User blog:ARTaylor/RIP Stan Lee

Tragic news, true believers. The legendary figure Stan Lee has passed away today at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was ninety-five years old. He follows his wife Joan, who passed away last year in July. They are both survived by their daughter J. C. and his brother Larry Lieber.



Born Stanley Martin Lieber, he was born in New York City, New York to Celia and Jack Lieber. Due to the Great Depression his father constantly changed jobs and moved to different neighborhoods. He loved to read and got part-time jobs like writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center, delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center, working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer, ushering at the Rivoli Theater on Broadway, and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper.

Thanks to his uncle Robbie Solomon, Stanley would get a job at Timely Comics. Timely would eventually evolve into the current day Marvel Comics. Stanley's first work was Captain America, under the pseudonym Stan Lee. He felt he would save his given name for some more literary work, but would end up being famous by that name.

When Joe Simon and Jack Kirby left in 1941 due to creative differences with publisher Martin Goodman, Stan showed a knack for the business which would led him to remain as the comic-book division's editor-in-chief, as well as art director until 1972 when he would succeed Goodman as publisher.

During World War II, Stan entered the U.S. Army in 1942 and served in the Signal Corps writing manuals, making training films, creating slogans, and occasionally cartooning.

Stan married Joan Clayton on December 5th, 1947. The two had two daughters, Joan Celia "J.C." Lee in 1950 and Jan Lee, who unfortunately died three days after delivery in 1953.

In the 1950s rival Detective Comics (DC) saw a revival of superheroes with the Flash and Justice League of America. Martin Goodman assigned Stan Lee to create his own superhero team. Stan created heroes that had a flawed humanity, that would bicker between each other, drink, have anger issues, or trouble getting a girlfriend. A divergence from DC's indestructible Superman or billionaire Batman. Stan created the incredible Hulk, the invincible Iron Man, the mighty Thor, as well as the uncanny X-Men with Jack Kirby, Daredevil with Bill Everett, and Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful character Spider-Man with Steve Ditko.

Stan also supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about the real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry. In one famous Spider-Man story line, the wallcrawler's best friend became addicted to drugs. The Comics Code Authority refused to let it by but it was published anyways without their approval, winning great praise. Besides promoting an upcoming comic book project, "Stan's Soapbox" also addressed issues of discrimination, intolerance, or prejudice. Stan took to using sophisticated vocabulary for the stories' dialogue to encourage readers to learn new words, justifying this by saying, "If a kid has to go to a dictionary, that's not the worst thing that could happen."

In the 1990s, Stan became friends with former lawyer Peter Paul who helped Stan get a non-exclusive contract with Marvel enabling him to start an Internet-based superhero studio Stan Lee Media in 1998. However, investigators discovered that Paul and corporate officer Stephan Gordon had illegally manipulated the stock. Paul fled to Sao Paulo, Brazil but was extradited and pled guilty. Luckily, Stan was never implicated, though Stan Lee Media did file for bankruptcy in February 2001. SLMI has repeatedly sued Marvel Entertainment, and The Walt Disney Company following its purchase of Marvel, for the rights though the company has not been able win in any court.

Stan eventually became the figurehead and public face for Marvel Comics. Stan was president of Marvel Comics but stepped down because he felt the position was more about numbers than it was about creative freedom.

The Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger said, "Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created. A superhero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world, Stan had the power to inspire, to entertain and to connect. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart."

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said, "No one has had more of an impact on my career and everything we do at Marvel Studios than Stan Lee. Stan leaves an extraordinary legacy that will outlive us all. Our thoughts are with his daughter, his family and the millions of fans who have been forever touched by Stan’s genius, charisma and heart. Excelsior!"

Singer Gene Simmons of Kiss said, "His stories taught me that even superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk have ego deficiencies and girl problems and do not live in their macho fantasies twenty-four hours a day. Through the honesty of guys like Spider-Man, I learned about the shades of gray in human nature."