“The Following May Be of Interest to Stan Lee Historians…” – The Pathological Needs of Mark Evanier

Patrick Ford at The Marvel Method group brought something to my attention: a blatantly untrue statement by lifelong grifter and sociopath Mark Evanier regarding the syndicated Spider-Man newspaper strip. This in itself is nothing worth writing about- Evanier is a repeat offender when it comes to tilting towards the side that best suits him at the moment- except that this statement, so easily disproven, so utterly unlikely, illustrated to me the deep-rooted issue with a narcissistic slime like Mark Evanier. First, let’s address his statement and why it’s such a bizarre thing to claim until you consider the why of the statement.

• “Stan “wrote” the strip for a long time, which is to say that others plotted it for him and he composed the captions and dialogue. A couple of times, I turned down offers from him to do the plotting and in 2000, he offered — and I again declined — to have me ghost-write the entire thing for him. The following may be of interest to Stan Lee historians: At that point, he was not only writing the strip by himself but he was writing it full-script.” – Mark Evanier, Oct 2023

So essentially, Evanier- a self-proclaimed expert who is often cited as an authority on comic books as well as bland television shows from his childhood, declares that, around the late nineties to early 2000, Stan Lee was writing the syndicated Spider-Man not only by himself but he was writing it full-script.

This is blatantly false, proven just last year by Evanier’s fellow leech, Roy “The Rascally One” Roy Thomas who, quite helpfully, spelled out the timeframe and specifics of when he took over the ghost-writing gig for his beloved, estranged mentor who barely spoke to him:

• “Back in 2000, Stan was in the midst of that dot-com boom with StanLee.com, and he had a huge operation there. I wasn’t really doing that much in comics so I thought, well, maybe Stan would have something. I got in touch with him- probably dropped him an email- and I got a call back from him. He said he really pretty much had to work with people who were right there on the scene for the various projects. I live in South Carolina, and he was in Los Angeles, so that wouldn’t work out too well. But he said that he did have something else for me, though, which I hadn’t been expecting- a ghostwriter basically, or ‘someone to help him with‘ would be how he might phrase it, but I knew what he meant– with the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip. He said he’d had somebody else working with him for the last story or two, and I guess he’d had other people before, like (Jim) Shooter and he did something. I know Jim Salicrup was working with him at the time, but he said he had a lot of other stuff for Jim to do…” – Roy Thomas, July 2022

Let’s examine this statement by Thomas but first, consider that Evanier is a regular contributor to the star struck Jon Morrow’s The Jack Kirby Collector and, one assumes, is privy to the other TwoMorrows publications. Thomas himself knew that Lee “had somebody else working with him for the last story or two…“, so if Thomas knows this and Evanier doesn’t– what does it say about Evanier’s role as a go-to authority for all things comics, at the very least?

Thomas has already completely disproven Evanier’s statement. What makes that worse is that the truth about Lee and the Spider-Man strip was not just common knowledge, but often repeated. Jim Shooter himself spelled out the genesis of the Spider-Man strip on his blog over a decade ago. It’s interesting to ponder that a younger, less famous Lee didn’t have the time to write a 3-panel script by himself in 1977 but was doing so in 1999, according to Evanier.

• “Somewhere along the way, the Spider-Man syndicated strip launched.  John Romita was doing the art.  Stan wrote the dialogue—but he didn’t want to do the plotting.  He hired Len Wein to plot the strip.”

• “It didn’t work out.  Stan didn’t like Len’s plots.  I don’t remember much about those strips except that there seemed to be a lot of Spider-Man dangling outside Jonah Jameson’s window exchanging snappy patter. Stan asked Archie who was the number two writer.  The politically correct answer Archie gave was former EIC Marv.  Marv turned the gig down.  Somehow, it had gone from being an honor to being a chance that Stan would decide you were no good.“

• “Stan asked Archie to put together a list of Marvel’s writers, ranked in order.  Archie left himself off.  He was too busy to plot the strip, though, for my money, he was obviously the best choice, having written Secret Agent Corrigan for years. Archie’s list included 33 writers.  He put me at number 33.  I’d like to think it was because I had a staff job.  I’d like to think he didn’t want me taking time away from editing.  But maybe he just thought I sucked.  Dunno.”

• “Anyway, Stan asked EVERYONE ON THE LIST except me.  Everyone turned him down.  Finally, in desperation, he called me to his office.  Looking as though he had a tremendous headache, he asked me if I’d plot the strip.  I said sure.”

Let’s take a moment to consider that Lee, still in his fifties at this point, demands a list of thirty-two writers that can possibly plot a newspaper strip for him- rather than one or two that, presumably when they reject the offer, might cause someone else to throw up their hands and say, “to Hell with it, I’ll just write it myself.” In 1977, Lee is incapable of such an action. He must find someone to generate the stories. Even then.

• “Then, looking as though his headache was worsening, he explained to me what he needed me to do.  Slowly, and in small words.  As if he were trying to prep a chimp.  Sundays had to fit in continuity, yet stand alone.  They had to add something, but something non-essential to readers who only read the dailies.  16 week arcs.  Big events mid-week.  Teasers.  Etc.  I kept saying, “I know Stan.”

• I delivered my overview of the first arc in a day or two.  Stan liked it.  And seemed amazed, befuddled.  I delivered my first few weeks plots, broken down day by day and panel by panel a few days later.  Stan said, “These are good,” with amazement in his voice.  I said, exactly, “I know what I’m doing.”

• Stan gave my plots to John to draw and away we went.  There were only two bumps in the road.  First, when Stan went to dialogue a daily a couple of times, he ran into trouble and called me in.  He hadn’t checked what John drew against the plot, of course, and assumed the glitches were plot flaws he hadn’t noticed.  I showed him the plots.  John hadn’t drawn what was called for.  Nonetheless, I had to do some fancy steppin’ to adjust the story.  No time to redraw the art.”

Based on Shooter’s account, it seems like Lee was relying on him for much more than plotting and even calls in a then junior editor in a panic when he can’t figure out what’s happening in the story. Seriously. Let that sink in when you’re picturing Stan Lee, legendary storyteller. To say nothing of the fact that Lee- an Editor for over three decades at this point- can’t simply figure it out himself and tend to the issue without needing it explained to him. Again, Lee defenders like Shooter often inadvertently reveal SO MUCH that it’s staggering.

• “So, instead of turning in written plots, I started doing scribble-sketch layouts, like I used to do at DC, along with notes for clarification.  Stan loved it.  He wrote the dialogue from my scribbles!  Then John couldn’t very well give us a big close up of Mary Jane when an establishing shot was called for.”

Like writing for a child, Shooter did scribble-sketches (awww) and then wrote NOTES FOR CLARIFICATION. Could Evanier try to claim that this served as a sort of tutorial for Lee, and he just got better due to Shooter’s comic-strip pacing 101?? Perhaps, perhaps. I can just picture The Old Master writing like a pro by 1999, due to Shooter’s groundwork.

• “Stan always told me never to crop a pretty girl so high that you couldn’t see her bust.  Or at least some cleavage.  I used to have tremendous problems with John Romita, Sr. when I was plotting and laying out the Spider-Man syndicated strip.  John would always crop the girls extra-tastefully at the shoulders, even if I laid the panel out properly, per Stan.  John actually considered becoming a priest when he was young.  What a choirboy.  Then Stan would go honking at John, then John would get annoyed with me for getting him in trouble.  What did I do?!  Then the redo would make the strip late.  Then…well, it’s a long story.  Anyway, show her charms.“ – Jim Shooter, 2011

This is the major contribution from Stan Lee that I can ascertain: show her chest.

You might be thinking, big deal- the guy made a mistake. You’re really that desperate for blog ideas, eh? It isn’t that he made a mistake. I believe Evanier blatantly and unequivocally lied about Lee writing full-script. And why did he lie? Did he lie to defend Lee and protect his legacy? No. Evanier doesn’t really care about that. Evanier used Lee as a prop in his lie. Evanier’s lie is just to further the image of Evanier himself.

Evanier lied because he pathologically needs to be seen as a source of insider info; he needs to be perceived as someone who rubbed elbows with the big guns, someone who is privy to and granted hitherto unrevealed knowledge, which he then generously decides to share with eager fans; he is the definition of an empty vessel with average talent who navigated a path to stability by propositioning himself in various guises. He used Kirby and now used Lee, all to seem more knowledgeable than other dorks. It’s pathetic and troubling all at once.

Evanier desperately needs recognition. See his enthusiasm as a man in his seventies, saying ‘the FANS meant ME!’ to a presumably horrified Kurt Busiek as he revealed how he got hard-working Dick Ayers fired from Captain America; see his history of interjecting himself in reports and disputes throughout the Eighties and Nineties; even Thomas revealed how Evanier, ever-professional, was advertising Shooter’s impending ouster from Marvel Comics with child-like enthusiasm- not because of Shooter being fired, but because Evanier knew first:

• “In L.A., I ran into Mark Evanier, who was writing comics and TV. He knew I was going back to Marvel and he says to me, “Jim Shooter’s going to be gone in the next few months.” I don’t recall if he said two months, three months, whatever, but it was a fairly short time. I said, “Oh, come on Mark! He’s been editor for going on ten years. Whatever bad blood there may be between us, his SECRET WARS made lots of money for the company.” Mark just says, “Well, he’s going to be gone soon.” So we made a bet, pinned on some future date. I figured it was easy money. But I lost that bet, so Dann and I took Mark out to a Ruth’s Chris Steak House and paid off my debt that way. But I was shocked that Mark had been right.” – Roy Thomas, obviously barely recovered from the staggering Ruth’s Chris Steak House check that gluttonous Evanier had incurred

Mark Evanier needs to be THE SOURCE. He’s eaten out- and eaten well- off of his association with Jack Kirby, a man he routinely slandered and criticized before opportunity brought him to Kirby’s door. Let Evanier keep the role that is so crucial to his psychological mindset and perception of himself, but please, won’t someone advise him between Mushroom Soup Mondays to learn to lie a little better?

Well, that might be asking for a bit too much. After all, Mark Evanier has never been too creative.