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 Born
Stanley Martin Lieber, on December 8th 1922, the man the world knew as his pen
name "Stan Lee" died at the age of 95 at Cedar Siani Hospital in Los Angeles,
California.
Stan entered comics working as an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics
(later Marvel) a pulp magazine and comic-book publisher owned by his uncle
Martin Goodman. One of his first comic writing assignments was on Captain
America in the early forties. With the advent of World War II, Stanley left
comics to serve in the military as a member of the Signal Corps, repairing
telegraph poles and other communications equipment, before working for the
military for wartime propaganda. After the war he returned to comics but had
aspirations of becoming a "legitimate writer". Feeling the need to separate his
comic work from any potential literary works, he adopted the pen name "Stan Lee"
for comics use, saving his real name for actual literary works (his self
described: "Great American Novel"). Stan would eventually change his name
legally to "Stan Lee" to avoid confusion.
When Timely evolved into Marvel Comics in the early 60's it was in financial
trouble due to falling comic sales in a weak market. Cross town industry rival
National Periodical Publications (DC Comics) was seeing success with their new
team book the Justice League of America as well as re tooled versions of their
40's heroes: Flash, Green Lantern and others. Goodman assigned Lee the task of
"creating some superheroes" to test the market and hopefully increase sales.
From this, Stan and several staff artists including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don
Heck and others would create the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor
Strange, the X-Men, Iron Man and what would eventually be known as the Marvel
Universe. The Marvel characters were different than other superheroes. They
lived in actual cities and suffered from real world problems such as paying the
rent and catching colds.
To facilitate production, Lee created what was called the "Marvel Method". He,
or later other writers, would come up with a story idea then the artist would
draw the issue. The writer would then dialogue the issue. Most comics at the
time were done full script giving the artist less input into the final product.
Using this technique writers could produce more titles and meet their deadlines.
While his Marvel Method of production sped things up and gave artists more
freedom, it also came with what would eventually become a heavy cost. With the
lines blurred between writer and artist, creative credit also became blurred.
Who created what and at what point in the process all became points of debate.
On paper the workload was equally divided between the writer and artist, in
practice this was many times not the case. Also with more creative freedom came
a heavier workload to the shoulders of the artist. Lee's Marvel Method allowed
for a creative explosion from Marvel in the sixties but it would also hamstring
artists rights for decades to come.
Lee wrote the bulk of the Marvel books in the mid sixties before becoming
editor-in-chief, then publisher when Martin Goodman stepped down, to chairman
and eventually chairman emeritus. Under his leadership fans learned who worked
on the books. Everyone in the "Bullpen" got a nickname and creators appeared in
the comics. In doing this Lee tore down the walls between the creators and the
consumers. The inclusion of "Stan's Soapbox" on the editorial page each month
("Bullpen Bulletins") also gave Lee a platform to speak directly to the reader
on issues ranging from the self promotional greatness of the Marvel Universe to
the Vietnam War, racism and poverty. All of this resulted in a cult of
personality around Marvel Comics that saw the publisher increase their fanbase
and helped to outdo their rivals, DC Comics. By the end of the decade Stan
Lee and Marvel Comics were synonymous with one another in the minds of fans, a
relationship that would stretch down the years to today.
Lee eventually left New York to move to Los Angeles to oversee Marvel’s
animation projects. He was given the honorary mast head of "Stan Lee Presents:"
across the top of the splas page of all Marvel Comics until 1988. He was also
paid $1 million a year by Marvel until the company filed for bankruptcy in the
early nineties when the speculator market collapsed. Lee ended up suing Marvel
over royalties from the Spider-Man film and other Marvel film projects but they
settled out of court for a rumored $10 million dollars. During this time Lee
also gained mainstream fame making cameo appearance in major Marvel movies and
TV shows. Starting in the 1980’s with an appearance in the Hulk/Daredevil made
for TV movie featuring Lou Ferringo and Bill Bixby through recent appearances on
The Big Bang Theory, movies like Mallrats, reality TV shows and of course
Marvel/Disney's current slate of films. In doing so, he became the most famous
comic book creator of all.
During this period Lee also had a number of publishing ventures including a
12-issue limited series from DC (“Just Imagine”) and the failed Stan Lee Media,
an internet based company but most of his companies failed. He and Marvel
eventually reconciled. Lee was inducted into the comic book industry's Will
Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. He
received a National Medal of Arts in 2008.
Recently, he had suffered ill health, was hospitalized for pneumonia from which
he died. His wife of seventy years, the English model Joan Clayton Boocock, died
in 2017. Stan Lee is survived by their only child, their daughter JC Lee, and
his younger brother Larry Lieber who will take control of his reportedly $30
million dollar estate.
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