Stan Lee dies at 95
R.I.P. Stan Lee, the central writers for Marvel Comics in the 1960s and co-creator of all its most popular creations, has passed away at 95.
Lee was credited as the writer for almost every single comic book Marvel published throughout most of the 1960s. Teamed with a variety of artists (Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were the most important), these individuals helped shape much of the culture of that time, while influencing, for good or ill, almost all artistic culture to have since followed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
R.I.P. Stan Lee, the central writers for Marvel Comics in the 1960s and co-creator of all its most popular creations, has passed away at 95.
Lee was credited as the writer for almost every single comic book Marvel published throughout most of the 1960s. Teamed with a variety of artists (Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were the most important), these individuals helped shape much of the culture of that time, while influencing, for good or ill, almost all artistic culture to have since followed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Merry Marvel Marching Society Fan Club
https://youtu.be/8fvtvgw3XQc
2:29
R.I.P. Stan Lee. I read some of those 60s comics , often bought at flea markets in bundles, in the early 70s. I found basic moral messages that stood counter to the first wave of moral relativism happening at that time even in grade schools. Later , cultural Marxism took over this medium as well as Science Fiction sources such as Analog . I think part of the wild success of the Marvel movies has been due to them following the basic moral messages of those early years. Sadly , I doubt that will last much longer.
Nitecat–
Good stuff.
I bought a lot of Marvel title’s off-the-shelf.
wayne and Nitecat: I also purchased all those original Marvel comics from candy stores in New York, when they first came out. My Marvel comic collection was quite complete.
Two years ago I put it up for auction, and made a nice bundle from it.
Excelsior my friend!
Hey Mr. Z:
That, is a great story!
-Had an extensive & complete collection of Marvel myself; Spidy, Fantastic 4, and Hulk were my favorites. (Never was a D.C/National-person.)
In the mid 70’s, I started accumulating as many pre & post-Code Atlas, E.C., and “Good Girl Art” titles as I could find, along with SF & Horror Pulps from the 1930-1950 time-frame, and well as anything Arkham House published.
(Lengthy runs of Amazing Stories, Astounding, and Weird Tales, with a smattering of Shadow & Doc Savage thrown in.) Almost had a complete run of “Crime Does Not Pay” (Lev Gleason).
[My goal at one point, was to read & own, everything referenced in “Seduction of the Innocent.”]
-I sold out all my comics in the mid ’80’s at the peak of the first price bubble and paid off my grad-school loan. The Pulps went later in small amounts. (It was sad to sell them, but they don’t last forever and no way could I store them properly.)
Now, I just confine my comic purchases to the reprint collections put out by PS Artbooks.
I always wanted to visit the National Archives and look at their comic collection but the closest I ever got was behind the desk in the Comic Art special-collection at MSU in East Lansing where a friend of mine was working on her MS in Library Science. see: https://lib.msu.edu/comics/
Nitecat hits the nail on the head with the current Marvel movies; the story-lines & characters that they wreck (Spiderman & Fantastic-4 to name 2) just do not resonate with audience’s to the degree the other title’s do. (I waited 50 years for decent movie versions, and much like the current incarnation of Star Trek, Hollywood almost can’t help themselves from wrecking good material.)
Highly recommend:
In Search Of Steve Ditko
BBC4, 2007
https://youtu.be/3gwDnhMO8is
59:05
I can’t talk Stan Lee, without mentioning Steve Ditko, and…. Jack Kirby:
Jack Kirby: Story Teller
https://youtu.be/XoXeiEXJrgc
(1:04:02)
OK comic guys
I just saw Black Panther on Netflix-almost got through it but couldn’t make it.
Was the comic as racist as the movie- degrading people who had nothing to do with
British colonialism or other racist acts with names like “colonizer”?
Chris–
Never read Black Panther and no intention of ever seeing the movie version. That came out in 1970 I believe. I always considered it Marvel’s black-exploitation title.
Marvel had an incredibly hard time in the 1970’s; I’m not a purist, but when Kirby & Ditko left things started going down hill. Inflation was running wild and circulation figures were dropping precipitously. The audience grew up. { fast forward to now–current print runs for physical comics are amazingly miniscule, like’ less-than-20K copies each, depending.} They even went bankrupt at least once or twice.
(Magazine Management Inc., was the corporate head until they were absorbed by Cadence Industries.) Somewhere in there, they sold off the right’s to X-Men & Spiderman, which is why Disney doesn’t own them right now.
You might enjoy this:
The Politics of Black Panther
Sargon of Akkad Feb 2018
https://youtu.be/-k0AST2sQRI
“My goal at one point, was to read & own, everything referenced in “Seduction of the Innocent.””
Frederic Wertham was a Marxist, so he would have been as offended by the owning as the reading. The idea that comics could increase in value probably would have given him an aneurysm.
If one wants to really understand comic-books in America (“sequential visual storytelling”) one must be aware of the book “Seduction of the Innocent,” 1954 Dr. Frederic Wertham
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_Innocent
In brief– Wertham whipped up public sentiment (into an absolute frenzy) by accusing comic book publishers of destroying the Youth of America. (Very short on Facts, but long on anecdotal stories from his extremely disturbed clientele.)
-Juvenile Delinquency was big in the 50’s. Senate Hearing’s (!) ensued, and numerous Publisher’s were dragged into Hearing’s and persecuted mercilessly.
(You can find the testimony on the Net.)
That lead to a “voluntary” “Comic Code,” which dictated what could not be presented in comics. It was impossible to get distribution unless you complied and got a “seal.” (which later spawned the rise of “underground comix” of the late 1960’s written & drawn exclusively for adult sale only and direct marketed.
Publishers such as Bill Gaines from E.C. and Lev Gleason (Crime Does Not pay) were effectively put out of business.
FC–
Good stuff!
(He was a puke!)
I was happy to sell off my “Good Girl Art” & Crime Titles, with the reference, “as featured in Seduction of the Innocent.”
US Senate Subcommittee to investigate Juvenile Delinquency
April 21, 22, and June 4, 1954
http://www.thecomicbooks.com/1954senatetranscripts.html
Great Factoid:
Stan and his wife Joan, were married for 69 years. She died in July of 2017.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/joan-lee-dead-wife-marvel-comics-legend-stan-lee-was-95-1018951
Wayne – have you no end to YouTube and other Wiki -like references?
Library artist?
Good stuff!
Chris–
Thanks. (You’ve come up with some good tidbits, yourself!)
Master’s in Psych, although I did date a Librarian briefly, (and I do enjoy a good Archive, especially of the Film/Video/Image variety.) And, I was a “tv baby,” and glad of it!
My memory recall for Text is failing substantially, but I can generally recall the gist of most anything I’ve ever seen or heard, and if somebody else has uploaded a clip to YouTube, I can generally locate it, given enough time.
“Marvel Remembers the Legacy of Stan Lee”
11-13-2018
https://youtu.be/ea4Tq7HB7kU
4:08