364 LEIALOHA, STEVE
established a unique way of writing scripts (the Marvel Method) whereby a synopsis of
the plot was given to the artist who then had greater creative freedom over what goes
on each page.
In the early 1970s Lee visited university campuses giving public lectures to eager col-
lege fans, while at the same time defending comics as a valuable literacy tool. In 1971,
noting the infl uential power of comic books, the U.S. Department of Health, Education
and Welfare asked Lee to write an anti-drug story; the anti-drug issues #96–98 of Th e
Amazing Spider-Man were printed without the Seal of Approval of the Comics Code,
which forbade the use of drug-related material in comics. Th ese issues represented an
important movement toward more relevant content in comics. Lee would also write the
Spider-Man newspaper strip which started in 1977.
Lee made his readers feel like a part of the Marvel family. His “Bullpen Bulletin”
features explored the antics and goings on in the Marvel offi ces, while “Stan’s Soapbox”
informally dealt with whatever was on his mind at the time—be it silly or serious. Lee
became a world-wide celebrity and the spokesman of the comic book industry. Even
though the famous statement “With great power comes great responsibility” is associ-
ated with Spider-Man, it is the Silver Surfer (fi rst designed by Kirby) who allowed
Lee to be more philosophical and comment upon the fallibilities, injustices, and lost
opportunities of humankind. At diff erent times throughout the years Lee was also
editor-in-chief, publisher, president, and chairman emeritus of Marvel Comics. He
continues to write and develop projects in Los Angeles for his own company, POW!
Entertainment.
Selected Bibliography: McLaughlin, Jeff , ed. Stan Lee: Conversations. Jackson: Univer-
sity Press of Mississippi, 2007; Raphael, Jordan, and Tom Spurgeon. Stan Lee and the
Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2004.
Jeff McLaughlin
LEIALOHA, STEVE (1952–). A comic book artist best-known as an inker, Steve Leialoha
began to work professionally as a comics artist in 1972 and became a full-time artist in
1975 as an inker for Jim Starlin’s Warlock for Marvel. During this period, following
and in part inspired by the underground comics movement, independent companies
began to compete with the big two, Marvel and DC, publishing ground level comics,
featuring stories aimed at intellectually adult readers in a variety of genres, from action
and superhero stories to mysteries and adaptations from other media. Th ough he
continued to work for Marvel until 1988, Leialoha also soon began to work for the
fi rst and perhaps most infl uential of these new companies, Star*Reach, in both their
eponymous anthology title and in the humor title Quack. His fi rst work for the com-
pany, an exemplar of the period’s innovation, was as the artist on an adaptation of the
Crosby, Stills and Nash song “Wooden Ships” (Star*Reach #3, 1975), written by Mike
Friedrich. Meanwhile, his ongoing work for Marvel included penciling and/or inking
on such titles as Warlock, Howard the Duck, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Spider-Woman, the
