“I Could Trojan Horse My Way Into Meeting Stan if I Could Film Something with Him…”- On Documentaries and The REAL Last Days of Stan Lee

You couldn’t blame someone for thinking that Four Color Sinners is following the zeitgeist right now and touching on a story that’s captured the attention of seemingly all of the comic book community’s attention-starved minds- after all, we were MIA for half a year before worming our way back into your hearts this month, and we do take some pride in calling out things prolifically before weasel cunts like Zach Rabiroff contact us under the guise of needing research help before proceeding to rewrite our research and submit it to The Comics Journal– but, fair reader, I’ll simply ask you to consider that we have called out these bad actors in the past, long before this warranted coverage from the usual come-latelys of the so-called comics press.

So, I ask you to pursue this article with an open mind as we intend to provide more of an overall summary, rather than an expose, on the antics of pseudo-film directors, the well documented final days of an elderly icon, and the “community” that willingly and gleefully enabled it ALL before acting aghast and outraged in retrospect, like they ALWAYS do.

(I should also like to take a moment to continue my goal of never being like the aforementioned Zach Rabiroff by giving ample and due credit to researcher and videographer Mata Nui, whose own work and conversations helped inform my own and appear in this piece.)

First things first: there’s a documentary out that is the talk of the town. And, in case you live under a rock, that documentary is about the man, the myth, the creator himself- Stan Lee.

And I’m sure you haven’t seen or heard about it, which is a legitimate shame… because this shit is hilarious:

‘MARVEL & DC’s WAR on GOD: STAN LEE, GOD, and the DEVIL’, produced and directed by Good Fight Ministries, released January 2025.

Say whaaat? You haven’t heard of THIS film, which is still relatively new? Apparently, an installment in an ongoing evangelical series, I assume this documentary takes a negative tone on Lee which surely means it’s gonna be the Citizen Kane for “Stan Bashers”.

(In fact, I’m amazed that The Marvel Method facebook group hasn’t held a viewing party where all of its members scoff and roll their eyes in snide tones every time Lee appears on screen, repeating the same things they’ve said every four months and referring to Stan as “nepo baby” ad nauseum.)

You can’t make this shit up: “However, many are unaware that Stan Lee purposely set out to repudiate God’s goodness and diminish His power. Lee not only sought to paint God as an inept and uncaring being but, driven by his own infamous ego, sought to exalt himself and his plethora of comic gods and superheroes above God.”

The description goes on to describe chapters of the film such as “Jack Kirby’s (Stan Lee’s co-writer) Demonic Influence” and “Stan Lee’s Philosophical Mouthpiece: The Silver Surfer”– damn, I guess I should give the theocracy credit if THEY have finally given Kirby some credit for writing, eh??

Anyway, I hope someone else watches this and gives me a full report- I have been reminded of my pledge made at the outset of this blog where I foolishly stated I would review each and every thing about Lee. Ugh, the ignorance of youth…!

No, there’s another documentary that is likely far less entertaining than the former, and one with far more sinister parties than the evangelicals– and THAT is saying something.

I speak of course about Jon Hairspray Bolerjack’s upcoming ‘STAN LEE: THE FINAL CHAPTER’.

To say this is shocking would be ridiculous. Bolerjack is a hanger-on who couldn’t make it in the comics industry and lacks any intangible or quantifiable factor that would set him apart, so he’s been a leech and opportunist for many years, recently aligning with John Cimino and becoming an official member of “The Roy Boyzz”.

When Thomas dies, I suppose they’ll go to the next generational run of former Marvel employees and start promoting Bob Layton or somebody, we’ll see.

Stan Lee’s final days were documented and discussed and were a constant stream of concerning moments, rotating chairs of handlers, and public outbursts of outrage and worry. Bolerjack is referenced in a later article where the reporter describes his visit to Lee’s home and points out that he can’t deduce what Bolerjack’s role is within Lee’s circle of minders.

As we now know, it was to film and photograph as much as possible– and fleece Lee out of items that Bolerjack could resell. After all, it ain’t like Bolerjack sells his OWN work.

Before we get to those specific years before the end, it’s worth exploring the time right before it where there were signs of Lee either slipping or being so accustomed to naturally taking credit in the press that his behavior would be considered normal for him.

I noticed that Lee seemed to be either slipping or just bolder when there were a couple public instances of him taking credit for characters that even his most ardent defenders couldn’t rationalize or explain away. In one encounter, the boxer Mike Tyson asks Lee who created popular X-Men villain Apocalypse. Lee dramatically exclaims “Me!“, to which no one around him reacts.

In an interview for Fandango, released in 2017, Lee seems completely normal when taking credit for the Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel, which didn’t occur until 2012:

• “I don’t know, I just decided to make her a female! I can’t remember her why, I thought- I like things that are different. If you do what people expect, you’re just doing the ordinary. And I think people were surprised to see our Captain Marvel was a female… so, that was fun for me.” – Super Secrets with Stan Lee, Fandango All Access Interview, August 22nd, 2017 (possibly filmed earlier)

Had Lee just become so normalized with automatically assuming he had already been given credit by Marvel’s corporate handlers that he just blurted out his responsibility for every character? I have to think some of his comprehension skills had declined by the time that interview came out but, again- you would expect his handlers to hear that and tactfully tell the video editors that Lee misspoke. Clearly they didn’t, because they probably didn’t even know.

Milestone’s Michael Davis wrote a thoughtful essay about Lee in 2017. This specific passage seems to have gone unnoticed, as it came out over a year before Lee’s passing:

“The last time I saw Stan, it was bittersweet. He was the same old Stan holding court in the lobby of the Marriott. But when I shook his hand and considered his eyes it was evident ‘my’ Stan was gone. He didn’t remember me.

“Stan is pushing 100 he can’t remember everything and everybody.” I was told this by one of Stan’s entourage who meant well but dropped me even to a deeper sadness. As I started to turn and walk away, this young lady must have seen the grief on my face and touched my arm stopping me.

She said, ” With age, God wipes away many things to lessen our burden. His long life may soon be over that’s not a bad thing he must be exhausted. He may leave us, but he will be at peace.” – Michael Davis, “Stan Lee, The Man, Now and Forever“- March 4th, 2017

One has to think that Davis is referring to the previous two or three years at that point, meaning that longtime associates noticed a decline before 2015.

Lee went through a wrecking crew of truly terrible human beings acting as his manager/handler, it’s so over the top in its sheer craziness as to have seemed made up if you didn’t witness these people in real time. His most stable one in terms of tenure was Max/Mac Anderson.

Anderson was a brusque sort of character who suffered under delusions that he was a tough guy. Full disclaimer, I speak from experience as Anderson once literally tried to intimidate and get tough with me. It was unprovoked and I was baffled at first, as I’d never spoken to him previously and initially wondered if he was yelling at someone behind me.

All I’ll tell you is that my tone on this blog is not an act, so Anderson very quickly learned the meaning behind “fuck around and find out”. That’s another story and one I will relish elaborating on in the future. As it is, I don’t need my encounter with Anderson to accurately paint a picture of his mindset and insecurity fueling his rage: the man literally served time for DOMESTIC ABUSE.

Word from a guy who has been around legit, genuine bad motherfuckers: domestic abuse is one of the easiest signs that prove YOU’RE A PUSSY. Anderson had been convicted in Riverside, California of violence against his wife and child in 2002, serving a year in prison plus 36 months’ probation- and then was given another 36 months plus anger management for a second domestic incident in 2010.

It isn’t that anyone has to be a boy scout- you can make mistakes and still be a good human being. But beating up your wife and child- no. (Disclaimer- I have “assault” on my arrest record. But it is notably from fighting a MAN who was OLDER and BIGGER than me.)

So Max Anderson doesn’t have, shall we say, the most benevolent character. There were accusations of his strong arming and fleecing Lee for millions in memorabilia and he was early to the party with getting Lee to sign anything and everything so he could resell it quickly:

Chandler Rice, a prominent West Coast comics and collectibles dealer and promoter, told AARP that by 2014, they paid out Max Anderson by cash and that, at the end of each event, the total sum would be roughly $40,000.00.

JC Lee’s lawsuit specified that Anderson would pay himself a “$700,000 “management fee” while only giving Lee $50,000.”

Where is Anderson today? I’m so glad you asked. In February of 2025, Anderson pled guilty to Tax Fraud of more than $1.2 Million… all of which came from selling Stan Lee-signed memorabilia and never reporting the proceeds.

“For tax years 2015 through 2018, income from the sold memorabilia totaled $289,460, $452,269, $414,166, and $80,590, respectively. In total, Anderson admitted to profiting approximately $1,236,485 in reportable income from the memorabilia sales which resulted in him owing the IRS approximately $482,833.” – justice.gov website

That’s huge and indicative of the kind of person Max is. In fact, they really are ALL like this. It doesn’t take a Master of Psychology to deduce why– whether its Anderson or Bolerjack or Keya Morgan or John Cimino- these guys are all on the periphery of the comic convention industry, they all desperately want to be known, want to be a personality.

Unfortunately- they all lack the “it” factor. They aren’t creators. They have no charisma, no talent, no imagination to BE a creator.

So, they attach themselves, they fleece. They do the only thing they’ve ever displayed a knack for doing- they consume.

The next notable handler in Lee’s world was the pretentious Keya Morgan. The modern dandy that wore sunglasses and a bowler hat in an already dark room as he instructed Lee how to spell his name for apathetic, insensitive comic fans.

• “After seven decades, she (Joan Lee) died, and when she died, all these vultures and leeches and cockroaches and wolves and hyenas and jackals, they all started trying to bite a piece of his flesh off.” – Keya Morgan, 2018

I really thought Morgan was amusing in real time, but I’m a bit of a bastard and didn’t take this as seriously and personally as some of the more publicly outraged commentators did. Morgan’s social media bio was the purposely ambiguous “co-creator with Stan Lee” and once, in passing, he revealed that he didn’t know Lee was considered a co-creator of specific characters and didn’t know who Ditko and Kirby were.

He also posted several photos of himself with Donald Trump Junior, as if that was something to boast about.

There’s a telling moment when Lee, using a cart to get around, is asked by a reporter at the premiere of “Avengers: Infinity War” what brings him out night after night? Lee nods towards a way-too-close Morgan and says “He keeps insisting I come” without an undertone of Lee’s usual playfulness.

The entire time Morgan is right in frame, nearly touching the reporter, so much so that one wonders if he thought he’d be asked a question next.

Eventually, public concern increased for Lee and several outlets did exposés and interviews with him, Keya Morgan ever present. Another instance of Lee’s diminished capacity occurs when he is talking to his daughter JC Lee, and refers to his own brother, Larry Lieber as her brother.

Many people began to speak out against Morgan, who was increasingly caught in compromising situations and seemingly began to script numerous videos that he released, showing Lee on the attack in retaliation for anyone daring to slander his best friend Keya:

“Hi this is Stan Lee and I’m calling on behalf of myself and my friend Keya Morgan. Now, you people have been publishing the most hateful, harmful material about me and about my friend Keya and some others. Material, which is totally incorrect, totally based on slander, totally the type of thing that I’m going to sue your ass off when I get a chance.

You have been accusing me and my friends of doing things that are so unrealistic and unbelievable that I don’t know what to say. It’s as though you suddenly have a personal vendetta against me and against the people I work with. Well, I want you to know I’m going to spend every penny I have to put a stop to this and to make you sorry that you’ve suddenly gone on a one man campaign against somebody with no proof, no evidence, no anything but you’ve decided that people were mistreating me and therefore you are going to publish those articles.

I’m going to get the best and most expensive lawyers I can and I want you to know if you don’t stop these articles and publish retractions, I am going to sue your ass off.” – TMZ Video sent by Keya Morgan, 2018

Morgan could not defend the aforementioned footage that got out from Lee’s appearance at 2018’s Silicon Valley Comic Con in which a barely functioning Lee struggles to sign numerous covers shuffled in front of him.

Morgan is wearing his sunglasses/fedora getup and keeps repeating in a blank tone, “STAN LEE… S, T, A, N…” while- and I find this especially telling- the “fans” in the room are complaining about how Lee’s signature appears and not one of them audibly speaks out to give Lee a break.

“On the weekend of April 7, Morgan and J.C. accompanied Lee to Silicon Valley Comic Con, where he spent long days signing merch and taking photos with fans, many of whom posted on social media how tired Lee looked, upset that he was being “shuffled around” like “a commodity.”

Bleeding Cool, a comics news site, said those on the floor had been calling it “Weekend at Stan Lee’s,” a reference to the corpse comedy Weekend at Bernie’s. Asked about the event, Morgan emailed, “Stan Lee repeated countless times how much he enjoyed his trip.” – Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 2018

(Before anyone writes in about his lack of inclusion, I am aware of Jerry Olivarez but am not writing about him in this piece simply because he doesn’t figure into as many documented instances of bullshit the way Anderson and Morgan do.)

Morgan was as obnoxious in his own chosen trade as he was within the comic convention circuit; many longtime antique and collectible dealers loathed him for his name dropping, claims of grand items he never produced, and use of forgeries. Inevitably, Morgan’s delusions of grandeur (to quote Roy Thomas) reached a climax as he fired and replaced much of Lee’s staff in a major shakeup.

By August, a restraining order was granted against Keya Morgan which temporarily took him out of the picture. The bowler hat industry immediately showed a nosedive in profits.

When Lee passed away in November of that year, Jon Bolerjack stated “I guess I read too many comic books where the heroes win and the bad guys go down, but that didn’t happen and that’s what was upsetting.

Is Bolerjack upset now, I wonder…? After all, we’ve seen a monumental surge in nobodies getting status through proxy and Bolerjack is currently the cream of the crop. I was directed to a very revealing piece on Bolerjacks’ trajectory, which I strongly urge you to read. Some of the more telling highlights from this author’s research are…

• Bolerjack worked at a comic book store for over a decade, showing a history of selling collectables.
• Explains in interviews on John Cimino’s YouTube show that he recognized early on the importance in signed items and accumulating signed comics to resell as “hustling” and describing himself as a hustler of many years.
• For a two year period, Bolerjack had Lee sign his artwork to sell at his booth.
• Bolerjack pointed out that he only attempted to meet Lee through a mutual friend so that he could make a documentary or reality show about Lee’s travels on the convention circuit; Bolerjack literally put this as “trojan horsed” his way into meeting Lee.

“I could trojan horse my way into meeting Stan if I could film something with him.” – Honest Jon Bolerjack, July 2022

As Mata Nui pointed out to me, there was an entire six-month period where Bolerjack was cut off from Lee and accepted this yet DID NOTHING THEN to expose Lee’s abusive situation.

“Basically, there was a period of time where I was in Stan’s life. Then there was a ‘Game of Thrones’ situation where people kept taking over and cutting people out. And I got separated from Stan and thought I’d never see him again. And I sort of accepted my fate that I just would never see him again.” – Jon Bolerjack

“So, dude knew that Stan was in the hands of people taking advantage of him, had all this evidence showcasing said abuse, and decided not to do anything to try to help him. You would think this would be his call to action to whistle blow on that circle and make sure Stan was okay, but he didn’t do shit.” – Mata Nui, to me, 3/17/2025

I believe the timing for Bolerjack’s documentary is easily explained: he is running out of Lee merchandise and “gifts” to sell and, as his own celebrity-by-proxy begins to fade- whether he’s associated with that paragon of virtue John Cimino or not- he was moved to do something, anything, to recapture some attention and payment for himself.

So, once more back to the well- the well called Stan Lee.

Bolerjack bounced back and became an official part of Cimino’s “Roy Boyzz” team last year, which made absolute sense and seems like a good fit. It was really not shocking to hear about his documentary which is why I was initially just apathetic towards it.

It’s the reaction to the film that pleasantly surprised me, which made me return to some of my notes made in 2023 about Lee’s last days… and motivated me to check out Bolerjack’s trailer:

Listening to Bolerjack’s voice for the first time last week, one thing I was genuinely struck by is just how reedy and nasally and high-pitched his voice really is.

I mean, I literally thought the footage was sped up– his voice is grating and unbearable and makes him sound like he came from a womb filled with helium. Even if I liked the guy, for God’s sake, stop fucking talking.

Anyway, back to earth. The response to Bolerjack’s film has been tremendous. And by that, I mean tremendously negative:

• “The whole thing feels kinda off. Why are they raising money to finish the documentary, why can’t they just share the footage? Why does it need interviews with industry insiders, why do they want to build sets…? It all feels very slimy.” – reddit user ProfAlmond

• “First rule of child/elder mistreatment is see something, say something. Not film something, sell something.” – youtube comment by XxSunsetxX1942

• “This guy even looks like a weasel, how can anyone take this seriously?? It reminds me of Groucho Marx’s girlfriend/manager from the 70s and that whole situation… exploit, even when your meal ticket has one foot in the grave!”- Instagram comment from Mike C.

• “As someone who worked with and cared deeply for Stan, I think it’s abhorrent that the director would offer “rewards” such as a tour of locations where abuse took place, and many, many signed/graded items.” – Eric Gladstone, former editor at Pow! Entertainment

• “I was looking at the reward tiers. What the fuck is this Los Angeles tour? “See the actual locations where an old man was taken advantage of and financially abused? Ghoulish.” – online comment by ConstableGrey

• “Unsurprising. Bolerjack’s buddy, John Cimino, is Roy’s current handler as well as Gerry Conway’s. Cimino’s made a show of being some of the last people to see Stan alive, so yeah, cameras were rolling then. The man (Cimino, although Bolerjack too by extension) is a conman through and through, and I wouldn’t p*** on him if he were on fire. This stuff deserves to be broadcasted, and this Kickstarter does NOT deserve to be funded. People need to wise up and read the fine print.” – reddit user BenReillySpidey149

Regardless, these flunkies have made their entire careers, personas and incomes from dining out on the names and accomplishments of the people they latched onto and Bolerjack is no exception. Again, I ask you to take a serious, unbiased look at some of the more notorious figures involved in this mess and ask yourself: could they have made it on their own?

Bolerjack is an artist of no consequence. From what I can see, he sells prints of notable pop culture characters as do many artists that exhibit in Artists Alleys on the profitable convention circuit. He has an unfortunately horrific speaking voice and pretentious appearance. Nothing he says is charismatic or distinguished; while not offensive if he wasn’t a despicable human being, he still doesn’t stand out in any way as a formative talent or visionary artist.

He is a journeyman at best, with nothing original to offer except being a merchant of autographed collectables to a niche market.

Keya Morgan stands out only as a pretentious dandy, with his hilarious pursed lips and serious expressions in photographs.

You can only come off well in a bowler hat and coat draped over your shoulders if you’re someone like Quintin Crisp– again, Morgan is not a CREATOR. He is not a poet, a writer, a wit, an artist, an actor, a director- nothing. He is a dealer in celebrity merchandise. He cannot be a celebrity himself due to possessing no discernable talent of any kind. Why should he act like so important on the red carpet?

These people suffer from a culture that tells them that, they too can be notable and distinguished. It’s a joke. Lee’s worth was purely in association with film cameos as time went on, and the vague awareness from people who never opened a comic book in their lives that he “created” every superhero they saw on screen.

That these guys so desperately put themselves in the limelight with Lee to appear as a peer, a friend, even an equal– it’s beyond laughable, its delusional.

Jon Bolerjack will never have fans. He’s simply not special. He does nothing of merit and nothing of entertainment value. He creates nothing original. All he can do is rehash and insert himself. Rinse and repeat.

But who really deserves the guilty verdict? If such a case can be made as to who really contributed to Lee’s miserable final days (outside of Lee himself of course, having never developed real or genuine relationships beyond affable professional associations).

I’d argue that it’s the supposed FANS… the true believers, the people that put Stan Lee on a pedestal, who elevated him to be more than a figurehead of a movement and lifestyle, but of a near deity, a sainted figure whose scrawl on comics featuring characters he never wrote or knew about but could then presumably make those pamphlets command ridiculous sums of money.

They needed the photo op but wouldn’t speak out when Lee was obviously unconscious or visibly pixilated; they needed the signature but wouldn’t interject on Lee’s behalf when it was evident he could barely sit up straight, much less sign a name- they wouldn’t, they couldn’t. It was not about a human being; it was about the CLAIM.

The boast, the significance of being RIGHT NEXT TO “STAN”- it’s sickening, it’s shameful and it is indicative of how shallow, how entitled, how worthless is the entire consumerist pop culture geek “community”.

Their only goal was to use an obviously staged (and paid) photo before a backdrop as a means of bragging and evidence of their worth; to use a signature as an investment, to use the proximity of feet apart from the living legend as a boast and validation of their very existence- in this sense, they were exactly like the Bolerjacks and Keya Morgans of the world, only they came in fleets. They would not rest until they obtained their “get”, until they had scratched that off of their proverbial and literal bucket list.

They built Lee up until he was no longer a human being but something that they could own a piece of; they did more than tolerate- they were the greatest enablers of all and that is to whom Bolerjack and Morgan and all the others owe their success.

If you see it and don’t speak out? You are complicit. All of the true believers in those convention halls who saw and DIDN’T say a word? They helped make this reality. They’ll never read this because they’re too busy arguing about how much the latest MCU film sucked.

That’s all the entitled can ever do- complain about what they’re given. They don’t have what it takes to think of a new idea on their own.

With thanks again to Mata Nui for his exhaustive work on this matter and the people involved.