Stan Lee

Stan Lee will forever be known as one of the best comic book writers in the world. However, it didn't start that way, Stan Lee had to start from the bottom and work his way up. From running errands to having his own company, find out the story of how Stan Lee became one of the most recognizable names on the planet. You may even find some interesting facts you never knew about Stan Lee. Stanley Martin Lieber was born in New York City in 1922 Stan Lee was born as Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922. His parents immigrated to America and settled in NYC. Stan Lee has one younger brother named Larry, who helped with some of Stan Lee’s future creations. Stan Lee begins his journey in publishing with an odd coincidence During the late 1930s, a job would finally open up for Stan Lee. He would spot an ad in the newspaper about a job at a publishing company that caught his interest. When he got the job, he assumed that he was the only person who applied. Coincidentally, his uncle, Robbie Solomon, mentioned to him earlier that the publishing company he worked for needed a new employee. The role was a gofer (a type of assistant) position in a company that was at the McGraw-Hill Building. Stan Lee was paid $8 per week when he worked as a gofer It’s not confirmed if the two companies were really the same, but it turned out that Stan Lee had a family connection to the publishing company he would spend decades working with. His Uncle Robbie got him in contact with Joe Simon, the man who could hire Stan Lee. The publishing company was Timely Comics, and Joe Simon would co-create Captain America with Jack Kirby. Stan Lee worked at the company as a gofer for $8 per week in 1939. Stan Lee asked Timely Comics for a promotion from his gofer role At Timely Comics, duties such as coffee runs, refilling ink jars, and proofreading went to Stan Lee. His most active task on the job would be getting the staff lunch. It was a small start, but Stan Lee carried out his duties as the job required. Stan Lee became bored with his tasks and brought up the idea of a promotion to his boss. To satisfy Stan Lee, for the time being, Timely Comics worked out a plan where Stan Lee could direct his writing skills. Timely Comics needed to find Stan Lee something to do before the staff went crazy Stan Lee would hang around Timely Comics doing miscellaneous activities to fill his time. The tasks they assigned to him were often mundane and short-lived, so Stan Lee had a lot of downtime. He stayed around to soak up knowledge, and he would tag along with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby when they went bowling or had lunch. Stan Lee had so much downtime that he would sit in a corner of the art department and play the ocarina. The instrument sometimes drove the staff nuts, so Timely Comics was more than happy to find the gofer something more to do. Stan Lee makes his comic debut by writing the text filler In 1941, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America. The company often worked with outside talent for their publishing. Art and scripts were done by a freelancer, or the comic shop Funnies, Inc. they worked with. Timely Comics decided to task Stan Lee with writing the text filler at the back of the comics. Postal Service required subscriptions to have at least two pages of the actual text. This is how Stan Lee got his comic writing debut with “Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge” on August 1, 1941. Stan Lee serves his country in WWII Joe Simon and Jack Kirby would leave Timely Comics. Stan Lee became an interim editor for Timely Comics. Around this time, the young talent Stan Lee also joined the WPA Federal Theater Project. The project was funded by the government to secure jobs for people in the theater industry during the Great Depression. He didn’t get to indulge in his role for too long. Stan Lee would be enlisted to serve the country as the U.S. fought in WWII. He would be in the Signal Corps up until 1945, then, Stan Lee would return. The army code name for Stan Lee was ‘playwright’ While in the armed forces from 1942 to 1945, Stan Lee still leaned on his natural inclinations. He wrote manuals, training films, and slogans for the army. Most of the jobs he performed were either administrative or technical jobs. The army did give Stan Lee some time to explore opportunities, like making cartoons for the army magazines around that era. He became known for his creative talent. He was designated to be classified in the military as ‘playwright’. Upon returning from the military, Stan Lee experimented with different genres of content Once Stan Lee returned to America, he found that Timely Comics changed their name to Atlas Comics. He rejoined the company ready to share new stories with audiences. Stan Lee inevitably gained a wider set of experiences while serving the country. He wanted to experiment with different genres that could expand the narrative of the characters he created. Stan Lee started to dabble in writing romance, sci-fi, horror, and comedy genres. His new goal would develop into a shining aspect of his impact on culture. Atlas Company was in danger of bankruptcy Dan DeCarlo Lee and Stan Lee would take over a comic strip called “My Friend Irma” that ran from 1950 to 1955. The comics were based on a popular radio show of that time starring Marie Wilson. While this comic strip was going on, Atlas was in financial trouble. The company would go bankrupt in 1957 and need a solution to get out of a difficult situation. This was the moment where Stan Lee would officially start to shine. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are assigned to make a superhero team During the late 1950s, Atlas also had tiered competition with DC comics. In fact, DC comics was performing better than Atlas Comics at that time. The Justice League would be released by DC comics, gaining more popularity for the company. In response, the owner of Atlas Comics requested for Stan Lee to create a new superhero team to even out the competition. Stan Lee would collaborate with Jack Kirby on this new project to create a superhero team America had not seen before. In 1961, the Fantastic Four were created In 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand the company to the name Marvel Comics and premiere the new superhero team in “Fantastic Four.” The first thing to stand out about these characters was their varying backgrounds. The characters were older, younger, and married; filling different roles that made the characters appear more like a family. Fantastic Four characters were not perfect but faced moral and social issues as regular people who happen to have super abilities. Making the characters more relatable to the public created great success for Marvel Comics. Fans get to know Stan Lee through “Stan's Soapbox” In 1965, Marvel had a reader’s Bullpen Bulletins to keep dedicated fans updated. Stan Lee wrote a monthly column answering questions and talking about projects with fans. He also gave shout outs to other artists that worked on the stories. The interaction helped develop a loyal bond between the two and became a place of familiarity for both Stan Lee and the fans. He called his column “Stan's Soapbox”, which he would write from December 1965 to January 1982. The Hulk was gray before being green In 1962, Bruce Banner would be introduced to America in “The Incredible Hulk.” This is another character Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created together, and not the last. The main character was a closer relation to the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Louis Stevenson. Originally, The Hulk was illustrated with gray skin. The first issue of the comic was said to have a gray color. Printers at Marvel Comic were not dependable for keeping a consistent gray color. In issue #2, the comic printed The Hulk with green skin. The X-men and the Avengers are created in 1963 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created two new superhero teams in 1963. One was the “X-men,” which showcased a group of human mutants supporting each other while being scrutinized by “normal” humans. The main characters were under the mentorship of Professor X and Magneto. The other team was “The Avengers,” which was a combination of a superhero collective crossover between comics. Originally, the featured members included Iron Man, the Wasp, the Hulk, Thor, and Ant-Man. Peter Parker was like most American teens trying to figure life out One day Stan Lee got an idea for a superhero as he watched a spider climb up a doorpost. He would write a comic for a hero with spider-like abilities. Steve Ditko helped create Peter Parker, one of Stan Lee’s favorite characters. Stan Lee wanted Peter Parker to be relatable to his adolescent audience. The triumphs and struggles of Peter Parker would be the same as most teens in America, besides using his powers for crime-fighting. Peter Parker first made an appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 and would premiere alone in 1963. Spider-Man inspires a change in policy for the Comics Code Authority (CCA) In 1971, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare sent a request to Stan Lee asking him to place an anti-drug message in one of his storylines. He thought of putting the message in Spider-Man where Peter’s best friend Harry would abuse pills after a bad break up. The Comics Code Authority (CCA) that regulated content felt this idea was not good to pursue. Stan Lee convinced Martin Goodman to publish the story. This story was received so well that the CCA threw away their code about the negative depiction of drugs, which allowed more comics to talk about meaningful topics. Stan Lee mass produces creative works by using the Marvel Method In the 60s, Stan Lee created comics relatively quickly, but it was a method used by the company that made this possible. Inside Marvel Comics they use a production system referred to as the Marvel Method. Stan Lee would give a loose outline to artists in the company, so they could all get to work. Artists in the company would draw the loose outline, then Stan Lee went in to add captions to the story. Some people saw this way of using the artists for such regular production as exploration, but many times Stan Lee credited much of the behind-the-scenes teams on his comics. Stan Lee tackles television with The Incredible Hulk TV show and an animated series for Spider-Man During the 1970s, Stan Lee took a step back from comics to try other projects. He took characters, like The Hulk and Spider-Man, to the small screen. He arranged for The Incredible Hulk TV show and an animated series for Spider-Man. It was around this time that Stan Lee began to work on possibly making X-men into a movie. The idea was scrapped for the time being. Surprisingly, that production of X-men had Danny DeVito cast as Wolverine. The X-Men storyline touched on social issues inspired by the Civil Rights era The comics and characters Stan Lee made often talked about real-life issues in society, like the Cold War. One of the most notable social issues touched on in Marvel Comics is the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s. Stan Lee’s X-men was especially tied to themes of that era that still can be learning points in modern society. Many people would connect with the story of sympathy and pain. Later on, X-men would also be connected to depicting stories that touched on the LGBTQ community. Professor X and Magneto are modeled after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X The storyline in X-men centered on a group of people being treated poorly for a part of their identity that cannot be chosen. Rather than color, the plot uses mutants and “normal” people. The two mentors Professor X and Magneto are a reflection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X respectively. Professor X took a more peaceful approach to improve the relationship between “normal” people and mutants. Magneto took a more aggressive outlook on what to do to help mutants in society. Stan Lee became the president of the company but decided to step down There was a time where Stan Lee worked as the president of Marvel Studios. His new role came with responsibilities that were more technical and required a different skill set. The biggest problem was that the new role created too much distance between Stan Lee and the creation of the comics. After some time as the president, Stan Lee stepped down to get back to the creative portion of the company. That is where he felt the most comfortable, and where he had the most interest. Stan Lee Media has a two-year run Stan Lee worked with Peter F. Paul to create the Stan Lee Media studio for the creation, production, and marketing of superheroes. The company did well but was short-lived. Originally, the company was established in Boulder, OH in 1998. After legal implications, including manipulation, the company was shut down. Stan Lee was not charged as he was not involved in the happenings that caused the company to be shut down in 2000. DC Comics works with Stan Lee to create an alternate version of the company’s classic characters DC Comics and Stan Lee worked together for the first time in the 2000s. Stan Lee was brought in to work on a series where he re-imagined the stories of classic DC superheroes. This series would be called “Just Imagine,” featuring characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. The comic book line consisted of thirteen issues that ran from September 2001 to September 2002. The artists of the project include John Buscema, Joe Kubert, and Jim Lee. Stan Lee created POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment in 2001 In 2001, the POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment was created by Stan Lee, Gill Champion, and Arthur Lieberman. The company set out to handle media production to expand the reach of the stories and characters created by Stan Lee. He already had the success and recognition but having his own company would include different benefits. The company even had the ability to stretch into the video game industry. Around this time, Stan Lee also chose to launch Stan Lee's Sunday Comics. Stan Lee loved doing a great cameo A favorite trend of Stan Lee was to do a cameo in his films. He’d often pop up randomly, in a miscellaneous role, putting himself in the universe of his favorite characters. It started with a cameo in the 2002 Spider-Man movie starring Tobey Maguire. Funny enough, one of his cameos was a recreation of a cameo he put in an earlier comic book. Stan Lee’s cameo in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) had a scene of him and Jack Kirby crashing a wedding, which is identical to the wedding scene in Fantastic Four Annual Volume 1 #3. “Stan Lee Meets...” a few of his characters in comic life Stan Lee and Marvel were collaborators for decades, which speaks to how well their partnership works. In celebration of 65 years together, Marvel published a comic dedicated to Stan Lee. The 2006 project, called “Stan Lee Meets...”, featured Stan Lee interacting with his favorite characters. The artwork plopped him right into the scenes as the main focus as he went around with characters like Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, the Thing, the Silver Surfer, and Doctor Strange. Stan Lee published his autobiography on November 3, 2015 On November 3, 2015, Stan Lee published an autobiography named Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir. The book was written by Stan Lee and Peter David, with Colleen Doran. As an autobiography, the book dives into Stan Lee’s journey to being one of the major influences of pop culture. In Marvel fashion, the book is structured like a comic book. This book is one out of few literary works that take a look into the life of Stan Lee and his impact through art, storytelling, and comics. Stan Lee had another family connection to Timely Comics Stan Lee’s uncle, Robbie Solomon, helped him get hired by Marvel when the company was still called Timely Comics. The world was smaller than Stan Lee’s uncle working at the company. The owner of the publishing company, Martin Goodman, was the husband of Stan Lee’s cousin. That means Stan Lee had connections inside the publishing company, which probably helped in convincing Joe Simon in letting the young Stan Lee into the publishing company. In 2017, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were named Disney Legends Stan Lee’s work earned him many awards throughout his career. In 1974, Stan Lee was honored with the Inkpot Award. In 1994, he became part of the Eisner Award Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame. In 2002, he would be given the Saturn Life Career Award. Stan Lee would receive an award with Jack Kirby in 2017 when the pair would be named Disney Legends. October 2nd is “Stan Lee Day” Honors given to Stan Lee don’t stop at awards. People found other creative ways, much like the “Stan Lee Meets..” series, to celebrate the comic creator. In 2007, Marvel built an action figure of Stan Lee that used one of the older action figure molds. In 2009, October 2nd became “Stan Lee Day” in Los Angeles County and the Californian city Long Beach. In 2011, Stan Lee was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In light of his long career, he made jokes about being the 2,428th person to have the honor. The Simpsons love Stan Lee Stan Lee made cameos in the works of other creatives as well. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, is particularly fond of the comic creator. Stan Lee made cameos in three episodes, including 'I Am Furious (Yellow)', (2002), 'Married to the Blob' (2014), and 'Caper Chase' (2017). Despite not being a cameo, another famous reference to Stan Lee occurs in The Simpsons Movie (2007). Homer Simpson is playing around with a pig when he sings a comical reference to the Spider-Man theme song: “Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig. Does whatever... a Spider-Pig does.” Marvel’s Stan Lee has a rap battle with the Muppets’ Jim Henson The Internet series “Epic Rap Battles of History” focused on iconic figures in history having epic rap battles, as the name suggests. In 2015, the episode was Stan Lee versus the Muppet creator Jim Henson. The battle was a close call, but both contenders were put down when Walt Disney came through to wrap things up. Ironically, the relationship between the three is hilarious. At the time of the episode, Walt Disney owned rights for Marvel and the Muppets. To date there have only been 82 episodes of epic rap battles of history, meaning only around 164 people have been honored to be on this epic Youtube channel. This puts Stan in company with historic figures like presidents, amazing directors, and the world's billionaires. Stan Lee sued Marvel in 2005 Similar to other relationships, the partnership between Marvel and Stan Lee was not always smooth. Stan Lee brought up the issue of not receiving royalties for the adaptations of Classic Marvel characters for film production. Stan Lee understandably questioned how he would not be one of the people earning royalties. Stan Lee and Marvel Comics were able to reach a settlement of $10 million on April 28, 2005. Stan Lee creates comical relief for politics during the 2008 elections Stan Lee spent a lot of time filling the comic books with relatable stories, and a few staple life lessons. The art of comic books allowed him to reflect these themes to American society. People could see themselves in these comics, and discussions around the subjects became easier in some cases.