Stan Lee Reading Guide

READING GUIDE

By Liel Leibovitz

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CONTENTS

Timeline

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Discussion Questions

7

Further Reading

11

About Jewish Lives

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TIMELINE October 25, 1896: Richart F. Outcault’s popular comic strip, “The Yellow Kid,” speaks using a word balloon— his words were previously printed on his shirt—becoming the world’s first comics sensation.

December 12, 1897: German-born cartoonist Rudolph Dirks debuts “The Katzenjammer Kids,” a strip about two unruly children, Hans and Fritz. He also popularizes the cloudlike thought balloon.

October 15, 1905: Winsor McCay’s “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” debuts in the New York Herald, breaking ground in everything from storytelling techniques to the shape and design of the panels and creating, arguably, the world’s first comics masterpiece.

August 28, 1917: Rose and Benjamin Kurtzberg, Jewish immigrants from Austria, welcome their son Jacob, who would soon be known as Jack Kirby.

December 28, 1922: Jack and Celia Lieber, Jewish immigrants from Romania, welcome their first-born, Stanley Martin Lieber.

October 24, 1929: U.S. stock market prices collapse, ushering in the Great Depression and leaving Jack Lieber, a skilled fabric cutter, without work or savings, forcing the family to move often.

May 21, 1938: Teenaged Stanley Lieber wins seventh place in a New York Herald Tribune essay competition.

In his own colorful retelling, the modest achievement was recast as a series of first place triumphs so convincing that the paper eventually asked him to stop writing. It was the first, but not the last, time Lieber would spin a tall yarn to enhance his own myth.

June 1938: DC Comics publishes the first volume of Action Comics, featuring a creation by two teenagers— writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster—named Superman. The Man of Steel would soon sell 1,250,000 copies per month, launching the Golden Age of comic books.

1939: Stanley Lieber, now going by Stan Lee, graduates high school.

May 1939: DC Comics’ Detective Comics no. 27 introduces the world to a new superhero: Batman.

December 1940: After a string of odd jobs, Lee lands a gig at Timely Publications, a magazine publishing company owned by his relative, Martin Goodman. He is assigned as an assistant to Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, two comic book artists.

March 1941: Timely Comics publishes Captain America Comics no. 1. The cover featured the hero punching Adolf Hitler in the face.

May 1941: Captain America no. 3 hits newsstands. It features a two-page short story titled “Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge,” the first-ever comic book work written by Stan Lee. August 1941: Stan Lee has his debut in comic form with “Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent,” published in Captain America no. 5. That same month, he introduces his very first superhero: Jack Frost, making his debut in U.S.A. Comics no. 1.

Late 1941: Martin Goodman fires Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, appointing Stan Lee editor.

December 1941: Wonder Woman makes her first appearance in DC Comics’ All Star Comics no. 8.

January 1942: Captain America no. 12 hits newsstands, the first comic book to officially credit Lee as editor.

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TIMELINE November 9, 1942: Lee puts his comics career on hold and enlists in the U.S. Army. He is assigned to the Signal Corps and receives a classification he shares with only eight other enlisted men, including Frank Capra and Dr. Seuss: playwright.

September 29, 1945: Lee is discharged and returns to work at Timely Comics. He moves into the Alamac Hotel on Broadway and West 71st, and enjoys a raucous bachelor’s life.

December 1946: At a party, Lee meets model Joan Clayton Boocock. He tells her she’s the woman he’s been looking for his entire life, and the two begin dating.

December 5, 1947: Stan and Joan Lee are married.

December 16, 1947: Lee’s mother, Celia, passes away after a battle with stomach cancer. Joan and Stan take in Stan’s younger brother, Larry.

July 1948: The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers is formed, an attempt by the industry to selfcensor in order to preempt growing accusations in the media that comic books corrupt the young.

April 1950: Joan gives birth to Joan Celia Lee, nicknamed JC. 1952: Timely Comics changes its name to Atlas Comics.

1953: Joan gives birth to her and Stan’s second daughter, Jan. Tragically, the infant dies after less than a week.

April 1954: Psychiatrist Frederic Werthem releases his best-selling anti-comics screed, Seduction of the Innocent, and testifies before Congress about the medium’s nefarious impact on the young.

September 1954: The comic book industry establishes the Comics Code Authority, another self-censoring effort to avoid government regulation.

April 17, 1961: Russian Yuri Gagarin is the first human being to be shot into space.

June 1961: Atlas Comics rebrands itself once again, publishing two new titles under its new name: Marvel Comics.

November 1, 1961: The first issue of the Fantastic Four is published. It was the first major collaboration between Lee and Kirby, a partnership that would give American comics many of its finest creations.

May 1962: Lee and Kirby debut their new creation: A scientist named Bruce Banner who, exposed to gamma rays, morphs into a gigantic creature named the Incredible Hulk.

August 1962: Spider-Man is introduced to the world in Amazing Fantasy no. 15, in a story written by Lee and illustrated by Steve Ditko. The same month, in Journey Into Mystery no. 83, Lee and Kirby premiere another hero, Thor.

March 1963: Tales of Suspense no. 39 features the first appearance of Iron Man. July 1963: Lee and Ditko present Doctor Strange, introduced in Strange Tales no. 110.

September 1963: Lee and Kirby debut two of their most popular superhero teams with the publication of The X-Men no. 1 and The Avengers no. 1.

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TIMELINE November 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

March 1964: After more than a decade’s absence, Captain America is resurrected, making his renewed appearance in Avengers no. 4.

Fall of 1964: Marvel launches its fan club, the Merry Marvel Marching Society. A $1 membership fee entitled members to a welcome letter, a membership card, and a one-sided 33 1/3 rpm records entitled “The Voices of Marvel” and hosted by Lee. September 1965: In a testament to Marvel’s cultural cachet, Esquire names Spider-Man and the Hulk as two of its “28 people who count” on college campuses list.

December 1965: Marvel debuts the Bullpen Bulletins page, highlighting its commitment to fan outreach.

March 1966: The Silver Surfer premieres in Fantastic Four no. 48, the first of the three-part Galactus Trilogy, largely acknowledged as one of the pinnacles of Lee and Kirby’s work.

July 1966: Black Panther makes his first appearance in Fantastic Four no. 52.

May 1967: Lee introduces Stan’s Soapbox, a column of his musings appearing on the Bullpen Bulletins page.

The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released in the U.S. January 30, 1968: The Viet Cong launches the Tet Offensive, bringing about a major escalation in the Vietnam war.

February 26, 1968: Stan’s father, Jack Lieber, passes away.

May 30, 1968: Lee makes his first appearance on The Dick Cavett Show on ABC. 1968: Martin Goodman sells Marvel to Perfect Film & Chemical Corporation for $14 million, a deal dependent on Lee’s agreement to remain with the company.

Fall 1968: Lee records a pilot for a TV talk show, featuring a panel of young radicals. No further episodes are attempted.

March 1970: Jack Kirby leaves Marvel for DC Comics.

May 1971: After being asked by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to publish a comic book dealing with drug abuse, Marvel publishes The Amazing Spider-Man no. 96, the first of a three-part trilogy addressing the issue.

Early 1972: Stan Lee named Marvel’s publisher.

January 5, 1972: Marvel hosts “A Marvel-ous Evening with Stan Lee” at Carnegie Hall, featuring such luminaries as writer Tom Wolfe. The evening concludes with Lee reading an epic poem, “God Woke.”

1981: Lee moves to California to focus on developing Marvel’s properties into TV shows and films.

1986: Marvel is sold to New World Entertainment, the first of several acquisitions in the span of a decade.

October 1996: Stan Lee steps down as Marvel’s publisher, staying on as chairman emeritus for a salary of $1 million a year.

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TIMELINE 1998: Lee launches a short-lived Internet-based entertainment company.

July 14, 2000: X-Men premieres, the first major film based on Lee’s creations. The film also launched Lee’s tradition of cameo appearances in each film based on a Marvel comic book, which continued up to his death.

May 3, 2002: Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi, premieres, quickly becoming the most successful cinematic adaptation of a comic book at the time.

2008: President George W. Bush awards Lee the National Medal of the Arts.

May 2, 2008: Iron-Man premieres, launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As of late 2020, the MCU, as it is known, grossed more than $22.56 billion, making it the highest grossing film franchise in the world.

July 6, 2017: Joan Lee passes away at the age of 94.

November 12, 2018: Stan Lee passes away at the age of 95.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS TO OPEN THE CONVERSATION, BEGIN BY ASKING: 1. First of all, let’s get it out of the way: If you could have any superpower, which would it be and why?

2. And if you could spend a day hanging out with any one Marvel superhero, who would you choose?

CHAPTER 1: SO WHAT’S THE RISK? 1. Lee’s “complex plots and humane super heroes,” read the citation of the National Medal of the Arts he was awarded in 2008, “celebrate courage, honesty, and the importance of helping the less fortunate, reflecting America’s inherent goodness.” Do you find this praise deserved or overblown?

CHAPTER 2: STAN LEE IS GOD 1. Like so many comic book creators, Stan Lee was the son of Jewish immigrants. What role do you think being a first-generation American play in Lee’s life and art?

2. The seminal event of Lee’s childhood was the Great Depression, and witnessing his father lose his job.

How do you think the anxiety of observing destitution up close shaped Lee’s career? Did it inform his tremendous output, or his bringing together of art and commerce?

CHAPTER 3: GETTING IN THE WAY 1. Captain America made his first appearance punching Adolf Hitler in the face, and the comic was strongly informed by its Jewish creators’ outrage with the rise of Nazism. How do you think the fictional character’s standing up to a very real enemy helped shape Stan Lee’s approach to using comics to comment on reallife events and telling stories that emphasize the triumph of good over evil?

2. Reading about Stan Lee’s earliest creations, like Jack Frost, can you see a trace of the gallery of superheroes to come? How has his approach to writing comic books evolve?

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CHAPTER 4: PLAYWRIGHT 1. Frederic Wertham’s anti-comics campaign did much to suppress the industry for a few decades. It also prefigured similar campaigns against video games, rap music, heavy metal, etc. What do you think is at the heart of our repeated fascination with public scares that portray new media as corrupting the souls of the young?

CHAPTER 5: THE WORLD’S GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE! 1. How did the artistic collaboration between Jack Kirby and Stan Lee lead to the creation of a new kind of comic book? What advantages did it have over the more compartmentalized, assembly-line approach popular with the industry at the time?

2. Far from perfect and noble humans, the Fantastic Four were fallible; like the sages of the Talmud, they passed much of their time bickering with each other. How does that make them different from superheroes who came before them, like Superman and Batman?

3. How did Lee and Kirby’s loaded relationship—a friendship laced with resentment—contribute to shaping Marvel’s voice and artistic sensibility?

CHAPTER 6: I DON’T NEED YOU! 1. The Hulk is a departure from Lee’s previous creations, an ambitious story about man’s struggle with his darker and enlightened sides. How do you think the Hulk was inspired by the two different accounts of Adam in the beginning of the book of Genesis?

2. Why do you think the Hulk, never one of Lee’s super-popular creations, nevertheless became a countercultural hit with college students?

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CHAPTER 7: WITH GREAT POWER 1. Unlike the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, Spider-Man is a puny teenager who fights to master his powers and suffers the indignities of being a rejected nerd. How do you think had Lee’s own life experience informed the creation of this character?

2. Lee’s most memorable bit of writing—the phrase “with great power there must also come great responsibility”—was hardly original; it was uttered before by anyone from Churchill to FDR. What was it about Spider-Man’s story that made the phrase stand out and find its way to popular culture?

3. While never having any overt references to any Biblical story, there’s a lot of Cain in Spider-Man, the hero who is driven by his failure to be his brother’s (or uncle’s) keeper. Do you think that this powerful moral narrative made Spider-Man stand out as a pop culture phenomenon?

CHAPTER 8: WE ONLY FIGHT IN SELF-DEFENSE! 1. The X-Men are probably the most overtly political of all of Lee’s creations. How do you think the tumultuous events of the 1960s, the struggle for Civil Rights in particular, influenced the creation of this comic book?

2. Magneto in particular has evolved as an overtly Jewish character and given a back story that includes surviving the Holocaust. Even though Lee and Kirby only hinted at their character’s ethnicity, how do you think their own Jewish identity helped inform Magneto and the rest of the X-Men?

CHAPTER 9: FACE FRONT! 1. By the mid-1960s, Stan Lee began spending much of his time appearing on college campuses. What do you think made him such a hit with the counter-culture crowd?

2. Throughout the decade, Lee often had to walk a fine line between pure entertainment and political statement. Do you think his decisions were wise? Should he have made Marvel’s heroes more engaged in real world issues like the war in Vietnam, or less?

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CHAPTER 10: MY OWN POWER HAS NEVER BEEN FULLY TESTED! 1. While Lee often gets much of the credit for creating Marvel’s characters, the Silver Surfer is inarguably largely Jack Kirby’s brainchild. How is he different from the other characters in the Marvel pantheon? And how does he reflect Kirby’s unique artistic sensibility?

CHAPTER 11: THIS LONG-AWAITED LEAP 1. The end of the 1960s also signaled the end of Lee’s incredible streak of creativity. Why do you think he was able to create so many memorable characters in the span of ten years? And why wasn’t he able to repeat this feat in later decades?

2. Appearing on stage at Carnegie Hall, Lee took a sharp turn from his usual affable and light-hearted public persona, reading instead an epic poem called “God Woke.” Why do you think he did that? What does the poem teach you about Lee’s ideas about God? And does it change the way you view his earlier comic book creations?

CHAPTER 12: PART OF A BIGGER UNIVERSE 1. How do you explain the fact that Lee’s creations have become so ubiquitous in popular culture? What is it about his superheroes that so moves so many millions? And why have they become popular now, after decades of falling largely out of favor?

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FURTHER READING Batchelor, Bob, Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel (Rowmany & Littlefield, 2017).

Brod, Harry, Superman is Jewish? How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way (Free Press, 2016).

Chabon, Michael, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Random House, 2000).

Fingeroth, Danny, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee (St. Martin’s Press, 2019).

Fingeroth, Danny, Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Bloomsbury Academic, 2007).

Hajdu, David, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (Picador, 2009).

Howe, Sean, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story (Harper Perennial, 2013).

Kaplan, Arie, From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books (Jewish Publication Society, 2008).

Lee, Stan, Soapbox: The Collection (The Hero Initiative, 2008).

Lee, Stan with David, Peter and Doran, Colleen, Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (Gallery 13, 2019).

Lee, Stan and Mair, George, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee (Atria Books, 2002).

McLaughlin Jeff (ed.), Stan Lee: Conversations (University Press of Mississippi, 2007).

Raphael, Jordan and Spurgeon, Tom, Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (Chicago Review Press, 2004).

Wright, Bradford W., Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).

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