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| Accurate? You decide. |
When writing a comic book, there are two methods primarily used by writers. The first is the full script method. In this method, the writer details every single important aspect of the scene. He'll talk about how the page is laid out, the lighting, the blocking of the characters, the angles from which we are seeing the scene, and the specific lines of dialogue and narration that will actually go into the final copy. The guy most famous for using this is Alan Moore, who, in one example, used forty single-spaced pages to describe the first twelve pages of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE. (You can read it here.) Now, Moore asks his collaborators what they want to draw first, but there's never any doubt that he's the writer, as it's he who controls the pacing and expressions. Still, since he and the artists he works with collaborate, Moore shares co-creator credit with his artists. David Lloyd is his co-creator in V FOR VENDETTA. JH Williams III co-created PROMETHEA. And so on. Moore never claimed sole credit for his works, and neither did Neil Gaiman, who also works full script.
Now, the other method for writers is the "plot-first" method. Using this method, the writer will just come up with a basic outline of the plot - maybe a page or two - detailing what happens. Then it's up to the artist to actually tell that story, applying pacing, mood, angles, lighting, and their own brand of drama into the pages. When they're done, the writer has to get the pages back and add the dialogue. This method is preferred by several writers, and one of the obvious reasons was time constraints. The method is also known as the Marvel Method, because it's the method Stan Lee used when working with his artists.
To compare and contrast, here's a page from an Alan Moore script for THE NEONOMICON. This is a single-spaced page. It describes one panel. (Thanks to Tim Stout for this.)
Meanwhile, here's Stan Lee's "writing" of FANTASTIC FOUR #1, which he then gave to Jack Kirby. This is two pages. It describes one story. (Thanks to the Shadow Sanctum for this one.)
Note how it's different from the actual final product, since Kirby obviously chose to do away with the whole "The Invisible Girl is always invisible" thing, and ended up making the Thing probably the most lovable character in the group. All right. So this is how Stan worked with his artists, and if plot were enough to classify one as the writer of the piece, then yes, Stan Lee would be the writer. But as any actual writer knows, more goes into writing than what happens in the story; there's the matter of pacing, drama, emotions, and all the other more abstract stuff that actually hook people on a story. (Case in point: boil WATCHMEN down to the plot. What is it? It's just an ensemble murder mystery, right?)
Now, to Stan's credit, he would give Kirby and Ditko co-plotter credit, while he would be credited as the scripter - which is true enough, in terms of dialogue, it's all Stan (at least as it pertains to the final product). In fact, some stories were pretty much all Kirby, like the classic FANTASTIC FOUR #50 (The Coming of Galactus!), which introduced the world-devouring Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer.
How was this all Kirby? Well, Stan Lee has gone on record, saying that in the middle of the story, there's all of a sudden a guy on a flying surfboard. The Silver Surfer was not part of the original plot, and Stan actually wanted him erased, and yet, here the Surfer was, taking up an incredibly significant part of the story. In effect, then, Jack Kirby wrote a very significant part of the story! I'm not sure how this could be contested.
And since he was the one who gave him his look and came up with the idea for him (that of an alien learning how to be human), Kirby solely created the Silver Surfer. While that idea may have been revised later by Stan Lee, defining the Surfer as a former human (albeit from a paradisical world) who had to give up his humanity, it doesn't make Stan the creator of the character any more than Frank Miller was the creator of Daredevil, or Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams the creators of Green Arrow.
Steve Ditko was the same way. Stan would give him a plot, and then it was up to Ditko to tell the story. After a while, Stan wouldn't even give him an outline; he'd just say something like "Hey, Steve, let's have the Green Goblin show up in this issue," and let Steve run with it. In particular, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 30-33, "The Master Planner Saga," was pretty much all Ditko. The classic sequence in which Spider-Man lifts a ton of machinery from himself, Stan admits, was all Steve's idea and had nothing to do with him.
So did Stan Lee write the stories for which most people credit him as writing? In part, yes, but it's important to note that he wasn't writing it alone. His artists were doing the bulk of the work for him. So, the entire Marvel team of artists were also a team of writers.
Give credit where it's due for the writing: to all of them.
But what about the creation?
Who should be credited for creating these characters? Who should be credited for the Marvel Universe? Is Stan Lee really unfairly credited? Is Duy giving too much credit to Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby? And again, where does the Merry Marvel Marching Society fit into all of this? Click here for the conclusion of Creating the Marvel Universe: Who Deserves the Credit? same Cube time, same Cube channel!
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