Happy Birthday Stan Lee!

Happy Birthday Stan Lee!  Stan the Man is an icon of Marvel Comics.  He started as an assistant in 1939 at Timely Comics which later became Marvel Comics.  Stan’s first comic story was in a back-up feature of Captain America #5 (1941).  The time of Marvel Comics came in the Silver Age with Fantastic Four #1 (1961) with Stan’s frequent co-creator Jack Kirby.  There was a wealth of characters created from that moment.  Stan created a Marvel icon who was closely identified with the company working with Steve Ditko with the first appearance of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962).  Jack Kirby’s artwork and Stan’s words resulted in The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962), the first appearance of Thor in Journey into Mystery #83 (1962), Iron Man’s debut with Tales of Suspense #39 (1963), all of whom grouped together in Avengers #1 (1963).  He also teamed with Kirby to create the mutant team with The X-Men #1 (1963).  Then, Stan worked with Steve Ditko to co-create Doctor Strange in Strange Tales #110 (1963).  All of these characters appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  He later teamed with artist Bill Everett to co-create Daredevil with Daredevil #1 (1964).  Stan’s thoughts inspired readers with his feature, “Stan’s Soapbox”, and made Marvel fans with the Merry Marvel Marching Society.  

The Lee and Kirby run on Fantastic Four introduced many memorable characters including Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 (1966).  Also, the Silver Surfer in the “Galactus Trilogy” which begun with Fantastic Four #48 (1966).  Stan profited narration for Marvel Productions animated series starting with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981-1983).  He hosted a reality show, Stan Lee’s Superhumans, from 2010 to 2014.  Stan wrote a number of book on comic books including Origins of Marvel Comics (1974), How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way (1984) with John Buscema, and Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics (2010).  He wrote novels for example Dunn’s Conundrum (1985), an espionage story, Stan Lee’s Riftworld: Odyssey (1996) co-written with Bill McCay and wrote with Stuart Moore the super hero novel, The Zodiac Legacy: Convergence (2015).  Stan made his first superhero cameo in the television movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989).  He hosted the show, Stan Lee’s Superhumans, from 2010 to 2014.  Stan wrote and put his own spin on DC Comics characters with Just Imagine… in 2001.  This year we had Stan’s cameos in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War,  Antman and the Wasp, Venom, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse.  We unfortunately lost Stan Lee last month.  Let’s leave with Stan’s lines from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: “I’m going to miss him”, he of course means Spider-Man, but it also applies to Stan, “We were friends, you know.”  It seems Stan was friends with everyone.  Excelsior!