Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 31 of 42  Spider Man No American publisher was more adaptable to the new conditions than Marvel. The company had previously been heavily involved with war and horror titles, but now reorientated its attention towards Code-friendly superheroes. In a move intended to take on DC Comics at their own game, a new line was masterminded by editor-writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby: between them, they decided that an interesting new direction would be to make the personalities of the heroes more of a focus than the plots. Thus, in contrast to the old formulas, the Marvel superheroes would be humanized, troubled characters ambivalent about their powers. The art would also be a major focus. Kirby had previously worked on a range of comics genres, including superheroes (Captain America) and war (Foxhole), but was now to be allowed to give free rein to his flair for spectacle and science fiction. 'I'm very well versed in science fiction and science fact', Kirby said later. 'I used to read the first science fiction books, and I began to learn about the universe myself and take it seriously ... I began to realise what a wonderful and awesome place the universe is, and that helped me in comics because I was looking for the awesome.' 'Awesome' was the word, and if anybody could show that comics need not be hamstrung by the rules on explicitness, Kirby could: his explosive, kinetic style gave the appearance of untold power and energy (rather than of violence per se) and his characters seemed as if they could really could punch through walls. It was this unique talent above all that marked Kirby out as one of the outstanding creators in American comics history.  Spider Man |