Cory Strode (here's his weblog) bills himself as "The Best Dressed Man in Comics," which is kind of like claiming to be the most dignified of the Three Stooges. Anyway, he sends an e-mail not unlike several others I've received in the last few hours…
You haven't touched on it yet, but when Stan was on the Late Late Show (which was still worth skipping for the opening 20 minutes of "comedy") he made sure to interrupt the host and say that he always had a co-creator for all of his characters, and that the lawsuit was a breach of contract and not because he was owed money from long ago. He also came off as an amazingly entertaining guest, and his schtick that us comics fans have known about for years worked very well on the show, and I hope that he starts to become a "late night talk show" guest.
Stan is a very charming guy, and I guess I should point out that one of the reasons he has gotten so much more attention than Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko is because he is a good interview and, what's more, he's accessible. It is not fair that Ditko goes so unmentioned, but at least some of that springs from his refusal to speak with reporters, allow himself to be photographed, etc. Tomorrow, if you were assigned to produce a TV news segment on the origins of Spider-Man, Stan would give you plenty of time and he'd give you short, funny on-camera quotes you could use. Ditko would probably hang up on you. That shouldn't make a difference in the reporting but, of course, it does.
Jack Kirby was, in my opinion, the single-most brilliant creative talent ever to work in the comic book business, and I loved him dearly. But just as some people who are great at playing basketball are rotten at playing the clarinet, some folks who are unmatched in writing or drawing are bad at public relations. Unlike Stan, Jack was not a good interview. With strangers, especially strangers with microphones, he tensed up and got easily confused. You could also push certain buttons and get him mad, and when he got mad, he'd get even more confused. Even when he was alive, he wasn't as good as Stan at representing himself, and since he died…well, isn't there some old line about history being written by the survivors?
Stan was good on The Late, Late Show, and I'm glad he mentioned that he worked with artists in creating those characters. I only wish he'd mentioned their names, as he sometimes has in other appearances. I know it may not always seem appropriate but he's been credited so many times as sole creator of those books that a little excess in the other direction wouldn't hurt.