If Lee hadn’t been such an assiduous promoter would Marvel have hit it big?
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Replying to @JacobHeilbrunn @HeerJeet
Based on the inherent quality of their product, yes. Ditko and Kirby in the 60s are forces of nature.
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I’d say yes and no. Kirby and Ditko were talented people, but Ditko could be a bit of a prima donna (not unlike Alan Moore) and Kirby was sometimes a bit all over the place. Lee got them the attention they deserved.
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Replying to @Mad_Science_Guy @coffeetreeaz and
Would they have hit it big absent Lee? Maybe, but Lee’s particular talent was creating a space where artists like that could work. With all his flaws, that’s sometimes under appreciated (even to a point by Lee himself)
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I think absent Stan the Man, no way.
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I'm not saying he didn't contribute anything. Far from it. I'm saying the Marvel product didn't need any kind of assiduity of hypemanship to sell itself at that period.
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I think assuming things will “naturally” sell is easy with hindsight. I mean, there are plenty of examples of ad campaigns or tireless promotion that made at-the-time dubious prospects soar.
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Replying to @Mad_Science_Guy @coffeetreeaz and
In 1965 or so Marvel was doing ok, but it wasn’t the marketing juggernaut we know now, and comics were still geared to kids and pretty niche even so.
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To be honest, I would say Lee's hype gave the whole line a common identity which was crucial for it emerging as a "universe" rather than overlapping titles. But equally important (and I hate to say this) were 2nd generation writers who melded it into continuity (Thomas)
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I always thought Englehart was far more imaginative of the new generation
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Yeah, but Thomas (and later Grunwald) were crucial in tying characters together in a tighter continuity, which as become (for better or worse) a feature of the universe.
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