Stan Lee

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, at home at West 98th Street and West End Avenue, New York City) is an American writer, editor, and memoirist, who ? with several artist co-creators, especially Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko ? introduced complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. His success helped change Marvel Comics from a small publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Later career

In later years, Lee became a figurehead and public face for Marvel Comics. He made appearances at comic book conventions around the country, lecturing and participating in panel discussions. He also moved to California in 1981 to develop Marvel's TV and movie properties. He has been an executive producer for, and has made cameo appearances in, recent Marvel film adaptations. He can be spotted as a hot dog vendor in X-Men, as a festival salesman in Spider-Man, about to cross a street with a newspaper in Daredevil, as a security guard leaving a building in Hulk (with Lou Ferrigno, of course!), and as a pedestrian dodging debris (while saving a girl) in Spider-Man 2. In the 2005 film adaptation of Fantastic Four, Stan plays his first speaking cameo, as Willie Lumpkin, the title characters' mail carrier.

Related Topics:
1981 - X-Men - Spider-Man - Daredevil - Hulk - Lou Ferrigno - Spider-Man 2 - 2005 film adaptation - Fantastic Four - Willie Lumpkin

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Lee also made a cameo in Kevin Smith's motion picture Mallrats, recorded an interview with Smith as Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels and appeared as himself on The Simpsons. He also voiced a character on the 2003 Spider-Man animated series produced by MTV. Lee also appears as himself in the Mark Hamill helmed mockumentary "Comic Book: The Movie", which was primarily filmed at the 2002 San Diego Comic-Con.

Related Topics:
Kevin Smith - Motion picture - Mallrats - Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels - The Simpsons - MTV

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Lee befriended Hollywood entrepreneur Peter Paul when he was tapped by Jimmy Stewart in 1989 to chair the American Spirit Foundation established by Paul and Stewart to direct entertainment industry resources and creativity to education reform and democracy movements in the Communist world. Lee's Entertainers for Education initiative was launched by President Reagan at a gala in Beverly Hills in 1991. Paul attempted to liberate Lee from his figurehead position at Marvel first by trying to buy Marvel in 1992, then by approaching major Hollywood studios to create a Stan Lee Super Hero production division. While Marvel was being reorganized and sold to Toy Biz in bankruptcy in 1998, Paul helped Lee obtain an unprecedented new life time contract, at $1 million a year, with Marvel, as Chairman Emeritus. He was given the right to spend 90% of his time engaging in his own competitive endeavors with the right to use the names and images of his Marvel creations to compete with Marvel.

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During the dot-com boom, in 1999, Paul joined with Lee to create an online animation studio, Stan Lee Media, which grew to 165 people and went public.

Related Topics:
Dot-com - Stan Lee Media

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As a result of Paul's efforts to build a global brand for Lee while he was alive, Paul attempted to hire President Bill Clinton to serve as a rainmaker for Stan Lee Media when he left the White House. Paul arranged for Lee to host the largest fundraising event for Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign, which Paul personally underwrote for almost $2 million. This resulted in the largest campaign finance fraud on record when Hillary attempted to hide Paul's contribution and his identity from Federal agencies. Hillary Clinton Accountability Project Due to mismanagement of the company by its CEO, Kenneth Williams, the former President of Sony Digital Studios; a conspiracy by Bill Clinton to divert Paul's Japanese partner's multimillion dollar investment from Stan Lee Media to a new Clinton company, and the dot.com meltdown in late 2000, Stan Lee Media went out of business. Paul became a whistle blower of Clinton election fraud and corporate corruption leading to the criminal trial of Hillary's finance director for election fraud relating to the fundraiser that Lee hosted.-->

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Related Topics:
The 7th Portal - The Drifter - The Accuser - 2005

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In the 2000s, Stan Lee did his first work for DC Comics, launching the Just Imagine... series, in which Lee reimagined several DC superheroes including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash.

Related Topics:
2000s - Just Imagine... - Superman - Batman - Wonder Woman - Green Lantern - The Flash

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In 2001, he did the narration for the film "Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV", under the name "Peter Parker".

Related Topics:
2001 - The Toxic Avenger

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Lee created the risqué animated superhero series Stripperella for Spike TV, and in 2004 announced plans to collaborate with Hugh Hefner on a similar superhero cartoon featuring Playboy Playmates.

Related Topics:
Stripperella - Spike TV - 2004 - Hugh Hefner - Playboy

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In August 2004, Lee announced the launch of Stan Lee's Sunday Comics http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/08/06/Arts/lee040806.html, to be hosted by Komicwerks.com, where monthly subscribers will be able to read a new, updated comic every Sunday. As well, "Stan's Soapbox" will be a weekly column run alongside the Sunday strip.

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