Hold onto your hats, True Believers! Whilst Stan "The Man" Lee was one of the principal architects of the Marvel Universe we know and love, thus earning his God-like reputation along with cameos in every proper Marvel film made so far, he wasn't the only one. It's just that he's the one with the most klout, the most charm, and the one who's still alive. For all intents and purposes, the artists who worked with Lee on some of his most famous creations were just as integral to their success. Jack Kirby gave the Fantastic Four their iconic costumes (and most of their big stories, with Lee handling the "plots" and Kirby actually put everything together), Spider-Man wouldn't be anywhere near as memorable without Steve Ditko's character designs and, despite cameos in both films, he didn't have anything to do with the creation of Captain America. Still, whilst he may not actually have created all these characters alone - and many of their most famous stories have been handled by a whole cavalcade of writers and artists in his wake - it's fun to accept Lee as the figurehead at the top of it all. Looking a little too deep into it, DC-style, would just be depressing. Excelsior!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
