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LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Article Excerpt
Byline: The Register-Guard

Stan Lee wasn't a cartoonist

The reproduction of Spiderman's first appearance from Amazing Fantasy No. 15 was a welcome supplement to Sunday's paper; I hope that it will be enjoyed by both nostalgic older fans and by newer ones. Anything that encourages reading, particularly among adolescent and younger males, is to be applauded.

However, the accompanying article refers to Stan Lee as a "celebrated cartoonist." For his work as a prolific writer, and later as editor-in-chief at Marvel comics, Lee deserves celebration; but he has never drawn a cartoon or a comic book in his life. Spiderman's costume was designed by the late, great Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, and later, with Lee, of innumerable Marvel heroes, including the Fantastic Four, Thor and the Hulk. It is Kirby's illustration that graces the cover of Amazing Fantasy No. 15.

The interior art was by Steve Ditko, almost as legendary as Kirby among fans of the genre, as much for his reclusive personality and idiosyncratic politics as for his extraordinary creative imagination.

It may seem slightly pedantic to ask that The Register-Guard set the record straight and acknowledge Lee's enormously talented co-creators. But if a similar error about a fine artist or author had slipped under the editorial radar, wouldn't the paper immediately print a correction? For those of us who admire the still under-appreciated idiom of the comic book, referring to Stan Lee as a "celebrated cartoonist" is on par with describing Beethoven as a major novelist.

BEN SAUNDERS...

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