漫畫大師：斯坦·李

Chinese Name： 斯坦·李

English Name： Stan Lee

Nationality： American

Birth Place： New York， America

Birth Date： December 28th， 1922

Main Works： Spider Man， Iron Man， The Hulk， X-Men， Fantastic Four， Thor， Captain America， The Avengers

主要作品：《蜘蛛俠》《鋼鐵俠》《綠巨人》《X戰(zhàn)警》《神奇四俠》《雷神托爾》《美國(guó)隊(duì)長(zhǎng)》《復(fù)仇者聯(lián)盟》

When Stan Lee was working at part-time jobs in New York in 1939 he was still a teenager. He never thought of being the creative force behind some of the world’s greatest comic-book superheroes.

“I never looked that far ahead，” says Lee. “In fact， I never thought I’d get into the comic book business. I applied for a job at a publishing company and I thought they published regular magazines， which they did also. But the one place they had an opening was in the comic book department， so that’s where I went. I guess I’ve been there ever since.”

And what a tenure it was. Lee， whose given name is Stanley Lieber， was quickly promoted at Timely Comics， from office assistant to writer to editor. By the time the company became known as Marvel Comics， in the 1960s， he was art director and about to revolutionize comics.

Unlike the perfect， invincible comic book superheros of other companies， Lee made Marvel’s new characters flawed， more human.

“And I tried to show that even though they had super power， everything wasn’t perfect in their lives. They still had to worry about earning a living， about their relationship with other people， about their families and their health and so forth，” Lee says. “And I tried to make them real people who happened to have super powers. And apparently that little shade of a difference was the main thing that made the characters as popular as they became.”

When Stan Lee was asked who his favorite superman was， he picked Spiderman as his favorite superhero， because he’s become the most popular.

“But I really love them all. I love Ironman. I love the X-Men. I could go down the list. It’s like asking a parent who his favorite child is，” he said.

As chairman emeritus of Marvel Entertainment， the 92-year-old keeps a loving eye on his classic characters， even as he continues to create new heroes and comic universes. He supports the not-for-profit Stan Lee Foundation， which promotes literacy， writing and the arts. His name appeared on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lee is no longer surprised at the popularity of the characters he helped create. “Now I expect it. In fact， if people talk about some of the great characters in the world today and they don’t mention Marvel’s characters， I get very upset.”

Looking back over his 70 years in comics， Lee sees other changes， too.

“When we did the comics years ago， we tried to make them suitable for every age. They were sort of G-rated. We had a lot of action， but we didn’t really have what we’d call violence，” he says. “I tried to write them so they were intelligent enough for an older reader， but a young kid could also understand them and enjoy them. Today， sometimes they become a little more gritty， a little more dark than they had been.”

While comic book artwork has become much more sophisticated， Lee—who is a writer， not an artist—says that’s not enough to hold an audience.

“Story is everything. You could have the greatest artwork in the world， but if the artwork is depicting a story that nobody’s interested in， you’ve got nothing.”

1939年，斯坦·李在紐約打零工時(shí)，還是一個(gè)少年，根本沒有想到有朝一日自己會(huì)創(chuàng)作出世界上最偉大的漫畫超級(jí)英雄。

他說：“我從來沒想得那么遠(yuǎn)，也從來沒有想到自己會(huì)從事漫畫書行業(yè)。我申請(qǐng)一家出版公司的工作，我以為他們出版一般性雜志，他們的確也出版這種雜志。但是，當(dāng)時(shí)那個(gè)空缺位置是在漫畫書部門。因此，我進(jìn)到這個(gè)部門工作。從那時(shí)以來，我就一直待在那兒。”

多么好的終身職位啊！李的全名是斯坦利·里伯。他很快在快捷漫畫公司得到提升，從辦公室助理躍升為漫畫作家，然后升為編輯。該公司70年代改名為驚奇漫畫公司后，他已經(jīng)成為藝術(shù)總監(jiān)，一場(chǎng)漫畫革命即將到來。

和其他公司創(chuàng)作的完美無缺、攻無不克的漫畫英雄人物相比，斯坦·李為驚奇漫畫公司創(chuàng)作出一些有缺點(diǎn)、更具人情味的新人物。

他說：“我試圖表明，這些人物雖然具有超能力，但是他們的生活并非一帆風(fēng)順。他們也要為生計(jì)、人際關(guān)系、家庭以及健康等問題擔(dān)心。我努力把他們刻畫成碰巧擁有超能力的真實(shí)人物。顯然這一微小的差別使這些人物家喻戶曉。”

當(dāng)被問到最喜歡的超人時(shí)，斯坦·李選擇了蝙蝠俠，因?yàn)樗呀?jīng)成為最受歡迎的漫畫人物。

他說：“但是，所有這些人物，我都非常喜歡。我喜歡鋼鐵俠，也喜歡X戰(zhàn)警，很多很多。這就好像問一個(gè)父親最喜歡自己的哪個(gè)孩子一樣。”

92歲高齡的斯坦·李如今是驚奇娛樂公司的榮譽(yù)退休主席。雖然他仍在創(chuàng)作新的英雄人物和新的漫畫世界，但是，他對(duì)自己過去創(chuàng)作的一些經(jīng)典人物仍情有獨(dú)鐘。他還支持旨在推動(dòng)掃盲、寫作和藝術(shù)的非盈利組織——斯坦·李基金會(huì)。他的名字出現(xiàn)在好萊塢星光大道上。

斯坦·李對(duì)自己幫助創(chuàng)作的這些人物的受歡迎程度已不再感到驚奇。他說：“現(xiàn)在，我認(rèn)為這是理所當(dāng)然的事。事實(shí)上，如果人們?cè)谡務(wù)撌澜缟献顐ゴ蟮娜宋飼r(shí)，沒有提到驚奇漫畫公司的人物，我會(huì)很沮喪。”

回顧70年的漫畫生涯，斯坦·李還看到一些其他變化。

他說：“多年前，我們從事漫畫業(yè)時(shí)，努力使作品滿足每個(gè)年齡層的口味，也就是老少咸宜。雖然加上了很多動(dòng)作，但并沒有所謂的暴力。我努力創(chuàng)作一些足夠聰明的人物，不僅年齡大的讀者能夠接受，連小孩子也能看懂和欣賞。但是，今天的漫畫人物比過去更強(qiáng)悍、更灰暗一些。”

斯坦·李是漫畫家，而不是藝術(shù)家。他說：“雖然漫畫藝術(shù)變得比過去更高深、更精美，但是，光靠動(dòng)作不足以吸引讀者。”

“故事是最重要的。你可以創(chuàng)作出世界上最偉大的藝術(shù)作品，但是，如果這個(gè)藝術(shù)作品所描寫的故事沒有人感興趣，你就一無所得。”

Vocabulary

apply for 申請(qǐng)

regular adj. 定期的

tenure n. 終身職位

promote v. 提升

revolutionize v. 徹底革命

invincible adj. 無敵的；不能被征服的

flaw v. 使有缺陷

emeritus adj. 退休的；名譽(yù)退休的

not-for-profit adj. 非盈利的

violence n. 暴力

gritty adj. 堅(jiān)忍不拔的

sophisticated adj. 富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的

depict v. 描寫