Written by the Editors of Entertainment Weekly
Published by Entertainment Weekly
As a teenager, I practically worshipped Gene Roddenberry, the genius creator of Star Trek who had an unwavering instinct and endless hope for humanity’s future.
After he died, two biographies of Roddenberry came out almost immediately.
The official one was about the saintly man I just described.
The other one talks about his affairs with actresses, a naked hot tub party with cocaine, and how he was just a figurehead for later movies and episodes in the Star Trek franchise.
Anyone cool enough to be reading Forces of Geek probably recognizes a parallel to the late Stan Lee.
The general public worships Stan as the man who turned his unheralded literary genius to creating the Marvel Universe back in 1961. Then there’s the faction that sees only that Stan took all the credit he didn’t deserve and rode to fame on the backs of more creative artists.
As with Roddenberry, or any other person we put on a pedestal, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle. Human beings are never flawless. It’s an occupational hazard.
The new Entertainment Weekly commemorative edition, however, Stan Lee – A Life of Marvel, is solely aimed at the Stan-worshippers.
I have to admit it’s an impressive-looking package all around but it’s clearly been put together by persons who never bothered to spend a lot of time checking pesky details.
For instance, the inside front cover presents a lovely collage of colorful Marvel comics covers—not a one of which Stan Lee was likely to have ever even seen as all were done years after his actual employment by Marvel.
The 80 pages that follow are divided into four sections: The Man; The Comics; The Movies; and The Memories. They’re highlighted by some excellent Lee photos taken through the years, several of which I had never seen before. It’s unfortunate that some are mislabeled. There’s a distinct emphasis in the mag on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Marvel Studios showrunner Kevin Feige penning a Foreword. Joe Quesada and Todd McFarlane share their thoughts as well in the Comics section.
There are a few short pieces about Stan’s earlier days in the comics field but a sadly incomplete history of his many movie and TV cameos gets a few more pages than those. Kirby, Ditko, Romita and others are mentioned in passing, with only the latter being actually shown. A reprinted piece by Stan himself does give credit for Captain America to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
Overall, if you’re a Stan Lee hater, you’ll hate Stan Lee – A Life of Marvel.
But if you’ve ever been a Stan fan, but not necessarily a comics fan, and wish to celebrate the man and his influence on today’s pop culture rather than look for an absolute adherence to historic detail, there’s a lot here to like, in spite of the errors. It all leads to another comics collage on the inside back cover—this one featuring books that Stan Lee actually worked on!
Taken for what it is—and if you’re willing to pay its exorbitant $13.99 price…
Booksteve recommends.
