“I have had many talented people ask me how to get into the comic book business. If they were talented enough the first answer I would give them is, ‘Why would you want to get into the comic book business?’ Because even if you succeed, even if you reach what might be considered the pinnacle of success in comics, you will be less successful, less secure and less effective than if you are just an average practitioner of your art in television, radio, movies or what have you. It is a business in which the creator ... owns nothing of his creation. The publisher owns it.”

— Stan Lee, co-creator of The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor, etc., at an industry gathering at Lamb's Club, New York on Jan. 20, 1971. It was printed in National Cartoonist Society Professional Report, and reprinted on pg. 113 of Sean Howe's “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.”

Cf. this line from the movie “Iron Man,” starring Robert Downey, Jr.:

Obadiah Stane to Tony Stark as he takes the arc reactor from his chest: You think just because you have an idea it belongs to you?

Not nearly 'nuff said.

Stan Lee, pretending.