European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 2, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cover Story file Stan Lee is sandwiched by a couple of his Marvel superheroes spider Man and Captain America. From the Cuvir a if there were no Marvel wed have to invent it Quot Lee writes in the Lunik s introduction. A come to think of it we did Quot the invention almost never of cured. During a Telephone interview from los Angeles where he has lived for the past decade Lee explained that the Marvel comics we know today was born As a last ditch Effort before he quit his Job As the company s editor l in had worked there since the 1940s, but had become disenchanted with the Lack of originality that was stilling the business. Lee had All but written his resignation letter when his wife made a suggestion. Before going she said write the comic Book you want to write. Quot that was sound advice Quot Lee observed Over the phone. That san understatement. With nothing to lose he penned a Story about four Quot average Quot americans a a Brilliant scientist his Fiancee her teen age brother and a lovable Friend of the family. Together the fantastic four thwarted criminals and struck fear into the hearts of intergalactic tyrants. So far pretty conventional comic Book stuff. But  added a twist. In addition to fighting the forces of crime and evil the of fought with each other. Family squabbles competed with plots of world subjugation for readers attention. Johnny the human lurch a is at first a hot headed teenager who rebelled against his super Powers. In a world of ears school dances and girls the last thing he wanted was to save humanity with the adults. Likewise Ben a k a the thing could t seem to get along with anybody or anything least of All the Stretchy or. Fantastic the group s Leader and the smartest a and squares a scientist in the world. In i9ul, this was revolutionary stuff. Without in tending to Lee changed comic Book history with that first fantastic four Story. Subsequent issues had fans flooding his office with Praise and demands for More. Real human passions and flaws it seemed were As big a seller As superhuman Powers and unreal situations. Today every Man woman being and creature on the revolving comics Racks is in some kind of conflict with his or her conscience or feelings past or future. These subplots to the business of superhero ing have made comics As popular with adults As with Young people. What a difference from 1940, when Lee got his Start As a 17-Ycar-old office boy. Quot the publishers thought they were for kids a Lee explained. The cartoon animals monsters space invaders and superheroes of the Day were one dimensional characters in simple action stories children could easily follow. Think of Superman the first superhero. He never did much besides ditch Lois Lane to save Metropolis. Those were the melodramatic times surrounding world War ii when the world was viewed in terms of Good and evil. Lee went from office Gofer to writer to editor of the numerous titles published monthly by what was known then As Mystic comics daring comics kid comics and sometimes Marvel mystery comics. Lee was still saving his real name Stanley Lieberman for his literary career. It Wasny to until the 60s, when Marvel changed its Moniker that Lee also legally adopted the name that had made him famous. As predictable As comics were when Lee started they were still fun and interesting to work on. By the 1950s, however All the interest seemed to have seeped out of the game. Lee found himself publishing embarrassingly silly material stuff with such titles As Range land love i Orna. The Jungle Queen and Millie the Model. As always he was following orders from the publisher who kept a close Eye on the Bottom line. A we followed the trends whatever was Selling at the time a Lee explained. A westerns War stories romances horror fantasy crime. The idea was to put out the most books of any trend. You had to be sure the work was simple and had a lot of action. That was the formula. A we just kept grinding stories out year after  the work became by Leeds own admission pure Drudgery. By the end of the decade it was time for the Drudgery a and the formula a to change. Leeds goals As a novelist were probably what led him to his breakthrough in writing comics. As he thought of that first Issue of the fantastic four he was inspired by the literary device of emphasizing character Over plot. In imagining the emotional life of his characters Lee was working exactly As a fiction writer does. A i think the operative word is realistic a said Lee. Quot i try to get a character to talk and think like a real Guy would. To me one of the most interesting things is really Good dialogue. Quot the writing was fun a he continued remembering Back to what was called the Marvel age 1961 to 70. "1 never had trouble coming up with Story ideas. I never Hafto think about it there was always some idea that came to  Lee lists Shakespeare Arthur Conan Doyle and Victor Hugo As important influences on his own work. For All those menus literary Genius though they never tested themselves As Lee used to nearly every month a by trying to invent a new comic Book hero. Spider Man his most famous creation is a study in superhero inspiration. A the hardest part is coming up with what the character w ill do Quot Lee explained. He had Bee Page 4 a sunday february 2, 1992