Hero's Hero—Stan Lee
王中王——斯坦·李
In May 2005， MY HERO had the privilege of interviewing Stan Lee， the creative genius behind the superheroes of our imaginations： Spider Man， The Incredible Hulk， Iron Man， X-Men， Daredevil and The Silver Surfer， to name just a few. His name is synonymous with Marvel Comics where， at the age of seventeen， he became the youngest editor ever in the comic book industry.
In the interview， Stan Lee revealed who his heroes are and how they inspired him to become a writer. Although his dream was to write the great American novel， he became， instead， a dream maker in the minds of his readers through his legendary characters and their heroic adventures.
The word， hero， conjures up an image in Stan Lee's mind of a knight in shining armor on a white steed looking for good deeds to do， for figurative dragons to slay. When he was a young man， he loved the movies， and Errol Flynn was his knight in shining armor， his hero， because of the roles he played. Stan Lee had other heroes， too， who inspired his writing， like Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. As a heroic figure who led the nation in war time， Stan admired Roosevelt because he was an incredibly inspiring orator and because he looked and acted the way one imagines a president should look and act. When Roosevelt delivered his broadcasts， his “Fireside Chats” as he called them， and started by saying “My friends”， Stan felt like he was truly his friend. To Stan， Roosevelt was like everybody's uncle or father， and a true hero. Winston Churchill was equally inspiring to Stan Lee as one of the great writers and one of the Great War leaders of his time because he held the nation of England together during WWII. He kept the nation's morale up with phrases like， “We shall fight， we shall never surrender”， and “Blood， sweat and tears”. Although Stan did not know anything about Churchill's private life， he still saw him as a hero because he was somebody who not only did good things himself， but inspired others to do the same.
There were two people much closer to Stan who gave him self-confidence as a young man and a belief in his ability to realize his dream of becoming a writer. One was his mother， who he said thought anything he did was genius. If he read her four lines of a poem， she'd say， “John Barrymore couldn't have read it as well！” With that kind of support and encouragement， Stan said he had to be confident.
Another person who influenced his life when he was about 8 or 9 years old was a teacher named Leon B. Ginsburg. This teacher made Stan's classes fun， because not only did he teach， but he did it in a humorous， cheerful， and exciting way. According to Stan， he would every so often stop the class and tell a little story about Swat Mulligan， a legendary baseball player. Although Stan never knew if there was such a guy， or if the teacher had made him up， whenever Leon felt the class was getting a little too tense or the work was a little too hard for the kids， he'd say， “Let's take a break. Let me tell you about Swat Mulligan.” And for three or four minutes， Leon would tell the class an exciting， humorous Swat Mulligan baseball story. Because of Leon Ginsburg， Stan decided that whatever he did when grown up， he would try to make it fun for those who would read or listen to his work.
Every writer Stan had ever read from Edgar Rice Burroughs to H.G. Wells to Mark Twain to Cervantes， to Franklin W. Dixon who wrote the Hardy Boys， to Charles Dickens， Edgar Allan Poe， and even Shakespeare has inspired his own writing. He said his love of the language in Shakespeare influenced a lot of the dialogue and phraseology in the books he wrote such as Thor， God of Thunder and Dr. Strange， Master of the Mystic Arts. He loved making up his own expressions like， “By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth， so let it be.”
Deeply impressed by his elementary school teacher， Leon Ginsburg， Stan sees many things that can be done with education to make it more beneficial to students. To him， there is nothing more exciting than history， geography， language or science， if those subjects are taught in an imaginative， entertaining way. He thinks teachers need to take a tip from show biz， to learn how to hold a youngster's interest， to make him want to learn by making learning fun. One of Stan's dreams was to establish Entertainers for Education in which actors， actresses， singers and all types of entertainers lend their talents to teaching teachers how to keep their audience， in this case their students， enthralled and eager to come to class and share the excitement of learning.
In writing his own stories， Stan never tried to glamorize the villain. He only wanted to glamorize the good guy. He wanted his readers to identify with and emulate the hero. His main objective was to make his stories fun and entertaining. He has delightfully entertained and inspired people of all ages for years with his writing and larger-than-life characters who have captivated us with their daring exploits and good deeds to make other people's lives more pleasant， more bearable. Together with him， we hope that in the real world as in his stories， the good guys always triumph10.
2005年5月，“我心中的偶像”栏目有幸采访到了斯坦·李，这位一直隐藏在幕后的创作才子。是他为我们创造出了梦幻世界中的那些超级英雄：蜘蛛侠、绿巨人、铁人、X战警、夜魔侠、超胆侠，形象之多，远远不止这些。如今，斯坦·李这个名字简直成了神奇漫画公司的代名词。早在17岁时，他就成为漫画产业有史以来最年轻有为的剧作家了。
采访中，斯坦·李与记者讲述了他自己心中的偶像，以及这些人是如何给他带来创作灵感的。斯坦·李当初的梦想是要写出一部最伟大的美国小说，后来通过自己笔下所塑造出的那些传奇人物及其侠义探险，斯坦·李竟然成了读者心中的梦工场。
在斯坦·李心中，英雄应该是一个骑着白马、手持宝剑、着一身熠熠发光盔甲的骑士，除暴安良。他还是个小伙子时就对电影如痴如醉，把埃尔罗·弗林奉为偶像。电影中的埃尔罗·弗林就是斯坦·李心中那个身着熠熠闪光盔甲的骑士英雄。
富兰克林·罗斯福、温斯顿·丘吉尔也是斯坦心中的英雄，这为他的文学创作赋予了无数灵感。斯坦非常崇拜罗斯福——在战时作为民族领袖，发表鼓舞人心的演说，树立了名副其实的总统形象。罗斯福把他通过广播发表的演说称作“炉边闲谈”，会以“朋友们，……”这个亲切的称呼作为开场白。斯坦就感觉自己真是罗斯福的朋友一样。对他来说，罗斯福就如邻家的叔叔、父亲，是个真心英雄。
温斯顿·丘吉尔也是斯坦·李发展成为一流剧作家征途中的一颗启明星。作为战时英明的领导人，丘吉尔在二战期间把整个英国紧紧凝聚在了一起。他会用“我们要抗战到底，我们决不投降！”“鲜血、汗水、眼泪”这样的口号激发出整个民族的士气。即使斯坦·李对丘吉尔的私生活知之甚少，但他一直奉丘吉尔为真英雄，佩服他不仅自身荣誉满怀，还一直不忘激发他人上进求索。
还有两位跟斯坦·李更亲近的人帮他在青年时树立信心，使他相信自己有能力成为一名作家。其中一位就是他的母亲。斯坦·李说：“无论我干什么，妈妈总会夸我有天赋。”若斯坦·李给母亲朗诵了四行诗，妈妈会夸赞他：“就是约翰·巴里莫尔也读不出这么优美的感觉啊！”他说，有了这样的支持与鼓励，他就不得不自信了！
在斯坦·李八九岁的时候，有位老师——里昂·B·金斯伯格对斯坦未来发展产生了深远的影响。里昂老师总会营造出一种活跃的课堂气氛，他不光教书还寓教于乐。斯坦说里昂老师经常会讲讲课停下来适时地插入棒球运动员斯利特·默里根的传奇小故事。斯坦至今自己也没搞清楚是真有这样一个人，还是里昂老师自己杜撰出来的。只要里昂老师一发觉课堂气氛变得有些紧张，所学的知识对学生来说有点儿难度时，他就会说，“好，现在大家先歇会儿，我给你们说说斯沃特·默里根。”接下来，里昂老师就会讲个三、四分钟有关斯沃特·默里根打棒球的逸事儿，极其风趣幽默。正是源于里昂老师的这种授课风格，斯坦立志长大后无论写些什么故事，都要让读者和观众感觉轻松、愉快。
无论是从埃德加·莱斯·博尔格到H·G·威尔斯；还是从马克·吐温到塞凡提斯再到写《哈代男孩儿》的富兰克林·W·迪克森；还有著名的查尔斯·狄更斯和爱德加·艾伦·坡；亦或是莎士比亚，这些世纪文豪的作品无一不激发着斯坦无数创作灵感。斯坦坦言说他把莎士比亚式的语言渗入到许多自己创作的剧本之中，例如《雷神》、《陌生人》、《神秘者》，这些作品到处萦绕着莎翁式的对白。斯坦还喜欢创造他自己的表达方式来表达自己的感情。
深受启蒙老师里昂·金斯伯格的影响，斯坦认为许多事都可以通过教育的方式解决，这对学生来说尤其意义深远。斯坦说如果教师能用富于想像力、风趣幽默的方式来上历史、地理、语文、科学课的话，那其他门功课简直无法跟这些学科相媲美。斯坦鼓励教师在电影中学点儿技巧，学会吸引年轻人的注意力；用一种风趣幽默的讲课方式引导孩子们去主动学习。他梦想有一天能开办一处“娱乐教育基地”，请演员、歌手以及娱乐人士，传授一些表演才能，好让教师能掌握一种本领——知道如何吸引住他们的“观众”，也让学生为上课而着迷，为学习知识而如痴如醉。
斯坦·李的剧本始终坚持讴歌好人，从不吹捧反面角色。他期望读者不仅能认识英雄，更能争做英雄。斯坦·李剧本创作的首要目的就是要营造出妙趣横生的故事情节，通过塑造笔下那些夸张的人物形象让读者沉醉其中，通过描述这些超人所进行的无敌探险和为人类造福的举动，来激励所有人——生活还可以更真、更善、更美。同斯坦·李一道，我们也希望现实生活能如他所描绘的情节一样——邪不压正，好人好报。
译者感言
现已年届耋耄的超级漫画英雄斯坦·李于1922年出生在美国纽约。他在美国漫画界可以说是无人不知的元老级人物。他笔下的那只八脚蜘蛛侠、冰人、绿巨人、夜魔侠形象是陪伴无数美国人长大的亲密战友。斯坦·李为神奇漫画公司带来了无数商机，公司里百分之九十以上的重要角色都是他所创作的。斯坦·李己成为美国漫画界的图腾，虽不是什么政治人物或明星，但他的知名度更胜过那些人。
然而，任何事的发生必有其深刻渊源。斯坦创造出了无数超人形象，那是源于他心中的英雄：罗斯福、丘吉尔，他们在二战期间的领袖形象激发着斯坦寻求同样的英雄人物来为人类造福——蜘蛛侠继而诞生了。母亲的鼓励、启蒙老师生龙活虎的课堂更是激发斯坦从小立志奋发图强，要让大家感到愉悦。激励如此神奇。是激励使得斯坦投身漫画界，为人果敢愉悦；激励也如此美妙，是激励使得斯坦追逐梦想，为自己的人生画上绚丽的一笔。
