About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2018)
Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com She (Times gainesvilletimes.com Tuesday, November 13, 2018 Even superheroes die Stan Lee, the architect of the contemporary comic book, dead at age 95 BY ANDREW DALTON AND DAVE ZELIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Stan Lee, the cre ative dynamo who revolutionized the comic book and helped make billions for Hollywood by introducing human frailties in Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk, died Monday. He was 95. Lee was declared dead at Cedars- Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to Kirk Schenck, an attorney for Lee’s daughter, J.C. Lee. As the top writer at Marvel Comics and later as its publisher, Lee was widely considered the architect of the contem porary comic book. He revived the industry in the 1960s by offering the costumes and action craved by younger read ers while insisting on sophisticated plots, col lege-level dialogue, sat ire, science fiction, even philosophy. Millions responded to the unlikely mix of real istic fantasy, and many of his characters, including Spider-Man, the Hulk and X-Men went on to become stars of blockbuster films. “Captain America” actor Chris Evans mourned the loss on Twitter: “There will never be another Stan Lee. For decades he provided both young and old with adventure, escape, comfort, confidence, inspiration, strength, friendship and joy. He exuded love and kindness and will leave an indelible mark on so, so, so many lives. Excelsior!!” Recent projects Lee helped make possible range from the films “Aveng ers: Infinity War,” ’’Black Panther” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” to such TV series as “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” and “Daredevil.” Lee was recognizable to his fans — he had cameos in Marvel films and TV projects — his hair gray and his glasses slightly tinted. Lee’s legacy has had a particular impact on Georgia, where five of Mar vel’s latest hits were filmed. “Black Panther,” “Ant Man” and sequels to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain America” and “Spider-Man” were filmed in the Peach State. Marvel’s work in the state is becoming an increasingly large slice of the multibillion-dollar pie of Georgia’s film business. At Wizards Video Games in Gaines ville, store co-owner Joseph Furlow said Lee’s influence on the comic book indus try is what inspired Furlow’s love of the medium. “He didn’t just impact the comic book industry, he created it. Before him, it was just cowboys and romances. He cre ated superhero comics and brought us to the Marvel revolution,” Furlow said on Monday. “He humanized his charac ters. Before, superheroes like Superman were alien-like and unrelatable. Stan gave his characters human qualities.” At root, it was Lee’s revolutionary approach to comics that started Furlow down the road to creating his store in Gainesville. “I’ve been reading comics since I was 10 years old. My favorite has always been Silver Surfer, who Stan Lee has said is one of his favorite creations,” Furlow said. “Opening this store, I was able to take something I loved as a kid and still enjoy it as an adult.” “I think everybody loves things that are bigger than life.... I think of them as fairy tales for grown-ups,” Lee told The Associated Press in a 2006 inter view. “We all grew up with giants and ‘He didn’t just impact the comic book industry, he created it. Before him, it was just cowboys and romances.’ Joseph Furlow Wizards Video Games store owner ogres and witches. Well, you get a little bit older and you’re too old to read fairy tales. But I don’t think you ever outgrow your love for those kind of things, things that are bigger than life and magical and very imaginative.” Lee considered the comic-book medium an art form and he was prolific: By some accounts, he came up with a new comic book every day for 10 years. “I wrote so many I don’t even know. I wrote either hundreds or thousands of them,” he told the AP in 2006. He hit his stride in the 1960s when he brought the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Spider- Man, Iron Man and numerous others to life. “It was like there was something in the air. I couldn’t do anything wrong,” he recalled. His heroes, mean while, were a far cry from virtuous do-good ers such as rival DC Comics’ Superman. The Fantastic Four fought with each other. Spider-Man was goaded into superhero work by his alter ego, Peter Parker, who suffered from unre quited crushes, money problems and dandruff. The Silver Surfer, an alien doomed to wander Earth’s atmosphere, waxed about the woeful nature of man. The Hulk was marked by self-loathing. Daredevil was blind and Iron Man had a weak heart. “The beauty of Stan Lee’s charac ters is that they were characters first and superheroes next,” Jeff Kline, executive producer of the “Men in Black” animated television series, told The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, in 1998. Some of Lee’s creations became symbols of social change—the inner turmoil of Spider-Man represented ’60s America, for example, while The Black Panther and The Savage She- Hulk mirrored the travails of minorities and women. Lee scripted most of Marvel’s super hero comics himself during the ’60s, including the Avengers and the X-Men, two of the most enduring. In 1972, he became Marvel’s publisher and edito rial director; four years later, 72 mil lion copies of Spider-Man were sold. “He’s become our Mickey Mouse,” he once said of the masked, web crawling crusader. Lee also published several books, including “The Superhero Women” in 1977 and “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way” the following year, when he was named pub lisher of the year by the Periodical and Book Association of America. CBS turned the Hulk into a suc cessful TV series, with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno portraying the doomed scientist from 1978-82. A Spider-Man series ran briefly in 1978. Both characters were fea- tured in animated TV series as well. The first big-budget movie based on Lee’s characters, “X-Men,” was a smash in 2000, earning more than $130 million at North American theaters. “Spider-Man” did even better, taking in more than $400 million in 2002. A Marvel movie empire would emerge after that, one of the most lucrative mega-franchises in cinema his tory, with the recent “Avengers: Infin ity War” grossing more than $2 billion worldwide. In 10 years, the Marvel Cin ematic Universe film shave netted over $17.6 billion in worldwide grosses. Stanley Martin Lieber was born Dec. 28,1922, in New York. He grew up a fan of “Hardy Boys” adventure books and Errol Flynn movies, and got a job at Timely Comics after graduating from high school. Within a few months, the editor and art director quit, leaving the 17-year- old Lee with creative control over the company, which grew and was renamed Atlas Comics and, finally, Marvel. Lieber changed his name, thinking Lee would be used for “silly little comics” and his real name would be reserved for novels. His early work largely reflected popular mov ies — west erns, crime dramas, romance, whatever was the rage at the time. He worked for about 50 cents per page. After a stint in the Army during World War II, writing for training films, he was back at Marvel to begin a long and admittedly boring run of assembly line comic book production. Comics in the 1950s were the subject of Senate hearings pushed by the Com ics Code Authority, which frowned on gore and characters that questioned authority. Major comic book companies adopted the code as a form of self-regu- lation to avoid sanctions. Lee said he was also working for a publisher who considered comics as fare only for children. “One day I said, ‘This is insane,”’ Lee told the Guardian in 1979. “I’m just doing the same type of stories as everybody else. I wasn’t taking pride in my work and I wanted to quit. But my wife said, ‘Look, why don’t you do the kind of com ics you want for a change?”’ The result was the first issue of “The Fantastic Four,” in 1960, with the char acters, plot and text from Lee and the illustrations by famed Marvel artist Jack Kirby. The characters were normal people changed into reluctant superheroes through no fault of their own. Writing in “Origins of Mar vel Comics,” Lee described the quartet this way: “The characters would be the kind of characters I could personally relate to; they’d be flesh and blood, they’d have their faults and foibles, they’d be fallible and feisty and — most important of all — inside their colorful, costumed booties they’d still have feet of clay.” Associated Press writer John Rogers contributed to this story. Times intern Asta Ceesay contrib uted to this story ‘The Waltons’ was a familial drama for the ages When I was growing up, espe cially as a teenager, people would often say, “It must be hard being a preacher’s kid.” It could be difficult because there were high expectations. Being a preacher’s child, though, was nothing difficult compared to being the wife of a television writer. My husband has almost ruined television for me. He walks into the room when I’m viewing a show — and by the way, I grew up loving television — and more often than not, he rolls his eyes and says, “You’re not watching that, are you?” Then, he begins a critique because he believes in the power of good television. This has gotten so troublesome that I am developing low self-esteem when it comes to television show selection. To avoid this, I usually put the TV on a high brow selection like a PBS docu mentary then I switch the channel to the lower brow shows I adore. If I hear Tink’s footsteps, I quickly hit R0NDA RICH southswomen@bellsouth.net the previous button so that when he comes into the room, a pleasing show is on. There is an exception, though. A show that unites us in joy and entertainment. It is the 1970s’ series, “The Waltons,” about a Depression-Era family in the Blue Ridge Mountains. That show holds up as well today as it did when it debuted in 1971. The INSP channel runs two episodes daily so I record them. John Tinker, truly a child of television, having grown up in the industry, is infatuated with its simple yet complex storytelling. His admiration is so strong that he watches two or three episodes nightly. “This is the best show.” He practically gushes, and Tink is not a gusher. He is mesmerized by the quality. “Look at how they take their time in this scene. The direc tor lets their emotions play out. This show would never get made today.” It almost didn’t get made in 1971. A Waltons television Christmas movie had done reasonably well in the ratings but it was a hard series sale at CBS, which, ironically (because it was Tink’s family), was investing in modern, fresh shows like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Merv Adelson, partner at Lorimar Productions, and Earl Hamner, creator of the show and the model for John Boy, were in a futile pitch at CBS when chairman, Bill Paley, walked in. Paley ran the television and radio network he built (with genius Frank Stanton) with an iron fist. He asked what was being pitched and, after being brought up to speed, said decisively, “Do it. We’ve taken a lot out of television. Let’s give something back.” What they gave is still giving after almost 50 years. It’s drama at its heart-rending best where the characters are well-defined and the ending, even if it isn’t idyllic, is satisfying. The emotions are real and relatable. Though the show and actors were awarded many accolades, Tink says often that Ralph Waite, who played father John Walton, was wildly underrated for his nuanced performances. In the two degrees of Tinker separation often found in the enter tainment world, Tink’s brother, Mark, worked on the show in the beginning of his career. “I wonder where these outdoor scenes were shot,” Tink said. The Walton house is on a studio lot and is still used today. It was, in fact, on “Gilmore Girls.” “Somewhere an hour north of Los Angeles,” I replied. Tink, doubting me, texted Mark who responded quickly with, “An hour from L.A.” Our pleasures in “The Waltons” are many — Hamner’s melodic narration, extraordinary storytell ing and a depiction of rural life filled with rich, inspiring charac ters like people we know. One night after a particularly satisfying episode, Tink asked qui etly, “Wouldn’t it be something if, 50 years from now, we had written a show that was still this relevant and absorbing?” Indeed, it would. Thank you, Mr. Earl Hamner. And, you too, Mr. Bill Paley. Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of several books, including “Mark My Words: A Memoir of Mama.” Sign up for her newsletter at www.rondarich. com. Her column appears Tuesdays and on www.gainesvilletimes.com.
