Discourse Chronicle

IGN: Obviously the kernel of the Fantastic Four is that they are a family. How instrumental were you in making sure that this film reflected a more family-friendly interpretation of the characters than other adaptations?

Lee: Well, I don’t think that had much to do with me. That was just the way Tim Story and the other people saw it. When I did Spider-Man and the X-Men and the Hulk and Daredevil and the Fantastic Four and all of them, I never thought to myself, “I think this is a little older than that one” or “I think this one is a little younger.” I never even thought of age when I was writing the stories; I was trying to write stories that interested me, stories I thought I would like to read about characters I felt would interest me. I always figure I’m not unique, and something that would please me hopefully would please a lot of other people that have the same tastes that I do. So if this one skewed a little bit younger, it wasn’t my intention when I wrote the books, and it may just be because of the way it was written or directed or something. It may not be a bad thing if it seemed to be for a younger audience – I don’t know.

[Ron Marz said something similar two years ago when he performed guest-speaking duties at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s English Festival. I remember him saying that whenever a comic book series is released specifically targeting kids now, they fail, for some reason. Meanwhile, mainstream titles like Superman, Green Lantern, or Spider-Man are telling stories that those writers want to see, which is not too different from Lee’s explanation above. It seems like Marvel’s Ultimate line and DC’s All-Star titles are winning younger audiences, but there one key is reimagination with a broad audience in mind. Maybe nothing is wrong with Comics as an industry at all, it just needed a tune-up. BK]

category: Comics, Literacy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics