"Ditko may have plotted the first few stories, but Stan provided some of the early plots. Ditko mentions Lee's ideas as Haunted House, Aliens and Loki."

I can believe that. They're the most "typical Stan Lee" plots in style. Actually, the "haunted house" plot, I noted, bore a strong parallel to an episode of THE OUTER LIMITS-- which I believe aired the same year as the comics story. (Was it Mort Weisinger or some other DC editor who used to come up with story ideas by watching TV the night before?)




"Ditko also claims Stan was having problems coming up with ideas for the strip and was going to cancel it, but Ditko told him he could make it work and should plot and ink."

The more interviews I read with Marvel artists, the more it becomes clear this is a general pattern. Wally Wood said Stan had "NO ideas" and he Wood had to plot DAREDEVIL entirely on his own!

The issue just before "The Defeat Of Dr. Strange" (the beginning of the big epic), Don Rico was credited as writer. That particular story had a feel to it that reminded me, maybe more than any other episode, of the writing Ditko did in the 70's. It said to me that Steve was plotting on his own, and also showed just how good Stan's dialogue was, compared to most others who tried to fill in for him.

That same issue, Stan said on the letters page (or Bullpen page) that he "asked Steve to come up with something really different next time". Whether this is totally accurate or not (did he really ask or did he just say so after-the-fact?), it does indicate Ditko plotted "The Defeat..." on his own. Yet, the next issue, Stan is credited as "writer", NOT Ditko. Shows who wrote the credits, doesn't it?

Last Edited By: profh0011 Apr 28 09 10:05 PM. Edited 1 times.