10 Stan Lee Facts For His True Believers
Marvel at the life of comic titan and the co-creator of Spider-Man, Stan Lee!
It has been over one year since the passing of the comic titan, Stan Lee. Some writers are famous for creating one iconic character – Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, etc. However, Stan Lee devised over 600 characters throughout his life.
Ironically, Stan was originally embarrassed to be a comic writer. The Spider-Man co-creator said people walked away from him when he told him what he did for a living. Although he was born Stanley Lieber, he took on the pseudonym, Stan Lee because, “I felt someday I’d write the great American Novel and I didn’t want to use my real name on these silly little comics.”
At first, Stan saw himself writing comics as a means towards an end. But during the 1960s, he was writing, co-writing, or editing every comic in Marvel. Working with other comic legends like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Stan reinvigorated the industry.
Despite being the most recognizable comic writer of all time, there’s a lot of things people don’t know about Stan the Man. So, to celebrate his work, let’s have a look at a few things you may not know about Stan Lee!
10. His Favorite Comic Was A Daredevil Story
After writing hundreds of stories, it’s hard to say which of Stan’s comics stands out the most. He regularly said that he was proud of Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 where Harry Osborn overdosed on pills. This story helped weaken the power of censorship in the mainstream comics field. After he did this, comics could deal with matters like drug abuse, alcoholism, and racism. He was also proud of his two-issue story, Parable, which revolved around his second-favourite superhero, Silver Surfer.
However, his top spot goes to the 1968 story, Daredevil #47 – Brother, Take My Hand! In this standalone story, the blind superhero, Daredevil performs a USO show for American troops who have returned from Vietnam. He learns that one of the soldiers, Willie Lincoln, was left blinded by a grenade during his last tour of duty. Lincoln tells Daredevil he used to be a cop but was fired when he was accused of accepting a bribe. The superhero tells him to contact a lawyer called Matt Murdock (who is actually Daredevil) to serve as his attorney to prove Lincoln’s discharge was illegal.
Although this sounds like a pretty standard story, it is a very important comic since it is Stan Lee’s favorite comic of all time.