“He’s a Good guy, He’s just Not a GREAT guy”- on 2021’s “TRUE BELIEVER: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee”

It was only four short years ago (as of this writing) that a truly monumental work was published, a work that, for a short time at least, seemed to signal a possible push towards a truer narrative in the long-cultivated myth of comics history that we’re all so used to. That work was the Stan […]

“I Guess Ditko and Jack are The Only Two Guys Who Know That…” A Brief Oral History of Stan Lee’s Responses To Kirby’s Creator Claims

(This has been compiled for the purposes of research; it is by no means complete. However, it contains the bulk of Stan Lee’s recorded public statements/responses to Jack Kirby’s claims of being the primary creator of the Marvel Universe. You will see at times that Lee is consistent in his narrative and repeats talking points. […]

“As far As I’m Concerned, There’s No Controversy”- Disentombing 2011’s Breezy ‘With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story’

You’re sick of it. I’m sick of it! When I publicly declared that I would comprehensively review every documentary and every biography of Stan ‘The Man’ Lee, I never knew how quickly I’d fatigue from the slog of the same ol’ folk tales and talking heads praising and regurgitating the usual tired tropes. To add […]

“Look, Stan’s relationship to the truth is very interesting…” Evaluating the Exhausting ‘Stan Lee: A Marvelous Life’

Among the various comments I’ve seen regarding Four Color Sinners, one stood out to me, and its content was not surprising: when our article about POW! Entertainment’s many failed ventures were shared to someone’s Facebook page, a guy remarked- without reading, natch– that this was the product of a “Stan hater.” This is to be […]

“Fabled and Notorious THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRY…” EXHUMING 2015’s DISGRACEFUL & Offensive ‘Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible!’

When it premiered in 2015, “Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir” received credit from the press for being in the graphic novel format, as if this were some innovative approach in biographical storytelling. It was just another instance of the media giving Stan Lee credit for something that numerous creators before him had already done […]

“…and pulled down fistfulls of the national zeitgeist.” Reviewing the gruesome ‘Stan Lee: the Man Behind Marvel’

Start a pot of tea because this is going to be a lengthy one, covering the 2017 pre-death Stan biography “Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel” by one Bob Batchelor. Apparently, it comes in multiple editions, (there’s a young readers adaption of the same book, not pictured) with what I presume is the latest update […]