Stan Lee rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which would later become Marvel Comics.
55 Facts About Stan Lee
2.
Stan Lee was the primary creative leader for two decades, leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.
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Stan Lee continued independent creative ventures into his 90s until his death in 2018.
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Stan Lee was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995.
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Stan Lee received the NEA's National Medal of Arts in 2008.
6.
Stan Lee's father, trained as a dress cutter, worked only sporadically after the Great Depression.
7.
Stan Lee said in 2006 that as a child he was influenced by books and movies, particularly those with Errol Flynn playing heroic roles.
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Stan Lee described it as "a third-floor apartment facing out back".
9.
From 1945 to 1947, Stan Lee lived in the rented top floor of a brownstone in the East 90s in Manhattan.
10.
Stan Lee married Joan Clayton Boocock, originally from Newcastle, England, on December 5,1947, and in 1949, the couple bought a house in Woodmere, New York, on Long Island, living there through 1952.
11.
The Stan Lee Foundation was founded in 2010 to focus on literacy, education, and the arts.
12.
Stan Lee donated portions of his personal effects to the University of Wyoming at various times, between 1981 and 2001.
13.
Stan Lee engaged in several legal actions in his later years.
14.
Stan Lee denied the allegations and claimed that the nurses were attempting to extort him.
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Stan Lee filed suit against Olivarez in April 2018, calling him one of several "unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists" that approached him during this period.
16.
In September 2012, Stan Lee underwent an operation to insert a pacemaker, which required cancelling planned appearances at conventions.
17.
Stan Lee died on November 12,2018, just one month before his 96th birthday, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being rushed there for a medical emergency earlier in the day.
18.
Stan Lee's body was cremated and his ashes were given to his daughter.
19.
Stan Lee got a kick out of those more than anything else.
20.
Stan Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that because of the low social status of comic books, he was so embarrassed that he used a pen name so nobody would associate his real name with comics when he wrote the Great American Novel one day.
21.
Stan Lee graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a backup feature, "'Headline' Hunter, Foreign Correspondent", two issues later, using the pseudonym "Reel Nats".
22.
Stan Lee entered the United States Army in early 1942 and served within the US as a member of the Signal Corps, repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment.
23.
Stan Lee was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films, slogans, and occasionally cartooning.
24.
Vincent Fago, editor of Timely's "animation comics" section, which put out humor and talking animal comics, filled in until Stan Lee returned from his World War II military service in 1945.
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Stan Lee was inducted into the Signal Corps Regimental Association and was given honorary membership of the 2nd Battalion of 3rd US Infantry Regiment out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord at the 2017 Emerald City Comic Con for his prior service.
26.
Stan Lee would write stories, then send them back on Monday.
27.
The next day, Stan Lee went by the closed mailroom and saw an envelope with the return address of Timely Comics in his mailbox.
28.
Not willing to miss a deadline, Stan Lee asked the officer in charge to open the mailroom, but the latter refused.
29.
Stan Lee faced tampering charges and could have been sent to Leavenworth Prison.
30.
Stan Lee's wife suggested that he experiment with stories he preferred, since he was planning on changing careers and had nothing to lose.
31.
Stan Lee acted on the advice, giving his superheroes a flawed humanity, a change from the ideal archetypes typically written for preteens.
32.
Stan Lee introduced complex, naturalistic characters who could have bad tempers, fits of melancholy, and vanity; they bickered amongst themselves, worried about paying their bills and impressing girlfriends, got bored or sometimes even physically ill.
33.
Again working with Kirby, Stan Lee co-created the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and the X-Men; with Bill Everett, Daredevil; and with Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful character, Spider-Man, all of whom lived in a thoroughly shared universe.
34.
Stan Lee's revolution extended beyond the characters and storylines to the way in which comic books engaged the readership and built a sense of community between fans and creators.
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Stan Lee introduced the practice of regularly including a credit panel on the splash page of each story, naming not just the writer and penciller but the inker and letterer.
36.
Stan Lee recorded messages to the newly formed Merry Marvel Marching Society fan club in 1965.
37.
Stan Lee supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about the real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry.
38.
In 1972, Stan Lee stopped writing monthly comic books to assume the role of publisher.
39.
Stan Lee became a figurehead and public face for Marvel Comics.
40.
Stan Lee made appearances at comic book conventions around America, lecturing at colleges and participating in panel discussions.
41.
Stan Lee moved to California in 1981 to develop Marvel's TV and movie properties.
42.
Stan Lee was an executive producer for, and made cameo appearances in Marvel film adaptations and other movies.
43.
Stan Lee was briefly president of the entire company, but soon stepped down to become publisher instead, finding that being president was too much about numbers and finance and not enough about the creative process he enjoyed.
44.
Stan Lee Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2001.
45.
Stan Lee created the risque animated superhero series Stripperella for Spike TV.
46.
Also that year, Stan Lee announced a superhero program that would feature former Beatle Ringo Starr as the lead character.
47.
Stan Lee wrote the book Zodiac, released in January 2015, with Stuart Moore.
48.
The film Stan Lee's Annihilator, based on a Chinese prisoner-turned-superhero named Ming and in production since 2013, was released in 2015.
49.
In 2011, Stan Lee started writing a live-action musical, The Yin and Yang Battle of Tao, and created the limited series Blood Red Dragon, a collaboration with Todd McFarlane and Japanese rock star Yoshiki.
50.
At the 2016 Comic-Con International, Lee introduced his digital graphic novel Stan Lee's God Woke, with text originally written as a poem he presented at Carnegie Hall in 1972.
51.
Stan Lee was shown in numerous cameo appearances in many Marvel titles, appearing in audiences and crowds at many characters' ceremonies and parties.
52.
In Stan Lee Meets Superheroes, written by Lee, he comes into contact with some of his favorite creations.
53.
Stan Lee was parodied by Kirby in Mister Miracle in the early 1970s, as Funky Flashman.
54.
Stan Lee had cameo appearances in many Marvel film and television projects, including those within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
55.
Whereas Stan Lee had this huge breakthrough of two-dimensional characters.