Comic Books-The Myth and the Truth

Comic Books-The Myth and the Truth

Over the years comic books have risen and fallen in popularity. With this, myths arise. One of these myths involves Stan Lee. He was a writer, an editor in chief, and the creator of Spider-man. Now, because of his early involvement in the development of Marvel Comics many untruths arise. One such myth is that he created Comic Books. This of course is false. Comics have been around for ages and in all kinds of forms. Another myth is that he created Marvel Comics. While this is not true it is more of a misunderstanding. Before they were called Marvel they were Timely Comics and he was hired to write, noting more nothing less. Later, his title grew and he created new and exciting characters such as Spider-man, Captain America and the X-men. With this, they became Marvel Comics and it can be argued that without Stan Marvel would not be the same.

There is also something you may not know. It is about Batman. You may know him as that somewhat goofy guy in tights from the days of Adam West or as the dark avenger that Christian Bale has more recently played. But in his first few appearances he had a gun. Not only used it for fear but used it to kill. The guns where later taken away because it made him look like another fictional character of the day called The Shadow. He is another rich well to do crime fighter. But the Shadow has special powers. They also based Batman from two different sources. One is Zorro, he is rich, dresses in black, and has a secret lair in a cave. Another is far less recognizable. A film by Vincent Price called The Bat. It was a play in the 1920s. In this the Bat was a villain who raped and killed people in the disguise of a bat but under the mask he was really a detective. So you can see by taking out the bad and applying it in the right spots Batman is born.