A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee by Danny Fingeroth
A Book Review
Stan Lee is arguably the most well-known comic book writer, art directer, publisher, and executive of all time. Although considered the face and soul of Marvel Comics, he was not an artist and so he had many collaborators throughout his extensive career, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, with whom he clashed many times regarding who was the true creator of Marvel’s most famous characters. His influence on comics revolutionized the traditional superhero storytelling method and he helped create heroes with more depth and complexity than had previously existed. A central figure of American popular culture, Lee is still beloved by millions who continue to enjoy Marvel comics and movies.
If you can believe it, comic books and superheroes never particularly appealed to me and I did not know who Stan Lee was before I read this book. In fact, the only reason I read it is because it’s the May/June pick for a book club in which I participate. Check out Noah Syndergaard’s (aka Thor’s) social media pages for more info about his book club.
There are two main aspects of the book: the biographical aspects of Stan Lee’s life and the history of comic books in American popular culture. These elements are inextricably linked, as Stan Lee was a pivotal force in shaping the history of comic books in America. The author does a thorough job of researching and conducting interviews to offer a multifaceted portrait of Stanley Martin Lieber (aka Stan Lee) in his personal and professional life. He covers Lee’s life from birth to death, including the creative influences on his work and his lasting legacy. He also shows how comic books are weaved into the larger tapestry of American history and American popular culture. Lee was responsible for the wildly successful “new age of Marvel Comics” as he called it, which started in the early 1960s. This was part of the social and cultural transformations of the 1960s; the comics mirrored the wider trends and then influenced the trends and then mirrored them again in a symbiotic relationship.
Lee began to work at Marvel Comics (then called Timely / Atlas) right out of high school at age 17. He got the job because his cousin’s husband was owner of the company at the time. Fingeroth explains how the ownership of Marvel changed hands throughout the years and talks about the many legal battles which were common in Lee’s life. Although Lee never owned Marvel, his legacy became interchangeable with Marvel itself. Right from the beginning, his charismatic, charming, humorous, and larger-than-life personality was evident and he was good at finding talented people to work with.
Lee and his collaborators created what became known as the Marvel method. As the author describes it: “a short plot discussion, followed by pencil art, followed by dialog, and then inks and colors.” While Marvel was innovative in many ways, they did follow the larger comics trends so they could produce content that was popular and that they knew would sell. For example, when westerns were popular, they created westerns, etc. But in 1961 the owner of Marvel suggested they try their hand at superheroes again (they had done it in the past but with little success).
The superheroes they would create during this period were revolutionary to comic books in many ways, but as was a recurring theme in Lee’s life there was a lot of controversy over who actually created them, and those involved have differing accounts. There’s no way for us to know what really happened unless we go back in time and can somehow witness these creative collaboration sessions. But as in any group effort, there is no one person who is solely responsible and the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Sometimes the right people are in the right place at the right time (aka destiny). The author expresses that Lee did sometimes refer to his collaborators as co-creators but overall he put himself at the top in terms of who was the primary creative force. The book goes in-depth into this controversy and includes insights from multiple perspectives.
Aside from the creation debate, there were elements of these new Marvel comics that were never seen before in the comics world. For example, the character The Thing became popular because he demonstrated that inner goodness was not solely dependent upon outer attractiveness. Superheroes had always been portrayed as being very good-looking and one-dimensional. But these new Marvel characters were more human in that they were flawed, complex, and often not so different from the villains. The difference is that the heroes transcend their flaws and traumatic pasts whereas the villains do not.
Marvel’s most popular character, Spiderman, was unlike any comics hero who had previously been created. He was high school age rather than an adult like other superheroes. He dealt with regular problems and he was flawed but also constantly evolving and overcoming his limitations. Readers could identify with his human side. There was a realness to the characters and to the stories that was absent from other popular comics at the time. This made them relatable and caused readers to become emotionally invested.
Marvel’s stories and characters remind us that when we move into our humanity (including all of our flaws and subsequent capacity for change and growth) rather than away from it (by trying to be a perfect caricature of ourselves), this is when we tap into our superpowers. We make mistakes. We aren’t machines. We aren’t idealized pillars of perfection who always do the right thing. The work we do on the inside — the battles we fight internally with our own warring motives and past hurts — that’s the most difficult and most necessary work anyone can do. To master that is the greatest superpower there is.
This was the first time comic books portrayed the fact that that internal battles are just as powerful and important as external ones. Unlike DC’s comics, for example, Marvel’s characters were not static; they developed over time and showed inner complexity. People related to this. We’re all evolving and we all have flaws. The challenge is to learn and grow from those flaws and shortcomings. This had never been explored in comic books before. As a result, this was the first time comic books were appealing to an older audience who could identify with the characters and feel compelled to act on their higher instincts to override arrogance and selfishness just as the superheroes did.
This new exploration in comic books became tied to Stan Lee, regardless of who can claim true responsibility for the characters’ creation. Stan Lee’s voice and persona became inextricably linked with Marvel Comics and the powerful messages of its stories and characters. He was the one who wrote the editorials and welcomed readers into the Marvel world. As the author states, “Stan Lee was the voice in the cover copy, in the narration of the stories, in the footnotes, and especially in the letters pages. He made himself and Marvel Comics synonymous.”
The author paints a portrait of Lee that is not unlike the Marvel superheroes themselves and this is not a coincidence because Lee put a lot of himself into those characters: flawed but trying to do the right thing, complex, and human. It is in our humanity that we can find our greatest superpower. It takes courage to fail and learn from that experience without letting it deflate our self-worth and it also takes courage to succeed and to learn from that experience without letting it inflate our self-worth. Self-mastery is about balance — confidence paired with humility, emotional expression without being overtaken by feelings, logic and intuition working together, being accepting of yourself but not complacent, being fully present in life and striving for a goal but not being overly attached to any outcome — as well as recognizing what’s truly important in life.
Marvel helps to remind us that being enmeshed in these human struggles doesn’t make us less great — it makes us greater because these are constant opportunities to choose the path that is most in alignment with what is right and what is growth producing. This is the human struggle and the human opportunity. Choosing the right thing is a window to our greatest power to evolve. We are flawed but there is always potential for growth and transcendence of past limitations, traumas, and failures, and this is the highest power we have. It is precisely in these obstacles where the biggest opportunities lie. The bigger the dragon, the bigger the pot of gold it’s hiding. Marvel stories remind us that there’s no greater power than moving directly into our humanity in all of its fragility and strength.
