You mentioned this 200k figure twice before kirby101 asked about it and that's when you said it was "adjusted for inflation." Not to sound overly critical, but you should have led with that, because that makes it sound like he was making 200k in 1969 dollars, a huge difference.



in 1969, Marvel's value was going up quite a bit. They had just come out from under the agreement with DC to distribute Marvel's books while limiting the number of titles Marvel could publish. DC was indeed outselling Marvel because Marvel couldn't get that many books on the stands.* Despite this, Marvel managed to increase their sales during the 60s. Once they were no longer restricted, they were on their way to being #1.

*Also because Superman and related titles were outselling pretty much everything, and there were a LOT of Superman titles. DC was doing ok enough without them, but these books largely made them the sales juggernaut they were.

Marvel was getting a very loyal fan base, but it was by no means a juggernaut yet.

Hopefully I won't be banned over siding with Ayn Rand over Jack Chick.

Also I think Lee's writing really shined in Silver Surfer. I sought (and paid good money in the 90's) for the four issues of that series that weren't reprinted. And no Mangog will be Mangog that isn't Kirby's. They both helped me into reading old comics that I would have otherwise not gotten into. Like trying to get me into big band music. I still prefer Gil Kane's Adam (Him) over Kirby's.

Kirby's interest in Norse mythology is present throughout his work, across Thor and The New Gods. The thing is, he thought in the larger themes, not the specific details, like Neil Gaiman, in Sandman. Kirby sets up the basic structure of Thor, Odin and Loki, peppers in some of the others, and concepts like Ragnarok and then works his stories, with his grand themes. It is present in the 4th World, especially in Lonar, who explores the ruins of the old gods, on New Genesis, which are depicted as Norse. He didn't draw from the Eddas, like Walt Simonson, but was crafting his own stories, within that tableau. He did similar things with Jewish lore, pulp stories, science fiction, Shakespeare and more, especially in the 4th World and after, when he was writing more dramatic material. I think he was drawn to the operatic uses of Norse mythology, rather than the myths themselves. Kind of ironic, given his history battling the Nazis and Hitler's love of Wagner.

Kirby also dabbled in this in the 40s, when he did Mercury, at Timely, though to a far more limited scope.

The Universe building wasn't just about pouring characters in a mag. Team ups were nothing new, I'm guessing appearances had also been done over at DC, but incorporating characters from outside the series to interact with the story, giving the impression of a larger canvas, wasn't what we had initially from Marvel. Take ASM #17-18 and compare them with Annual #1, published immediately before. In the later we see a shameless parade of superheroes doing exactly that, and a no less shameless caption at the bottom of every panel, reminding the reader that each one of them had their own comic. This was Lee's idea of "Universe building", not a creative concept, but a salesman's one. I can't believe Ditko being responsible for doing something that crass. In fact, I like to imagine him teaching Lee a lesson on how to go about it, in his next story, where he incorporates not the whole Marvel roster, but the characters that made sense for the story at hand.

Yes, one way in which the tenuous Beatles metaphor holds true is that bickering of who did what or deserves more credit aside, it's clear from the outside that the creative synergy of them together far exceeded their individual talents, in this fan's opinion at least. 



Yeah, I was going to say. I was getting ready to load up the currency calculator for time because $200K in the 60s would be a mint. Don't get me wrong, $200K today is a nice salary, but it's not the rock star money it sounded like ha.