Jon: Stan's life is a lie. The Man, who hated comics but loved himself. He could have been recognized as a good dialogue writer or a good bullpen manager in the 60-70s, but money and fame came first. Indispensable for all those true believers that still do not understand why Kirby had to write notes in their penciled pages to explain the story to whom, according to himself, had originally plotted the script.
Spain on Aug 16, 2023
Mr S Lyons: I always felt that Jack Kirby was treated shamefully by Marvel and that Stan always sought to claim greater credit than was due to him for character creations by Kirby and Ditko.
This book doesn’t change that overall view, but despite this it does help to reinforce just how important Stan was to the creation and ethos of Marvel and the Marvel Method.
A complex and flawed character but an integral part of the very foundations of the comic book industry in the 60’s and beyond.
His final years were very sad to and the shameful way he was exploited by a variety of unscrupulous business associates is terrible to read about.
Overall a great read particularly in locating the historical background of the lives of the Jewish immigrants who came to the USA in search of a better life and whose children helped to change the face of American and Global culture forever.
United Kingdom on Aug 02, 2021
Ian B.: This is a must read for any comic book or Marvel MCU fan.
No one's life is simple and there is always a story behind the story.
Like Steve Jobs or Bruce Lee Stan is a cultural icon but his life is hardly black and white.
Canada on Apr 15, 2021
RDD: In “True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee,” Abraham Riesman argues, “The often-false story Stan Lee told about himself and his work was that of the American dream: success earned through hard work, optimism, and staying true to oneself. But the true story of his life is that of the American reality: success won in no small part through nepotism, corner-cutting, dissembling, and stealing… Taken as a whole and with sober eyes, the man’s journey adds up to one of the more fascinating stories of the past century of American arts and letters, and it is a journey that has heretofore gone unexamined in public” (pg. 14). Riesman positions Stan Lee as a Mark Twain/Horatio Alger -type figure who invented his own identity in order to advance beyond the circumstances he experienced as a youth amid the Great Depression. In many respects, this makes Lee the quintessential American narrative, but Riesman’s “warts and all” portrait includes the steps Lee took along the way that embittered his colleagues. Riesman delineates Lee’s career into three phases. He writes, “The first had been his unrecognized toiling until 1961, and the second had been his bumpy, meteoric...
United States on Mar 23, 2021
Mark Mellon: When I was a boy, Marvel comics reigned supreme. Stan Lee was a familiar friend. The snappy dialog, the upbeat attitude, and most of all the amazing characters like Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and Dr. Strange, made an indelible impression. Over time, Lee remained an inescapable media presence, especially with his frequent cameos once the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise took off.
Abraham Reisman has written a thorough biography of Stan Lee. Reisman is also a comic book geek who counts meeting Lee in his youth as a big thrill, yet doesn’t allow being a fan to affect his journalistic objectivity, no matter how badly anyone ends up looking. And Lee did some stuff that comes across as shabby.
While his own genius was a constant refrain, Reisman notes how important luck was in Lee’s career. He joined what would become Marvel through nepotism (an in-law was the publisher) and then worked with some of the greatest comic artists of the Silver Age, e.g., Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. With the debut of characters like Spider-Man in the early ’60’s, Marvel took off, becoming popular with college students and an object of interest to the mainstream media, opportunities...
United States on Mar 13, 2021
rup31: I really enjoyed reading this book - it was very illuminating
Australia on Feb 21, 2021
| The Legacy of Stan Lee: A Look at the Life and Times of the Comic Book Icon | Dr. Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Fight for Global Democracy | Cant Hurt Me: Conquer Your Fears and Achieve Unparalleled Success | |
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| B2B Rating |
72
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98
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98
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| Sale off | $3 OFF | $14 OFF | $5 OFF |
| Total Reviews | 115 reviews | 3 reviews | 1 reviews |
| Dimensions | 6.37 x 1.34 x 9.53 inches | 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches | |
| Comics & Graphic Novel History & Prices | Comics & Graphic Novel History & Prices | ||
| Hardcover | 416 pages | 492 pages | 364 pages |
| Best Sellers Rank | #16 in Comic & Graphic Novel Literary Criticism#27 in Comics & Graphic Novel History & Prices#749 in Author Biographies | #1 in Immunology #1 in Vaccinations#1 in Virology | #142 in Health, Fitness & Dieting |
| Author Biographies | Author Biographies | ||
| Publisher | Crown; First Edition | Skyhorse Publishing; Standard Edition | Lioncrest Publishing |
| Comic & Graphic Novel Literary Criticism | Comic & Graphic Novel Literary Criticism | ||
| ISBN-13 | 978-0593135716 | 978-1510766808 | 978-1544512280 |
| ISBN-10 | 0593135717 | 1510766804 | 1544512287 |
| Language | English | English | English |
| Item Weight | 1.64 pounds | 1.75 pounds | 1.34 pounds |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4/5 stars of 667 ratings | 4.8/5 stars of 24,433 ratings | 4.8/5 stars of 91,143 ratings |
Not your Marvel Fan Boy hagiography - if you want unvarnished truth, this is unvarnished (although it does avoid the salacious - no discussion of his sex life (thank the heavens).
In the end, readers of this book will come away with no other way to describe the "great man" other then "a miserable guy with a few months of greatness in his field followed by decades of failures to reprove his self worth through chasing his own vision of success"
Canada on Dec 30, 2023