Please don't get me wrong, Stan Lee has had some great ideas, but the amount of credit that is given to him in regards to what characters he's created makes me pretty angry.

Let's take a look at this article on CNN recently about the success of the new Avengers movie.

Stan Lee revels in success of 'Avengers'

Some quotes:

"...long before the film's astronomical success, the 3-D glasses, the action figures and the sponsorship deals, there was the the imagination of one man -- Stan Lee"

" Years ago, I was writing these characters and I thought it would fun to put them together in a team. And I called it "The Avengers."

Ugh..... All I have to say is people should give more credit to Simon and Kirby. I'm sorry, Stan probably is a genius on some levels, but he's also kind of an IP thief. He's taken credit, and as the media likes to imagine SOLE credit, for the creation of many super heroes.

Captain America? Simon and Kirby's creation. Timely Comics (now Marvel Comics) strongarmed them and stole the character.

Fantastic Four? Iron Man? Hulk? Original X-Men? Silver Surfer? Doctor Doom? Galactus? Magneto? Black Panther? Shitloads of others? Kirby all the way.

Even Gil Kane (another artist/writer who created TONS like Green Lantern, etc) had this to say about Kirby:

"Jack was the single most influential figure in the turnaround in Marvel's fortunes from the time he rejoined the company ... It wasn't merely that Jack conceived most of the characters that are being done, but ... Jack's point of view and philosophy of drawing became the governing philosophy of the entire publishing company and, beyond the publishing company, of the entire field....."

So yeah, end of my rant. I just get angry when I see a media story glorifying Stan Lee and no mention of Kirby.

Eh, happens all the time with the media. Stan Lee is to comic books as George Lucas is to star wars. The media in general is just kinda crap.

Look at Tesla and Edison.

Look at Tesla and Edison.

I agree on most levels. Tesla and Edison both "invented" electricity, just implemented on seperate levels. I believe Edison stole Tesla's ideas, and bought and stole MILLIONS of other ideas to patent them. Edison also experimented with DC (direct current) electricity, and even though Tesla worked with AC (alternating current) and his works are more widely used/accepted, Edison is still credited with most of the work. Edison was more of a capitalist though ($$$$$), front and center, while Tesla wanted to work mostly for the greater public good.

Sad really, how we glorify one and exempt the other.