Althouse: "I don’t analyze things too closely. I find the more you analyze, the more you get away from spontaneity."

December 30, 2015

"I don’t analyze things too closely. I find the more you analyze, the more you get away from spontaneity."

"I have only one rule: I just want to write a story that would interest me — that’s the only criterion I have. Am I eager to see how it ends? If these characters really existed, would I want to see what happens to them? … If I like something, there are bound to be millions of people who like it, too. And if they don’t, shame on them."

From "Excelsior! As Stan Lee turns 93 today, here are our 20 best Stan the Man quotes." ("Today" = 2 days ago.)

9 comments:

damikesc said...: Stan Lee is one of the more underrated creative minds of last century. His creations have generated billions in box office revenue and neither major comics company has made a lot of marketable names since Lee's output in the 1960's.; 12/30/15, 7:00 AM
Larry J said...: Shame on me, I guess, for not being into comics but give the man his due. He has created comic franchises that have been wildly successful.; 12/30/15, 7:25 AM
Peder said...: What an amazing life!; 12/30/15, 7:40 AM
Robert Cook said...: Within the comics community there is great contention as to how much of Lee's "creations" are his, and how much are actually those of the artists he worked with, (specifically Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko). I don't think it's an easy thing to determine, not a black and white matter. Even if, as I think is likely, much of what made their characters so unique and popular came wholly from the artists--and it's indisputable that the artists essentially wrote many of the stories, with Lee providing after-the-fact dialogue--it's also clear when reading the comics Kirby and Ditko made on their own that whatever it was that Lee brought to the work made it distinctive--and better--than what they produced without Lee's contributions. I think Kirby and Ditko, (the other Marvel artists not so much) should be considered as equal co-creators of these characters as Lee, and they should be commensurately rewarded financially. (Kirby is dead, but his family could benefit; Ditko is still alive and still goes to his mid-town Manhattan studio to work every day, apparently.); 12/30/15, 8:51 AM
Gahrie said...: The sad thing about Stan Lee, is that he has less respect for the "art" he created than his fans do. Lee was always embarrassed about what he did.; 12/30/15, 8:53 AM
damikesc said...: Shame on me, I guess, for not being into comics but give the man his due. He has created comic franchises that have been wildly successful.

Yeah, the only major Marvel movie franchise he didn't really have any involvement with was Guardians of the Galaxy. All of the others were largely him.; 12/30/15, 9:11 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I saw Lee at a convention in 2013 or 2014. He was taking audience questions (with Roy Thomas acting as a human hearing aid) and was asked if there was anything he regretted not doing in his life. The answer was (approximately): "No, everything I wanted to try, I did. Not all of it worked, but I got to take a shot at it all."

What a great thing to be able to say about your life!; 12/30/15, 11:56 AM
Christy said...: Huge Marvel fan as a kid; DC bored me. Then in 8th grade I decided to put away childish things (even though many Marvel letters to the editor were from servicemen) and sold my entire collection. Two stacks higher than the kitchen table tied together with twine containing single digit issues of both Thor and Spiderman. To my great shame I continued to read fairy tales and was oh so relieved when Italo Calvino's Italian Folktales was published in English to critical acclaim in '75. Still don't know whether I loved Thor comics because I loved mythology or whether Thor drove my love of mythology.

Didn't buy another comic book for many years until DC published Sandman volumes by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman has mined mythology for many of his novels and so feeds right into my interests.

I do remember both Lee and Kirby and the other Marvel artists getting prominent heavily exclamation-marked by-lines on the first page. They, too, were treated like superheroes.; 12/30/15, 12:03 PM
William said...: I don't think Schuster and Siegal, who first created Superman, died broke, but they didn't die rich and laden with honors. So much in life doesn't depend on talent or the breaks, but the era in which you had talent or the breaks........Stephen Foster sold the rights to O Susanna for ten dollars. Paul McCartney must be one of the thousand richest men on planet Earth.; 12/30/15, 2:28 PM