With yet another Marvel movie crashing into box office records (“Deadpool and Wolverine” is now the third highest-grossing film to be released with a 15 rating) the world is once more enjoying the characters and creations that make up the Marvel franchise.
For a long time, the Marvel characters have been associated with one name above all others; not any one of the celebrities who have starred in the films, but of the man who is credited with the creation of the characters themselves, Stan Lee. While EzelDotz is not in the business of critiquing films, it is important to remember that the comics came first. With that in mind, we have to ask ourselves – is Stan Lee the most successful artist of all time?
To start with the elephant in the room – no, Stan Lee did not draw his own comic book art. In that sense, it is difficult to line him up next to traditional fine artists who create all of their own artworks from start to finish.
That being said, Stan Lee is unequivocally credited with the creation of many of the characters of Marvel – and, given that many different artists might draw any one character, it makes sense that credit in the comic industry would work this way.
And while the artworks credited to Lee were not drawn by him, in the contemporary art world, that type of attribution is not necessarily required. Andy Warhol famously used assistants and technicians to create many of his artworks, something that has often been a point of contention for those trying to authenticate his works. Admittedly, this is not a direct comparison as Stan Lee was not directly responsible for the appearance and style of the artworks – nonetheless, the works are partially attributed to him for good reason.
Partial attribution is key, of course, as the artists who created the artworks and character designs are often the unsung heroes in these cases. Names like Todd MacFarlan, Jim Steranko and Marie Severin are well known to those who love comic books and graphic novels, but to the wider world, the name Stan Lee is the one that is recognised.
This is in many ways unfair to the artists, who are often forgotten by history – Jack Simon, for example, was the artist behind the first comic book that Stan Lee ever had his name on, Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge (1941). Simon later commented that he had “made” Lee’s life by giving him this start. While Lee was known as a creative powerhouse, often collaborating directly with the artists, writing as they drew, he was not the only creator behind the works. Lee himself was not innocent in this; he loved receiving the credit and attention that the Marvel creations attracted.
As such, it is worth noting that at the point where “Stan Lee” and “Marvel” became synonymous, Lee’s signature could make all the difference in the size of the audience that sees an artist’s work. The current fine art reproductions of Marvel cover art, while individually attributed to each artist, is often known first and foremost as belonging to Stan Lee.
When considering the impact that the characters and stories of Marvel have had on contemporary culture and media, one’s first thought will rarely be of comic book covers, but of the silver screen. And at that point, the ubiquitous phrase “Stan Lee Presents” that Marvel fans were accustomed to seeing at the front of their comic books seems more appropriate, not least due to the tradition of giving Lee a cameo in every MCU film that came out during his lifetime.
And if we are taking all media into account, movies as well as the myriad Disney+ series being released about Marvel’s characters, a creative attribution to Lee would easily see him soaring to the top of the list of most successful artists in history. While the MCU has arguably hit a rough patch following the worldwide hype of its first few phases of filmmaking, the films have earned their status symbols as blockbusters time and again. Marvel’s films to date, all 33 of them, have earned a total of $30 billion on a global scale.
If we are to class Lee as a credited artist behind his creations, in this case, then he has eclipsed every other high-earning artist in living memory; the two highest earners are usually assumed to be Damian Hirst and John Currin, worth $1 billion and $1.4 billion respectively.
Of course, these sorts of comparisons are wildly unbalanced, as a media empire cannot be measured against any one artist. However, it is worth considering the cultural impact that the Marvel characters and stories have had as well. Even before the films took over the contemporary landscape of cinema, it would be easy to assume that most people in the Western world – and a large part of those elsewhere – would have been able to identify Spiderman just as easily as the Mona Lisa.
When it comes to art, and culture on a wider scale, we tend to spend on what we value, and the work of Stan Lee, along with the incredible artists who penned the characters he is now remembered for, has clearly found a place of high value for many of us.
That being the case, it is hardly surprising that his work is now finding its way into the area of fine art, with high quality limited edition prints and glorious pop art paying tribute to the work of the Marvel artists, as well as the man behind the helm.
If you would like to browse some examples of the fine art tributes to the Marvel franchise, as well as prints of original Marvel covers, take a look at our selection of incredible collectable artworks:
