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As Marvel's editor in the 1960s, Lee made Marvel's staff as familiar as the fictional characters in the company.
Stan Lee is known to be the co-creator of many comic characters: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Black Panther, and so on. are some characters in Marvel's return catalog which do not have his fingerprints on them in one form or another. But perhaps his greatest legacy is not the army of superheroes populating the Marvel Universe, but the way he broke the barriers between fans and creators during the Marvel Revolution of the 1960s.
Lee, who died Monday at the age of 95, was responsible for adding credits to the creation in the Marvel comic book, a break with industry standards at the same time. era – previously, at Marvel as such, and certainly at other publishers, fans would be required to study artistic styles or search for signatures to identify the authors of each issue of their favorite characters, while writers were struggling in a darkness even deeper. (What designer names were attached to stories was often the reflection of who had originally invented the characters, as opposed to who had worked on each story.)
This is not entirely clear Why Lee broke with the norm with his change – was he motivated by his own frustrations as a relatively anonymous creator early in his career, or simply by a move to differentiate his company's production from the opposition more successful in order to do everything it took to make the brand stand out? – But it was the first phase of what quickly became Marvel's humanizing mission, turning collaborators and freelancers backstage into faces and recognizable names as colorful characters on the covers.
It took less than a year since the creation of Fantastic Four, considered by many to be the starting point for Marvel as it is recognizable today, for Marvel's creators to appear in the comic book pages themselves. same; Stan and Jack Kirby are terrorized in The four fantastics # 10 when Doctor Doom shows up in their offices, demanding that they call Mr. Fantastic and help them set up a trap for the heroes.
Two years later, reality followed, with the cover of the 1964 book Marvel Tales Annual N ° 1 promising "A real untouched Photo from virtually every member of our happy market! As a sales pitch. The feature was the only new material in an issue that would otherwise be reprinted, but it did what was promised: photos of almost every Marvel employee – some, including the co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, Steve Ditko, were absent. Their absence was explained by a note stating: "A few of our friends from Bullpen were out of town when these photos were taken. So we will try to print their pans later. (A sneaky way to persuade you to read all our next issues!) "
If this seemed like an unusual selling point, it was apparently a success; The following year, Marvel launched his fan club "Merry Marvel Marching Society" – for a dollar, fans would receive a membership card, stickers and more … including a flexidisc in which Marvel staff played sketches and let the fans hear their voices time.
The same year also saw the launch of Bullpen bulletins, a recurring feature of a page combining publication ads and commercials with rumors updates about Marvel office activities. "Did you know that our pillar, Smilin 'STAN LEE, is also the author of MONSTERS UNLIMITED as well as YOU DO NOT SAY! A first article was launched in December 1965. "Both are glossy magazines, and Stan the Man seems to have the magic touch – these two humor sensations seem to sell as quickly as our own chefs- from Marvel – and that says something! " (Although it is written anonymously, Lee is thought to be behind the first installments, boasting all the more shamelessly.) The film would continue intermittently for the next four decades.
As a promotional device, it worked; Marvel offices were receiving letters, phone calls and personal visits from fans who viewed the creators as friends, thus creating a connection between the company and the client that other publishers could only use. emulate – and, in most cases, with less success -. (It's no coincidence that the creator credits were adapted by other comic book publishers a few years after the resounding success of Marvel.)
Beyond that, there was something curious in the way Lee put the artists and the public in a false communication that predicts the era of social media. It's almost certainly a strange coincidence more than Lee's prognosis – really, who could have seen Twitter or Facebook present itself half a century ago? – but by erasing the wall that separates consumers and creators, Lee has not just changed the comic book industry; he presented an overview of how all forms of media would work in the future.
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