Overview

The definitive biography of the beloved--often controversial--co-creator of many legendary superheroes, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee presents the origin of Stan the Man, who spun a storytelling web of comic book heroic adventures into a pop culture phenomenon: the Marvel Universe. Stan Lee was the most famous American comic book creator who ever lived. Thanks, especially, to his many cameos in Marvel movies and TV shows, Lee was--and even after his 2018 death, still is--the voice and face of comics and popular culture in general, and Marvel Comics in particular. How he got to that place is a story that has never been fully told--until now. With creative partners including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko--with whom he had tempestuous relationships that rivaled any superhero battle--Lee created world-famous characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Hulk! But Lee's career was haunted by conflict and controversy. Was he the most innovative creator to ever do comics? Was he a lucky no-talent whose only skill was taking credit for others' work? Or was he something else altogether? Danny Fingeroth's A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee attempts to answer some of those questions. It is the first comprehensive biography of this powerhouse of ideas who, with his invention of Marvel Comics, changed the world's ideas of what a hero is and how a story should be told. With exclusive interviews with Lee himself, as well as with colleagues, relatives, friends--and detractors--Fingeroth makes a doubly remarkable case for Lee's achievements, while not ignoring the controversies that dogged him his entire life--and even past his death. With unique access to Lee's personal archives at the University of Wyoming, Fingeroth explores never-before-examined aspects of Lee's life and career, and digs under the surface of what people thought they knew about him. 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 four decades. With his unique insights as a comics world insider, Fingeroth is able to put Lee's life and work in a unique context that makes events and actions come to life as no other writer could. Despite F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous warning that There are no second acts in American lives, Stan Lee created a second act for himself that changed everything for him, his family, his industry, and ultimately for all of popular culture. How he did it--and what it cost him--is a larger-than-life tale of a man who helped create the modern superhero mythology that has become a part of all our lives.

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9781250133908

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Reviews

Enthusiastic...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. --Publishers Weekly Detail-packed....Fans of comics culture will enjoy Fingeroth's tribute to his legendary boss. --Kirkus Reviews Lee remains a pivotal figure in the superhero genre that's come to dominate popular culture, and Fingeroth, a comics veteran who worked closely with Lee, gives evenhanded treatment to his accomplishments and foibles. --Booklist Drawing information from Lee's own archives, firsthand experience, others who knew the most famous comic book creator who ever lived, and many more sources, Fingeroth strives to be both factual and fair to all parties, concerned throughout this complicated and controversial life history. This gripping and entertaining read offers an account not only of one man but also of Marvel Comics itself, along with the lives impacted along the way. --Psychology Today

Detail-packed....Fans of comics culture will enjoy Fingeroth's tribute to his legendary boss. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

DANNY FINGEROTH was an award-winning writer and editor at Marvel Comics. A highly-regarded pop culture critic and historian, he is the author of acclaimed books including Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society and co-editor of The Stan Lee Universe, an annotated collection of rarities from Lee's personal archives. Fingeroth worked with Lee on numerous projects and conducted original, in-depth interviews with him (and many others) in the course of researching A Marvelous Life. Fingeroth has spoken and taught on comics-related topics at Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution, and at Milan's Mimaster Institute, among many other venues.

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