斯坦?李：超级英雄之父

By Michael Cavna 译 / 周颖

蜘蛛侠、钢铁侠、绿巨人、X战警、神奇四侠……这些超级英雄可谓无人不知，他们的诞生也都与同一个人密不可分——斯坦·李。斯坦·李本名斯坦利·马丁·利伯（Stanley Martin Lieber），只因他从小怀有文学梦想，以为创作漫画故事只是权宜之计，因此使用了斯坦·李这一笔名来为漫画的创作署名，而要把自己的真名留给真正伟大的文学作品。怎料，正是这个笔名铺就了他一生的漫画之路，使他成为当之无愧的漫画界泰斗。他笔下的超级英雄有缺点，有个性，有烦恼，不再是高高在上的存在，而是像极了每一个普通人。正因为如此，这些超级英雄的故事跨越了半个世纪仍经久不衰。

Stan Lee professes no deep and analytical insight into the human soul. “Im not a psychiatrist，” he begs off1）. “All I know is， the good superhero movie has got action， suspense， colorful characters， new angles—thats what people like.”

The rangy2） 88-year-old—sitting poised3） against the leopard-print pillows on the couch in his POW！4） Entertainment office—is a natural at delivering the dramatic angle. Asked to strike5） a towering6） pose， he springs to his feet and in a blink is balancing with feline7） ease atop a chair.

Lee was a mere Manhattan comics-industry mortal for decades until， because of diligence and vision， he was elevated to Marvel Comics8） demigod， creating—alongside fellow legends Jack Kirby9） and Steve Ditko10）—the likes of Spider-Man and Iron Man， the Hulk， X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

“My theory about why people like superheroes is that when we were kids， we all loved to read fairy tales，” says Lee， beaming behind his trademark tinted11） glasses. “Fairy tales are all about things bigger than life： giants， witches， trolls12）， dinosaurs and dragons and all sorts of imaginative things. Then you get a little bit older and you stop reading fairy tales， but you dont ever outgrow your love of them.

“Superhero movies are like fairy tales for older people，” continues Lee， whose voice envelops the listener with a raspy13）， lilting14） warmth. “All those things you imagined—if only I could fly or be the strongest—are about wish fulfillment. And because of that， I dont think theyll ever go out of vogue.”

Lees literary approach—and his desire to depict his heroes private lives—profoundly altered comics. Spider-Man suffers a teens social travails15）. Iron Man battles his demon addiction. Lee says he was guided by intimate questions： “What did they do when they werent fighting supervillains？ Where did they live？ What were their hopes， dreams， aspirations， as well as their frustrations？” He believes passionately that many people like their superheroes to have depth， to have vulnerability， to have flaws—to be vexed16） beneath the spandex17）.

“For a long time， there was no personal involvement with some of the superheroes，” Lee says. “Id read books and Dickens always had interesting characters. Mark Twain had interesting characters—so did Edgar Rice Burroughs18）， and Arthur Conan Doyle， who created the greatest fictional character of all in Sherlock Holmes.

“I wanted to write the kind of dialogue that would give the character personality.”

When superhero films combine that depth of character with wish fulfillment， Lee says， theyre already winners. “Youve got power and abilities you dont see all the time. Plus， great stars， great directors.”

Lee leans back. More than three decades after he moved to Hollywood， the very thought of such superheroic movie magic makes him smile.

The arc of Stan Lees life began to bend toward greatness a half-century ago， when he was on the very verge of quitting the business.

Lee had broken into comics two decades earlier when hired as a teenager by Joe Simon， co-creator of Captain America with Kirby. Then， in 1960， Lees boss Martin Goodman told Stan to create a team of superheroes. DC19） was boasting of its success with its superhero team Justice League of America. Goodman wanted Lee—as editor of what would soon become Marvel Comics—to follow suit.

“Not again，” Lee recounts of having to hew to20） scripting convention. “I told my wife Joanie， ‘Im going to quit. But she said： ‘Why not write it the way you want to write it？ If it doesnt work， the worst thats going to happen is that theyll fire you. And you want to quit anyway.”

Emboldened， Lee shunned the superheros usual teenage sidekick21）. He eschewed secret identities. He even decided to have his characters bicker22）. The result was the Fantastic Four. “I tried having heroes [Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Girl] in love and getting married，” he says. “And the teenager was a brother [the Human Torch] who didnt particularly want to be a superhero.

“It was the turning point of my life.”

Co-created with Kirby， the Fantastic Four debuted in November 1961 and sold briskly， setting the stage for a run of characters that would turn around Marvels fortunes. It also helped Lee learn to listen to himself.

“I dont analyze things too closely，” Lee says. “I find the more you analyze， the more you get away from spontaneity. I have only one rule： I just want to write a story that would interest me—thats the only criterion I have. Am I eager to see how it ends？ If these characters really existed， would I want to see what happens to them？

“If I like something， there are bound to be millions of people who like it， too. And if they dont， shame on them.”

“Theres no question that Stan and the innovations he came up with saved the comic book and the superhero，” says Tom Brevoort， Marvels senior vice president of publishing—noting that Lee and the artists he worked with “made me want to do this professionally.”

“By crafting characters with feet of clay23） and personal problems—and not writing down to an audience that was perceived to be primarily 8-year-olds—Stan opened the doorway for more sophisticated and interesting treatments of any subject matter in comics，” Brevoort says. “He made comics interesting and relevant and fun again.”

The man who has written thousands of stories for thousands of characters doesnt believe in epiphanies24）—at least for himself. “I dont have inspiration，” Lee says. “I only have ideas. Ideas and deadlines.”

As for the character ideas behind Hollywoods next Marvel release， Lee says， “In the case of the X-Men， I wanted to do a strip that would point out the injustice and wrongheadedness of bigotry25）. As for their powers， I took the easy way out； instead of dreaming up some complicated explanation for each， I simply wrote， ‘They were born that way. They were mutants26）， and that was that.”

Still an indefatigable27） ambassador of the art form， the ever-adapting Lee says he is working on such projects as a comic rock opera and new lines of books. “To have an idea is the easiest thing in the world，” says Lee， who minutes before was writing weeks of outlines for the Spider-Man comic strip. “Everybody has ideas. But you have to take that idea and make it into something people will respond to.

“Thats hard.”

斯坦·李并不认为自己对人类灵魂有着深刻的认识和透彻的分析。“我不是精神病学家，”他为自己辩解说，“我所知道的就是一部好的超级英雄电影要有打斗动作、悬念、有趣的人物、新颖的角度——这些就是人们喜欢的东西。”

在POW！娱乐公司的办公室里，这位88岁高龄（编注：原文发表于2011年5月）、身材瘦高的老人背靠着豹纹靠枕安坐在沙发上。在创造戏剧性效果方面，他是个天才。当我请他摆出一个巍然屹立的姿势时，他立刻从沙发上跳起来，转瞬之间就稳稳地站在了椅子上，动作像猫一样轻盈。

几十年来，李在曼哈顿漫画界一直籍籍无名，直到后来，他因自己的勤奋和真知灼见而被推上了漫威漫画公司的神坛——与同是传奇人物的杰克·柯比和史蒂夫·迪特科一起，创造了诸如蜘蛛侠、钢铁侠、绿巨人、X战警和神奇四侠这样的超级英雄。

“人们为什么喜欢超级英雄？我的看法是因为我们小时候都喜欢读童话故事，”李说，戴着标志性有色眼镜的他满脸笑意，“童话故事讲述的都是超越现实生活的东西：像巨人啊，女巫啊，巨怪啊，恐龙啊，飞龙啊，各种想象出来的东西。然后我们长大一些了，不再读童话故事，但我们从来不会停止对它们的喜爱。

“超级英雄电影就像是给大人们看的童话故事，”李接着说，他的声音沙哑而富有节奏，使听众感觉被一种温暖包裹着，“你所想象过的所有那些东西——比如希望自己能飞啦，或者自己最强啦——都与愿望的实现有关。正因为如此，我相信它们永远都不会过时。”

李的文学式创作方法以及他对描写英雄私人生活的渴望给漫画创作带来了深刻的变化。蜘蛛侠忍受着少年的社交痛苦，钢铁侠也要与自己的酗酒恶习相抗争。李说，引导他创作的是一些私密问题：“当他们不与超级大反派战斗时，他们在做什么？他们住在哪里？他们的希望、梦想与志向是什么？又经受过哪些挫折？”他强烈地认为，许多人都喜欢看到他们的超级英雄有深度，有弱点，有缺陷——在斯潘德克斯弹性纤维的战衣下也有自己的烦恼。

“长期以来，某些超级英雄没有自己的个人生活，”李说，“我读过一些书，知道狄更斯笔下的人物总是很有趣，马克·吐温的人物也很有趣，埃德加·赖斯·伯勒斯的人物也是如此，还有阿瑟·柯南·道尔，他在《夏洛克·福尔摩斯》中创造了一位空前绝后最了不起的小说人物。

“我想写出能赋予人物以个性的那种对话。”

一旦超级英雄电影将愿望的实现与有深度的角色相结合，那就已经成功了，李说。“你有了那些不寻常的力量和能力，此外还有一些优秀的明星、优秀的导演。”

李身体后倾，靠在沙发背上。在他进军好莱坞三十多年之后，一想到超级英雄电影的这种魔力，他就忍俊不禁。

斯坦·李的人生开始向成功迈进是在半个世纪以前，而那时的他正打算退出漫画界。

在那之前的20年前，李就已经进入了漫画界。那时他还是个少年，受雇于乔·西蒙，也就是与柯比共同创作了《美国队长》的编剧。后来，在1960年，李的老板马丁·古德曼让他创作一个超级英雄团队。当时，DC漫画公司已经有了一个超级英雄团队，即“美国正义联盟”，正在大肆吹嘘自己的成功。古德曼想让李也跟风，当时李所主笔的那家公司将很快成为后来的漫威漫画公司。

“我再也不想那样做了，”李讲述了他不得不遵守脚本撰写惯例的情况，“我对太太乔安妮说：‘我要辞职。但她却说：‘你何不就按照自己的想法去写呢？如果不行的话，大不了他们会把你辞退。反正你正想辞职呢。”

这番话给李壮了胆，他避开了超级英雄通常都有的少年搭档，也避开了英雄的神秘身份。他甚至决定让他的人物斗嘴。于是神奇四侠就这样诞生了。“我试着让我的英雄[神奇先生和隐身女]相爱并结婚，”他说，“而且这次的少年是隐身女的弟弟[霹雳火]，他并不是特别想成为超级英雄。

“那是我人生的转折点。”

1961年11月，与柯比共同创作的《神奇四侠》问世了，销售非常火爆，这也为一系列的人物形象铺平了道路——这些人物将改变漫威漫画的命运。这部漫画也让李学会了倾听自己的声音。

“我不会将事情分析得太过透彻，”李说，“我发现你分析得越多，就越缺少自然流露的东西。我只有一条规则：我只想写出一个能让我自己感兴趣的故事——这是我唯一的标准。我是否急于想知道故事的结局？如果这些人真的存在，我想知道发生在他们身上的故事吗？

“如果我喜欢什么，肯定会有成百上千万的人也喜欢。如果他们不喜欢，那是他们的错。”

“毫无疑问，斯坦和他的创新挽救了漫画书和超级英雄。”汤姆·布雷武特说。布雷武特是漫威漫画公司负责出版的高级副总裁，他说李和与其合作的艺术家“给了我以漫画为业的动力”。

“斯坦精心刻画了一些有缺陷和个人问题的角色，创作时也不再认定读者主要是八岁的孩子。由此，他打开了一扇门，从而用更复杂、更有趣的方式处理漫画中的任何题材，”布雷武特说，“他使漫画再次变得趣味盎然，与我们息息相关，充满乐趣。”

这位为数千个角色编写了数千个故事的人却不相信有什么顿悟——至少对他自己而言。“我没有什么灵感，”李说，“我有的只是想法——想法和交稿期限。”

关于好莱坞要发布的下一部由漫威漫画所改编的电影中的人物构思，李说：“就《X战警》而言，我想做一部漫画来指出偏见的不公正与执迷不悟。至于他们的超级力量，我采取了简便省事的方法，那就是不再去为每个人编造一些复杂的解释，只是简单地说：‘他们生来如此。他们是变种人。仅此而已。”

李依然是一位永不倦怠的漫画艺术大使，永远在顺应潮流。他说他目前正在做的项目包括一部漫画摇滚音乐剧，还有几个系列的新书。几分钟之前，他还在为《蜘蛛侠》的连载漫画撰写可供几周使用的情节大纲。他说：“有想法是世界上最容易的事。人人都有自己的想法。但你要把这个想法变成人们会有所反应的东西。

“那可就难了。”

1. beg off：恳求免除某种义务（或约束）

2. rangy [?re?nd?i] adj. 四肢瘦长的

3. poised [p??zd] adj. 平稳的；泰然自若的

4. POW！：POW！娱乐公司，是斯坦·李在2001年创办的公司，公司主营业务是开发电影、电视剧和电脑游戏。

5. strike [stra?k] vt. 摆出……姿势

6. towering [?ta??r??] adj. 高耸的，屹立的

7. feline [?fi?la?n] adj. 猫状的，似猫的

8. Marvel Comics：漫威漫画，美国漫画公司，始建于1939年。漫威漫画公司旗下有蜘蛛侠、绿巨人、美国队长、钢铁侠等5000多个漫画角色。

9. Jack Kirby：杰克·柯比（1917～1994），美国著名漫画家、编辑和编剧，创作了神奇四侠、绿巨人、X战警、美国队长等漫画人物。

10. Steve Ditko：史蒂夫·迪特科（1927～），美国漫画艺术家与作家，以创作蜘蛛侠等漫画人物而著名。

11. tint [t?nt] vt. 给……着淡色

12. troll [tr?l] n. （北欧民间传说中居住于地下、洞中、山间的）巨人，巨怪

13. raspy [rɑ?spi] adj. 嘶哑的，沙哑的

14. lilting [?l?lt??] adj. 抑扬顿挫的，有节奏的

15. travail [?tr?ve?l] n. 痛苦；艰难

16. vex [veks] vt. 使烦恼，折磨

17. spandex [?sp?ndeks] n. [纺]斯潘德克斯，氨纶（一种弹性合成纤维或其织物）

18. Edgar Rice Burroughs：埃德加·赖斯·伯勒斯（1875～1950），美国作家，代表作品为《人猿泰山》（Tarzan of the Apes）长篇系列小说。

19. DC：指DC漫画公司，与漫威漫画同为目前美国最大型的两家漫画公司。DC漫画公司旗下拥有超人、蝙蝠侠、神奇女侠、闪电侠、绿灯侠等漫画角色。

20. hew to：坚持，遵守

21. sidekick [?sa?d?k?k] n. 朋友；助手

22. bicker [?b?k?（r）] vi. （为琐事）争吵，争论

23. feet of clay：致命的弱点（或缺陷）

24. epiphany [??p?f?ni] n. 顿悟

25. bigotry [?b?ɡ?tri] n. 偏执，偏见

26. mutant [?mju?t（?）nt] n. 突变体

27. indefatigable [??nd??f?t?ɡ?b（?）l] adj. 不知疲倦的