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Radiation Interrogation: Stan Lee & Jim McLaughlin
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Location: Blogs Atomic FalloutRadiation Interrogation |
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| Posted by: Jake Bell |
Wednesday, December 06, 2006 11:15 AM |
What are your overall impressions of the evening? How do you think people walked out of there feeling about what they'd seen?
Stan Lee:
Wanna know why I've been walking around with a big smile these past few
days? I spent a wild few hours Saturday night with Joe Quesada, the
best damn comicbook editor-in-chief I know, and with Kevin Smith, the
wittiest Hollywood hyphenate in town! Not only was the company great,
but it was for an equally great cause-- comicdom's own Hero Initiative!
Imagine
doing something for a worthy charity and having a chance to mix it up
with two totally terrific guys like Kevin and Joe at the same time!
However,
nothing's perfect. My problem was, I couldn't hear anything they were
mumbling, couldn't see anything because of the bright lights, and
didn't know what anyone was talking about anyway because I was too busy
wondering what I was missing on TV. Also, it was a real strain having
to hold myself back and trying not to be too much cleverer than those
two youngsters who were out there doing their best.
One thing,
though-- I was glad nobody asked me whose side I was on in the Civil
War series because I'm the kind'a guy who waits to see who comes out on
top and then yells, "Hey, I toldja they'd win!"
Jim McLaughlin:
I think it was a good, fun time, but also very heartwarming at the same
time. There were a lot of zingers back and forth between the guys.
Stan's always very "who knew back then what we were really doing?" and
Kevin is jokey about it, which made Joe kind of the dad who kept things
moving along and on topic, telling the kids to eat their vegetables.
Stan, though, is a riveting public speaker and I just think people
can't help but be moved when they hear some of the stories, especially
from some of the surprise speakers like Reggie Hudlin. To hear him talk
about growing up in East St. Louis and there not being any black
superheroes and then there was Black Panther and what it meant to
him--I really think Stan Lee is one of the most significant authors of
the 20th century, maybe the most significant.On that note, with all Marvel's new ventures into movies and other outlets, what do you think is Stan Lee's legacy outside of comics?
JM: Stan Lee is like Betty Crocker. I think a lot of people out there don't even know if he's a real guy. Some may remember his voice from the old "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" cartoon, but was he just a spokesman or what? He's done so much as a pitchman and an advocate for comics--and not just Marvel, but comic books in general. I bet if you went out on the street and asked 100 random people in Phoenix to name a comic book writer, 90 wouldn't be able to do it, nine would say "Stan Lee," and one would say Todd McFarlane, but only because they know he's the guy who bought those baseballs.
How much did Stan benefit from the fact there was no Wikipedia in the 1960's where people could go look up the effects of radiation?
JM: Stan's greatest contribution to the old Marvel stuff was making the implausible sound plausible. He used cosmic rays to create the Fantastic Four, so when he had to create the Hulk... "let's use... uh, gamma radiation..." Stan made a point during the show about his use of science--and limited knowledge of it--in creating his heroes, but what Stan did was just create stuff. He didn't sit down with focus groups and try to determine what kids wanted to read, he just wrote things and 99% of it worked and was great.
Joe mentioned one interesting point about scientists theorizing now that gamma radiation millions of years ago, bombarding tiny paramecium might have cause it to mutate, eventually opening the door to the creation of human life. It's just kind of funny to think that Stan Lee, just writing a comic book, may have been prescient about that.
Did he offer any explanation for the inordinate amount of radiation present in the Marvel Universe of the 1960's?
JM: I think it was just a product of the times. In 1961, '62, '63, you have to remember kids were watching "duck and cover" films in school. It was part of every day life that those pesky Ruskies were gonna nuke us some day, so you had people going to bed every night not knowing whether they were going to live until tomorrow. Stan took that daily concern about a nuclear threat and made it shape his comic world.
The focus seems to have been largely on Stan Lee, but Joe Quesada was on stage too. How much can you compare the work the two have done or the industry in Stan's time versus Joe's time?
JM: Honestly, there's not a lot of differences. I think that's because--and Joe's been saying this a lot lately--Joe thinks creators around Marvel need to have WWSD bracelets to remind themselves to ask "What Would Stan Do?" One thing that Joe does and Stan did that I think really draws them together is publish fearlessly. Don't worry about the difference between a cosmic ray and a gamma ray, just run with it.
Joe discussed that Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 were the first comics that got him hooked. Those were the drug issues that Stan wrote because the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked him to, but the Comics Code refused to approve. Stan said he didn't care and published them anyway. I see Joe operating in that same kind of fearless sense and that's where I think the similarities are much more notable than the differences.
Given that, what do you think Stan's feelings about the Marvel Universe of today are, with things like Civil War and Planet Hulk?
JM: Stan has a deep regard for Marvel, but one thing he--as a reader--hates is seeing recycled Stan Lee stories. As a reader, I can tell you he loves Civil War because it's something he never did. He loves Planet Hulk because it's something he never did. He understands that a lot of people liked what he did when they were growing up, and sometimes they want to do a Dr. Doom or Namor attacking New York story as an homage and a thank you, but he feels like "What's the point?" Unmasking Spidey, Hulk being sent to another planet, all the heroes fighting, those are the things Stan likes.
There was plenty of talk about Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Avengers, Hulk, how much discussion was there about Just Imagine or Ravage 2099?
JM: Uh... none. But actually Stan talked a lot about these Stan Lee Meets... books--which I think have been awesome. He kind of said the one thing he regretted that he never got to do much of was humor writing and how it's been such a blast to just write funny stuff. He's done enough drama and pathos, he says you're going to see a lot more fun, lighthearted stuff from him from now on. Of course, he says that, but I also know he's been doing a lot of thinking--he's 83 years old so at that point you kind of do a lot of that--about God and the afterlife, so I really don't think he's completely done being serious.
How does The Hero Initiative benefit from this?
JM: I'm still doing the math, but it looks like so far we brought in about $25,000. Of course there are costs that need to come out of that, but we also had a camera crew shoot the whole things and should have a DVD release in the near future. There are also a few cable networks talking about broadcasting a version of the evening, which will help contribute even more.
Having Kevin Smith nailed down in one place for so long, did anyone get a read on when we can expect Daredevil: Target #2?
JM: Nah. That's one riddle we couldn't solve. |
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