STORIES
Writers
DONATE

Stan Lee

by Emily Da Silva from San Diego, California in United States

“Life is never completely without its challenges”. Stan Lee created relatable heroes able to defeat the worst challenges, giving people hope in overcoming their own. Born as Stanley Martin Lieber, Stan Lee was born in New York City on December 28, 1922; however he died at the age of 95. Lee married a woman named Joan in 1947, and had a daughter, also named Joan, in 1950.  His mother had been a homemaker, his father a dress cutter, and Lee, a comic enthusiast, had a hard time during the Great Depression, giving Lee responsibility of helping with money at an early age. Lee graduated early from high school, immediately began as an assistant at a comic publishing firm, eventually rising through the writing ranks in his career, and became a well known comic creator. His passion started with reading stories and wanting to create them himself in high school. Stan Lee eventually became the face of an empire he renamed as Marvel. A hero must possess passion, strong feelings, ambition, reaching for more, and resilience, being able to bounce back from any hardship and turning it into inspiration. Stan Lee possesses passion, ambition, and resilience which represent his hero stature.

Stan Lee took his interest in stories and created an empire built on only his passion for comics. Starting by graduating early from high school, Lee went from an assistant to a comic creator, and the face of what he newly named as Marvel. Stan Lee spent most of his time working, creating the newest top notch heroes for the world to enjoy leaving little time for himself. “Stan Lee, a legendary writer, editor and publisher of Marvel Comics whose fantabulous but flawed creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere” (Barnes, Mike). Stan Lee spent most of his time working, creating the newest best heroes for the world to enjoy, leaving little time for himself away from work. His work paid off, making him an incredible publisher, editor, and writer with vigorous work. Lee had achieved his goals of writing starting from a young age.  After writing the comics the world knows and loves, Lee became a hero himself. Lee’s creations of the newest and best superheroes had been able to lead him to greatness, because of the detail he put into creating them. His passion for writing stories about heroes let him open the horizon to creating heroes with common lives and problems, so average people could find themselves in the characters. Lee used this to light a fire in the reader, and make them believe they could fight any battle or problem that affected them, leaving them to feel empowered. During Lee’s career, his passion led him to creating some of the best heroes of this time. “Creating some of the most popular comic book superheroes and villains of all time, including Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk” (McCluskey, Megan). Lee worked hard to produce the best heroes of his ability over many years because it became his pride and joy. Over his comic king reign, he worked hard to give his fans more of what they loved, fantastic heroes that the world would never forget. Lee’s fascination with heroes led him on the creative path of comic writing he is known by. His wife and strong willed heroes drove him to creating the stories he loved, rather than what he was told to make. Although Lee spent much of his time working, he spent time doing what he enjoyed by writing stories that peaked his own interest, which he thought the public would enjoy. Passion stands for having intense feelings towards something, and without Stan Lee’s passion for comic creating was built on from a young age, leading him to becoming a passionate writer able to make anyone fall in love with his stories.

Stan Lee’s ambition to always do more led him down a fruitful path which would lead many to loving his creations. “In 1967, Marvel finally overtook DC as the No. 1 comic book brand” (Lewis, Andy). While Lee was writing for Marvel, they weren’t the only comic creators out there. Their one main rivalry was DC Comics and Lee took it upon himself to become the best in the business and he did just that. Lee was able to create a countless amount of heroic icons of his time, eventually taking back the title of being the number 1 comic brand. Lee wanted to be the best and put all of his time and effort into achieving his goals. Throughout his career, Stan Lee’s ambition and goal to always reach for more kept him busy creating the best and most heroes known today. There had been a time when comics were greatly criticized, and Stan Lee went above and beyond in putting comics back into the good graces of the public by creating a plethora of incredible heroes to never be forgotten. “Could do no wrong in the early and middle 1960s, as one unforgettable character after another--Thor, Iron Man, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Man, among others” ("Stan Lee." Encyclopedia). When coming back to the comic world from the army, Lee faced challenges with his career because of the great changes and criticism the comic world was going through. However, Lee was persistent in bringing comics back to the top, and made it his job to reestablish comics as a favorited reading source and have them selling off of bookshelves across the US faster than before. Lee worked hard to produce the best heroes of his ability over many years because it became his pride and joy. Over his comic king reign, he worked hard to give his fans more of what they and he loved, amazing heroes that the world would always remember. Lee didn’t just stop after reinstating comics to the public eye, he wanted to do more. Lee eventually made his way to creating over 20 heroes and villains, becoming the public face of what he named as Marvel, and adapting his comics into films to introduce his life's work to the rest of the world. Lee was able to reach out of his comfort zone of only the creation of comics, and accomplished making his work much more than just words on a paper. Stan Lee was determined to bring his dreams to life to share with everyone and did just that.

Although as a comic writer Stan Lee and his business faced a great deal of criticism and weren’t always in the good graces of the public, Lee was resilient in coming back from any tough blows, with further desire to push through each time. After facing criticism, Stan Lee used the opportunity to see it as something pushing him forward rather than holding him back. “In the 1950s, the public's attitude toward comics turned downright hostile, with anti-comics crusades pushing the medium even further into the gutter” (Lewis, Andy). Lee used the bad views of comics to find a reason to write what he enjoyed, and make him remember why he started creating stories. Lee was then able to show the public his reason for loving comics in the first place, and opened their eyes to seeing in his point of view. When Lee came back from the military in 1945, the comic world was in a bad place, and he began to not like what comics were becoming. Lee almost quit before writing something he enjoyed, reigniting the spark for his love in comics. This pushed him into creating the new generation of heroes, putting comics back on the map. Stan Lee had to leave his position as a comic writer for a short time to be in the military, and came back to a series of changes such as public views, criticism, and a new rules of comic writing. “Leaving the military in 1945, Lee returned to his editor's post and soon faced a series of changes in the comics world” ("Stan Lee." Encyclopedia). After leaving for the military, Lee was able to come back despite challenges he had recently faced. Although many problems were created since he had been gone, Lee came back better than ever creating a bunch of new heroes for the public to enjoy. The genre of comics was becoming bland and uninteresting, and the public’s view of comics had changed completely from being in love with them and their hope to being hostile and unwarm. Lee noticed this way of writing was not what he joined comics for back in high school, and decided to make a change just after thinking to quit. Lee began to write the stories of heroes that send a message of love and hope, including the common problems and lives of regular people, letting them connect to the story the way Lee wanted to. By doing so, Lee was able to bring comics back to the top of the reading list and people were in love with his new stories of such heroes. In his resilience, Stan Lee was able to bounce back from his hardships and turn them into inspiration, helping him end in glory rather than staying down in defeat.

Stan Lee had the heroism characteristics of passion, ambition, and resilience. Stan Lee started on comics early in his life when he had just ended high school, and was able to rise through the ranks in his position. In the beginning, Lee was but a lowly assistant and grew to becoming a proofreader, making contributions, creating his own comics, and soon enough becoming the public face of Marvel. At a time when comics were being scrutinized by the public eye, Lee came back pushing harder than ever and proceeded to make the best of comics and heroes, doing no wrong in his resilience. During the 1950s when comic’s reputation was going downhill, Lee became resilient after the criticism and took the opportunity to move forward. Lee had taken it upon himself to fix the bad reputation of comics, and became the savior of heroes, making him a hero. He was passionate enough to stay persistent in writing  when comics were falling out of his grasp, and left a plethora of new heroes in his wake. Also, Lee got his comics into theaters and bookshelves across the world not knowing where his creations could take him with great ambition. Lee inspires me to do what I know is right even if it’s out of the norm, and have ambition to go after my passion while being able to come back from judgment and hardships. Lee was able to go from a passion of stories, to growing his own writing empire. I aspire to work as hard as Lee and be resilient when my profession or my character faces discrimination. Lee was able to build an empire off of an interest, and I hope to have just as much power in my life by staying true to my beliefs. It’s almost funny how Stan Lee wrote about heroes being just like the rest of us, when he himself was one to many.



Page created on 5/13/2019 9:43:05 PM

Last edited 5/16/2019 4:00:15 PM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

Marvel Comics - The company Stan Lee worked creating comics for
DC Comics - Stan Lee's comic competitor

Extra Info

Image 1: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stan_Lee_December_2016.jpg

Image 2: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stan_Lee_11_January_2007.jpg

Image 3: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LSCC_2012_-_Stan_Lee_(6786532752).jpg

Image 4: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SDCC_2015_-_Evan_Peters,_Stan_Lee,_Olivia_Munn_%26_Ed_Skrein_(19761048735).jpg