"It seems to me that a story without a message, however subliminal, is like a man without a soul."
This was just one of the many brilliant quotes found with Stan's Soapbox column, which began in 1967 and ended in 1980. Lee was replying to readers who were railing against Marvel's continued commitment to rooting their stories in the real world and taking on genuine issues (sound familiar?), and did so with enough authority and class that it should have been the final word on the subject. Should have.
Letters pages are sadly no longer a recurring feature of comics, but during its 13-year run, Stan's Soapbox opened up a dialogue with readers and offered a valuable insight into how Lee's own beliefs shaped the House of Ideas, with the writer taking the time to rally against racism on multiple occasions, as well as calls for Marvel to shy away from the real world in its comics.
Lee's enthusiasm, energy and rationale are displayed in full view in these exchanges, and they're well worth tracking down for those yet to encounter them.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
