Help ReBuild Len Wein's Comic Collection

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When I first started reading comics and recognizing the names of the creators the first names I noticed was Stan Lee. Later Roy Thomas started popping up in a lot of the comics I read. But after that when the seventies hit two names started popping up in most of the comics I read and enjoyed. Marv Wolfman and Len Wein. Those two names seemed to be connected for a lot of reasons, but taking over the writing for a lot of the comics that I once enjoyed by the aforementioned Mr. Lee and Thomas were these two new and coming gentlemen.

At the time I was pretty much a Marvel Zombie so I missed their work when they would go to DC. When Len created Swamp Thing I was reading Man Thing. But than he came back and helped to create the New X-Men. I remember buying the first issue of the New X-Men. I wasn't even that big a fan of the old X-Men, but at the time I was buying most anything with the Marvel logo on it. This was an interesting group, different than most of the other groups out there at the time.

And I still remember that issue of Hulk that introduced that little runt named Wolverine. I was a big fan of Hulk and was buying every issue so when number 181 came out it was just another in a long series of Hulks stretching back to issue 102 when he took over Tales to Astonish and the book was renamed. At the time I have to admit I didn't see the future for the Candian mutant. If I had I would have purchased about a dozen copies of that issue.

All this is leading up to the fact that Len Wein's house was recently destroyed by a fire. Everyone but their beloved dog got out safely. The insurance is fixing the house, but Len lost a lot of other things in the fire that either the insuarance won't cover or will be almost impossible to track down. One of these things is a collection of all the comic books he has written over the years. Mark Evanier has organized a site to help get these missing comics for Mr. Wein. Go to this site and check it out and do what you can to help.

Steve Gerber R.I.P.

Most of my heroes have been more of the literary bent. I actually was thinking along these lines earlier today, how most guys can tell you all about what type of bat you should use, the difference between gloves, etc, but some reason none of that held much interest for me. While other boys were worshipping at the shrine of Mickey Mantle or Micheal Jordan I bent knee for names like Stan Lee or Harlan Ellison.

One of these heroes of mine just died last night. His name was Steve Gerber and he wrote comic books for a living. But what comic books he wrote. In the 70's he wrote comics for Marvel. He wrote Man-Thing, Defenders, Omega the Unknown and many others. Reading a Steve Gerber comic was like reading no other comic book. And of course he created Howard the Duck. Unfortunately the character is mostly remembered today for a movie that is considered to be one of the worst ever made. The movie did not come close to capturing the spirit and life that Steve brought to his four color creation.

Mr. Gerber had pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that turns the lung tissue to scar and destroys the lungs ability to function. He had trouble breathing. I can imagine the pain and struggle he took to just breath, having seen this in the past year with my Dad. It's heartbreaking to watch someone you love just struggle to take a breath, to not even be able to walk across the room without being out of breath.

Even today some of my favorite comic books are those that Mr. Gerber worked on. His run on the Defenders is one of the best team comic books ever done. His Man-Thing took a character that literally had no personality and created a comic like no other. His Howard the Duck will always be a high water mark for any comic creator.

I never met the man, but tonight I am grieving. He's talked about his illness in various places, so this isn't a complete surprise, but you always hold out hope for the best. For more about the man go read Mark Evanier's more eloquent post or read some of Steve's last posts himself at his blog.

Sometimes someone that you never meet can touch you in ways that you never imagine. Steve Gerber was one of those people.

Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book

Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book

by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon

I'm part of the generation that grew up with Stan Lee. The first Marvel comic book I remember reading was Daredevil #48. It wasn't written by Stan but at that time all the Marvel comics were written in his style. Even if he wasn't writing them, you could feel his presence in every word. At that time finding back issues was fairly easy and inexpensive so once I started collecting comics I started going backwards as well as forward. Before long I was immersed in Stan Lee's writing.

I have to admit that Stan is one of the people that helped influence me more than most. His writing may be overblown and more than a little grandiose but at its heart there laid a truth about right and wrong, about how you should live your life. Then comic book heroes were true heroes, ready to lay down their life for others, not willing to bend the rules to help themselves. I grew up believing that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Today it's easy to criticize Stan. I believed that the Bullpen was a great group of artists working with Stan that loved everything about their job. Today we know the truth was a little different. Stan was as much a showman as a creator. During some tough times we would have liked to see Stan take to heart the philosophy of his creations and do the right thing.

During the Jack Kirby art situation Stan has claimed there was nothing he could do to get Jack's art back from Marvel. This was probably true, by that point he was little more than a figurehead at the company, but the right thing to do still would have been to stand up for Jack. Add his voice to the others that were calling for Marvel to give Jack his artwork back. Even if he couldn't do anything let everyone know he saw the wrong and wanted to right it. That's what Captain America would have done. And perhaps it's naive to believe in right and wrong according to a fictional character like Captain America, but that's how I grew up.

The voices of Stan's creations were always a part of my inner voices helping to guide me in right and wrong. They were added to others that helped guide and shape my life, but they were always there.

So all this is a preamble to the fact that I come to a book about Stan Lee with just little invested. As I mentioned above, today it's easy to lay the entire failure of the comic book market at the feet of Stan Lee. For some he's been demoted to no more than basically a secretary to Jack Kirby and Steve Dikto, just adding what they wanted in the word balloons.

The real truth of who created what and how much of each creation was due to who may never be known. Too many of the people at the point of creation are no longer here or no longer talking. All we can know for certain is that none of the Marvel characters were created alone and without help.

This book presents the most even handed portrait of Stan Lee that I have seen in a long while. The writers don't try to cover up Stan's mistakes, but they don't throw Stan on the garbage pile and ignore his contributions to the comic industry either. It presents a fascinating look into the creation of American comic books and their history alongside the history of Stan Lee who happened to be there alongside a lot of this history and helping to create some of it.

The history of the comic book intrigues me and I want to see more books like this. In the last few years we've been lucky to have a few more written, but we need to see more while some of the creators of the comic book are still alive. I'm eagerly awaiting Mark (who seems to know everyone in the comic book industry and a lot of the history) Evanier's book on Jack Kirby. I'd love to see more books about the history of the comic book medium.