Stan Lee: from two-page comics to the Marvel Universe
The adventure of American comics began at the end of the 19th century, thanks to Rodolphe Töpffer, the first major author and theorist of the comic strip. At the time, they consisted of a few successive comic strips published in the press, usually on a daily basis. In principle, the story evolved over several issues of the host newspaper. The 1930s saw the emergence of “comic books”, dedicated magazines published on a regular basis. Since then, the majority of comics, such as those published by Marvel and DC Comics, have featured superhero stories, so much so that in Europe, “comics” refers to superhero comics.
At a time when it’s no longer possible to escape Marvel cinematic productions such as the various Spiderman, Avengers or Black Panther installments, to name but a few, it’s appropriate to pay tribute to the Universe’s best-known screenwriter, Stanley Martin Lieber, who would have turned 100 on December 28, 2022!
Born in New York in December 1922, the man we know best as Stan Lee came from a modest family of Jewish and Romanian origin. In 1939, he was hired by Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics. The company’s director, Martin Goodman, also employed Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, two names who were to become key players in the industry, not least thanks to Timely’s first real success: Captain America, created in 1941 to support the American war effort during the Second World War. It was in this environment that Stanley Lieber took his first steps as an assistant scriptwriter, then as a scriptwriter, already using the pseudonym Stan Lee.
Between 1942 and 1945, Lee enlisted in the army, where he continued to work as an editor and occasional illustrator for Martin Goodman, as well as for the army. On his return to Timely, he became editor-in-chief. From the 1960s onwards, Stan Lee left his mark on the comic book industry: rather than presenting perfect heroes, he collaborated with illustrators to build complex, vulnerable characters with whom readers could identify. For example, Spiderman is an awkward teenager facing many difficulties, while the X-Men are mutants marginalized and persecuted for their powers. Stan Lee’s public appearances and numerous screen adaptations of Marvel characters have extended the reach of comics to a much wider audience worldwide, with Lee appearing regularly in cameos. To celebrate this anniversary, BCUL is offering a themed selection of films, comics and documentaries on the history of comics, Marvel and DC Comics (its main competitor), Stan Lee and more. However, since in the USA the term “comics” refers to comic books in general, the selection also includes a number of documents dedicated to the history of the genre in general, often from a European perspective.
