Stan Lee - A Life - by Bob Batchelor

 

Being a fan of Marvel comics for practically my entire life, of course I was interested in this book when I saw it on our local library's shelf. Published in 2022, this is a relatively recent release so I'm kinda surprised that I didn't know about it until now.

This is a straight-forward biography, and Batchelor keeps the tale flowing in a fascinating and compelling way. Stanley Lieber, the son of Jewish Romanians who were escaping persecution in Europe, grew up as the Great Depression hit, causing economic turmoil throughout the country and especially in the ethic conclave that he lived in. He took whatever odd jobs he could find while in school - and was a strong student, apparently, gregarious and popular, who worked on the school paper, among other things - and as soon as he graduated, he searched for more permanent employment. Although the stories vary somewhat, he ended up as a gofer at Timely Comics, working for none other than Joe Simon and Jack Kirby - already true stars in the burgeoning comic industry. 

After the success of their rivals in DC Comics with Superman and Batman, Timely hits big with Simon and Kirby's Captain America and with the need to grow and fill out the comics, Stan is soon hired to write and even create his own characters. While these early heroes never became household names, they have been referenced in Marvel stories over the years, so they are never quite forgotten. Funnily, Simon and Kirby were soon both sacked and Stan essentially ran the comics division as writer, editor and art director, all as a teen!

Of course, times changed and eventually Timely became Atlas which became Marvel and as the industry evolved and Stan was able to keep it reasonably profitable, he was able to re-hire Kirby, along with super talents like Steve Ditko and John Romita, Jr. With these collaborators in tow, he co-created the legends that we are familiar with today, starting with the Fantastic Four, followed by Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor and many more.

I hadn't realized that Stan had to report to the publisher and have him ok Stan's ideas, or that Stan would have to create a hero or team based on the publisher's whims - but this was something that he was used to as they previously went from romance to westerns to horror to monsters to funny animals and more. So, some of the more ludicrous ideas were used simply to try to keep the title alive, rather than being a creative breakthrough from the team. The FF was the result of needing to create a "team" (to rival DC's Justice League) and the publisher hated Spider-Man so much that he debuted in a magazine's final issue. He also hated the Hulk and Thor, so there ya go!

I also never knew that, despite the many, many successes in the 1960's, Marvel still trailed behind DC in overall sales and, while Marvel's sales were fairly consistent, there were lots of financial problems behind the scenes, with Stan and company never really knowing if everything would collapse at any moment. "Smilin' Stan Lee" kept a good face in the editorial pages and Marvel Bullpen section of the books, never hinting at these issues.

Of course, Marvel did eventually eclipse DC in sales but throughout its history, there were economic turmoil behind the scenes, despite the successes. This led the company to try to expand to other media - TV, movies, etc., as well as merchandising. Stan does leave the editor's seat and concentrates on these other chores with limited success for many years, although he manages to keep his own face and name known and supplants his salary with speaking engagements.

Frankly, once he leaves the creative side of the comics, the story gets less interesting for me and I had no idea that he was involved in numerous projects that crashed'n'burned all too often. But, the early days, as usual, are quite exciting and I truly enjoyed the tale, even if it may concentrate on Stan at the expense of some contributors, even as Batchelor tries to keep a balance.

In any case, any fan of Marvel will certainly enjoy this one!