10 Amazing Stan Lee Comics Marvel Fans Must Read

It is rare for Stan Lee to have written characters he did not help create from scratch, but Solarman was a bit special. Originally, the character was created in the 1970s by David Oliphant and Deborah Kalman for Pendulum Press, but in the late eighties, Lee and then-president of Marvel Jim Galton got in touch and brought Solarman into the Marvel folds. They reworked the character to fit within the Marvel Universe, and off Lee's imagination went.

Only spanning two issues, the premise may actually sound familiar for long-term comic readers. A teenager receives a mysterious bracelet that allows him to become an adult superhero as he fights against an evil alien overlord. For the Marvel-educated, it is basically the way the original Captain Mar-Vell would switch places with Rick Jones using the Nega-Bands. However, Solarman's powers were based on direct sunlight and the teen, Benjamin Tucker, was also an aspiring comic book artist.

It is that last bit which makes this a must read. Stan Lee, while writing a character he didn't create, was able to infuse him with the zeal and originality that made the Marvel Age happen, only instead of being in the sixties, it was in 1989.