The strange case of Stan Lee - The Province

Spiderman, Hulk, Thor, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Avengers, Daredevil, Iron Man, Strange Doctor, Scarlet Witch... and up to around 500 characters emerged from the fertile imagination of the scriptwriter and editor Stan Lee, symbol of the Marvel factory from the sixties until now. The main screenwriters, cartoonists and professionals in comics in general in the Canary Islands say about the New York author who died last Monday at the age of 95 years.

Ángel Hernández
DC Drafter

"His figure is impossible to dissociate from that of Jack Kirby"

Ángel Hernández from Tenerife works as a draftsman for DC editions for five years. Among his works are titles as prominent as Infinite crisis: the struggle for the Multiverse; The Earth Justice League 2 Y Green Lantern and Star Trek: The Spectral War. For Hernández, the figure of Stan Lee is intimately related to that of Jack Kirby already "that the genesis of modern comics emerges from these two authors". The cartoonist adds that "Stan thought big because he saw that the comic was an industry and creates a complex universe by introducing elements of his time". To the point that Marvel comics liked a lot in universities during the sixties. "He addressed adult themes," says the author. "Until then, the plots were more childish and he makes them more mature, and the iconography was very good at the visual level", apart from the fact that "its ability to string together an immense universe of characters and know how to transmit it is especially important".

Víctor Hernández
Moebius

"He was more dedicated to directing the company as a business"

Víctor Hernández, from the Moebius store in La Peregrina street in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, says that Stan Lee created the current mythology of superhero films, which emerged from Spiderman, the Fantastic 4 or the X Men. Although "he was more dedicated to directing the company and being its representative".

Francisco Lozano
Parallel universe

"Incorporated new superpowers and superproblems"

Francisco Javier Lozano is the owner of the comic book store Paralel Universeor on Tomás Morales street in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. For the expert Stan Lee "is the father of the humanization of the comic", because before the New York screenwriter arrived, the superhero was almost like a god. "Stan Lee took the superhero and knew how to humanize him, put him superpowers, and superproblems." Lozano gives several examples since "Spiderman was a high school kid pursued by bulling, Mr Fantastic He had marital problems with the Invisible Girl, Thor was the god of thunder, but he was a doctor and saw human suffering all day, and Hulk was a beast, but also a scientist. "In short," they were characters who had problems like they could have anyone from the street, which made the stories close. "The expert also recalls that Lee" was based on the conjuncture of the time in which he lived for the characters because, for example, he took advantage of the theme of the appearance of the Gamma rays to create the Hulk. "Therefore," he did not separate himself from the reality that surrounded him because in the end Superman and Batman had a more mythical halo. "In this way, his creations" reached a lot different people and currently many followers have grown up with these superheroes. "Lozano points out that Stan Lee has ceased to be a person and now is a myth." I like Spiderman a lot, "he says." Because you see how his evolution occurs, As pas from being a boy to an adult with his responsibilities, his marriage, his children, etc. "

Pedro Carballido
Cartoonist and screenwriter

"His contribution was greater as a marketing genius"

Pedro Carballido has been, as a draftsman, creator of Captain Pío Pío, although its main facet is that of a writer with scripts for animation, theater or television. "Stan Lee is a rare case of a screenwriter who became more famous than any artist," he says. "In the 60s was that atypical case of star writer and left an indelible mark on the characters he created," he adds. However, Carballido says that "his contribution was greater as a marketing genius than as a scriptwriter, since he was a great seller of characters, managed the industry and combined the elements in a unique way." But all this does not prevent him from recognizing the importance of the conflict of the characters in his scripts in which they always prevail "the passage of time, complex relationships, friendship, rivalry, marriage." From his point of view, Lee assumed the possibility of taking the step for more mature readers. And it puts the case of Spiderman that arises because the adolescents wanted that conflict that supposes to become adult, for that reason it has been a so powerful personage ".

Dani López
The Leprechaun's Attic

"He picked up the idea of ​​the superhero and brought her to the underworld"

Dani López is part of the staff of the store The Leprechaun's Attic It has two stores in Las Palmas de Gran Canarias located on the streets Isla de Cuba and Viera y Clavijo. In his opinion, Stan Lee "was a figure that set a before and an after" in the history of American comics. "Not only because it was the man who created Spiderman, which is only a milestone, but because he is responsible for the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, etc." It would be the Walt Disney of the comics, since it contributed "the creative force that was behind the first days of Marvel". In his opinion, with his death, the great references of the golden age disappear. "He was an unstoppable force, and in recent years he was known for the cameos in movies, but his spirit will always remain for those of us who love comics." Lee really stopped writing for a long time, "but in recent years I did specific things like collaborating with a story on the 70th Anniversary of Marvel". He had been in a second row for years, since the death of his wife. López summarizes his contribution in that "if in the 30s it was the emergence of superheroes, in the 60s it was he who took that idea and took it to the earthly world". At a time when "the superheroes were in crisis and knew how to give them a new air" creating characters with problems to pay rent or psychological trauma, which transforms the figure of the superhero to make it as it is today. The expert recalls his contribution in the figure of Captain America "that placed him in the universe of the 60 completely renovated." Lopez affirms that his death is sad, "but I hope we all have something that survives us like the work of Stan Lee to him".

Fran Villalba
Screenwriter

"He knew how to create characters with real problems"

Fran Villalba is a comic and television journalist and scriptwriter in which he has participated in series such as La revoltosa or in various plays. The expert states that "reading Stan Lee I learned more than I have learned in other places of my life, I learned the art of writing better than in other courses I have done". In his opinion, Lee was a genius who knew how to capture the social reality and give a new concept of the superhero as someone human and with conflicts, who had the problems of normal beings: pay the rent, have a relationship, do things very everyday and make us all dream. "Villalba highlights the American who" had an overflowing imagination and his legacy is beyond the realm of superheroes. "But he also adds that" I learned to enjoy like a kid, and it helped me understand better reality, he was a creator of dreams in all words. "Villalba highlights the creation of Spiderman as the perfect superhero" because his secret identity Peter Parker, It is as important as the popular one, and it symbolizes all the greatness of Marvel. "

Javier Pulido
Marvel cartoonist

"Much of the success is that Marvel was like a club"

The grancanario Javier Pulido is one of the most important cartoonists of superhero comics nationwide. His experience in Marvel has resulted in an infinity of stories that includes very successful adventures of Hulka, Spiderman or Hawk's eyes. For Polished the importance of Lee was that of codialogist and editor. "The comic book system since the Marvel era, in the 60s, was the comic book that changed the industry thought of in the Marvel way, a form of work that did not exist, and that was a new way of controlling work." For Pulido Lee's success lies in that he had the best creator of comic books in the world that was Jack Kirby. And highlights that Lee was the creator of the Marvel concept "where all the characters relate." He also adds that he created a community around his figure since "there was not a relationship between publishers and readers, and that was part of Marvel's success, which was like a club."

Alexis Quintana
Urban Comics

"He anticipated the entertainment industry"

Alexis Quintana is the owner of the store Urban Comics on Tomás Morales street. In his opinion, Lee "was a revolutionary who, when World War II ended, knew how to anticipate the entertainment industry" and thus knew how to "create the characters demanded by the public".