Meet the Geeks

Stan Lee. What more can be said about the legend? He was Marvel Comics. He co-created Spider-Man, Dr Strange, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and a host of others. He ran Marvel Comics. He was the pitchman for comic books as an industry and was integral to bringing it to the masses. Without his tireless plugging, and without his rich and deep comic work, he is the most prolific writer of the 20 th century, the most influential man in comics, and the best pitchman for the underdog. We talk about his influence, his wife Joan, his importance to society, and the moral compass that came with his work. #stanlee #stanleeforever #marvel #writing #comicbooks #comics #mcu Season 6, Episode 6 – Stan Lee (Extra Episode)

Steve Ditko. Despite his most famous co-creator credit, the creation of Spider-Man, Ditko never really seemed to really get his due. At Marvel, there was Stan Lee, almost single-handedly writing most of their books, and there was Jack Kirby who was drawing most of the titles. Ditko had always been “the other guy”. When I started reading comics, Spider-Man had already gone through Romita Sr, and Andru on the art chores, and Stan Lee wasn’t even writing the book anymore. I was introduced to John Byrne and Chris Claremont’s run on the team-up Spider-Man book called Marvel Team-Up. Sure I had read Spider-Man’s first appearance a bunch of times in various re-prints, but I had largely been unaware of Ditko or his influence. I was aware of Stan Lee and his larger than life writing ability, as it was often talked about reverently by everyone in the industry. Because I had been groomed on John Byrne’s Spider-Man, I was very receptive to John Buscema and John Romita Sr’s version of the hero. An...