Steven Valdez

On 11/1/2023 at 1:30 PM, Dr. Haydn said:

I suppose this is a (rare) instance of Ditko playing to Stan's strengths as he plotted?

Those early Spider-Man stories had a lot of Betty and Veronica moments! Well, Betty and Liz.

On 10/29/2023 at 11:13 PM, Math Teacher said:

Let's eat, kids.
Let's eat kids.
Punctuation matters! 

I hope I wasn't outta line with that crack about DC comics being seemingly written and drawn by math teachers ... sorry about that, Chief.

On 10/29/2023 at 1:36 PM, Dr. Haydn said:

 

And that's OK--if the credits had read Story: Howard; Additional Dialogue: Thomas. I think there's some fine stuff in the Conan run, bit the credits are...misleading, to be charitable. 

I always found that Roy Thomas was only as good as the artists he worked with -- fantastic with Neal Adams and Barry Smith, not so great with Don Heck or Frank Robbins. It's almost as if the penciler does the bulk of the work and determines whether a comic will be outstanding or mediocre, irrespective of who scripts it at the end.

On 10/29/2023 at 1:06 AM, Prince Namor said:

Tottally agree.

But that 'ripping pages out of Robert E. Howard novels and highlighting parts of it to send to artists and say, "Here's next months Conan story" is pretty bad...

Roy often implied that his favourite work was adapting pulps and old classics. i.e. stories that had already been written.

On 10/27/2023 at 7:32 PM, Prince Namor said:

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1964

Strange Tales #122 - Written with a Touch of Sorcery by Stan Lee  Drawn with a Dash of Necromancy by Steve Ditko  Lettered with a Number 6 Pen Point by S. Rosen

The Doctor Strange stories have gone from 5 pages to 8 (settling on 10 in a few more issues), completely eliminating a need for Larry Lieber to do any filler stories in the book. At this point, Ditko and Lee are still discussing story ideas (per Ditko), but it's easy to see how much Ditko is bringing to the table in comparing it to the Human Torch story.

Prime Ditko Dr Strange playing second fiddle to butt-ugly D. Ayers' Human Torch filler...

On 10/19/2023 at 2:12 AM, Prince Namor said:

LEE: Actually, there is very little inspiration involved. You just sit down and figure it out. Do I need a new villain? What haven’t I used before?

I have no trouble believing that's the process whereby Mr Doll was dreamed up.

On 10/16/2023 at 11:26 AM, The humble Watcher lurking said:

I get a kick out of the response " Now Stan will NEVER let me put my name first!"

I am pretty sure that`s not Jack answering back, but it`s most likely Stan? 

 

The reply should have read;

"Hey, we think Jack's the greatest! And now that we're not slave-driving him so hard, wait'll you see what he comes up with next! I can't wait to write it after he's already written it!"

On 10/16/2023 at 5:41 AM, Prince Namor said:

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1964

Fantastic Four #28 - But, I have to wonder... of the hundreds of letters they get a month, why would Stan print THIS one. 

Ok. I wasn't REALLY wondering. I know darn well why. 

$10 to buy every issue of FF from #1 to #28... I'll take that deal! I hope Greg soon came to realise that Kirby was indeed the best artist in the comic industry.

On 10/12/2023 at 5:53 PM, The humble Watcher lurking said:

Movies as well. Compare the early 1960's movies to mid- 1960's movies like Rosemary's Baby, Planet of the Apes(1968) and 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Very true, which is why i prefer those later '60s movies. Although there was a tendency to be ultra-trippy and ponderous at times, as exemplified by Space Odyssey.

Comparing the level of violence in cowboy movies... The Magnificent Seven (1960) compared to The WIld Bunch (1969) ... quite a noticeable change there too.

On 10/11/2023 at 5:05 AM, Prince Namor said:

Ditko on this issue:

The Green Goblin was introduced in The Amazing Spider-man #14 (July 1964). The story guest stars The Hulk. (That cover plays a problem and solution that will be explained in an appropriate context.)

Stan's synopsis for The Green Goblin had a movie crew, on location, finding an Egyptian-like sarcophagus. Inside was an ancient, mythological demon, The Green Goblin. He naturally comes to life.

I rejected Stan's idea.

Why? For the same reason I rejected other ideas of Stan's on Spider-man. (Others to be explained in due time.)

The mythological creature was too far out for Spider-man. Since Peter Parker is a teenage costumed hero, I believed we should keep Spider-man's fiction from be- coming too fantastic. A mythological demon made the whole Peter Parker/Spider-man world a place where nothing is metaphysically impossible. It would open up the story line to anything goes. Any kind of idea is easier to come up with than the best idea for the character. But especially with a teenage hero, the story line's premise should show him growing up in a more stable, understandable environment, story world. That is why I showed so many panels with Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, and Peter Parker in school with classmates (which Stan did not like).

A line has to be drawn for what is acceptable and not acceptable for a character. (I even had magic limits on Dr. Strange. Amazing Spider-man Annual #2 (1965) featuring Dr. Strange, was, as an annual should be, a special event. It does not necessarily have to connect with the monthly adventures. And Spider-man was already long undercut with space aliens.)

Stanley should have been credited as a letterer, TBH. A preliminary letterer at best. That's literally what he did.

On 10/11/2023 at 4:37 AM, Prince Namor said:

I don't know about the comics, but the music may have had an additional stimulant helping out...

Depends if we're talking about comics or comix  

On 10/10/2023 at 7:52 AM, Mmehdy said:

I noticed that Kirby/Ditko paved the way for the 1968 creative explosion....it is great to see how marvel evolved step by step...thanks for the great postings...it appears the other creators "got it" and went with it....

It's uncannily similar to the evolution of popular music in the '60s. Primitive yet powerful in the early-mid decade, bursting into unmatched innovation and creativity circa '68.

On 10/7/2023 at 7:25 AM, Zonker said:

Robert Kanigher would like a word...

Ah, Kanigher was the one inspired by the Combat episode... thanks

On 10/6/2023 at 6:49 PM, Prince Namor said:

Not many people talk about it but Kirby's work in Our Fighting Forces 151-162 doing the Losers is a really good read!

Here's where Jack got the inspiration from:

On 10/6/2023 at 6:24 AM, Prince Namor said:

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1964

Sgt Fury #7 - 

Part TWO: 

Those Kirby Sgt Furys were action-packed to the max!

On 10/3/2023 at 7:29 PM, Prince Namor said:

It's all subjective. Some people read something when they're eight and it resonates with them forever. Some look back on what they thought was great at 8 and realize it wasn't what they thought it was. The movies took the artist's storylines and the artist's action and brought it to the big screen. They didn't copy that DIALOGUE. 

Stan used his PT Barnum talents to elevate himself through manipulation and lies, turning his back on everyone who played a part in allowing him to do it - Goodman, Kirby, Ditko...  At first Stan just wanted ONE hit, that he could milk and coast for the rest of his life. Kirby and Ditko gave him much more than that. And then Stan found he could manipulate an army of blind zombies that he could INDIVIDUALLY milk for the rest of his life. 

...and then just like one of his silly 'brain teasers', in the end, he was surrounded by leeches that just wanted a signature - handlers who used and abused him - and a greedy family who could never get enough.

Even in death, here comes Houseroy trying get his DUE... and Larry Lieber trying to nuzzle just a little more milk out of those zombie teets... and Disney with that siren song of ridiculous lies set to repeat... over and over and over... all blanketed in the soft, fuzzy comfort of 'good 'ol nostalgia!'

The way his life ended, with him surrounded by hangers-on and parasites, and allegations of sexual impropriety. Not a noble end, by any means.

On 10/3/2023 at 10:31 AM, Dr. Haydn said:

I think Lee mentioned in a late 70s era Stan's Soapbox (maybe early 80s?) that if Shakespeare wrote a comic book and Michelangelo drew it, then everyone would treat the resulting comic (and the genre as a whole) with the credit it deserved.

The difference is that Shakespeare and Michelangelo would have done a good job. Shakespeare and Don Heck, not so much.

On 10/3/2023 at 11:55 AM, Prince Namor said:

Earlier than that when Stan started speaking at college campus', the initial group of college dorks that invited him to Princeton in 1966,  called him the "this generation's Homer", which morphed into the 'Modern Day Shakespeare'. Maybe Stan felt like the average person wouldn't know who Homer was... In 1967 his publicity agent collected all of these college press articles and used them so much that it stuck, and the media has repeated it ever since.

Below is the article from 1966, where Stan says, "I pretend I'm Shakespeare", and then makes a bizarre comparison of himself to Sergei Eisenstein.

But no, he never specifically called himself the 'Modern Day Shakespeare', he just played it up, so that OTHERS would repeat it.

Maybe by 'this generation's Homer' they meant Homer Simpson?

Oh wait, 1966 was way too early for that reference.

On 10/3/2023 at 1:28 AM, Dr. Haydn said:

I think Stan was definitely on the right track when he instituted the No-Prize, and in general, made fun of their occasional errors. From what I recall, DC's Silver Age material in the mid-60s was relatively error free compared to Marvel--and a dull read most of the time.

The DC guys were actual sci-fi fans, so their pseudo-science rang a little bit more true than Stanley's.

On 10/2/2023 at 11:12 AM, Prince Namor said:

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1964

 

 

Tales of Suspense #54 - Story Plot by Stan Lee  ---script & Art by Larry Lieber   Inked by Chic Stone   Lettered by Art Simek

As the Thing might say, "For someone who's just supposed to be 'watchin', this guy sure does a lot of yappin'!"

How is he a Watcher when his eyes are closed in just about every panel?

On 10/2/2023 at 10:54 AM, Prince Namor said:

 

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1964

Tales of Suspense #54 - Growing up I WANTED to like Iron Man - I thought he looked cool - but usually the artists they had drawing the book (Bronze Age - Great Romita cover, but George Tuska interiors) didn't really grab my interests, and... I just thought the stories were dumb. Looks like it wasn't much different in the Silver Age...

I laugh every time I read about Iron Man's 'Transistors'... and seriously? Roller Skates?

Doesn't his propulsion come from under his feet? If so, the first panel makes no sense.

As if the second panel does make sense!

On 10/1/2023 at 6:00 AM, Dr. Haydn said:

Marvel made a big deal out of it (in the late 70s, I think), when their subscription copies were (finally!) mailed flat. No crease down the middle to spoil the resale value!

That's right, i had to subscribe to Hulk, Spidey and FF (my faves) in the late '70s because they stopped distributing them in Australia for a couple of years. They were mailed 'flat' but in flimsy envelopes and would always be damaged. They were sent via surface mail too, so would take 6 to 12 weeks to arrive!

Still, it made my day whenever I saw one sticking out of the mailbox as i walked up the road from school. Around 1980 I started mail-ordering new issues from a direct sales provider in Canada (favourable exchange rate at the time) that were well packaged. I went in with a couple of friends and we were buying multiples of Moon Knight #1, Wolverine mini-series, Byrne X-Men and Miller Daredevils for way below cover price.

I've often wondered why Marvel and other publishers didn't sell their own back issues through the mail, seeing as how so many excess issues were always printed. Surely they knew all their early issues were going for multiple of cover prices after only a few months. They did make back issues of their B&W magazines available for sale in the '70s, but never the regular comics. Obviously something to do with distribution terms.

On 9/30/2023 at 1:00 PM, Zonker said:

Triumph of hope over experience?  Or, if comics really were 90% impulse buy items back then, perhaps a recognition that publishers had to flood the newsstands with product just in case the demand showed up?  And they'd never know where exactly that impulse would hit, so would need to cover each town's drugstores, grocery markets, bus stops, etc, just in case?

 

It probably didn't cost much more to print 300,000 than 200,000. Printing costs are still much like this today, where it's almost free to get extra copies beyond a certain price-point.

On 9/30/2023 at 11:05 AM, Dr. Haydn said:

One thing I don't get--if this comic (for example) was selling consistently in the 190,000 range, why was the print run around 320,000? That means Marvel was (knowingly!) pulping around 40% of the print run every month. Yet, it seems this was the way the business was done throughout the early history of comic books.

The practice continued throughout the '70s as well. But the excess wasn't really being pulped, it was ending up on the black market.