Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are a dozen books that see Stan Lee as a God, this one treats him as a devil. I was hoping for a book that saw him as human. Even the cover picture is of an unflattering, older, aged Stan. This is an account covers Stan’s Lee life, not just his time at Marvel. It is darker than other books and it is one-sided. It never shows Stan’s point of view. Mr. Riesman does not demonstrate that he actually read any the comics of the Marvel Age, or their competitors, nor does he demonstrate the much knowledge of the comic book industry and how the publishers produced their books. The actual stories which are never analyzed or discussed. In giving the writing credit to many others, Mr. Riesman not discuss Stan’s recognizable writing style, or, for that matter, anyone else’s. This includes Jack Kirby’s who Mr. Riesman claims wrote most of their stories. Readers familiar with their styles would easily it is to see the difference. In the 1960s Marvel’s process, criticized here, was different than DC’s and Marvel produced comics differently than DC. And they were better. While Mr. Riesman points out every perceived failure, he ignores the successes. Under Stan, comic sales from Marvel went from 15 million a year in 1960, to 70 million in 1970. Soon they surpass their competitor at DC. There is no great mystery or scandal in the life of Stan Lee. He was not a Nazi, or a drug runner. The real and serious concern is that Stan did not give enough credit to others for the work they did and Stan got too much acclaim. This is true and cannot be ignored. Sadly, the book trashes Stan Lee’s family, especially his daughter. I do not know his anonymous sources on this, , but this crosses the line. Stan Lee may have been a celebrity, but his daughter was not. She should have been eft out of this book and she has no way to rebut this author. If you have read the comics, you would quickly recognize Stan’s dialogue and how different it was from his competitors. Stan, working with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, raised the reading level of comics from 10 years old to young adults. Lee’s dialogue often read more like a novel or short story than what was then in traditional comics. Lee added Individuality where each character was unique and one did not sound like the other, which was very common at DC. Lee’s dialogue also added personality, intimacy and humor. The Marvel Method eliminated the often repetition portrayed in the pictures and its descriptions. Stan added little things too that have become standard, including characterization with soap opera elements.. He called his characters by nicknames and called their Super-Hero friends by their “real” names. And his marvelous titles. If reading comics today might not find Stan’s work innovative. That is because the industry has spent 50 years emulating him. You see none of these elements in books that were written by Kirby or Ditko. Stan’s weakness was in plotting, he needed input from his artists for that. When it comes to the three, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, I like to ask, “what is the most important leg on a three-legged chair.” Mr. Riesman has a unique definitions of a writer and of an editor. In the Washington Post (September 25, 2020), Stan Mr. Riesman writes, that Stan was not the writer: “He virtually never wrote actual scripts. And tossing around concepts with a writer/artist is the task of an editor, not a writer....“After that, Lee would add the dialogue and narration. He virtually never wrote actual scripts.” Stan wrote the dialogue and narration and was involved in the plotting this makes Stan the writer and editor. This process would also include every writer of the Marvel comics at that time. Mr. Riesman uses the words “would add” rather than “would write.” John Romita said; “These stories are all generally plotted by the artist and writer together. Marvel’s artists did a great deal of the story-telling, co-plotting and character creation and they never got the credit they deserved. Stan often got too much credit and did not share it Mr. Riesman writes, “There is actually zero evidence that Lee had the initial ideas for any of these characters, other than his own claims.” Well, here is the evidence that someone else did it? Where are their notes? Or Scripts? (which Kirby said he was given.) Mr. Riesman dismisses Stan’s point of view stating “No presentation boards, no contemporary notes, no diary entries, no supporting accounts.” Yet he accepts the point of view of “Kirby and his defenders” with none of the evidence he required from Lee. Stan did great work, and you can witness his writing styles, with many other talented storytellers, many of whom are not written about in this book. Creating stories, not great ones but ones that would sell was often a team effort from all companies. In 2002, Julius Schwartz, a DC editor, and Carmine Infantino, a DC artist and later Publisher, told me that they went out to lunch to discuss the next story of a comic. Jack Kirby was an incredible, unforgettable talent and was one of comic’s greatest storytellers. He co-created great characters and was often used to update failing ones. Kirby gave the characters form but Stan, with his dialogue and descriptions, gave them substance. Perhaps Stan’s biggest accomplishment was recognizing the talent of Kirby, Ditko and others and giving them the creative freedom, they did not have at other companies. Stan’s comics were always only as good as his artist’s input. As much as Stan Lee needed Kirby’s plotting, Kirby needed Stan’s writing. One reason for Kirby’s failure rt DC was because they were dialogued poorly and the storylines were difficult to follow. Schwartz and Infantino told me, in 2002, that Kirby’s only big success was a Sandman story he drew but was written by Joe Simon, Kirby’s former partner. The Marvel Universe: Contrary to what this author writes, Stan came up with the concept of the Marvel Universe, he was only the co-creator of its inhabitants along with his artists. Kirby or Ditko could not do this because they concentrated on their own comics, they were not editing the others. Stan was famous for interweaving plots, something you can only do if you are writing or editing all those books. If you read the Marvel comics in chronological order you will witnessed, first hand, the building of the Marvel Universe brick by brick. I would recommend reading a more balance book, Danny Fingeroth’s “"A MARVELOUS LIFE: THE AMAZING STORY OF Stan Lee. It was the most researched and balanced book on Stan that I have read.