My mother used to say that when I was having lunch or dinner at home, if I didn't have a book to read, I'd be reading the label on the ketchup bottle.

我母親以前常說，我在家吃午餐或晚餐時，如果手邊沒有書可以閱讀，我就會開始詳閱番茄醬罐上的標籤

And, in fact, one of the gifts that I got one Christmas... my mother bought me a little metal stand that you could put a book on, so while you're eating you could be reading the book.

事實上，有一年收到的聖誕禮物，是我母親買給我的一個小鐵架，可以把書架在上面，這樣你就可以邊看書邊吃飯

There were the Hardy Boys, Don Sturdy and Tom Swift.

我看的有 Hardy Boys、Don Sturdy，以及 Tom Swift (皆為美國青少年小說主角)

One was an adventurer, one was an inventor.

一位是冒險家，一位是發明家

I loved Émile Zola.

我愛埃米爾．左拉 (法國作家)

I loved Charles Dickens.

我愛狄更斯

Whenever I got an extra 50 cents, I'd buy one of those books.

每次得到多的零用錢，我就拿去買這些書

In those days, grown-ups hated comics, didn't want their children to read them particularly.

那個年代，大人超討厭漫畫，尤其特別不想讓小孩看漫畫

So, I figured I'm not going to use my real name, which I'm saving for posterity, for these silly comic books.

所以我就想，我不要用本名，本名是留給後代子孫的，不是這些愚蠢的漫畫

So, I cut my first name into two and called myself Stan Lee.

所以我把名字切成兩部分，就自稱史丹利 (Stan Lee= Stanley)

And it was a living, and I was doing the best I could to make the stories a little bit better.

我以此維生，且我盡全力讓故事變得更好，即使只有一點

But the kind of stories my publisher wants me to do are banal.

可是出版商希望我創作的故事類型都很平庸

They're juvenile.

就是青少年讀物

They're nothing.

算不上是什麼作品

I said to my wife, "You know, there's got to be something better than this."

我跟老婆說：「你知道的，一定有比這更好的作品。」

So, Joanie said to me, "Why don't you write one book the way you'd like to do it?"

因此，Joanie 跟我說：「何不依照你喜歡的方式，寫一本書？」

So, at that time my publisher, Martin Goodman, said, "Give me a new superhero book. I think superheroes may sell."

所以當時我的出版商 Martin Goodman說：「給我來一本有關超級英雄的書吧！我認為銷售量應該會不錯。」

“Superman!”

「超人！」

“But I didn't want to do superheroes just like Superman or Batman, I wanted something a little more original, and where I played up the personality of the characters more, and where there were surprises.

「可是我不想創造出的超級英雄和超人或蝙蝠俠一樣，我想要有點原創性，於是更加著墨在塑造角色性格上，這時驚喜的事來了。」

And I came up with the Fantastic Four.

我想到驚奇四超人這個靈感

And I called Jack Kirby, who was the best artist we had, and I asked him if he would draw it.

當下我打給 Jack Kirby，他是我們最優秀的繪者，我問他是否願意為此作畫

It sold very well.

結果熱賣

We had never gotten fan mail before, but we started getting fan mail, and that started it.

在這之前，我們從沒收過粉絲信，可是這之後，我們開始收到粉絲信，一切就此開始

So, I dreamed up Spider-Man and the Hulk and the X-Men and all the others.

於是，我創造出蜘蛛人、浩克、X 戰警等等

What I tried to do was take these characters, who are obviously bigger than life and fictitious, and make them seem real.

我想嘗試讓這些超越生活、超越虛構世界的角色，讓他們躍然紙上

They've got these powers.

他們能力絕倫

They do wonderful things.

創造非凡

But what are the things that worry them?

那什麼事情讓他們擔心？

What are the things that frustrate them?

到底什麼事讓他們煩心？

I tried to write a well-rounded character with every character I did, rather than just somebody who is extra strong and can beat up the bad guys.

我試著要創造形象豐滿的角色，每個角色皆如此，而非只是一個特別強壯，可以把壞人打爆的人物

If you're writing about people, you have to make the people come to life.

如果要描繪人物，你要讓人物融入生活

I know I always loved reading Sherlock Holmes, and I loved the way Sherlock Holmes spoke, and the way Dr. Watson spoke, and you could tell one from the other.

我一直都很喜歡福爾摩斯系列小說，我喜愛福爾摩斯說話的方式，還有華生醫生講話的方式，從彼此間的差異可以看出

They didn't speak the same way.

他們說話的方式不同

And the same with any good books.

這道理適用於其他好書上

You didn't have to read, 'Joe said' or 'Sam said,' you knew who said it by the way the words were written.

你不用等讀到「Joe 說」，或是「Sam 說」，才知道當下發話的人是誰，你可以根據說話的風格，來判斷出說話者

In the beginning, I wrote all the scripts myself.

一開始，劇本由我一手包辦

I typed them out, wrote them.

我打字、手寫

After a while I was writing almost every book, and we had a lot of books, and there wasn't time to do it.

一段時間後，我幾乎包辦每本書，而我們出版的數量龐大，我根本沒時間處理所有書

Kirby would be waiting for a script,

Kirby 會等我寫完劇本

and I couldn't keep him with nothing to do.

而我不能讓他工作停滯

So, I would say, "Look Jack, I don't have time to write your script, but here's the story I want to tell, and here's how we'll end it."

所以，我會說：「Jack，我沒時間寫劇本，但我會跟你說我的構思。」

I gave him whatever I wanted this story to be.

我跟他敘述故事的走向和情節

And I said, "You draw it any way you want, I'll put in the dialogue and the captions later."

然後說「你想怎麼畫，就怎麼畫，我再把對話和說明補上去。」

So, he would work just from an outline — a verbal outline that I gave him.

因此，他會從我給的大綱、一個口頭大綱，畫出整個故事

He'd put in a lot of details that I hadn't even thought of and that was great.

他會加入很多我沒想到的細節，效果非常好

And I did the same with all the other artists.

我和其他繪者也保持這樣的默契

One reason that our stories were so successful was I had these great artists illustrating them.

我們的故事之所以如此成功，要歸功於這些優秀的繪者

Kirby was good, Ditko was good, John Romita was good, John Buscema, Gene Colan — and I tried to get the best people I could.

Kirby、Ditko、John Romita 都很棒，John Buscema、Gene Colan — 我想招攬最優秀的人才

Even though we couldn't pay more than anyone else — and we very often paid less — I tried to make the job as interesting as I could.

即使我們支付的薪水不及他人，甚至常常比別人少，我試著讓這份工作不枯燥乏味

Even though they were comic strips, it would be great if we could make them readable and enjoyable and having something to say.”

即使只是連環漫畫，如果能將其變得值得一看、有趣味性，且含有寓意，就太棒了

“Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can.”

「蜘蛛人、蜘蛛人，擁有蜘蛛能力的人。」

Interviewer: “What would you like people to be left with from your career?”

訪者：「你想要人們從你的事業中得到什麼收穫？」

“He wrote some good stories.

就是：「『他寫了一些不錯的故事』之類的

I don't think about that much.

我沒想那麼多

You know, when I'm gone, I really don't care.

人死後就不在乎了

It doesn't do you any good when you're gone.”

這些身外之物，在你死後，一點幫助都沒有。」