Stan Lee turns 90!

By: Jacob Elyachar

Do you know these characters?

Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Avengers

These iconic superheroes would not have seen the light of day if it were not for the efforts of their co-creator: Stan Lee.

Born Stanley Martin Lieber, the New York City native escaped the pressures of the Great Depression by turning to the world of literature and cinema as he dreamed of creating his own fantasy world.

His dream began to be realized when he was hired to work as an assistant to help out creators at a new comic book company: Timely Comics.   Over time, he began to work on the text of several books including Captain America where he met one of his greatest collaborators:  Captain America’s co-creator: Jack Kirby.    Eventually, he began to publish under his famous pen name: Stan Lee.

After serving in World War II and marrying his wife, Joan, in 1947, Lee returned to the publishing company now known as Atlas Comics.    During that duration of time, he wrote dozens of stories that focused on mystery, Westerns and science fiction.   Unfortunately, Lee was not happy with the quality of the work and almost reconsidered quitting.

However, during the 1950s, the superhero genre was revitalized thanks to the efforts of celebrated DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who ushered in a new era in comic book history called the Silver Age.  Part of DC Comics’ success was putting all of its greatest characters together in one book: the Justice League of America.

Then-publisher of Atlas Comics (which eventually changed its name to Marvel), Martin Goodman issued a challenge to Lee create a superhero team that would counter the Justice League of America.    With convincing from his wife, Lee reunited with Jack Kirby to create Marvel’s first family: The Fantastic Four.

 

The Fantastic Four proved so successful in sales that Lee and several other comic book creators began to build the foundation to the Marvel Universe.   Kirby and Lee created the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Thor, which eventually lead to the creation of the beloved Avengers and the team’s anthesis: the feared and hated X-Men.  He also teamed up with Steve Dikto to create fan-favorite character: the Amazing Spider-Man.

During his time at Marvel, Lee began to tell stories that reshaped the comic book industry.  Some of these stories included the controversial issues of Amazing Spider-Man #96-98, where Peter Parker’s longtime frenemy: Harry Osborn used drugs which received praise from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare but made the Comics Code Authority upset.

In the past couple of years, Lee has made appearances in multiple Marvel media adaptations including all of Marvel’s full-length feature films and several cartoons including the 1990s Spider-Man: the Animated Series and played the Mayor of the Super Hero Squad Show.  Currently, he plays Stan the Janitor in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series.

Outside of the House of Ideas, he has built new worlds as part of his POW! Entertainment and even re-imagined DC Comics’ icons in his 2001 mini-series: Just Imagine.

Everyone at jakes-take.com wishes this legendary comic book creator: a very Happy Birthday!