Face front, true believers! Here’s an interesting lil’ tidbit about the current cinema landscape. Just who has been the major part of several huge box office hits over the last fifteen years? Well, we’re not talking about an actor, or a filmmaker, or a studio exec. Oh, and he left the planet almost five years ago. Okay, you got it, I’m talking about the comic book writing superstar who co-created almost the entire staple of Marvel superheroes. And he became a fun bit of business in the screen adaptations of those characters by popping up in brief cameo roles (I made it a game with my nephews to nudge me when he flashed that big grin). He’s been profiled by several TV newsmagazine shows and mini-bios, but now he’s getting the full feature-length documentary treatment with the simply titled STAN LEE. Excelsior!
After a brief montage of those film bits and a stream of “through the years” photos, we hear from the man himself. Stanley Lieber (his birth name) relates a rags-to-riches tale, as he was born in 1922 to immigrant parents in NYC near the end of 1922. A voracious reading appetite led to an urge to write his own fiction, augmented by a love for the movies (“I wanted to be Errol Flynn”). Through a relative, he landed a gig while in high school at a publishing company whose output included Timely Comics. He went from office boy?” gofer” to occasional writer to editor (his boss said it was temporary but Stan was never replaced). Stan served in WWII as a writer stationed near the Big Apple where he met the love of his life, his future wife Joan, a British model.. Timely seemed to “squeak by” following the trends of the other big comics companies, which frustrated Stan. As he was thinking about resigning, his boss, publisher Martin Goodman, told him to come up with a superhero team as the Justice League of America was a big seller in 1961. Joan told Stan he should write what he liked since he was going to quit anyway and the Fantastic Four was born (co-created by frequent collaborator artist Jack Kirby). It was a smash, perhaps because Stan gave them real-life quirks and problems (that quartet could bicker). As it gained a rabid following, Stan came up with Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and many more. But his biggest success might be the scrawny teenager known as Spider-Man. The company was redubbed Marvel and the books became the talk of college kids where Stan was in demand as a speaker. It took several decades, but Hollywood caught up to the Marvel misfits, and the movies of the MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, have been ruling the box office since 2008.
Filmmaker David Gelb wisely combines Stan’s own words with a treasure trove of home movies (Stan and Joan loved getting a tan), archival interviews (Stan on TV talk shows and at comics conventions), and audio snippets from some of his contemporaries (Kirby, Joe Simon, and “gal Friday”, Flo Steinberg). And naturally, there are lots of comic book panels and covers. That’s great, but Gelb adds to the whimsy with story recreations utilizing miniature figures and settings (little Stanley on his adored bicycle, teen Stan atop a desk in the Timely bullpen). It’s irresistible and quite charming. Sure many of the stories are familiar as Stan retold the creation of Spidey countless times, along with the clash with the Comics Code Authority. But Gelb also includes some of the controversies, particularly in a heated exchange between Lee and Kirby on a radio talk show in the mid-1970s. Plus we hear of Kirby’s jump to rival DC in the 70s and Steve Ditko (Spidey and Dr. Strange co-creator) in the 60s. But Gelb chooses not to tell us that both men returned in the late 70s. And that’s a big part of the doc’s problems as many major bits of history aren’t covered (no mention of the hit CBS-TV show “The Incredible Hulk” which lasted several years). Also, the exit of Ditko would have been a great intro to John Romita who saved the book and became the art director (and sadly passed away just days ago). Different sections spotlight certain years with news footage (“1961”, “1963”), but later there’s a massive jump as it goes from “1980” (Stan becomes Marvel publisher) to “2010” (Stan films a cameo for THOR). Really? A lot happened in those 30 years, big company takeovers and the formation of the film studio (leading to its purchase by Disney). Of course, this also zips past family financial squabbles, rumors of senior exploitation, and Stan’s own litigation against his old company (and failed solo enterprises). I suppose this was due to the film being co-produced by Marvel and shown on Disney+. This leads to a triumphant finale scene of Stan as a college commencement speaker in 2017, with no mention of his passing the next year, Perhpas this was an attempt to make the project more “kid friendly” much like a book biography aimed for the pre-teen set. In that regard, the film works, but longtime comics fans and historians may need to satisfy their curiosity with several recent tomes that go beyond the legend of the charming comic book huckster (maybe cheerleader is more apropos) the world adored as STAN LEE.
3 Out of 4
STAN LEE is now streaming exclusively on Disney+
