Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir

Written by Peter David, Colleen Doran and Stan Lee

Narrated by Peter Riegert

In this gorgeously illustrated, full-color graphic memoir, Stan Lee—comic book legend and cocreator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, the Incredible Hulk, and a legion of other Marvel superheroes—shares his iconic legacy and the story of how modern comics came to be.

Stan Lee is a man who needs no introduction. The most legendary name in the history of comic books, he was the leading creative force behind Marvel Comics, and brought to life—and into the mainstream—some of the world’s best-known heroes and most infamous villains throughout his career. His stories—filled with superheroes struggling with personal hang-ups and bad guys who possessed previously unseen psychological complexity—added wit and subtlety to a field previously locked into flat portrayals of good vs. evil. Lee put the human in superhuman and in doing so, created a new mythology for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

In this beautifully illustrated graphic memoir—illustrated by celebrated artist Colleen Doran—discover the true story behind the man, written with the same inimitable wit, energy, and offbeat spirit that he brought to the world of comics. Moving from his impoverished childhood in Manhattan to his early days writing comics, through his military training films during World War II and the rise of the Marvel empire in the 1960s to the current cinematic resurgence, Amazing Fantastic Incredible documents the life of a man and the legacy of an industry and career.

This funny, moving, and incredibly honest memoir is a must-have for collectors and fans of comic books and graphic novels of every age.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781442392519

Peter David

Peter David is a prolific writer whose career, and continued popularity, spans more than twenty-five years. He has worked in every conceivable media—television, film, books (fiction, nonfiction, and audio), short stories, and comic books—and acquired followings in all of them.

Reviews for Amazing Fantastic Incredible

[Tess Davis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book would totally read it again any time the only problem is it’s a little Outdated

[Linda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A charming short listen about Stan Lee's career and some of the start and development of Marvel characters. The effects and narration was also really lovely. If you are a fan, would recommend reading.

[Lauren Schnoebelen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was exactly what I needed to really appreciate the life and influence of such an amazing and creative human. The journey he went through in like and the impacts he has had on pop culture are absolutely amazing. He will be missed and I can’t wait for my physical copy to come in the mail!

[Danny Del · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a great look into stans whole origin story

[Atticus Foster · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Do you miss seeing Stan Lee's goofy face popping up everywhere, his trademark exclamation of EXCELSIOR, flowing straight to your heart? Well this is the book for you. It's a straight to the point punchy retelling of Stan Lee's life and the history of Marvel. While unfortunately Stan only does the intro, our excellent stand in does a great impression (and Stan Lee cameos in his own book through a short recording from the 60's) so it feels like it's the man himself. A genuine recommendation if you love comics or if you just want a niche slice of American history.

[Carvy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My only complaint ? I wish it was longer for I loved every moment of it . R.I.P Stan Lee. You are one of my heroes

[ellelainey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliantly written with excellent illustrations and a full scope of Stan Lee's life in comics.

[Corey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing memoir. Felt like I actually connected with Stan lee. Sad he’s gone though

[jasonmehmel · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not exactly a tell-all memoir, instead essentially another sales pitch for a particular perspective on events and situations. The most interesting parts of this book are the parts where Stan essentially tries to acknowledge something difficult or problematic in his history by skirting past it as quickly as possible.

[jazz1987-395186 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

EXCELSIOR!

[zot79-720973 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was fun, if a little shallow. Stan Lee reminisces about his life and art and associates. Definitely rambling. Often lighthearted.

[bigfootmurf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

‘Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible (A Marvelous Memoir)’ is the life story of comic book legend Stan Lee told in comic book form, which was a good idea. As Stan can’t actually write anything by himself, he was assisted by Peter David and the beautiful full-colour artwork is by Colleen Doran.

Most of the population know Stan Lee, not by name, as the funny old man who has a comedy cameo role in every Marvel film. Comic fans know him as the writer and editor who launched the Marvel Age of comics in 1961 with ‘The Fantastic Four’. Proper comic geeks query the ‘writer’ part of his fame and know him as the self-promoter who took credit for everything, albeit with a polite nod to his ‘co-creators’.

He was born Stanley Martin Leiber in New York on 28 December 1922. He grew up in the depression years and his father, a Romanian immigrant, worked as a dress cutter. When he worked that is for employment was not easy to find. It was not an easy childhood but Stan, to his credit, didn’t get bitter. Instead, he worked hard to pursue the American Dream.

Stan loved to read, a good foundation for a writing career and his mother’s adoration gave him plenty of self-confidence. After a few false starts, he found a job in the new comic book industry. Uncle Rob worked in publishing for Martin Goodman at Timely Comics and they were looking for an assistant to help Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, creators of Captain America and stars in the field.

Stan’s job was to make coffee, sharpen pencils, fetch sandwiches and rub out the pencil lines after a page had been inked. In those days, comic books had to include a text story to be respectable and his first writing job was a two page Captain America yarn: ‘Captain America Foils The Traitors Revenge’. He used the pen name ‘Stan Lee’ and continued to use it thereafter. I expect Kirby told him the plot.

When Simon and Kirby left Timely suddenly, for reasons unknown to Stan, he became the boss by default as the only man left. In fact, Simon and Kirby were sacked for moonlighting at National Periodicals/DC Comics and they were doing that because Martin Goodman had promised them a profit share on the vast proceeds from Captain America but actually fiddled the books so their share went to subsidise the rest of his empire. Promising people a share of the profits was a trick Goodman kept using.

Stan was drafted for World War II and spent it in the USA writing and drawing cartoon strips and posters for the army, instruction manuals and warnings about venereal disease. When the war ended he went back to Timely and resumed his work as an editor. He met his model wife Joan and married her. However, he was dissatisfied with his job.

Being a comic book writer was not respectable in those days and Goodman’s instructions were to study whatever was trending at the time and bash out low-grade imitations. The trends were mostly set by Simon and Kirby who originated romance comics and crime comics and were leaders in the field. Stan thought of resigning but was persuaded by Joan to do comics his way first and if it didn’t work and he was sacked, so what? He planned to leave anyway.

Goodman had been told by a DC golfing companion that the ‘Justice League Of America’ was selling like hotcakes and super-heroes, after a long hiatus, were popular again. He told Stan to come up with a copycat book. By this time, Jack Kirby was back at Timely, now Marvel Comics, churning out five or ten-page monster stories to fill the pages of comics code approved horror books. Stan came up with the idea of ‘The Fantastic Four’, gave the script to Jack and the rest is history.

History is written by the winners. In explaining the ‘Marvel Method’ of producing comics, Stan twice gives the example of ‘The Battle Of The Baxter Building’ in Fantastic Four # 40. For this rightly revered classic, Stan gave Kirby the idea: Doctor Doom has taken over the FF’s HQ and they have to win it back. They’ve lost their powers and have only Daredevil to help them. ‘Jack would go away and come back later with great illustrations to which I’d add dialogue and captions.’

No. Jack didn’t just have to do ‘great illustrations’. Jack and other Marvel artists had to plot the story from Stan’s idea. Any writer knows that the gap between an idea and a finished plot is a large one. Stan skips lightly over this. In another story conference, he told Jack, ‘Have them meet God.’ Kirby came back with the first Galactus epic, including the wholly new character of the Silver Surfer. Various other artists have gone public with their stories about Stan insisting they come up with a plot. Even Spider-Man artist John Romita, who likes Lee, described the perfunctory plots he was given. ‘Have them meet the Shocker.’ Romita spent car journeys with his kids discussing ideas for Spider-Man stories. Who ‘wrote’ them? Stan?

Mind you, he’s a great editor and a great scripter, one of the best ever. I remember laugh out loud funny dialogue in ‘The Fantastic Four’ back in the day, mostly from Ben Grimm. In all the books there was genuine emotion and high drama, largely created by the words on the page. But those words were based on the artists’ plot. Furthermore, the artists received no extra money for the extra work. They were paid the usual page rate for pictures and Stan kept the writer’s fee – all of it. To be fair, Stan has always given some credit to the artists but not as much as they were due and I doubt if it was much consolation to them when he waltzed away with his millions. Kirby’s heirs got millions, too, because when Disney bought Marvel they paid them off rather than go to court over who created the characters. That alone is an indicator of the truth.

It would be wrong to say that Stan’s fame and wealth is undeserved. He did a lot. He created many characters and made Marvel different with his informal, chatty style in the letters pages and Bullpen Bulletins, even in the captions on the comic pages. He was editor of the whole line for a long time and, in part, the so-called Marvel Method came about because he simply didn’t have time to write full scripts. Often, he worked at the office all day and did his scripting in the evening. He put in long hours. Several artists, John Romita, Gene Colan and John Buscema enjoyed working with him and liked the freedom they had with the Marvel Method as opposed to the precise panel by panel definitions of what to draw. Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane and a few others took a different view.

Notwithstanding these old criticisms, this is a book worth reading. Stan’s not inconsiderable ego bursts forth from every page but the pages are very pretty. Colleen Doran’s art looks lovely and there are several homages to Marvel Comics. Kirby and Ditko are both given splash pages as an acknowledgement of their contribution. Kirby appears surrounded by crackling energy much of the time and the panel where Stan meets his wife is a copy of the one where Peter Parker met Mary Jane Watson.

Stan’s early life is interesting and the creation of Marvel Comics, taken with a pinch of salt, is a good story. The later tale of corporate shenanigans and the failing comic book industry is sad but, by then, he had managed, after years of trying, to get movies made. Now the characters I grew up reading about in cheap kiddie comics are sprawled across the big screen in multi-million dollar epics and belong to everyone. I’m not sure I like it.

The Stan Lee story should be told in comic book form and I’d recommend this. The Jack Kirby story should be done the same way. Any takers?

Eamonn Murphy

[coffeehag · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a delightful book! It was such a fun read, I was sorry it came to an end. Stan Lee tells his life story in his usual enthusiastic, bigger ethanol I've style, beginning with his less than ideal childhood during the Great Depression, and introducing many of the amazing comic book characters he co-created with his illustrators. The illustrations that accompany the dialogue in this memoir are perfect and even bring a chuckle from time to time. You won't want to put this book down!

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I took the 7th grader to see Stan Lee speak at this year's LA Times Festival of Books--and Lee was great! Funny and honest and just all-around entertaining. We left with this book. The boy read it the next week, and really enjoyed it.

I am finally finishing now--my library queue has been keeping me too busy! After hearing Lee speak, I am amazed at how this book captures his personality. His style of speaking, his enthusiasm for everything--but then a graphic novel lends itself to that. Much of what is in the book is what he discussed at the festival (there was more on the movies and less on the early years of his career at the event).

No, I didn't love this book like my kid. But he's the huge Marvel fan. What I appreciate most about this book is the fact that Lee included the difficult times in his life. Personal and professional problems are in here. He does not make his career and life seem perfect or easy, in spite of his huge success. And that is a great thing for any fan--and any kid--to know.

[darthdeverell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stan Lee's memoir, Amazing Fantastic Incredible, covers his life beginning with growing up as Stanley Martin Lieber during the Great Depression and dreaming about adventures through his current, non-Marvel work with his POW! Entertainment group. The narrative itself, told with the help of Peter David and Colleen Doran, takes the format of one of Lee's lectures, with him following topics as they relate to one another and not necessarily in chronological order. The authors use the graphic novel format to full effect, surrounding well-known Marvel artists with examples of their work or images related to the narrative, such as a boom tube to portray Jack Kirby's move to DC.
Having researched the history of Marvel Comics while working on my M.A. thesis, I know that the narrative avoids covering some controversies with artists and businessmen in much depth, but Lee is not attempting to tell an academic history of the business. To his credit, Lee does not ignore these issues, he simply avoids dwelling on them when the purpose of his work is to tell his own life's story. And it is a good story, full of touching moments. Lee is genuinely saddened to have lost his working relationships with Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby.
Lee details the famous Marvel Method that allowed the House of Ideas to turn out so many original characters in a relatively brief amount of time, continually describing his desire to write stories with realistic dialogue, natural humor, and believable characters. In fact, Amazing Fantastic Incredible reads like any of Lee's best comic books, with occasional asides to the reader. This latest autobiography will appeal to fans of Lee's work or Marvel fans in general.