Thursday, October 31, 2002

COMICS ON 60 MINUTES II

CBS' 60 Minutes II carried a nearly 13-minute piece focusing on mostly Marvel Comics on Wednesday night.

Correspondent Bob Simon interviewed Marvel's Stan Lee, Avi Arad and Joe Quesada for the piece, as well as Maus creator Art Spiegelman and Jimmy Corrigan creator Chris Ware.

Highlights from the piece, in chronological order:

* Lee recounts origin of Spider-Man with his fly-on-the-wall story.

"I was just trying to make up some new characters so that I would keep my job, keep eating and paying the rent," he says. "And I hoped the books would sell. We didn't think we were doing anything revolutionary."

* Arad is described as "arguably the hottest movie producer in Hollywood." He is followed to the set of Daredevil, where Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are on a schoolyard scene, and in a meeting with Sub-Mariner writer David Self. "There are two castes of Atlanteans," Self is heard to say in the meeting.

* Arad is asked how many Spider-Man sequels there will be. "Looking at my birth certificate, I think I'll be involved with at least three," Arad says. "At least."

He adds that the franchise will run "way past all of us."

* Quesada is shown in the Marvel offices, described as "a fabulous, fantasy factory." "We tell stories of the heroic ideal," Quesada says.

* Lee takes Simon to Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles.

"What we do is realistic fantasy," Lee says. "We have to suspend disbelief in the sense our characters are going to have some super powers, is super strong, can crawl on walls, can fly in the air - whatever that is. But, in order not to make it just a fairy tale, you have to believe in the person and you have to believe that the person might not exist."

* Next is a visit to Spiegelman, who has noticed a change in the perception of comics. "Yeah, something's really afoot," he says. "I couldn't have even said that as clearly as six months ago or a year ago, where Maus, for instance, was seen as an anomaly. Now Maus is seen as part of a larger picture."

* Mentioned next is Ware and his British literary award. "I still can't quite believe it," Ware says. "And it didn't actually dawn on me until I had left England that it actually happened. I kept thinking this was a joke."

* The report notes the trend of graphic novels, like Road to Perdition, earning respect.

"Now, it doesn't seem like you really have to be ashamed of yourself if you have a comic book in your possession," Spiegelman says. "Before I'd hide my copies of comics inside a copy Playboy so nobody would know I was reading one."

* Footage was shown from Comic-Con International in San Diego, where it's noted that sales are just a fraction of what they used to be.

* Back to the set of Daredevil, where Arad is asked what Marvel's movies are worth.

"Well, if you look at the studios, that look at revenues, ticket sales, DVDs, these movies are all in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Arad says. "A billion dollars is not usual."

* It's noted that, while Lee is still a paid employee of Marvel, he says he didn't make money off the Spider-Man movie.

"When I wrote these stories, I wrote them as a writer-for-hire, so I don't own the characters," Lee says.

"This doesn't put you in a state of rage?" Simon asks.

"No, I'm the kind of guy, I'm just interested in what I'm doing at the moment," Lee says. "I don't dwell on it. I try not to."

"Right, because it's painful?" Simon asks.

"A little bit," Lee says.

Simon asks Arad if Lee is getting a fair shake.

"Sure, sure, everybody is getting a fair shake," Arad says. "There's years of work by many, many people. There's not one individual that is responsible for all of it. Stan created great characters, obviously. Ask him. I think he's getting a fair shake."

Cut to Simon asking Lee, "Do you think you're getting screwed?"

"I don't want to say that," Lee says. "I mean, after all, I'm still a part of the company. I love the people. I love the company. As I say, I try not to think of it."

* It's noted that Lee is still writing and that he penned Uncle Ben's "With great power, comes great responsibility" line.

"That's a line that I just tossed off, and somehow people have remembered it and they've quoted it, and I'm delighted about that," Lee says. "With great power, comes great responsibility. Wow! … I'm sure glad I wrote it."