Oh man, do I love this letter Stan Lee wrote about early Marvel Comics decisions. It’s like a director’s commentary for the start of Marvel Comics.
Stan Lee didn’t love the Dr. Strange initial story, but did it anyway because Ditko wanted to do it.
I love how he wants to make every character work. Adding Wasp to Ant Man to try to help that character. Sensing that Thor’s Asgard stories worked better then his standard super-hero fare.
I loved Stan sensing the fan’s tastes. The Thing was a favorite (over teenaged Human Torch it seemed). And Stan guessing that Spider-Man would be big (good guess).
And even though I’ve heard it before, I love every time I read about Stan wanting Kirby to do layouts for every book to point them in a strong direction. Kirby was the blood and soul of Marvel, while Stan certainly was the brain.
A letter written by Stan Lee to super-fan Dr. Jerry Bails at the very beginning of 1963, discussing, among other things, the artwork on a recent Thor story, the impending debut of Dr. Strange, and the reasons for introducing The Wasp in the Ant-Man feature.
