5 Stan Lee comics cameos
STAN Lee may be best known for his cameos in Marvel movies these days, but he was also fond of making cameos in the comic books he used to write, as well as in those he did not.
Here are five of our favourite Lee cameos in comics over the years:
Fantastic Four
Lee made his first ever appearance in a Marvel comic book with 1963’s Fantastic Four #10. While working in the office with artist Jack Kirby, the duo is paid a visit by none other than Doctor Doom, who wants Stan to pick up the phone and call the Fantastic Four and lure them in to a trap.
Lee and Kirby made an even more famous appearance in 1965’s Fantastic Four Annual #3, in which they gate crash Reed and Sue Richards’ wedding but are turned away because they didn’t have an invite.
Speaking of Kirby, Lee had a close yet turbulent relationship with the master artist. When Kirby defected to DC Comics, he drew a character in Mister Miracle called Funky Flashman, which he modelled after Lee. He later returned to Marvel and appeared with Lee once more in 1976’s Fantastic Four #176.
Kirby also came up with 1977’s What If? #11, which reimagines members of the original Marvel Bullpen as the Fantastic Four!
Wedding bells
The FF wedding was not the only Marvel wedding Lee shows up in though. In Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel’s New Avengers Annual #1 (2006), Luke Cage and Jessica Jones (neither created by Lee) get married and the person officiating the wedding? Why, Lee, of course.
Make Mine Marvel
In The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37 in 2010, the supporting short Make Mine Marvel story by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Patrick Olliffe wrote Lee into the story by having him make Spidey an offer... of writing him into a comic book!
Make Mine Marvel
Daredevil #79 (1971) featured one of the rare times we get to see Lee’s wife, Joan on the page as well. Co-written by Gerry Conway and Gary Friedrich, it has the couple walking down a street, Joan nagging him and Lee talking about going home to write SpiderMan, while Daredevil lands behind them, calling his “Fearless leader”.
One and only
In 2006, Lee celebrated 65 years of association with Marvel, and the company let him write five special one-shots in which he revisited some of his favourite co-creations, including the Thing, the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. In it, he got to do some real fourth wall-breaking stuff, including telling Spidey that he couldn’t quit being Spidey, because of his responsibility to companies coming up with Spidey merchandise!
It’s only fitting that we end this list with this one, as it also has Lee saying a phrase that is only too poignant now that he is gone: “There’s only one Stan Lee.” — Michael Cheang