WAITING
FOR TOMMY: TALKING ABOUT STAN LEE
By
Richard Johnston
RICHARD:
Did you contact Stan himself for the book? Did you try?
JORDAN:
I did contact him during the reporting of the book and much
to my surprise, he agreed to sit for several interviews. I
had interviewed him previously for a profile I wrote for Los
Angeles Times Magazine, so there was already a relationship
of sorts. He was very kind and generous with his time, although
his memory was spotty in many areas. To fill in the blanks,
we had to rely on interviews with friends and former colleagues,
as well as a lot of material from the Stan Lee Archives at
the University of Wyoming.
RICHARD:
I remember there was a problem with Stan Lee when The Comics
Journal tried to do something similar. Was he aware of both
your backgrounds with the magazine?
JORDAN:
He wasn't aware of my background, certainly, although mine
wasn't all that extensive. I was an intern in 1995 and later
wrote some news articles. He knew me from the L.A. Times magazine
article (which I wrote in 2000) and seemed to think I did
a good job with that. I mentioned Tom's name, but it didn't
seem to ring any bells. To be honest, it shouldn't have mattered.
Stan's problems with the Journal go way back before Tom's
time. If anything, Tom did right by Stan's name with the Stan
Lee tribute issue (TCJ #181), which I thought did more to
re-establish Stan's artistic credibility than any other piece
or collection of comics journalism in the 1990s. Plus, as
I mentioned, we're journalists. We have a basic duty to be
as fair and objective as possible. More than anything, the
interview time with Stan helped us understand and appreciate
his experiences a lot more.
RICHARD:
Do you believe he has a worthwhile role in the modern comics
industry?
JORDAN:
You mean, today?
RICHARD:
Yes
JORDAN:
Creatively, I don't think so.
RICHARD:
Publishers disagree. occasionally.
JORDAN:
I only scanned a few of those Stan Lee Presents the DC Universe,
or whatever it was called, and they looked pretty unreadable.
TOM:
They were better than the 2099 book.
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