Stan Lee on the write way to spell the word comicbook,
‘People always write it as if it’s two separate words. But to me, if it’s two separate words, then it means a funny book — a comic book. If you write it as one word, which is the way I do it, then it’s a generic term meaning a comicbook! So, I feel everybody ought to write comicbook as if it’s one word, because it doesn’t mean funny book.’
So, in tribute to Stan “The Man” Lee, that’s how I spell comicbook (instead of comic book) in The Comicbook Detective.
During the writing process of The Comicbook Detective, when I introduced this spelling my fellow writing cohorts circled the wagons and kept correcting my spelling. After one very informative session of critiques, that included correcting my spelling of comicbook, I thanked them for their insights but then gave them a history lesson in the spelling of the word comicbook.
Stan Lee was one of my childhood heroes. Well, to be fair, the heroes of my childhood were all the fictional characters created by Stan and other imaginative creators. I wasn’t a sport watching guy, other than that one big football game in the 60s featuring a quarterback who proclaimed victory before the game was played (for you young’uns Joe Namath and Super Bowl III) which to this day I still question how I ended up watching that game as my dad wasn’t a sports watcher either. We watched that game. But the entertainment medium of the day, TV, movies, and books, that was another story, I soaked them up much like a sponge. Yes, I was one of the original nerds.
So, all my heroes were/are from the movies (James Bond and any character played by Humphry Bogart), TV (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the Lone Ranger, The Avengers-Steed and Mrs. Peel, and 60s Batman) plus many others. Then, there were book heroes, characters created by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and frankly any hard-boiled detective authors from that same era. With a sprinkling of science fiction writers such as, Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, Robert Heinlein, well you get the idea. Thank god for school libraires that didn’t censor their books. Yes, I’d read Fahrenheit 451.
I loved comics. They were the second reason I delivered newspapers (again you young’uns can be happy that’s not a thing now) as a kid. My paper route finished right across the street from the neighborhood grocery store. Afterwards, I’d peruse the spin rack searching for the next issue for my beloved comics.
My favorite comic featured Nick Fury (long before Sam Jackson’s awesome version) and it was an explosion of excitement when the latest issue of Strange Tales featuring Nick Fury and Doctor Strange appeared in the racks. The two characters shared the comic, each getting half the issue. This was the mid-sixties. My favorite Nick Fury stories were all James Bond type stories (the Steranko era) where Fury fought villains that are now considered uncomfortable stereotypes. Specifically, the Yellow Claw, an Asian full-on stereotype, that I will not apologize for. Yes, bad but it was what it is. It was the 60s and I didn’t know any better. Moving on.
So comicbooks were and are a big part of my life. I have stated elsewhere (I think anyway 😉) that I’ve worked almost all sides of the comic industry. I was a fan, starting in the 50s and continued until I hit 15/16 years old when a young man’s interest turned to “ahem” girls. Then my interest in comics came back in my 20s. That lead me to a career in the business side of comics. I was a distributor, a retailer, and a reviewer for comicbooks. All influences that are evident in The Comicbook Detective. Ha, did you see what I did there? 😉
So, go forth and let the world know you’re okay with comicbook spelled the way Stan Lee wanted it spelled.
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