Review: Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee

Writer: Stan Lee
Artists: Jack Kirby, Al Avison, Joe Maneely, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, Marie Severin, John Buscema, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, John Romita Sr., Gil Kane, Barry Windsor-Smith, Darick Robertson
Collects: Captain America Comics #3 & 16, Suspense #29, Amazing Adult Fantasy #11, Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #11 & Annual #3, Daredevil #7 & 47, Silver Surfer #5, Thor #179-181, Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 & Annual #5, Marvel Premiere #3, Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special 1995 (1941-1995)
Published: Marvel, 2005; $29.99

When Marvel launched its creator-focused line of oversized Visionaries hardcovers in late 2004, it only made sense to start with the two most prominent figures in Marvel history: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. For both books, the process of selecting which issues to include couldn’t have been an easy one. Perhaps it’s wise, then, that instead of trying to create “best of” collections for either, Marvel opted to create volumes that simply give the reader a feel for the sheer range of these creators’ talents. Indeed, Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee excludes a fair number of stories I would have numbered among the writer’s “greatest,” but that’s quite all right – after all, you would need multiple books to collect all of those stories, and the ones they did choose do just as good a job of demonstrating the sheer diversity of Lee’s talent.

The book opens with a great biographical introduction to Lee, written by longtime Marvel writer Roy Thomas (who was himself the subject of his own Visionaries collection); it’s a great crash-course on the writer’s history at Marvel, especially if you haven’t read anything else by or about him. Lee’s first-ever published work, from the pages of Captain America Comics, occupies the first few pages. While it’s fairly primitive in comparison to Lee’s later work, the stories are still interesting to see – and hey, you have to start somewhere, right?

The years between Lee’s first work in the Golden Age and the debut of the Fantastic Four in 1961 make up the most underrepresented time period in this collection, with only a few short stories from the mid-1950s. They’re nothing to write home about, really, although “The Raving Maniac,” a commentary on the public outcry against comic books going on at the time, is kind of amusing. The real meat of this collection comes in the form of Lee’s Silver Age superhero work, and this book delivers a great variety of characters and artists. It would have been easy for Marvel to include a ton of origin stories in this book, but luckily, they only include one – Spider-Man’s, which is arguably Lee’s best.

From here, the superhero stories range from an early issue of Daredevil – featuring an unlikely fight between the title character and the Sub-Mariner – to some of Lee’s final work as a regular writer at Marvel, including a Bronze Age Dr. Strange comic drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith. Along the way, the book showcases Lee’s ability to tell short, self-contained stories (such as a quick FF tale answering some of readers’ most frequently asked questions), in addition to well-developed, multi-issue arcs.

The first arc in the collection is a three-part Thor story in which Loki tricks the thunder god into switching bodies with him. Unaware of Loki’s evildoing, Odin banishes Thor (in Loki’s body) to Mephisto’s realm, while the actual Loki runs rampant in Midgard. The story is actually more notable for its art than its writing – it features Jack Kirby’s final work on Thor, and some of Neal Adams’ first at Marvel – but it’s a good example of the overblown, faux-Shakespearean style Lee was fond of using in comics dealing with gods and god-like characters.

Taken by itself, the Thor story might lead someone new to Lee’s writing to believe that he’s simply a cheesy writer. However, the book follows this story with an extremely well-grounded story arc from Amazing Spider-Man, which features Harry Osborn’s battle with drug abuse and the return of the Green Goblin. The drug subplot is a notable one in comics history, as it made Amazing Spider-Man one of the first mainstream comic books to be published without the Comics Code Authority’s seal of approval. Lee had actually been personally asked to do a story dealing with substance abuse by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the backlash resulting from the Code’s refusal to approve it led to a loosening of its restrictions and a more progressive era in comics in the years that followed. But the thing that’s most impressive about the story is how subtly it gets its message across and how intricately Lee weaves it into what otherwise simply would have been a tale about the return of one of Spider-Man’s old enemies.

The book ends by reprinting a number of vintage pages containing Lee’s famous “Stan’s Soapbox” column, and these are a real treat. The column was his way of connecting with readers on a regular basis and letting them know what was going on behind the scenes at Marvel (remember, these were the days before Twitter!). They make me eager for a complete collection of these pages; and yes, it’s true that the Hero Initiative published a book with just the text of the columns themselves, but I’d love to see a book consisting of scans of the pages in their entirety.

Whether you’re a new or old fan of Stan Lee, this book is a great read. It represents a huge variety of his work, some of which is a far cry from the sort of thing we’re used to seeing reprinted again and again in these types of collections. There are relatively few duds, too, the only real one being a short Spider-Man story (reflecting on the 1995 death of Aunt May) that Lee wrote long after he had stopped working in comics on a regular basis. Even despite its relative weakness in comparison to his other work, though, it contributes to the collection’s goal of showing that Lee is a writer unafraid to tackle any kind of story – not to mention one who almost always delivers a fun and entertaining experience in the process.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Review: The Action Heroes Archives, Vol. 1

Writers: Steve Ditko, Joe Gill, and David Kaler

Artists: Steve Ditko and Rocke Mastroserio
Collects: Space Adventures #33-40 & 42; Captain Atom #78-82 (1960-66)
Published: DC, 2004; $49.99

No one knows for sure why Steve Ditko left Marvel in the mid-1960s. It almost certainly had something to do with his negative feelings toward Stan Lee and the direction in which the popular series he co-created, Amazing Spider-Man, was headed – but since Ditko simply quit without giving an explanation to Lee or anyone else, it’s impossible to tell whether there was something more to it, or, if Lee himself was indeed the reason, which straw it was that finally broke the camel’s back. There are two things we do know, however. The first is that his reason for leaving had little to do with money; when he returned to Charlton (one of his first employers), he was making far less than he had been at Marvel. It also certainly wasn’t to make better comics, as The Action Heroes Archives, Vol. 1 shows us.

Now, that isn’t to say that Ditko specifically set out to make bad comics after he left Marvel. What he wanted more than anything else was creative freedom – something he’d never felt he truly had under the aegis of Stan Lee, who at the time was Marvel’s top writer, editor-in-chief, and publisher, all at once. And creative freedom is what Ditko got at Charlton, a company known less for the quality of its comics than for its ability to churn out vast amounts of mediocre product each month. (In fact, Charlton’s comics division was a mere sideshow to their magazine and songbook departments; the company published comics only because it was cheaper to keep the printing presses running than to turn them off and on repeatedly.)

Ditko had worked for Charlton before, at the beginning of the decade, and his first act upon returning was to revive Captain Atom, a character he had co-created for the company in 1960 with writer Joe Gill. The original, Gill-written stories are all reprinted in this first Action Heroes Archives collection; in fact, they comprise more than half of the book. From an artistic standpoint, they’re fairly good – in the issues where he inks his own work, Ditko is at his pre-Marvel peak – although the small page count allotted for each story (usually just five or seven pages) easily puts paid to any attempts at character development whatsoever.

Gill and Ditko give us the bare essentials – namely, an origin story and an alter ego – and not much else. Captain Atom is, in reality, military scientist Captain Adam (clever, right?); his power set is vague, he has no recurring love interest, and no apparent motivation to do good aside from blind patriotism. Most of the stories involve some Soviet threat or another, almost always in the form of deadly nuclear missiles bound straight for the U.S. of A. And I do mean always.

There were a few times, as I approached the end of a story, that I breathed a sigh of relief in the false belief that there would be no missiles this time around, but then – nope, there they were again in the last few pages or panels. Kids reading these stories at the time must have felt incredibly safe knowing that Captain Atom was out there single-handedly destroying the world’s nuclear arsenals at least twice over. There are occasional bright spots, though. One story, in which a little boy’s dreams transport him to a distant galaxy where he rides giant green space-birds, is a fun, space-age homage to Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland. For the most part, however, the comics from before Ditko’s pre-Marvel days just aren’t very impressive.

The real highlight of this book is Ditko’s work from 1965-66, around the time that he left Marvel. Finally free from editorial influence, he really cuts loose with these stories, which are now long enough to support at least some form of character development. Whereas the early stories mainly had Captain Atom fighting communists and the occasional alien invader, the later ones are much more straightforwardly super-heroic. Atom soon gains an archenemy in the form of Dr. Spectro, a mad scientist who uses color and light as his weapons. Later, he teams up with the super-heroine Nightshade in what borders on a full-out espionage story. Their target, a villain called the Ghost, is an unabashed rip-off of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange in the visual department, even if his characterization is quite different from either.

The stories aren’t bad, but they don’t hold the slightest candle to Ditko’s work on Amazing Spider-Man. Most of them are inked by Rocke Mastroserio, whose brushwork actually stifles some of Ditko’s signature charm. But if you’re a Ditko enthusiast like me, then you’ll probably enjoy these comics on some level anyway, just as I did. When you love the work of a particular creator or artist (whether in comics, film, literature, music, or anything else), even their lesser works are interesting in their own way, and that’s certainly the case with the first volume of The Action Heroes Archives. In other words, it’s worth looking into, but only if you’re already a fan of Steve Ditko; otherwise, there’s probably not too much to see here.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, Vol. 1

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
Collects: Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-38 & Annual #1-2, Fantastic Four Annual #1, and Strange Tales Annual #2 (1962-66)
Published: Marvel, 2007; $99.99

Writing about this collection of Spider-Man’s earliest appearances is the best way I can think of to start a blog about graphic novels and collected editions because, in a way, the final issue of Amazing Fantasy is an origin story for Spider-Man and for myself. While only one of us gained superpowers from the bite of a radioactive spider, the issue did serve as an introduction to the comic book world for us both. Just as Spider-Man made his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, my first experience with comic books was reading early Spider-Man comics in hardcover Marvel Masterworks collections I found at the library. At the time, I was already enthralled by the character by way of the (then-current) animated series, and the original Lee/Ditko comics captured my imagination in a way that excited me just as much, if not even more.

What has always distinguished Spider-Man from other superheroes for me, especially in his first appearances, is how relatable he is. He has problems at work and school, and he struggles to maintain healthy relationships with his friends and family. He has a real life, one that’s often more important and more interesting than his life as a crime-fighter. That’s what made him stand out to me when I read his stories as a child, and it’s why, despite a huge expansion in my comic book interests since then, he’s still my favorite comic book character today. And it’s why I titled this blog after the character’s personal mantra: “With great power…there must come great responsibility!”

I think it’s certainly safe to say that The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, Vol. 1 captures this spirit more fully than any other collection ever published. Weighing in at nearly 8 pounds and over 1000 pages, the book’s massive size is befitting of the character’s long, rich history. I often describe the Omnibus to friends as my “desert island” book – the one volume which, in the hypothetical event that I were to be stranded on a desert island with only one book, I would choose to take with me. (Not only would I be entertained for hours on end, but I imagine the book would be a very effective instrument for clubbing small to moderate-sized animals over the head.)

There are some truly wonderful stories in this collection for Spider-Man fans new and old. Some of my favorites include the first appearances of J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle staff, Peter Parker’s high school graduation, and Spider-Man’s attempt to join the Fantastic Four – by force! Most of the character’s well-known rogues gets their start here as well, with Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, Mysterio, the Lizard, and more all putting in appearances. In one of the book’s most memorable stories (originally printed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1), several of them combine their efforts to take down Spider-Man by joining forces as the Sinister Six. With a massive, double-length story and a number of stunning splash pages sprinkled throughout, the story is one of the high points of the Lee/Ditko partnership.

Their collaboration reaches its peak, in my opinion, in the “Master Planner” story from Amazing Spider-Man #31-33. In one of the most famous sequences in superhero comics, Spider-Man saves himself from being crushed and drowned by lifting several tons of metal off his back, silently contemplating his friends and family throughout his efforts. His life, in essence, flashes before his eyes. It's a perilous situation that could have been resolved quickly and easily by Lee and Ditko, but instead it becomes a half-issue, pathos-infused character study that serves to remind us of what makes Spider-Man such a wonderful character in the first place.

Not every single issue is a knockout, but the truth is that there’s rarely a dud to be found here – there are only a few toward the end, when Ditko is clearly beginning to lose some of his steam. (Ditko would be replaced by John Romita with Amazing #39, and the Omnibus collects every issue up to that point.) Spider-Man was one of Stan’s favorite characters to write, and it shows on nearly every page. Even the really goofy stories, like Spider-Man’s fight with the “Living Brain,” a robot terrorizing Midtown High School, never fail to bring a smile to my face even if they’re not quite the pinnacle of comic book storytelling.

One of the biggest draws of this book is that all 40-plus issues are collected as they were originally published. That means, among other things, the reprinting of original letters pages for the first time, many of which contain letters from future comic book creators. There are a few places, admittedly, where the color restoration is a bit obvious, but unlike some other reprints (in particular, the notorious Barnes and Noble volumes published several years ago), the colors haven’t actually been changed from what they were originally. The oversized pages bring Ditko’s artwork to life in a way that’s bigger and bolder than any other collection published to date, and a number of cover galleries, unused pencils, and essays by Stan Lee and others help to round out the volume as a whole.

For people who grew up reading Spider-Man comics, The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus is a great way to relive those memories in one convenient place – memories well worth re-exploring because, unlike so many other things that captured our imaginations as children, Spider-Man actually withstands the test of time. If, on the other hand, you’ve never read the original Spider-Man comics before, this book is a good place to start. If you’re wary of taking the hundred-dollar plunge demanded by this particular collection (less on Amazon and other online retailers), there’s no reason to pass these comics up – the same material has been collected more inexpensively elsewhere, although in at least one case (the Essential Spider-Man series) at the expense of color. The best alternative is probably the Marvel Masterworks series I mentioned at the beginning of this review, which is finally seeing some very nice softcover reprints. The Omnibus is still the way to go, in my opinion, for its oversized pages and extra content, but you really can’t go wrong either way. These stories are the reason I started reading comics and they’ll always mean something special to me, no matter what format Marvel decides to collect them in.

Rating: 5 out of 5