The Boys’ Writer Dislikes Stan Lee’s Writing So Much, He’s Never Finished Any of His Comics (Despite Trying To)

According to Garth Ennis, he has never fully read a story by Stan Lee – putting The Boys creator in an extremely exclusive category among the top talents in the comic book industry, who tend to venerate the late prolific Marvel writer. As it turns out, his success is rooted in a rejection of Lee’s style of superhero stories.

In an interview with Comic Book Herald, Ennis confirmed that he has never finished a Stan Lee story, despite attempting to. Over the course of decades, Garth Ennis has made a career out of going against the grain, crafting stories that have made him a stand-out – and at times, controversial – figure in the medium, and this admission in some ways elaborates on why.

Lee’s work is monolithic in the comic book industry, and particularly the superhero genre – both of which The Boys was designed to roast uncompromisingly, bringing their deeply engrained flaws to the surface through brutal satire.

Garth Ennis Confirms He Has Never Finished Reading A Comic Book Written By Stan Lee

The Boys Writer’s Iconoclastic Take

While an admirer of Stan Lee could still undertake the satirical project of The Boys, it makes sense that Garth Ennis holds the legendary creator’s work in low esteem. Ennis’ work is in many ways antithetical to the tradition of comic book storytelling established by Lee at Marvel in the 1960s. In a way, the comic industry needed Ennis and likeminded creators to provide an antithesis to Lee, in order to expand the medium’s possibilities. As the author of Preacher and The Boys explained, Stan Lee’s work didn’t grab him as a young reader – rendering it forever inaccessible to him.

Speaking with Comic Book Herald, Garth Ennis was asked about Stan Lee’s reaction to the younger writer’s early-2000s Punisher MAX series – infamously, Lee was opposed to the book. In the process, he also confirmed that he is the farthest thing from a fan of Lee’s work. As Garth Ennis stated:

I have honestly never read one of [Stan Lee’s] comics cover to cover. I’ve tried. I find something about that bombastic dialogue – even during fight scenes – very, very hard to swallow.

Even from a young age, Ennis recognized that traditional American comic book storytelling didn’t suit his sensibilities. This would ultimately set the foundation for the trajectory of his career, in which he has carved out his own formidable legacy.

The lack of appeal of Stan Lee and other traditional superhero stories to Garth Ennis as a young reader was, in part, due to the influence of classic British comic books, something that also helped define his aesthetic. As he explained:

I think if you saw the
2000. A.D.
and
Battle
stuff I grew up on, you’d see something much more sparse, much more functional, in terms of the dialogue and the storytelling. When I did see superhero comics as a kid – and maybe some of them were by Stan, I don’t know; there were British reprints of that stuff – I was pretty much turned off by how unlike
2000 A.D.
and
Battle
they were.

It is worth noting once again that Garth Ennis emphasized the formative context of his early reading. His early reading habits helped him develop particular tastes, which Stan Lee stories did not satisfy. Had he encountered Lee’s work first, his artistic career – and to a degree the whole history of comics – could have been very different.

“The Boys” Satire Of Stan Lee Was Essential To Its Critique Of The Comic Industry

“The Legend” Played A Crucial Role

As with everything in The Boys, Garth Ennis’ parody of Stan Lee himself is abrasive to the extreme – though it is safe to say he played a pivotal role, however limited, in the larger satirical schematic of the series. “The Legend” – as The Boys’ Lee-analogue was known –served to provide critical exposition at multiple points in the story; more than that, however, the character had a thematic resonance that makes the character especially important to fans’ overall understanding of Garth Ennis’ authorial intentions for the series.

In a sense, The Boys couldn’t have avoided satirizing Stan Lee, even if author Garth Ennis had wanted to. Lee had as much influence on shaping a modern industry as any single individual can have; as much as his creative legacy is celebrated, he also ranks among the most influential business innovators of the 20th century. That said, The Boys was intended to critique what Garth Ennis considered both the creative and commercial problems of superhero stories – many of which he attributed directly to Stan Lee.

From putting Lee’s iconic catchphrase in the Legend’s mouth, to his first dialogue in The Boys being a reference to Mjolnir, Garth Ennis clearly signaled to readers who the character represented. What he represented, though, was more complex. The Legend was at the crux of Ennis’ cautionary observation that even the greatest achievements of art and science can and will be misused when they become commercial products. An important part of that was The Boys depiction of comic books themselves, and their role in the world of the series.

“The Boys” Harsh Opinion Of Comic Books Was Its Most Savage Critique

The Medium Is The Message

The Legend’s first appearance is accompanied by Billy Butcher’s explanation of comics’ function as propaganda for Vought-American and its legion of supes. This is crucial to understanding The Boys overall. On an issue-by-issue, page-by-page basis, the series offered a narrative that embodied Garth Ennis’ criticisms of its genre. The Legend, and The Boys’ depiction of comics, were the points in the story at which Ennis engaged with this aspect of the story overtly. Comic book stories and the comic book industry are unequivocally sinister in The Boys, allowing fans no illusions about the author’s position.

The Legend’s role as a former comic book executive and PR-person was the perfect explanation for the wealth of backstory he provided repeatedly throughout the series. At the same time, it made him one of the most valuable characters in The Boys for decoding the satirical superstructure of the story. With the added context that Garth Ennis is on-record as not having the appreciation for Stan Lee’s work that most of his peers profess, it becomes even more clear why Ennis chose to distill his overarching disapproval in such a direct parody.

From start to finish, The Boys offered a cutting take on superhero stories, while using the comic book medium to undermine itself. There are a number of things critical readers can find fault with the series for, with The Boys depiction of Stan Lee among the many things in the story worthy of debate. In whatever way it factors into their own opinions – positive or negative – many readers will find it valuable to know that The Boys creator Garth Ennis professes to have never read a Stan Lee comic.

Source: Comics Book Herald, Garth Ennis interview