Jack Kirby’s Family Slams New STAN LEE Documentary in Statement
This past weekend a documentary about the life and career of Stan Lee was released on Disney+. As you might imagine, the doc celebrates the life of Stan Lee and the legacy he left behind. I didn’t really expect the doc to go into any depth on one of Lee’s most frequent collaborators, Jack Kirby, who had a huge unsung role in building the Marvel Comics Universe. After all, the doc is titled Stan Lee.
But, Kirby’s family was definitely upset about the doc, and Jack Kirby’s son Neal released a statement on Twitter criticizing and slamming the doc for not really giving Kirby the credit he deserved. The statement said:
"It's not any big secret that there has always been controversy over the parts that were played in the creation and success of Marvel's characters. Stan Lee had the fortunate circumstance to have access to the corporate megaphone and media, and he used these to create his own mythos as to the creation of the Marvel character pantheon.”
It adds, "He made himself the voice of Marvel. So, for several decades he was the 'only' man standing, and blessed with a long life, the last man standing (my father died in 1994). It should be noted and is generally accepted that Stan Lee had a limited knowledge of history, mythology, or science. On the other hand, my father's knowledge of these subjects, to which I and many others can personally attest, was extensive. Einstein summed it up better; 'More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego.'"
Neal's statement also criticized the credits Lee has received when it comes to character creation for Marvel, noting Lee is listed as a co-creator of virtually every character created by Marvel during the 1960s. He said:
"Are we to assume Lee had a hand in creating every Marvel character? Are we to assume that it was never the other co-creator that walked into Lee's office and said, 'Stand I have a great idea for a character!' According to Lee, it was always his idea. Lee spends a fair amount of time talking about how and why he created the Fantastic Four, with only one fleeting reference to my father. Indeed, most comics historians recognize that my father based the Fantastic Four on a 1957 comic he created for DC, Challengers of the Unknown, even naming Ben Grimm (The Thing) after his father Benjamin, and Sue Storm after my older sister Susan."
The scathing statement was signed with, "'nuff said." It’s completely understandable for the Kirby family to feel this way. I just didn’t expect this doc to really go into anything regarding Kirby’s work for Marvel because that wasn’t the focus of the doc.
That being said, I would love to see a good documentary made about Jack Kirby and everything he did to help build Marvel.