EXCLUSIVE -- Excerpt from Stan Lee: A Life

Exclusive! Read Excerpt From Stan Lee: A Life by Bob Batchelor

Fans who have been waiting to catch Stan Lee: A Life by award-winning cultural historian and biographer Bob Batchelor can now read an exclusive excerpt at Forces of Geek, one of the premiere pop culture websites publishing today. Over the years, millions of fans have been entertained by FOG, which delivers outstanding columnists and opinion, reviews, and insightful analysis of geek culture from today and our nostalgia-tinged youths.

Exclusive! Read an Excerpt From Stan Lee: A Life by Bob Batchelor

Stefan Blitz is FOG editor-in-chief. In the introduction to the excerpt, he also revealed that Batchelor “will be joining the site next year.” He will be writing a column on Gen X and other popular culture topics.

On Stan Lee: A Life, Blitz explains, “Take the opportunity to check out an exclusive excerpt from his fantastic book, which might be the last word on one of pop culture’s most inimitable icons.”

The excerpt, “How the Marvel Universe Conquered the Globe,” is the first chapter from Stan Lee: A Life.

Forces of Geek — your home to discover and embrace the unknown, the forgotten, and the beloved from popular culture — has published an exclusive excerpt from Stan Lee: A Life (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).

“While there are generations of great science fiction films and action movies, the difference between the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the others is voice…The Marvel feeling is so ingrained in the heads of fandom that it feels subconscious. It’s driven by Lee’s voice. No matter who directs an MCU film or plays a superhero or supervillain, the internal consistency prevails: Thor’s humor and stilted formality, Iron Man’s snark, Spider-Man’s relentless patter and earnestness. This is Stan’s enduring legacy.”

— Bob Batchelor

While some readers might never have thought of the term “voice,” Batchelor breaks it down via the way the concept is outline by eminent writer Jerome Charyn, one of the most important voices in American literature today.

Charyn describes voice as “music.” Charyn’s concept, although focused on books, can be applied to Lee’s comic book writing:

“Writing…is about the music, it’s about the voice. This is what predominates. The music is all, the music is total, it’s absolute.”

— Jerome Charyn

Stan’s dialogue provided Marvel with a kind of music that readers could hear and matched their internal rhythms, resulting in an experience that transformed them. “It’s music alive with extreme sympathy,” Charyn explained, “there is no space between you and the text.” As a result, readers could feel the Marvel style, while simultaneously that Lee patter paralleled the cultural explosion booming across society. We hear this in the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and J. D. Salinger’s short stories.

Meet Stan Lee -- October 12, 1991

Stan Lee and Spider-Man together at 1991 book signing event

Meet Stan Lee!

From the early 1960s until his death in 2018, Stan Lee was different than other celebrities — approachable and committed to staying connected to the fans that helped build Marvel into a global brand.

Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics by Les Daniels

Les Daniels’ book — Marvel: Five Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics not only gave fans an inside look at Marvel’s history, but for those fans lined up at the Paramus Barnes & Noble, they were in for a treat — meeting Stan and Spider-Man!

Two heroes for the price of one!

To learn more about the Marvel maestro’s amazing life, please read Stan Lee: A Life, available wherever you like to purchase books.

Spider-Man Film Rights Tangled in Web (of Lawsuits) -- October 11, 1998

Stan Lee believed in Spider-Man as a film franchise, but the rights were tangled in a web of lawsuits

Spider-Man film rights stuck in legal quagmire

Stan Lee had a vision — an entire Marvel Universe on screen! He had worked for decades to get Hollywood executives and studio heads to believe him. As always, he placed his faith in his most successful co-creation — Spider-Man.

Stan Lee with his number one creation -- Spider-Man

Even a person as optimistic as Stan had a difficult time keeping his cool as a series of productions companies bought the rights to Spider-Man, but then fell into development hell as they attempted to figure out just how to bring the web-slinger to life.

The extensive licensing and rights deals attached to the character led to a series of high-profile lawsuits that stalled progress and infuriated Lee. At various points the legal battles included many of Hollywood’s greatest names, from MGM and Viacom to Sony and 21st Century. Even the great James Cameron — who would later become a hit-maker based on Titanic (1997) — couldn’t move the mountains necessary to make a Spider-Man film based on his 1991 treatment.

Stan Lee hoped James Cameron would make a Spider-Man film

The legal battles were not cleaned up until early 1999, when Columbia Pictures acquired the rights to all previous Spider-Man scripts in a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Sony then purchased the rights from MGM. Sam Raimi was hired to direct the Tobey Maguire-starring vehicle in 2000 and the film came out two years later.

Spider-Man (2002) is finally made!

Spider-Man was 2002’s highest grossing film, generating more than $407 million in North America, while earning a staggering $418 million overseas. Wiping out all the doubts about whether a superhero film might work, Spider-Man soon became the highest-grossing superhero film of all time after its release, both domestically and worldwide.

Spidey turned Stan Lee’s dream into a reality!

To learn more about the Marvel maestro’s amazing life, please read Stan Lee: A Life, available wherever you like to purchase books.

Stan Lee Predicts Marvel's Future -- 50 Years Ago Today

Stan Lee Predicts Marvel’s Future in 1972!

Newspaper article on Marvel superheroes featuring Stan Lee

The power and global influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pervasive today, but imagine having nearly every door in Hollywood slammed in your face at the mere thought that anyone would want to see Marvel superheroes on the big screen.

This was Stan Lee’s reality 50 years ago in 1972, even though comic books were a $200 million industry at the time. Ironically, the Dallas Times Herald journalist who interviewed Stan was named Bill Marvel, a daily reporter who had started his career in 1961, at the dawning of the Marvel comic book renaissance, which began with the launch of the Fantastic Four, co-created with artist Jack Kirby.

Stan Lee is prescient in forecasting Marvel's future

Despite being roundly ignored (or laughed out of the room) by Hollywood executives, Lee persevered, asserting that Marvel was in the midst of a major transformation from comic book company to media “hot property.”

Although he could not get producers to agree, Stan told the journalist that he viewed television and film as the future of the company. He was betting his own future on that vision after a lifetime in creating comic books and decades ahead of his peers at Marvel or in the entertainment industry.

“The next phase is where the much bigger money might lie.”

— Stan Lee

Stan Lee with the book Origins of Marvel Comics

Stan certainly did not have a crystal ball, but his tireless dedication to the basic notion that adults would enjoy films centered on Marvel superheroes eventually transformed the film industry around the globe. Lee was just decades ahead of his time!

To learn more about the Marvel maestro’s amazing life, please read Stan Lee: A Life, available wherever you like to purchase books.

Stan Lee on Cameos and Superheroes

Five Years Ago: Creating Superheroes and Cameos

Kids, teenagers, and adults of all ages got weak in the knees around Marvel icon Stan Lee. Yet, talking to them moments after meeting him, you could hear the joy in their voices. Some shed tears of happiness. Universally, they looked frozen in the moment of delight — as if they were opening Christmas presents or getting ready to blow out candles on their birthday cake.

I chatted with a 50-something father who confessed that taking his teen daughter to meet Stan was a bucket list kind of event, one that they were able to share together. He wiped tears from his eyes as he reminisced about watching Marvel films with his daughter and how Lee’s cameos were a bonding moment for them.

Stan Lee on cameos in Marvel films

These clips are from a September 26, 2017 newspaper piece on Stan's appearance at a comic book convention in Madison, Wisconsin, (about a year before he died).

The sentiment demonstrates his significance as the symbol of Marvel and Marvel Studios for so many fans. There has never been a phenomenon quite like Stan’s cameo roles. His brief blip on the screen frequently caused the audience to break out in applause. For many fans, the cameo was as necessary and elemental as the film itself. One could not exist without the other.

Anyone else remember going to a Marvel film and hearing spontaneous applause when Stan's cameo rolled?

Stan Lee's co-created superheroes an inspiration

Stan Lee's co-created superheroes have served as an inspiration for generations because he gave them human traits. This idea — so novel in the early 1960s — caught fire during an era where novelists, screenwriters, and others were challenging conventional norms about what it meant to be a superhero.

Learn more about Stan’s epic tale in Stan Lee: A Life (Rowman & Littlefield).

Stan Lee: A Life by historian and biographer Bob Batchelor