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A straw man argument in defense of Lee
J David Spurlock
15 February 2017
PLOT + DIALOG = WRITING — IN THE 'MARVEL METHOD' & BEYOND
Plot without final dialogue is incomplete just as Dialogue without a plot is incomplete. As plotting "artists" at Marvel have wrongly not received their proper co-author credit, some are prone to try to balance the scales too far in the other direction and not credit the dialogue man (Stan Lee or other) at all. One might like or dislike facts of history or, like or dislike Stan Lee's writing style. But just as it is unfair not to credit Wood, Kirby, Ditko or other plotting "Marvel Method artists" for their plots, it would be hypocritical to not note the occasions Stan Lee worked on dialogue. Jack Kirby said the norm at Marvel in the 1960s, was for the "artist" to plot the story but that the "editor" insisted on handling the final dialogue (either himself or passing to another). Though I see little of Stan's writing style (other than editorial blurbs) in the pre-Wallace "Wally" Wood issues of Daredevil (indicating Stan had little faith, or interest, in DD); obviously inspired by Wood's noted arrival at Marvel, Stan believed with Wood on-board, DD would have a chance — and he was right. Despite the lack of credit box info, in addition to Wood and some Marvel editorial comments confirming Wood's plotting of Daredevil issues 5-11; with study, the plots reveal themselves as Wood's, including some of his favorite tropes and themes: knights, medieval castles, Golden Age characters, animal-men, etc. But you can also start to recognize some of Stan's dialogue during Wood's run.
— JDS
Patrick Ford: I'm unaware of anyone who claims Lee or someone in the office didn't write the dialogue. J David Spurlock has mentioned his suspicion that Lee didn't write the dialogue for the DAREDEVIL stories by Everett and Orlando. Robert Beerbohm has mentioned that Melvin Shestack told him that he ghosted for Lee. Kirby, correctly, pointed out that Lee didn't dialogue the "monster stories" from 1958-1961.
Patrick Ford: Simply because fans of Lee attempt to derail discussions by making false claims is no reason their claims should be taken seriously.
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