One way he influenced the comic book world was by revolutionizing the way characters behaved in his stories. Many of the characters in the older comic books were given makeovers to make the audiences like them more because they were flat and lacked emotion. This was called the Silver Age of Comics. The older characters lacked a personality. Stan Lee was an office assistant at Timely Comics in 1939 and soon after that he became an interim editor in the 1940s (Stan). When Martin Goodman, the publisher of Marvel Comics, Timely Comic’s new name, since 1939, asked Stan Lee to create a team of superheroes better than the Justice League of America, their rival in comic books, Stan Lee had his doubts. Mr. Goodman thought that comic books should be dumbed down because they were for “stupid children.” Stan Lee did not agree with Martin Goodman’s idea. Stan Lee already wanted to quit, so his wife advised him to go ahead and write the story the way he wanted to write it. If Goodman fired him it would be okay since he already was contemplating quitting. Lee decided to write a story about four people who got superpowers after an accident in space. They were completely different from other superheroes because they did not wear costumes. The story was also based in New York City instead of Metropolises or Gotham City like Superman and Batman. These characters also had a real personality along with a real job, no secret identity, or alter egos. This story was known as the Fantastic Four. It was extremely different than many other comic books. (Garcia)
In addition to, revolutionizing characters, Stan Lee made many of his comic books intricate and interesting compared to simple boring comic books in the past. His intricate comics had to do with his...
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...ever imagined that he would be so famous over comic books.
Stan Lee changed the world in many great ways. He was an iconic comic book writer that went on to change the characters in comic books, he made comics evolve from simple to intricate, and he made comic book personalities come to life when put on the television screen. Stan Lee had no doubts that comic books would still be popular even when other things are in the way. A few statistics that prove how Stan lee changed the world are first Marvel Comics took away the top spot from DC comics on the percentage of comics sold with Marvel at 39.06 percent sold and DC at 26.38 percent. Also another one is the first Marvel Comics number one was sold at 350,000 dollars (“Marvel Movies”). Stan Lee revolutionized comic books in many different ways. He will always be remembered by what he did in the entertainment world.
Somewhere around 1939 and 1941 Detective Comics and its sister organization, All-American Publications, presented well known superheroes, for example, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, the Flash,
In the comics, the look on Green Arrow’s face is one of any concerned father, older brother, or friend, that discovers a loved one in this predicament. As the problems in America in the 1960s and 1970s evolved to become more complex, so to did the conflicts of superheroes. One can’t simply punch drug abuse in the face (though not for lack of trying in the comics.) The 1980s birthed, the Watchmen, and the Dark Knight Returns, dragging these dark elements of society into these funny book pages. By infusing these darker struggles of society into comics, they were transformed into some of the best graphic novels reflecting reality.
Chabon asserts that comic books used to be extremely popular among people of all ages, but children were the main audience. Through the years, authors aimed to get a larger adult audience interested in comics. They started changing
Let’s discuss a little bit of comic book history for starters. The most iconic superhero in all of American comic book history has got to be Superman. He was created near the beginning of superhero comic books and debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938[1]. He would remain as the blueprint for many superheroes for years to come as the atypical white American male. But as the years go by there were comic book heroes that came out that go against this archetype such as Wonder
To conclude, the graphic novel Watchmen presents the non-fantastic representation of a superhero, implying that not all heroes are like Superman. This notion is explored within the novel by mentioning the realistic motives of the characters choosing to become superheroes, by Rorschach’s representation and through the heroic reactions of the New Yorkers to a street crime. These elements all contribute to Watchmen’s uniqueness and complexity as a superhero comic.
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen is a prime example of a “modern classic”. The densely layered graphic novel has received worldwide acclaim and become a perennial bestseller, garnering more attention and mainstream acceptance for the comic book form than it had arguably ever enjoyed previously as a medium. Obviously, a novel of this magnitude and complexity contains many memorable and important chapters and moments and any number of arguments could be made as to which of them are the most memorable and important. Instead, this argument will question which chapter within Watchmen is the most important to the actual understanding of the novel and the complex themes and motifs it presents.
McCloud, Scott. “Time Frames”, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.
Superman has had many alterations by American artists throughout the years. In the year 1938, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel sold the well known American Icon Superman to DC Comics. They created this character as high school teens in 1933. In a short period of time Superman was being seen from newspaper strips to television programs, films and video games. Siegel grew up loving science fiction to the point of writing stories and submitting them to publishers only to be denied; this did not make him give up. Shuster also had a passion for science fiction stories and when he met Siegel in 1931 they instantly connected as they both had a very strong taste for the genre. One might portray Superman differently than the other but Shuster and Siegel originally created him to wear a blue costume, red cape, and a red and yellow “S” shield on his chest. Some changes made by artists include modifying of his costume by adding gloves and sometimes short sleeves and differences of his face and body structure.
Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel 's modern name dates from 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others. Marvel includes well-known characters such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, the Silver Surfer, She-Hulk, Daredevil and Ghost Rider, such teams as the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy and the X-Men, and villians such as Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Kingpin, Magneto, Doctor Doom, Loki, Thanos, Hydra and the Red Skull. Most of Marvel 's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locations that mirror real-life cities. Characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Daredevil and Dr. Strange are based in New York City,
Daniels, Les (1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Harry N. Abrams. p. 37. ISBN 0-8109-3821-9.
Finegersh, Alex. "Stan Lee Gives Back to the Real Super Heroes!" Backstage at Miller PR. Miller PR, 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
“The precise era of the Golden Age is disputed, though most agree that it was born with the launch of Superman in 1938.” (PBS) The tremendous success that Superman had created many spinoff superheroes such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash, who had superpowers and secret identities. One of these spinoffs was Captain America. Part of Timely Comics and created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America ended up being arguably the most popular superhero during the Golden Age.
Every child in the United States has heard or read the Marvel and DC comics books. If you have not then you have probably have heard of their characters like the famous star spangled hero, Captain America, or the Dark Knight himself, Batman. Both Marvel and DC has influenced the children and adults of American in its darkest times. The great wars affected many by its poisonous grasps, and its victims sought comfort with the antidote provided by the marvelous illustrators and writers of comic books. Now their cinematic counterparts are here to inspire the 21st century. The Marvel and DC cinematic universes have similar content, they both have unique characteristics that set them apart.
However, this popularity has fluctuated throughout history. In the past few decades, demand for comics in the print media had been falling, in part due to the successes of other children 's media, such as cartoons. “Our biggest fear was that that audience was going to get to a point where we weren 't able to build it up again,” says Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Comics, “and a lot of what we do would be branded lost because there was nobody out there reading it" (Martin 14). Luckily, comic creators realized that the stories were perfect for screen adaptations: "they 're full of spectacle [and] adventure with an emotional arc for the hero. That 's what movies have always been about” (Humphries). The promise of lucrative merchandise sales and cross-promotion undoubtedly encouraged production, as well. Comic books were first adapted for television in the 40s and 50s, and met with huge success. Thus, superhero television programs set the stage for the inevitable point when comics took to the big screen with the first Superman movie in 1978 (Humphries). This cinematic moment ushered in a tricking of other superhero feature films, which eventually became the flood of superhero films that is taking place in the 21st
The classic comic book is a polar opposite of the complex nature of poetry. The comic book is designed for the younger reader and possesses a simplistic nature that allows the creator to use visual media combined with short written dialog to tell a story. The pictures in a comic book are an integral part of the makeup of a comic book. The pictures allow the creator to portray the protagonist and antagonist in a way that is common to all readers. This however inhibits the use of imagination by the reader. The pictures are all an artist's interpretations of the actions and settings that make up each scene. When a person reads descriptive text with no pictures, it allows the reader to build a mental picture of each scene that is unique to his/her own personality. The comic book does not allow for this expressiveness in its prefabricated structure.