1. RE: Stan Lee's dialogue: Spot-on, Doc. Stan's skill at differentiating characters via dialogue was, as you say, one of the things that really set MARVEL apart from DC. One thing that I always found interesting was how Stan was always fine-tuning the sound of his characters. For example, The thing got progressively more "lower-class" in speech as the years went on. Conversely, DR Doom and Reed Richards became increasingly polysyllabic and verbose.Some times, Stan would even reverse course.The Beast had a rather Ben Grimm-esque style, tough guy way of talking in his first appearance, but Stan must have decided that making the guy with an apelike build speak in an erudite fashion was more interesting.
2. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants: Interesting to see that Stan and Jack were quite fond of the "dark doppelganger" idea: The Frightful Four, The Masters of Evil, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, etc.Of course, of those three, it was the Brotherhood who had by far the greatest impact.
Stan Lee`s scripting was exactly what Jack Kirby needed, although I don`t think he realized it. In the early to mid60s, Lee was fresh, irreverent, bombastic as the situation required, and he mostly wrote dialogue that you could imagine people actually speaking.
But by 1968 or so, Lee was slipping badly. I think he was just over~extended, pounding out too many pages while editing the comics, going to meetings, making college appearances, giving interviews. He had passed his peak, repeating the same phrases and padding the wordage shamelessly. Some of his stuff from THE SILVER SURFER makes me cringe. But this happens to many writers, and even if they spend years treading water for a paycheck, it doesn`t invalidate good material they turned out earlier.
If you know the Beast from the movies and current comics, you might be surprised to see him looking so human. For the first decade, Henry McCoy could pass in public, maybe as slightly funny-looking with his long arms and huge feet but you know, you see odder looking specimens in a big city every day.
Particularly if you were old enough to have conducted business with the Hidalgo Trading Company.
What the heck is with that headpiece, Wanda? I doesn't look like the most comfortable thing to wear.
The Scarlet Witch also seems to have been a pioneer of that classic trick-or-treat safeguard--the full leotard worn under the skimpy costume.
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1. RE: Stan Lee's dialogue: Spot-on, Doc. Stan's skill at differentiating characters via dialogue was, as you say, one of the things that really set MARVEL apart from DC. One thing that I always found interesting was how Stan was always fine-tuning the sound of his characters. For example, The thing got progressively more "lower-class" in speech as the years went on. Conversely, DR Doom and Reed Richards became increasingly polysyllabic and verbose.Some times, Stan would even reverse course.The Beast had a rather Ben Grimm-esque style, tough guy way of talking in his first appearance, but Stan must have decided that making the guy with an apelike build speak in an erudite fashion was more interesting.
2. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants: Interesting to see that Stan and Jack were quite fond of the "dark doppelganger" idea: The Frightful Four, The Masters of Evil, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, etc.Of course, of those three, it was the Brotherhood who had by far the greatest impact.
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But by 1968 or so, Lee was slipping badly. I think he was just over~extended, pounding out too many pages while editing the comics, going to meetings, making college appearances, giving interviews. He had passed his peak, repeating the same phrases and padding the wordage shamelessly. Some of his stuff from THE SILVER SURFER makes me cringe. But this happens to many writers, and even if they spend years treading water for a paycheck, it doesn`t invalidate good material they turned out earlier.
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Particularly if you were old enough to have conducted business with the Hidalgo Trading Company.
What the heck is with that headpiece, Wanda? I doesn't look like the most comfortable thing to wear.
The Scarlet Witch also seems to have been a pioneer of that classic trick-or-treat safeguard--the full leotard worn under the skimpy costume.
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