Living legend and Marvel creator, Stan Lee recently celebrated his 96th birthday and in honour of this occasion, here are just some reasons why I love this man:
He debuted with Captain America at age 19.
Shortly after starting his job at Timely, he got the opportunity to write a 2-page comic featuring Captain America. It was the first time he used the name Stan Lee (now his legal name - his birth name is actually Stanley Martin Lieber) and was titled Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge. His first full comic script would come in Captain America Issue 5, published August 1, 1941.
He is the King of the cameo.
No only does love making cameos , but there is actually a special clause in his agreement that specifies that Stan must appear in any film based on one of his characters (Check out this YouTube video to see all of this Marvel cameos)
He also, made a small (not so memorable) cameo in Princess Diaries 2:
He wrote training films for the army with Dr Seuss
During World War II, Lee worked as a playwright in the Training Film Division with eight other men, including a few who went on to become very famous: Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan, cartoonist Charles Addams (creator of The Addams Family), director Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life) and Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.
"When you work with people whom you respect and whom you like and you admire because they're so good at what they do, it doesn't feel like work...It's like you're playing" - Stan Lee
"When you work with people whom you respect and whom you like and you admire because they're so good at what they do, it doesn't feel like work... It's like you're playing." — Stan Lee
He created the shared universe
Stan developed the Marvel Universe where all the characters could overlap and pop up in each other’s comics. This concept, which has helped create some of the most successful movie franchises of all time, was started because Stan struggled with endings for stories, so he left them keep rolling into other issues.
His trademark catchphrase “Excelsior” which means “Ever Upward” is also the New York state motto.
He is the recipient of the 2,428th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"While no one is expected to leap tall building in a single bound, our aspiring heroes will be tested on their courage , integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion and resourcefulness - the stuff of all true superheroes" - Stan lee
He pioneered the 'Marvel Method'
Due to working on so many titles at once, Stan would explain to an artist what was going to happen in each issue and then go back and write in the dialogue afterwards. This new method made the writer and artist collaborate in new ways and produced some of the most successful runs of all time.
He wrote an autobiography in graphic Novel Form
Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir is a full-colour graphic memoir (illustrated by celebrated artist Colleen Doran). In it, Stan Lee tells the story of his life with the same inimitable wit, energy and offbeat spirit that he brought to the world of comics. He tells of his early life as an impoverished child, growing up in New York right through to the modern era.
And my final thought….
Anna :-)
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