EDITORIAL ROUTTNG 7-26-94

TO:

ENTERTAINMENT
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Stan the man

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Lee's work a marvel to behold

By Frank Lovece
Spider-Man. The Incredible Hulk
The X-Men, If comic-book characteri

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or deans, and they would say to me how wonderful comics are from the
point of view of fighting illiteracy. As thev exolained to me, comics are the onty things that young people will read voluntarily. You sort of have to force a kid to read Dickens or Shakespeare; it gets worse all the time, because we're living

was the best of what each ofus did best: He was able

and the captions. It

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to tet his imagination roam, and by

work,

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like these and others are the stuff of modern-day m]'ths, then Stan Lee is a veritable Brother Grimm. And, indeed, as the creator or co-creator

the same token, when I got his artI was free to write it any way

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I wanted."
Lee was born in Manhattan on Dec, 28, 1922, the elder son of an immigrant

oI these and other Marvel Comics

and a popculture priest known to- generations cornerstone characters

everything is television and fast

in an age where

and his wife, Celia. (Lee's brother,

a

Romanian dress-cutter, Jack Lieber,

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of kids and collegians

seem as if hundred years. "They'll have to dmg me out kick-

- Leeadoes he's been around few

ing and screaming," the ?l-year.old writer-publisher beams. in his liltingly gravelly voice. "In fact, theyjust gave me a lifetime contract. It's sort of, I guess, like a life sentence with

no hope of parole. Pleose mention I said that with a smile!" No problem he says almost ev- smile. Lee is about erlthing with a as close to an elf as a rans/, 6-footplus guy can be. Dressed casually in
suede Oxfords and a Members Ouly

a white shirt, gray slacks, brown

'Comic books teach kids to equate reading with enjoyment. And the best thing iq once they become readers, they don't read comics exclusively; they go on to read other things.'
visual bites. But comic books teach kids to equate reading with enjoyment. And the best thing is, once they

Larry Lieber, draws the "Spider-Man" comic strip.t Father Jack "worked for
while, but then when things got bad,

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they laid him off," remembers Lee

sadly. "For most of my growing up he

was unemployed. I have this memory of him alv'rays sitting and reading the

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want ads."

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early from Dewitt Clinton Higb

The industrious Lee graduated

School in the Bronx, and. just shy of l?, answered a want ad for a pub-

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jacket, he hardly seems like the wealthy patriarch ol a pop-culture

empire. Then again, he's dressed this way at one of New York City's ritzi est hotels. Marvel, the company he's spearheaded since 1940, has become a mul-

become readers, they don't read

other things."

lishing-company assistant. It turned out to be for Timely Comics. precursor of Marvel. run by the husband of one of Lee's first cousins. Comic books had just been born. opportunities abounded, and.within months. never left. Lee became editor - and model Joan Married to former Clayton Boocock since Dec. 5,1947.

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cornics exclusively; they go on to read Lee, mostly in collaboration with the legendary illustrator Jack Kirby (who

he has a grown daughter. also named Joan, who paints and is "also a bit of an actress," Lee says. "Bit parts and

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timedia conglomerate

with

died last February at age 76), was

comic-book, moYie, animation, toy and trading-card divisions. Once a small wing - just an offrce. really of a family'owned magazine publisher, it was bought by moviemaker New world Entertainment in 1986, and by Iinancier Ron Perelman in 1989; he took it public, and it remains the industry leader. Lee, as chairman and publisher, spends most of his time as a Marvel Films executiveproducer, overseeing the "X-Men" animated series (Fox, Saturdays). the upsoming "SpiderMan" and "Marvel Action Hour" TV toons, and such live-action frlms as James Cameron's planned "Spider-

largely responsible for Laking comic books from primarily kiddie fare to allages reading. Starting with 'The Fan-

tastic Four" in

1961, he and Kirby

revolutionized the field with characters who weren't, well, comic-booky. The members of the FF squabbled, had money problems, lived in Man-

hattan and not some mythical

metropolis, and seemed more like real people than did ever-noble heroes like Superman at the time.

some voiceovers. She doesn't work that hard at it." A second daughter, Jan. died a few days after birth. His other child. Marvel. goes on strong. "My dream of success when I was a kid was to have an apartment that faced the street." Lee says, remembering the cheaper, back-wall apartments in which he grew up. "I never imagined I'd be working with the top names in Hollywood," he adds earnestly. "l mean. I almost feel

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guilty getting paid for what I do.

ALmost!"
OI994 NEWSPAPER ENTERPruSE ASSN.

wavs in the I970s. with Marvel and

Lee and Kirby themselves parted

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Ki;by eventuauy litigating bitterly

ovef character copyrights and ownership of original artwork. But Lee,
though very much a company man, is quick to give Kirby due credit.

Man" movie. Lee also $rites

Xhe

STAB VIEW

"Spider-Man" daily newspaper comic strip and occasional comic books, and travels as Marvel's goodwill ambassador.

"I don't think there's a college in the countrv I haven't been to (to lecI ture) at leist twice," he frgures. "For a period of 15 years, I never went less than once a week, 52 weeks a year.
And often I would'speak to professors

"Jack was just the greatest guY in the world to work with," he remembers. "I would give him the basic idea for a story or a new character, Jack woulil then go home and draw it, and

he would add a lot of elements I hadn't even thought of or told him. And he'd bring (the artworb back to me and I would write the dialogue

Stan Lee