Stan Lee Photo: Mat Szwajkos (Getty Images)
On Friday, Disney+ released Stan Lee, a documentary about the (self-described) visionary creator of much of the Marvel Comics canon, utilizing a wealth of archival footage, clips from Lee’s cameo appearances in superhero films, and voice-overs by Lee himself – was included sometime before his death in 2018 as the man was nothing more than a proud self-promoter. However, not much time is spent in the documentary on Jack Kirby – the visionary creator of much of the Marvel Comics canon.
Stan Lee | Official Trailer | Disney+
Most comic book fans are aware that there has been a dispute for decades over who gets credit for creating just about everything in comic books and for becoming the literal face of from the ’60s until his death Marvel has done, Lee had the benefit of being able to say, “I co-created all of these things with my fantastic ideas,” while no one else — like Kirby or Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko — really got a chance to chime in. This weekend , Kirby’s son Neal Kirby (via his daughter Jillian Kirby’s Twitter account) shared a statement reacting to the documentary, which is quite vicious in its exploration of Stan Lee mythology.
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The statement acknowledges that this is a documentary about Lee, so obviously it will be about Lee, but Kirby points out that Lee has always made things about himself (especially since Jack Kirby died decades before Lee), even if it strains credibility. “Can we assume it was never the other co-creator who walked into Lee’s office and said, ‘Stan, I have a great idea for a character!'” the statement reads, saying no to Lee: ” It was always his idea.”
Kirby’s post states that there is a moment in the documentary when it comes to Lee and Ditko’s argument, but Lee’s argument is that Spider-Man was “his idea” and therefore he “created the character”. , but Kirby points out that the Opera Del Duomo commissioned Michaelangelo to make a statue of David in 1501, but everyone calls it Michelangelo’s David because it was “his genius, his vision, his creativity” that actually made it possible (leave it to Jack Kirby’s son to compare Spider-Man convincingly). to Michelangelo’s David).
Kirby goes on to say that Lee has had “35 years of unrivaled publicity” since his father retired from comics in the ’80s and that it’s “overdue time to get at least that one chapter of literary/art history right.” . He then ends his statement with a very pointed “‘Nuff said,” a catchphrase Lee used in his old “Stan’s Soapbox” columns at the end of Marvel Comics when he felt he had made a valid point.