{"id":51069,"date":"2019-02-15T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T08:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=51069"},"modified":"2019-02-15T00:19:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T08:19:09","slug":"was-stan-lee-the-next-walt-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/was-stan-lee-the-next-walt-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Stan Lee the Next Walt Disney?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suspended Animation #202<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Stan Lee’s cameo in “Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse”<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the decades I have been fascinated with animation, I have often seen magazines or newspapers predict that someone was the \u201cnext Walt Disney\u201d. I have heard Ralph Bakshi and Richard Williams described that way but neither lived up to their early potential.<\/p>\n

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Stan Lee in 1954<\/p><\/div>I would suggest the closest someone came to being the next Walt Disney was probably Jim Henson who created characters and stories that will continue to outlive him and inspire new projects from others. However, the bottom line is that Walt Disney was unique in so many different ways that it would be hard to name a successor. One contender might be the late Stan Lee.<\/p>\n

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When Stan Lee passed away Monday November 12th, 2018 at the age of 95, Todd McFarlane one of the founders of Image Comics and the creator of characters like Spawn and Venom stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cI get that he created all these characters but Stan\u2019s true superpower was the way he interacted with his fans. He understood that responsibility and he never treated being famous as a nuisance. He got a kick out of it. <\/p>\n

\u201cFew people can create the kind of characters who have that kind of global impact. The only other person I can think of is Walt Disney. Just as Disney\u2019s impact continues to grow and expand, I think we\u2019re going to see Stan\u2019s legacy grow even bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stan in the 1980s<\/p><\/div>I think that is an accurate prediction and immediately I can see a similar relationship between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as the one that existed between Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Just like Walt, Lee was dependent upon the talents he partnered with to achieve his storytelling goals.<\/p>\n

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Stan was born in December 1922, just a few weeks after Walt Disney had turned 21 earlier that same month and roughly one year before Walt would start the Disney Brothers Studio and the Alice Comedies series.<\/p>\n

Lee was awarded the Disney Legends honor in July 2017 at the D23 Expo. <\/p>\n

Disney acquired Marvel in 2009 for roughly four billion dollars and so there was some concern that giving Lee and co-creator Jack Kirby awards did not honor the past legacy of the company and individuals \u201cwho have truly made an indelible mark on the history of The Walt Disney Company\u201d but was just acknowledging the financially successful film franchise that started before Disney purchased it. <\/p>\n

However that same year Disney Legend awards went to Star Wars performers Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher as well and Star Wars was also a recently acquired franchise in 2012 for roughly four billion dollars. <\/p>\n

\"\"In his acceptance speech for the Disney Legends award, Lee stated, \u201cI\u2019ll go back a few years to a kid around eight or ten who loved to read everything he could get his hands on. In those days, he read the Hardy Boys, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes\u2026little books he could buy inexpensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day in a bookstore, he saw a book that was an expensive book. It was what they would have called a coffee table book. To him, it was called The Art of Walt Disney<\/em> (by Robert D. Field 1942 which would actually have made Lee roughly nineteen years old but facts never stopped Lee from telling a good story). <\/p>\n

\u201cI was that boy and I couldn\u2019t afford the book and it drove me crazy. I wanted that book so badly. I saved my pennies and after a few months I bought The Art of Walt Disney<\/em>. I loved that book so. I loved Walt Disney so. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, he was more than a man. He was an inspiration, something to reach for to be like him. And to think that today I\u2019m standing here in the house that Disney built and now we are talking about all the things of Disney\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so thrilling. I can\u2019t tell you. I thank you all and I thank you, Bob (Iger) for having me and, of course, I can\u2019t leave without saying \u2018Excelsior!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Stan Lee was never shy about giving interviews so when the Disney Family Museum asked him for some comments about Walt Disney in Fall 2011, Lee was willing to share the following:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhen I was a young teenager, Walt Disney was my idol. As a kid, the first expensive book I ever bought was a big, beautiful, hard cover, coffee-table book called The Art of Walt Disney<\/em>. I\u2019ve had it and treasured it for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttempting to emulate Walt Disney, I always tried to remain true to whatever creative visions I might have had, even if others thought they weren\u2019t practical or doable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Disney\u2019s influence is as pervasive now as it ever was. He was the greatest exponent of \u2018family entertainment\u2019 and, as far as I\u2019m concerned, that\u2019s still the greatest and most laudable type of entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis early, full-length animated cartoons\u2026I\u2019ll never forget them\u2026.also, those great TV nature shows which were as thrilling as any of today\u2019s superhero shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess my favorite (Disney comic books) is really everyone\u2019s favorite \u2013 the great Carl Barks and his renditions of Donald Duck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that Walt Disney was always ahead of the crowd, creatively. He was an innovator and an artistic pioneer. Starting with his full-length animated classics such as Snow White, Dumbo, Pinocchio<\/em> and the unforgettable Fantasia<\/em>, and songs that are still remembered and universally loved today, and his fabulous nature series and the forming of his Mickey Mouse Club<\/em> and his creation of something as fantastic as Disneyland\u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a dreamer who managed to bring his dreams to life.\u201d<\/p>\n