“You’ve Heard The Legend- Which I Think Is True…”- A Flip Thru’ the Supermarket Sleaze of 2018’s ‘Entertainment Weekly- Stan Lee: A Life of Marvel’

I’ve seen this shit. You’ve seen this shit. These compiled “special” issues of various articles from the pop culture media put out to celebrate any figure who has some topical traction and visibility at the moment- I saw a special edition magazine last week at the grocery store dedicated to Madonna, whom I remembered is currently in the midst of a career-spanning nostalgia tour.

I did see this when it initially premiered at the end of November 2018, but ignored it, brushing it off as a pedestrian fluff magazine that would likely not even mention Lee’s many crucial collaborators. Well, I was wrong about that! But this periodical, flimsy though it is, does contain some terrible and disgusting untruths. Not even supermarket fodder can be counted on to not continue the ongoing dishonesty campaign of Marvel.

A cover featuring a hastily done photoshop of Stan Lee smiling before MCU figure inserts, leading to an apparently further away Iron Man being crisper and more in focus than the Hulk, right behind Lee, and Black Panther spooning Spider-Man while inexplicably having his legs and lower torso vanish. Maybe EW was rushing this to press when Lee kicked the bucket?

The cover also boasts the definitive: “His Universe. His Legacy. His Heroes.” Sigh.

There’s something that lends itself to a grandiose and motivational success story when you have a sole creative visionary, laughed at and discouraged every step of the way and that is the main reason I can surmise that so many apparently smart people will continue to rush and willingly get their hands dirty to reinforce the foundation of Lee’s bullshit. But it’s obviously so far from the truth, that I hope that continued beatings from writers like me eventually wear them down.

The inside cover shows a collage of Marvel comic covers- mostly from the nineties, as I assume the EW budget can’t be too steep for these throwaway magazines hoping to capitalize on casual people in the supermarket or pharmacy- featuring decidedly NOT his characters like Wolverine (three times), Ghost Rider, Darkhawk and Quasar.

• Pg. 4: “You’ve heard the legend, which I think is true…”

This statement begins Kevin Feige’s dictated-to-EW intern foreword and it’s so perfect and fitting that one would think I made it up. Feige heard it, says in passing it’s a legend (so therefore, if he is wrong, well who cares?), and then says he “thinks” it’s true.

• “That’s what led to the Fantastic Four. Then Hulk, and Spider-Man. Then Iron Man, and the X-Men, and everything else. He realized in the midst of his amazing 1960s run what he was creating, that people were responding to his characters the same way he responded to ancient myths that he read as a kid, and he went, “Wait a minute. Lemme turn one of those characters into a hero.” And we got Thor, we got Odin, we got Loki, we got Hela.”

It’s highly likely that Feige isn’t as educated on the history of the Marvel Method and years of creator disputes involving Lee, and genuinely believes the above. After all, I only found out about Ub Iwerks a few months ago (being that I’ve never been a fan of Disney), and I would have easily just assumed Disney created and drew everything early on. However, I’m not a high-ranking creative head leading a major motion picture franchise featuring Disney characters so maybe I shouldn’t give him such a pass!

But look at the singular credit Lee is given in Feige’s wording: “his amazing 1960s run”, “what he was creating”, “responding to his characters”… its destructive and misguided but not at all surprising.

• Pg. 7: “After Kirby tried and failed to come up with an engaging design for a spider-themed superhero, Lee turned instead to Steve Ditko, the other artistic titan or Marvel’s classic era.”

Wow. That’s not only factually incorrect but downright insulting towards Kirby- “After Kirby tried and failed to come up with an engaging design…” I should point out these words are by various “journalists” now, and not Kevin Feige, who only dictated one page of Lee praise for the introduction. These writers- which, interestingly to me, included Sean Howe- will just get worse as we go on.

• Pg. 8: “It was on Fantastic Four that Lee and Kirby developed what came to be known as the Marvel Method– a creative process in which Lee would come up with a short plot outline, then Kirby would design and illustrate a comic based on a mixture of that synopsis and his own ideas, and then Lee would return to fill in the dialogue and captions.

• Though this method would prove quite successful at allowing Lee to write so many comics at once, it also created an ambivalence about which ideas belonged to which creator.”

Again, the Marvel Method is fundamentally misunderstood by a gullible and fawning audience all too eager to swallow the bait, hook, line and sinker- Lee did not get to “write so many comics at once” since he wasn’t doing the writing. The artists were. Adding dialogue based on margin notes from fully completed stories does not constitute writing as the term is applied to Lee’s work.

• Pg. 9: “Eventually, though, Silver Surfer would become the focus of some of Lee’s most personal and introspective work. While Kirby had intended the character to be a cold Spock-like alien being, Lee really related to the character’s nobility and his rage and being trapped on Earth- perhaps analogous to Lee’s own occasional dissatisfaction at being stuck writing comics when he originally wanted to be a novelist.

• Lee took the character for his own, writing an 18-issue comic and advising other writers not to use him.”

Let’s consider that the Sixties Silver Surfer series was Lee’s most personal and introspective work. And then let me remind you- again- that a 20-something Jim Shooter was involved in ghost-plotting those stories for Lee too, as he helpfully revealed during an expansive Comic Book Historians interview. (In which, it should be noted, the “historians” DO NOT FOLLOW UP ON THAT OR INQUIRE FURTHER- ’cause of course they fucking don’t.)

Also, it is entirely misleading to say that Kirby “intended the character to be a cold Spock-like being“- Kirby’s intention was that the Surfer was a being created out of living cosmic energy, who would increasingly learn about humankind as his adventures progressed. How that makes him a “cold, Spock-like being” is beyond me.

• pg. 13: “But there was one character Lee deliberately designed as a counterpoint to the prevailing youth culture, and his name was Tony Stark.

• (LEE): “At the time we did Iron Man, I was really feeling cocky. I’m a little ashamed of myself. It was a time in the war, and young people throughout the country hated war, they hated the military-industrial complex, hated everything… So I said, ‘I’m going to come up with a character that represents everything everybody hates, and I’m gonna shove it down their throats.’ I was younger then, and what do you know when you’re younger??” (note: Stan Lee was 41 in 1963)

Vietnam war protests did not take on national prominence until 1965, after Americans- young Americans especially- became aware of the United States increased bombing of North Vietnam. This is a clear case of Lee’s evolved tall tales becoming cemented in his memory’s go-to box with journalists, as there was no way possible in Martin Goodman’s company in 1963 for Lee to take such “daring” creative risks. It is beyond laughable, to say nothing of the fact that Lee has literally nothing to do with Iron Man.

Consider that his brother Larry Lieber wrote the dialogue, and that Don Heck confirmed that Kirby designed the costume and likely generated the plot. I’ve spoken before about the Green Arrow story that Kirby did for DC a few years before he returned to Marvel after historian Michael Hill pointed out it was largely the same plot.

Since that time, fellow researcher Daniel Greenberg pointed out very similar plot elements in another Kirby story done for DC a few years before the Marvel explosion, and without the involvement of Lee. Once again, a scientist, working in tandem with a fellow imprisoned genius, builds a weapon to escape and promises to avenge the death of his friend, who delays the enemy by sacrificing his own life. Not coincidence, as Kirby was a frequent re-user of his old plots when it suited him. So, what did Lee create for Iron Man? And, if he really felt that bold, that strong- why didn’t he write the initial story?

• pg. 15: “Combined with Steve Ditko’s psychedelic art, this wording gave the character a mystical aura that entranced college-aged readers at the time. Many of those terms made it into the recent Doctor Strange movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch, proving that the magical power of Lee’s alliteration can stand the test of time.”

Ditko is not mentioned as creator or even co-creator by Entertainment Weekly; instead, the success of the character is literally credited to Lee’s brilliant use of alliteration.

• pg. 35: (Joe Quesada): “He was well into his life, yet he was so interested in politics and what was going on in society and the civil rights movement. In fact, Stan banned cigarette smoking in the Marvel offices in the ’60s. That’s how far ahead of it he was. You can’t write stories like that unless you are.”

Uhm… he may have banned Wally Wood’s smoking in his office, but I found this a very strange thing to praise and then connect to Lee’s being progressive and far ahead of regular society. Over a dozen photos exist of Lee smoking- some are staged and unlit, and historians have often suggested Lee was not a smoker in real life and simply added these for the prestigious image he believed it gave him.

Look, I’m only including this specific thing because I find it amusing, I could care less if ol’ Stan was a three-packs-a-day kind of guy- but the guy smoked, even if it was a casual habit, I mean, for God’s sake, the guy literally lights up and starts puffing during a 1980 TV appearance. So, banning smoking in the offices- which might have been a directive of Martin Goodman which Lee was then only carrying out- is a very odd thing for a guy who, you know, kept smoking.

• pg. 40: “With this lineup proving popular, Atlas finally had its own version of the Justice League and released the first issue of The Avengers in 1963. The Avengers bickered too, with members leaving and joining regularly. With the company headed in a bold new direction, Lee persuaded Goodman to change its name to Marvel.”

• “Marvel’s ascendancy was all thanks to Lee. “There must have been something in the air at that time”, Lee recalled. “It was like I couldn’t do anything wrong.”

There was something in the air at that time and it was called Kirby and Ditko being on a creative high, hindered only by Lee’s unnecessary editorial tampering to justify his position. And Lee persuading Goodman to change the name to Marvel is blatantly false and further shows just how woefully uninformed and lazy the writing staff of EW truly is. It was Goodman who made the decision, not Lee.

• pg. 44: “Recognize that hunk of metal? It’s Iron Man (aka Tony Stark) in his first issue, dating back to 1963. Lee liked the idea of creating a character whose lifestyle and beliefs- a billionaire military contractor!- contradicted and challenged readers own. Ironically, Iron Man would become one of Lee’s most beloved creations.”

• pg. 45: “Wounded by a land mine, Stark used American ingenuity- and the help of fellow prisoner Professor Ho Yinsen- to save his life with a super-suit, then rescued locals from a bullying warlord.”

Again, with this Iron Man nonsense… I suppose it’s to be expected, considering the mainstream box office bona fides that Iron Man brought in the cinematic universe, but this narrative of Lee deciding to be “edgy” by inverting stereotypes- it’s one of the most ridiculous legends in the entire Lee mythology.

• pg. 48: “As his outsize characters exploded onto the big screen, Stan Lee kept busy. He started a media production company, set up a foundation to promote literacy, visited dozens of conventions to meet with fans firsthand and still made cameos in more than 30 films.”

His media production company was a grift, designed to be paid for minimal participation and make profit off of the leasing of his name, nothing more. The foundation to promote literacy is part of a complex tax break write-off, nothing more. And he visited dozens of conventions- where he would charge upwards of $125 for a photo Opp- to fund his other endeavors, not for the reason of simply meeting fans.

• pg. 54: “One of the controversies surrounding Lee was how much credit he actually deserved. Many of “his” characters were crafted in concert with artists like Jack Kirby, who would take Lee’s concept and run with it. Whether Lee grabbed more credit than he deserved or merely attracted the attention by way of his natural showmanship as an extrovert among a team of introverts, I never found him to be anything except generous with praise for his artists…”

This comes from EW writer Anthony Breznican who met Lee a whopping one time, in April 2002 as part of a media interview for POW! Entertainment. Make note of Breznican’s disgusting means of making-it-fact-by-suggestion, with “or merely attracted the attention by way of his natural showmanship” blah blah BLAH…

• pg. 54: “Ugh! It’s obvious you have no conception of what a hero really is!”

This is new wording in an old, often repeated tall tale where narrow-minded and lacking in vision publisher Martin Goodman shows palpable disgust for Lee’s groundbreaking Spider-Man. Though it’s only slightly off, we do always get the “don’t you know what a hero IS” line from Goodman in every Lee biography and, one thing I have seldom covered in depth here is just how odd that would have been coming from Goodman, whose own publishing history with “heroes” is remarkably unconventional.

Martin Goodman published Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner– comic book’s first anti-hero- from the thirties until the fifties. Namor is still groundbreaking for his time, being that he hailed from an underwater kingdom which was frequently disturbed by the selfishness of the surface world which would lead him to declare war on the white man (!!) in multiple stories. Namor literally invades New York with a flood, presumably killing thousands of citizens. To which the state of New York responds by giving Namor the electric chair. Pretty cutting edge for 1939-1940, eh?

The Human Torch of the Forties was an android that begins as a freak of nature, unable to control his flame, attacked by law enforcement and firemen alike. Along with Captain America, these two characters would be Goodman’s leading characters of the entire Golden Age- an Atlantean terrorist and an android that literally burned Nazis and Gangsters alive! Don’t you know what a hero is?

I add that context simply to illustrate how implausible Lee’s story is and how much the story depends upon Goodman being a corny old fuddy-duddy in regard to what a costumed hero in a lurid, pulpy medium should be. No. Lee is lying. It’s really that simple.

• pg. 56: “Lee became the face of Marvel, the wisecracking ‘Stan the Man‘ who talked to kids in their own language without talking down to them. In his ‘Stan’s Soapbox‘ column, he often advocated for fairness and kindness to everyone- a grown-up message delivered via the funny papers. Strangely enough, Lee said he would cast himself as the opposite of all that in his own imagination, drawing a comparison to the cynical, uncompromising newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson. “I modeled him after me. He was dumb and loudmouthed and opinionated. He was me.”

Look, I’m sure that only a few people bought this. But they bought it for their grandchild or nephew or for the kid in their life that was crazy about the Marvel characters- and that kid, were they to commit to flipping through this, again sees the same dishonesty pushed through in a glossy package. Why would they question it? Why would Marvel lie? Luckily, Lee could only die once– the print run on this couldn’t have been that fantastic.

As soon as I can find Barry Pearl and liberate the twelve copies he bought (which he keeps sealed in mylar under his bed), I’ll destroy those, and the world of comics will be just a little bit better. In the meantime, be aware that the ongoing erasure of Kirby as creator is alive and well in 2022- along with Ditko, Len Wein, you name it. If we accept the tepid propaganda they put out without pushing back? We enable it. Don’t be an enabler. Let these suckers know it can’t go on.

With gratitude to MICHAEL HILL and DANIEL GREENBERG.