Before this they were working from full scripts provided by Robert Bernstein, Ernie Hart and Larry Lieber. Nick Caputo also says that artist Dick Ayers claims that he in fact was the first artist to provide notes for Stan Lee early in 1964, as this Giant Man panel from that year suggests.Ĭaputo: “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Stan took over the hero strips three months earlier, providing plot synopsis’ for Dick Ayers and Don Heck for the first time. Thus we can probably date the beginning of the Marvel Method to this approximate period. If one looks at the notes in the upper margin, it is clear that it is Kirby’s lettering. Comic Book historian, Nick Caputo concludes that the Jack Kirby’s margin notes first appear in The Avengers #6, dated July 1964. Annual #2, appearing in the summer of 1964. The earliest Fantastic Four page scan that I can find with Kirby’s notes is from F.F. This is a case of a last minute change being made in the story prior to printing.Ĭomic Book historian, Bob Bailey states that Kirby was probably not available to make the change and Ditko was on hand.
Notice that the third panel is drawn by another artist, which is almost certainly Steve Ditko. What we do see is something exceedingly interesting. On this page in Fantastic Four twenty, we still see Lee’s margin notes, so we can assume that the Marvel method has not yet gone into effect.
If we study Lee’s margin notes, we generally see that they say more or less what he will later elaborate in the balloons above: The scribble below saying “50 G’s, Enough to flatten, et cetera” has become two balloons spoken by separate characters. This page is from Fantastic Four #12, the issue that Lee was perusing on camera. What we do have is a fair selection of original art from that period. Until we are presented with a complete Lee/Kirby or a Lieber/Kirby script and a story to compare it to, we cannot be sure how completely Kirby followed their scripts. He would, in effect need to re-script the story after receiving it from Kirby in order to accommodate the artist’s alterations. If Kirby commonly changed the direction of the story given him, Lee would require more than his original script as a guide. This would partially explain Stan Lee’s need to write margin notes for himself on Kirby’s artwork. However, Kirby and several of his co-workers claim that the King seldom followed scripts to the letter, either using them as a jumping off point or discarding them completely. Lee’s brother, Larry Lieber has stated in interviews that he wrote full scripts for Kirby as well. Just when did the process known as the Marvel Method actually begin and what was the nature of the creative process prior to its inception? Several Comic Book historians allege that in the beginning, Stan Lee provided his artists with full scripts. This exchange raises an interesting question. Halfway through his explanation, Lee realizes that the margin notes are his own, written as reminders to him, prior to final scripting. Lee started to explain the Marvel Method of writing, wherein he would give Kirby a rough idea of the plot, Kirby would elaborate the plot, pencil the book and deliver to Lee with Kirby’s notes for scripting in the margins. One of the first things that caught Lee’s eye were the margin notes in the panel borders, that he initially assumed belonged to Kirby. Recently, I saw a film clip of Stan Lee looking at Jack Kirby’s original artwork for Fantastic four #12 for the first time since it had been published. Certainly, in the case of Jack Kirby, he was correct. Lee believed that his artists were strong plotters and allowing them creative freedom would result in a better story. Once the story was drawn the artist would supply the writer with explanatory notes in the page’s margin, whereupon the writer would fill in the final script. Lee is famous for having instituted the Marvel Method, wherein an artist would plot a story based on the sketchiest of outlines provided by the writer. In conventional comic production involving a separate writer and artist team, the writer provides the artist with a full script to work from. There has been a good amount of ink used discussing just who did what in that process. However, there are many who believe that Kirby’s best and certainly most commercially successful work was in collaboration with writer Stan Lee. From what we know about the King, he was generally happiest working more or less independently of other writers. I’d like to change the focus this time and discuss Kirby’s creative process involving collaboration in greater detail.
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