A Marvelous Life
The Amazing Story of Stan Lee
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Stan Lee invented SPIDER-MAN! And IRON MAN! And the HULK! And the X-MEN! And more than 500 other iconic characters! His name has appeared on more than a billion comic books, in 75 countries, in 25 languages. His creations have starred in multibillion-dollar grossing movies and TV series. This is his story.
Danny Fingeroth writes a comprehensive biography of this powerhouse of ideas who changed the world’s understanding of what a hero is and how a story should be told, while exploring Lee's unique path to becoming the face of comics.
With behind-the-scenes stories and interviews with Stan’s brother Larry Lieber and other industry legends, The Marvelous Life has insights that only an insider like Fingeroth can offer.
Fingeroth, himself a longtime writer and editor at Marvel Comics and now a lauded pop culture critic and historian, knew and worked with Stan Lee for over three decades. Due to this connection, Fingeroth is able to put Lee’s life and work in a context that makes events and actions come to life as no other writer could.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this enthusiastic biography of Stan Lee (1922 2018), Fingeroth (Superman on the Couch), one-time writer and editor at Lee's longtime employer Marvel Comics, tells the story of the man who helped create comic legends including Spider-Man and Black Panther. Born Stan Leiber in New York City, Lee was "a classic American success story," who turned infectious moxie, geniality, and restless creativity into a career. Starting in comics as a teenager, Lee became a whirlwind of editorial energy (he did not draw) at Marvel Comics, which prided itself on more human, "neurotic," characters than DC's simplistic supermen. Lee's voice, promulgated through punchy story lines and chattily self-deprecating columns within each issue directed at readers, built a fun, self-aware image perfect for a maturing audience. As the industry competed with television, Lee and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko reinvented comics by combining "simultaneously cynical and idealistic" perspectives with a strong humanism, spinning off the Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, and the X-Men while addressing social ills like racism. Fingeroth's insider account is likely too long on Marvel's business permutations, but this biography is a fittingly ebullient tribute to a man who never failed to add one more exclamation mark. This is a sure hit for comics fans of all camps.
