Who is the "Stan Lee" of DC Comics?

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I am not an expert on marvel comics altho Stan Lee probably was responsible for the characterization of Silver Surfer. DC silver age had mostly heroes with no characterization and dc has been trying to catch up with Marvel in characterization since the bronze age.

That's also not true. Stan literally said that one day he received pages from Jack with Surfer on them, without even knowing he'd created the character. Kirby was responsible for Surfer's motives, his characterization, etc. Also, you really should dip your toe into some Golden Age DC. Superman started out as a rough and tumble social crusader, which was very experimental for the time. Also Superman's characterization was very much born out of the feeling of social alienation. Jerry Siegel once said that the main motivation behind creating Superman was his imagining what if there was a hidden persona behind his nerdy exterior. Batman's origin and characterization is one of the most memorable in all of comics. Everything Batman does, you understand his motives because of his origin. You get where he comes from.

And if DC has been trying to "catch up" since the bronze age, then why has Marvel been trying to create Batman and/or Superman clones since the bronze age? Daredevil, Moon Knight, Sentry, Hyperion, etc. all attempts to capture something similar to what DC has with those two characters. Both companies rip each other off all the time.

[colonyofcells]

For characterizations, I would guess that the dialogue writer should get more credit. For Marvel copying DC, the main character they copied is probably Thanos who is copied from Darkseid.

[Jim Kelly]

It was the fact that all of Marvel was created by one guy (not really, but that's the story we were being told) that turned me off Marvel. I liked DC for the very fact that it was an assortment of different concepts and styles all under one umbrella. The Marvel rules of continuity and character didn't apply--but there were other ruless at DC just as fruitful.

Pushing all that variety of worlds through the sausage factory to make Marvel meat at DC has never worked and will never work. You just end up with poor imitations of Marvel characters.

But I'd say right now Geoff Johns and Jim Lee want to be thought of as the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of DC.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

For characterizations, I would guess that the dialogue writer should get more credit.

Yeah, you would guess. You know, almost the entire concept of Batman was created by Bob Kane, who was himself the artist. Obviously Finger did his fair share of contribution, but Batman was mostly created by his artist.

For Marvel copying DC, the main character they copied is probably Thanos who is copied from Darkseid.

Thanos and several more. Moon Knight is basically Batman with mental illness. Arnold Drake was also convinced that Stan Lee ripped off his creation (the Doom Patrol) in making the X-Men. But, to be fair, DC has also engaged in several examples of Marvel-aping in the past (like Blockbuster, for example).

[dogwelder]

Not Julie...he didn't write.

Robert Kanigher is the closest.

[colonyofcells]

I would agree that Geoff Johns was instrumental with the return of classic Barry Allen and Geoff did improve the origin of the Flash which was used in the Flash TV show. The Geoff Johns improvements to classic Green Lantern did not seem to work that well in the movies. Geoff also seems to prefer the egyptian Hawks as seen in TV and I agree the egyptian origin is more interesting.

[Lee Stone]

Not Julie...he didn't write.

Robert Kanigher is the closest.

If we did writers, I'd go with Gardner Fox, myself.

[Jim Kelly]

In the '70s (and after that), there was a lot more characterization through dialogue and text. But that's only one way to reveal character in the visual medium of comics. I think a reason that many writers didn't do a lot of characterization through dialogue was because they knew it was unnecessary--you understood the characters by how they were drawn.

Sure, the dialogue adds a bit more to Ben Grimm or Oliver Queen--but really you already get a real sense of who they are from the artwork, so it gets to be a bit over the top when the dialogue is also pushing character.

But just because a guy talks with a Brooklyn accent that isn't really character. Character is truly revealed through action--what people do, not what they say.

And it seemed to me that so-called character development became a substitute for plot development. If the writer is just engaging in all this soap opera stuff, then he doesn't have to come up with clever plots that put the heroes through their paces.

[Jim Kelly]

Not Julie...he didn't write.

Robert Kanigher is the closest.

Bob Kanigher is the closest in the sense of being an editor who also wrote the comics he edited. And like Stan who oversaw a variety of titles and created many of the characters in those titles--but like Stan he was also borrowing from other people's work.

The difference is that Marvel was a small company with a small output of titles that one guy could edit. DC was a large company with lines of titles under different editors.

[Sandy Hausler]

Yeah, you would guess. You know, almost the entire concept of Batman was created by Bob Kane, who was himself the artist. Obviously Finger did his fair share of contribution, but Batman was mostly created by his artist.

I was not there, so I cannot say what happened for sure, but I have read that Kane originally created a character called Birdman who wore a red costume, who after discussions with Bill Finger was changed into Batman with a black costume. I won't minimize Bob Kane's contribution to Batman, but Bill Finger's role was instrumental.

Sandy Hausler

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Yeah, you would guess
Thanos and several more. Moon Knight is basically Batman with mental illness. Arnold Drake was also convinced that Stan Lee ripped off his creation (the Doom Patrol) in making the X-Men. But, to be fair, DC has also engaged in several examples of Marvel-aping in the past (like Blockbuster, for example).

Don't forget Wade Wilson perhaps the most on the nose "copy".

[RobinFan4880]

I am not an expert on marvel comics altho Stan Lee probably was responsible for the characterization of Silver Surfer. DC silver age had mostly heroes with no characterization and dc has been trying to catch up with Marvel in characterization since the bronze age. One purpose of the New 52 reboot was supposed to give better characterization for each hero and each villain. During the bronze age, my impression is that Julius was no Stan Lee and Marv was no Chris Claremont. In more recent times, DC has also been left behind by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel is already busy working on the Inhumans franchise.

Even though I am a big Inhumans fan, even I know Marvel is only building them up because they don't have the film rights to the X-Men.

[Midnighter]

Bob Kane, of course.

THIS.

Both credit stealing shiesters.

[John Ossie]

My favorite Julie Schwartz story was from Jim Shooter. I guess he borrowed 50 cents one day and Julie wouldn't let him pay him back and spent the rest of his life telling people Shooter owed him money

LOL That's a good one. Sounds like Schwartz is/was quite the character.

[Hilden B. Lade]

Someone who claims credit for creating everything, even though it was a collaberative effort? No DC doesn't have anyone like that.