tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300559060189924423.post7678326144730615755..comments2024-03-17T21:10:29.428+00:00Comments on ComicAlly: Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe ReviewNoelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03936275600540998073noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300559060189924423.post-12573211148024741662015-08-11T07:47:55.113+01:002015-08-11T07:47:55.113+01:00Just as a side note to keep in mind, comics at the...Just as a side note to keep in mind, comics at the time marvel was founded, and really not until the early 1970s, were viewed almost strictly as a product, including by the artists. William Gaines (of EC Comics) spoke about how hard it was to break his artists and writers out of this production mentality. Despite all of Lee's shortcomings, he took the risk of throwing out the play book and redefining the big picture as to what level of emotion and maturity the comic book can handle. If you want an example of this, just pick up any DC comic from the 1960s and follow it by reading any Marvel comic from the same time. There is almost no comparison. Stan Lee wrote in the Marvel style because in the early days there was no other option. The comic medium was practically dead after the fallout of the congressional hearings of the 1950s and there was no money in comics anymore Anyone who still had a job had to wear a lot of hats. Steve Ditko was known to produce as many as five pages a day in the late 50s for Charlton because the pay scale had shrunken so significantly during that time. Kirby was able to survive for the same reason. It wasn't that Kirby was necessarily seen as one of the industry greats at that time, it was that he could produce enough to make money. Stan Lee knew that it was all done unless he reinvented it and made it all big, which entailed selling himself, the characters and the comics. Why he didn't stand up for Jack's art, I don't know. But without Stan it's highly possible that superhero comics would have stayed with same Archie type of formula that DC was doing until the early 1970s.xiombarghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05247809024894019458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6300559060189924423.post-64414411178091780332015-08-11T07:45:32.274+01:002015-08-11T07:45:32.274+01:00Just as a side note to keep in mind, comics at the...Just as a side note to keep in mind, comics at the time marvel was founded, and really not until the early 1970s, were viewed almost strictly as a product, including by the artists. William Gaines (of EC Comics) spoke about how hard it was to break his artists and writers out of this production mentality. Despite all of Lee's shortcomings, he took the risk of throwing out the play book and redefining the big picture as to what level of emotion and maturity the comic book can handle. If you want an example of this, just pick up any DC comic from the 1960s and follow it by reading any Marvel comic from the same time. There is almost no comparison. Stan Lee wrote in the Marvel style because in the early days there was no other option. The comic medium was practically dead after the fallout of the congressional hearings of the 1950s and there was no money in comics anymore Anyone who still had a job had to wear a lot of hats. Steve Ditko was known to produce as many as five pages a day in the late 50s for Charlton because the pay scale had shrunken so significantly during that time. Kirby was able to survive for the same reason. It wasn't that Kirby was necessarily seen as one of the industry greats at that time, it was that he could produce enough to make money. Stan Lee knew that it was all done unless he reinvented it and made it all big, which entailed selling himself, the characters and the comics. Why he didn't stand up for Jack's art, I don't know. But without Stan it's highly possible that superhero comics would have stayed with same Archie type of formula that DC was doing until the early 1970s.xiombarghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05247809024894019458noreply@blogger.com