“As far as I'm
concerned, a really great comic-book story is every bit as creative and
important as a great story done in any other form of the media.”
—Stan Lee
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Cover of Asterix and The Goths (Image source: goodcomics.comicbookresources.com)
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By Kenneth Nwabudike Okafor
My last musings were on the relevance of the concepts
of CREATIVITY and INNOVATION to the undertaking of wealth creation at both
individual and country levels. One of the key points I raised was:
To create real and sustainable wealth, we must tap
into individual creativity and creative potential as other countries and
civilizations have done. Actually we have run out of options; people have tried
the professions, politics, vocations and even crime. The results have been the
same diminished productivity as long as the concepts of CREATIVITY and
INNOVATION are excluded.
In this post I wish to delve into the actual mechanics
of achieving this design, by considering on of the proven ways of achieving
maximized productivity through ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
So how do we apply the concepts of multidisciplinary
CREATIVITY and INNOVATION to ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
Coulter (2001) argues that "entrepreneurship involves
the creation of value, the process of starting or developing new, profitable
business, the process of providing new product or service and intellectual
creation of value through organization of an individual or a small group of
partners."
On his own part, Drucker (1985) argues that innovation
is the tool of entrepreneurship.
While
Drucker was once the foremost expert on the subject of innovation, new ideas about
innovation have emerged. For instance in 2004, William Lazonick, Professor in
the Department of Regional Economic and Social Development at the University of
Massachusetts Lowell and Director of the Massachusetts Lowell Centre for
Industrial Competitiveness, referred to "indigenous
innovation" which
is the development of a collective type of learning within the organization.
The strategy driving the innovation, he argued, was set in motion socially
rather than process-driven. He believed that the pursuit of innovation required
much more than taking up a practical course of action. Further, Lazonick noted that conditions
for success were far too reliant on economic factors to be measured by simply having a systematic
process in place as Drucker had suggested.
Okpara
(2007) asserts "It is necessary to know that we live in a thinker’s world.
It is therefore, not surprising to see that the men/women who are ahead are
those who see ahead with the eyes of their mind. Men and women who have engaged
their minds in resourceful thinking to generate idea and products, which stand
the test of time. Every idea is a product of thinking and every product is the
manifestation of idea naked in a thinker’s mind. These are people who see
problems as opportunities to improve and do something new or something better, people
who keep these two vital questions on their mind. “What can I do to make things
better, or what can I do to make better things? This is the product of
thinking.” In making things better, the goals are usually to improve
productivity And efficiency, achieve speed, enhanced comfort and convenience,
influence returns positively, and so much more. While in making better things,
thinking can produce various alternative leading making better things, thinking
can produce various alterative leading to the evolution of a completely new
idea, new production processes, or a total departure from the conventional.
Whatever the goal, thinking is an indispensable tool in the life of all
successful entrepreneurs."
Then Naiman (2014) states "Creativity is the act
of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized
by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to
make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate
solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing."
This post wishes to place emphasis on the thinking,
then producing part. I wish to use this piece to begin exploring how in
practical ways we could apply the concept of multidisciplinary CREATIVITY and
INNOVATION to the process/activity/goal of ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
THE OBJECT LESSON TODAY WOULD BE ANOTHER BLAST FROM
THE PAST, STARTING FROM MY CHILDHOOD.
Before I begin let me ask how many of you while
growing up read Comic books from whatever country or sources? You did (or did
not)? What did you think of Comic books (if you did read them)? Entertaining? Fun?
Something to read and laugh over and forget until the next edition?
Personally, I read Comic books from early to late
teenage years.
The encyclopaedia describes a Comic
book:
A comic book
or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists
of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent
individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and
written narrative, usually dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the
comics art form. Although comic books have some origins in 1700s Japan and
1830s Europe, comic books were first popularized in the United States during
the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous
Funnies, was released in the United States in 1933 and was a reprinting
of earlier newspaper humour comic strips, which had established many of the
story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books being a compilation
of comic strips of a humorous tone, however, this practice was replaced by
featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.
There were so many kinds of comic books around when I
was in my teens –– The Beano, The Dandy (British), DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Richie
Rich Comics, Roy of the Rovers, Hammer House of Horror Comics (American), Tales
From Beyond, Arabian Night Stories, Asterix (French) The Adventures of Tin Tin
(French) etc.
Then there were the Comic book characters, from
Superman to Aladdin, from Dennis the Menace to Jughead, and from Mickey Mouse
to Asterix and his sidekick, Obelix. As I write these I can see the images and
their memorable quotes flash in my mind’s eye.
When I was in my earliest teenage years, I became a
Comic books collector. Comic book collectors are often lifelong enthusiasts of
the comic book stories and they usually focus on particular heroes and attempt
to assemble the entire run of a title.
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A text filler in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941)
was Lee's first published comics work. Cover art by Alex Schomburg. (Image
source: Wikipedia 2014)
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It was when I became older that I realized how serious
Comic books production was: yes, people, Comic book business is very intensive
and painstaking endeavour. While Comic books may be entertaining, fun,
something to read and laugh over until the next edition, conceiving viable Comic
book characters, dialogue writing, story board development, publishing and
successfully marketing final production involved mostly arduous work.
How did I come by this learning? I tried to create my
own Comic book! The works of notably four men Stan Lee, Walt Disney, Albert
Uderzo and René Goscinny inspired me.
Well, I ran into a brick wall at this juncture as I
realized that there was a lot of the thinking, then producing and
collaborating with other people to do.
I could draw very well but I could not create unique
cartoon characters neither could I make continuous and continuing dialogue for
the characters I imagined to speak. Then I could also not make very many
different characters that were vastly different from each other.
In this moment in my life, my eyes opened to how the
very simplest things which we may take for granted are not that straightforward
and easy to accomplish. Comic book making opened my eyes to multidisciplinary
CREATIVITY and INNOVATION.
Much later I would realize production of a Comic book was
a complex team work and that only one person without collaboration, no matter
how talented, cannot produce and sustain a Comic book!
I also later learned Stan Lee’s, Walt Disney’s, Albert
Uderzo’s and René Goscinny’s stories.
I will focus on Stan Lee today. From various sources I
gathered the story of this man who went from very lowly beginnings to becoming
a purveyor of many iconic American brands and products.
Stanley Martin Lieber, popularly known as Stan Lee, is
an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, media producer, television
host, actor, and voice actor. He started out his career working as an office
boy for the Marvel Comics––which meant fetching lunch, proof reading and
refilling artist's ink jars, eventually proving his creative talent, escalated
from the position of interim editor to the president of the entire company. He
is known for creating superheroes like ‘Spider-Man’, ‘The Hulk’, ‘X-men’, ‘Iron
Man’, ‘Thor’, ‘Doctor Strange’, etc. and gained nationwide popularity when he
created the superhero series ‘The Fantastic Four’ in which he made his
superheroes imperfect rather than selling the idea of a perfectly capable
superhero. He created these superheroes in collaboration with his colleagues,
Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. He is said to have brought in revolution in the
comic world through his satirical writing and bringing in the elements of the
real world into the world of these superheroes, which is how he used to make
these superheroes viable and responsible. It was Lee who made Marvel Comics a
multimedia corporation from just a small division of a publishing house. Apart
from creating superheroes and writing story plots for the comics, he also wrote
weekly columns and produced many superhero based ventures through his
production company.
He is also editor, publisher, media producer, television
host, actor, and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, 1922,
in New York City to Romanian immigrants Celia and Jack Lieber. With part of his
childhood spent during the Great Depression, Lieber and his younger brother,
Larry, watched his parents struggle to make ends meet for the family.
Lieber, who later shortened his name to
"Lee" as a writer, went on to be hired as an office assistant at
Timely Comics in 1939 and became an interim editor for the company in the early
1940s. Lee also served domestically in the Army during World War II, working as
a writer and illustrator.
In
the early '60s, Lee was called upon by his boss to create a series for Marvel
Comics (Timely's new name) that could compete with rival DC Comics' hit title Justice League of America. Citing
writing influences like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne, and following
the encouragement of his wife Joan, Lee did away with some of the usual
superhero conventions. Hence, with artist and co-creator Jack Kirby, the
Fantastic Four was born in 1961. A slew of new Marvel characters soon followed,
including the Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil and the X-Men.
Marvel Comics became a highly popular franchise, and
Stan Lee was promoted to editorial director and publisher in 1972. He later
moved to the West Coast to be involved in Marvel's film ventures and eventually
became chairman emeritus.
Lee was particularly known for his dynamism with copy
and for imbuing his characters with a sense of humanity, tackling real-world
issues like bigotry and drug use, which would influence comics for decades. An
outgoing, humorous showman, he also developed a number of slogans as part of
his shtick, including a Latin-derived call to rise, "Excelsior!"
What most people do not fully describe the fact that
Stan Lee is a great ENTREPRENEUR (maybe not in the same category as Walt
Disney)!
Lee has become involved in a variety of multimedia
projects while also serving as an ambassador for Marvel, even though he has
filed lawsuits against the company and been the subject of debate over
appropriate compensation for comic creators. The writer has seen Marvel develop
into an entity that has inspired blockbuster film entertainment like the Iron
Man and X-Men series, Thor and The Avengers.
Lee started intellectual-property company POW!
Entertainment in 2001 and the following year published his autobiography, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee.
Later in the decade he received a Medal of Arts honor from President George W.
Bush and launched the History Channel show Stan Lee's Superhumans, a series
that looked at people with remarkable skills and abilities.
2012 saw more new ventures. Lee co-wrote a graphic
novel––Romeo and Juliet: The War––which landed on The New York Times' best-seller
list and launched a YouTube channel, Stan Lee's World of Heroes, which features
comic, comedy and sci-fi content. At the end of the year, the ever-active Lee
turned 90. Now he is 92
Now why would I not look at the Comic books of my
childhood with new perspectives? According to another source, in
a major symbolic event for the American Comic Book Industry, Marvel became the
first comic book publisher to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991.
Within just six months, an issue of Marvel’s X-Men sold a record 8.2 million copies. Marvel had grown
into a multimedia entertainment company, and currently the superhero is the
golden boy of Hollywood. X-Men
(2000) earned US$150 million at the box office, and Spiderman,
Daredevil, The Hulk and The Incredibles also pulled in hefty revenues (Coogan 2006).
Advanced computer-generated imagery make superhero fights and powers look as
fantastic and seamless as they do on the comic page. Clearly, comic books have
once again emerged as a major force in a corporate-driven commercial culture.
I will consider Albert
Uderzo in another musings.
References
[1] Coulter, M. K.
(2001), "Entrepreneurship
in Action",
Prentice Hall, London, 2001, pp. 3-4.
[2] Okpara, Friday
O. (2007) THE VALUE OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP. University
Of Gondar, Ethiopia. © 2007, Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and
Sustainability. Volume III, Issue 2, September 2007
[3]
Drucker,
P.F. (1985) “The Practice of Innovation”, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Practice and Principles, Harper & Row, New York.
[4]
Lazonick,
W. (2004). Indigenous Innovation and Economic Development: Lessons from China’s
Leap Into the Information Age, Industry and Innovation, 12/04 issue.
[5] Creativity at
work.com
[6] Biography.com
[7] Famouspoeple.com
[8] Pearl
(Writings from Peter Drucker Society) “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in a
Global Economy”
[9] Randomhistory.com
[10] Wikipedia
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