Kirby was already an innovator and large figure in the industry having invented or invigorated monster comics, horror, westerns, and romance comics before turning his sights back to his passion for science fiction/fantasy. Stan was not surrounding himself with blank-minded artists who needed their hand held. The early crew were independent, voracious readers, and brimming with experience in narrative storytelling. When given a chance to create, they stepped up to the drawing table and did.

This is the part that loses a lot of people in the conversation about "what is writing" in comics. Many people cannot wrap their heads around the lopsided contribution that the artwork makes in telling a story in a visual medium, especially if it is coming first in the creative process. It is totally misunderstood. Part of that misunderstanding is that the narrative about how comics are made, and the collaboration involved has been communicated solely by the writer, editor, or publisher. In Stan's case, he was using the megaphone of his soap box and other techniques to tell the story of "who" made the comics and how. He controlled every aspect of that message. It was a charming but wholly inaccurate representation and one that the artists never had the power or voice to rebut. The only options were to grin and bear exploitation by the boss or quit. Many quit.

This post is not meant to "prove" or "solve" anything in the debate about Stan, Jack, Steve, or early Marvel. It is an opinion, just a perspective and one that I have grown into over an extended period of time. Paradoxically, Stan's writing will always be overshadowed and indistinguishable from his hype and we can and should revisit his dialogue and determine how well he was able to write after the story was already there.

'Nuff said.

RICK

Billion Hero Studios

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