Recent SNOW cartoons

One Response to Recent SNOW cartoons

1. Steven Austin says:

   March 2, 2019 at 9:43 pm

   Hello, Marshall. I enjoy your work. However I’d like to correct a mistake you made in 2018 regarding the death of Stan Lee cartoon. (“You’re not half bad at creating universes yourself, kid.”)

   I appreciate the sentiment… but Lee is pictured with brushes sticking out of an art box. Firstly, Lee was not an artist. He often said he could barely draw a stick figure. Secondly, and fare more importantly, Lee was [at best] co-creator of the Marvel Universe. Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, the primary artists he leaned upon as editor in the early days, were also de facto writers and co-creators of both the characters and the stories for which Lee not only took credit, but also full writer’s pay in addition to his editor’s salary.

   Lee contrived the “Marvel Method” out of pure expedience, to stay within deadlines. As the legend goes, Lee would issue a verbal recitation of the plot to the artist(s), giving them the freedom to draw his story as they saw fit. Lee would then receive the pencilled pages and fill in the dialogue (“like filling in a crossword puzzle — Lee’s own words.)

   The truth is much closer to Lee issuing some very general springboards and leaving it up to the artists to completely PLOT — i.e. write — each book themselves… creating new characters and situations. Needless to say, sans [half] the pay they deserved.

   There exists hundreds of xeroxes of Kirby’s pencilled pages on which he wrote specific notes to Lee (in the margins) regarding what the characters were doing (motivation, attitude etc.) as well as dialogue suggestions. During the inking stage all these notes were erased, but fortunately Kirby had the insight to keep a visual record of his efforts. Unfortunately Steve Ditko, Don Heck, John Romita, Gene Colan and others working during the early years at Marvel did not xerox their pencils. But we have their words, via interviews (and in Ditko’s case, an illustrated pamphlet).

   My intention is not to rob Lee of his creative efforts, for many believe that it was *his* dialogue which helped alter the genre exemplified by DC’s staid cast (and their interchangeable characteristics) to more fully rounded heroes. And Lee’s marketing prowess is undeniable. Without him the Marvel brand would be nonexistent. But let’s be clear — he wrote nothing of consequence before or after his association with the Marvel artists. Nothing. It was the artists who provided Lee with the stories. The fact that they did it visually says more about their abilities as pure storytellers than words are able to convey.

   As an artist yourself, I thought you might be interested in how the creative process and division of credit/pay *really* worked at Marvel. I will gladly provide images of Kirby’s margin notes and links where to find more. (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, indeed!)

   Thanks for taking the time to read my reply.
   Cordially,
   Steven Austin

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