Stan Lee, creator of superheroes, dies at 95
Stan Lee, a writer and editor often credited with helping American comics grow up by redefining the notion of a superhero, including the self-doubting Spider-Man, the bickering Fantastic Four, the swaggering Iron Man and the raging Incredible Hulk, died Nov. 12 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 95.
The Associated Press reported the death, citing an attorney for Mr. Lee’s daughter. The cause was not immediately available.
Mr. Lee’s name became synonymous with the company that would become Marvel Comics, which he joined as a teenage assistant and stayed with for much of his adult life.
After toiling in comics for 20 years as a self-described hack, on the verge of quitting the business, he was ordered by his boss to emulate a line of superheroes done by rival DC comics. Mr. Lee’s fullcolor, morally complex heroes helped foster a revival in a largely moribund profession.
Comics had entered a dark age after Senate hearings in the early 1950s that condemned the trade for contributing to juvenile delinquency. What followed was a comics code to monitor standards and ban content deemed immoral and unsuitable for children.
In the ‘60s, Mr. Lee took a distinctly new approach to characters and setting, as well as to the very interaction with readers who had grown used to comics that were aimed solely at a younger audience and that featuring flawless, square-jawed heroes who had uncomplicated morals.
Michael Chabon, the Pittsburgh-raised, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the comic-book-themed novel “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” said in an interview that Mr. Lee’s best-known characters were “vain, pompous, conceited . . . . Everything that works in comic books today is indebted to him for that.”
Mr. Lee told the Post in 2012: “All of our characters were freaks in their own way. The greatest example was with X-Men — they were hated because they were different. The idea I had, the underlying theme, was that just because somebody is different doesn’t make them better . ... That seems to be the worst thing in human nature.”
Much of Mr. Lee’s success was indebted to his Marvel partnership with artist and frequent co-creator Jack Kirby. Their first superheroes, appearing in 1961, were the Fantastic Four. With artist Steve Ditko, Mr. Lee created Spider-Man in 1962.
Stanley Martin Lieber was born in New York City on Dec. 28, 1922, the eldest son of Romanian Jewish immigrants.
Mr. Lee came by his pen name as a teenager. He claimed he changed his name not because of antiSemitism, like many comic book artists, but because he wanted to preserve his real name to write a real book.
After graduating high school, Mr. Lee took a job with Timely Publications, a company that published Marvel and was owned by his cousin-in-law Martin Goodman. He was hired by Timely editor Joe Simon, who with Mr. Kirby co-created Captain America.
During World War II, Mr. Lee served in the Army and spent three years in New Jersey writing scripts for training films. After his discharge, he continued spinning out science-fiction and monster comics for Timely, which was renamed Atlas.
In 1947, he married Joan Boocock, a British hat model. Their daughter Jan died days after her birth in 1953.
In June 2018, court documents showed that the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating claims of elder abuse against Mr. Lee. His circle of business partners and confidantes had shifted tumultuously since his wife, who often guarded his interests, died in 2017.
Survivors include another daughter, Joan Celia “J.C.” Mr. Lee; and a brother, comic book artist and writer Larry Lieber.