Born Stanley "Stan" Martin Lieber on December 28th, 1922 to Jack Lieber and Celia Solomon, Stan Lee eventually became the face of Marvel Comics and one of the comic industry's most popular and celebrated creators.
He was raised in New York City along with his younger brother, Larry. Stan himself has cited his early influences were the Errol Flynn movies and several other books and movies. With the help of his uncle Robbie, he became an assistant at Timely Comics in 1939. Timely was the precursor to what would eventually become Marvel Comics.
From there he had assorted odd jobs around the offices and even penned a text story in Captain America Comics #3 in 1942. Not long afterward, Lee enlisted in the U.S. Army. He stayed in the service until 1945 and rose to the rank of Sergeant.
During World War II, Stan was tasked with writing manuals and scripts for training films as part of the "Signal Corps". He was one of only nine people in the army listed as a playwright.
After the war, he married Joan Clayton on December 5th, 1947 in New York City. Joan herself would later prove to be very instrumental in where young Lee's life went from that point on. They eventually had two children: Joan Celia "J.C." Lee and Jan Lee. Jan Lee passed away at the age of 3 days.
In the 1950s, comic books were in crisis. Doubts about their merit began to rise with the advent of McCarthyism. The books themselves came under fire due in large part to Dr. Frederick Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent", which largely claimed comic books were a detriment to the youth of America and contributed to juvenile delinquency. By the middle of the decade, superhero comics saw a resurgence in popularity. However, the damage was done. Timely, then called Atlas, was struggling in a business which saw new heroes coming from other comic companies.
Stan was tasked by then editor Martin Goodman to create a team of characters to compete with the Justice League of America after supposedly having a game of golf with the editor of DC Comics at the time. At first, he was a little hesitant until he talked things over with Joan. Joan suggested he'd give superhero comics one last try in 1961 with the launch of the Fantastic Four.
This time things would be different. Stan was never a fan of how two dimensional superheroes were at the time. They lacked the things which made them all human. Heroes such as Green Arrow and others were basically do-gooders that had the same personality. They didn't have as he put it "faults and foibles". Personal problems did not exist for characters prior to that point. He decided to change all that with one last creation. This time characters would have "distinct personalities and ground the fantasy elements in a recognizable, believable reality" (Sanderson, 16)
He would also work with his old friend from Timely Comics, the legendary Jack "King" Kirby, the man who co-created Captain America. The story would have ended there were it not for the positive reaction comic readers had for the comic and so Goodman had Lee create characters such as The Hulk, Spider-Man and several others which would follow the Marvel Method. The method involved the writer and artist working side by side to bring the characters to life in a meaningful way. The creators would huddle together and come up with the best way to convey what is happening on the comic page. Furthermore, this would ensure that the characters would have flaws, faults, foibles and were all too human. It is a process that is sometimes used to this day.
Using this method and working side by side with artists like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and countless others, Stan co-created the following characters and even helped bring Captain America back to modern day audiences in the pages of the Avengers,
His most notable creations include:
And more.
By 1972, Stan rose to become the publisher of the company he helped to revitalize. Fans adored his creations since they brought new life into a genre which saw many hard times. He didn't stop creating, though. Near the end of his tenure with the company he created a cousin to one of his earliest creations, the "Sensational She-Hulk". On January 3, 1977, he launched the Spider-Man comic strip, which still sees print today.
During all this time, he often had editorial commentaries in the pages of the comics. They were affectionately called "Stan's Soapbox". It was there where he would talk to the reader and answer questions people have sent him over the years.
Once the mid 1990s came, Stan or "The Man" as he became known as, was now the creator of POW Entertainment. Sadly, that folded and Stan focused on business ventures with Marvel and his own side projects.
Eventually, he became the President and Chairman of Marvel Comics. When his characters were brought onto the silver screen, Lee would have a cameo alongside his creations and even with characters he didn't create. He would show up, say or do something and then was gone. This lead to many fan theories which claimed Stan was a character from his stories called "The Watcher". This may have been proven in 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. To date he has had cameos in almost every television show and movie based on a Marvel Comics character.
By the time of his death, Lee still wrote and made appearances at comic conventions. He has done charity work for the Stan Lee Foundation, which promotes literacy, education and the arts.
His writing technique where writers and artists work together on a comic is still being used and the characters he once derided as cardboard cutouts from the "Distinguished Competition" have now evolved. Because of Stan "The Man" Lee, comic books changed forever. 'Nuff said.
He died early Monday morning, 12 November 2018 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, of pneumonia. He was 95 years old. [1]
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