Stan Lee: How Marvel Changed The World

By Adrian Mackinder

Discover the astonishing history of modern American entertainment, seen through the eyes of a pop-culture icon who lived for nearly 100 years.

Stan Lee: How Marvel Changed the World is not just another biography. It is a journey through twentieth century American history, seen through the life of a man who personified the American Dream. This book shows how Stan Lee’s life reflects the evolution of American entertainment, society and popular culture throughout the 1900s and beyond. Along the way, bold questions will be asked. Was Stan Lee himself a superhuman creation, just a mask to protect his true, more complicated secret identity? Just like the vibrant panels of the comics he wrote, Lee’s life, it seems, is never black and white. Sourced from Lee’s own words, this book also includes brand new and exclusive interviews with Marvel comic book creators, for whom Lee’s work proved an invaluable inspiration. Upbeat, accessible and fun, this book is told with a glint in the eye and a flair for the theatrical that would make Stan Lee proud. This is a bold celebration of the power of storytelling and a fitting tribute to Stan Lee’s enduring legacy. Excelsior!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526771377

Adrian Mackinder

Adrian Mackinder is a writer and performer. He has twenty years’ freelance experience scribbling for just about everyone, from The Guardian, British Government and the BBC to Cartoon Network, LEGO and The Beano.Adrian is also a professional improviser, actor and comedian. Head Writer at Comedy Central UK for five years, he has performed live on stage in the UK, US and mainland Europe. Adrian lives with his family in Copenhagen where he struggles daily with being an Englishman abroad.

Reviews for Stan Lee

[pomo58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stan Lee: How Marvel Changed the World, by Adrian Mackinder, was a pleasant surprise for me. I was afraid this was going to be another sensationalized account of Lee's life and career. While the things that get sensationalized are unavoidable Mackinder treats them as part of both Lee's and Marvel's stories rather than as the focus of the book. All of which is to say that this biography does as well of a job of contextualizing both stories with respect to each other and to the society in which they came of age.If you're not too familiar with Lee's life I would recommend this biography before reading most other treatments. I found this to be both balanced and fair while also not sugar-coating any less than positive aspects. If you have read some accounts of either Lee's life or the Marvel story, I would suggest that this will serve to help put things in a more balanced perspective. By that, I mean that many other books and even articles emphasize either an outsized talent or a controlling self-serving personality. Mackinder doesn't ignore either talent or personality but gives the reader more context to understand and appreciate what went on.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[m_k_m_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There have been no shortage of biographies of Stan Lee since his death in 2018; as Adrian Mackinder here notes, the man's ego and influence mean there's plenty of source material. Mackinder tries to make his stand out by putting Lee's life and work in a broader cultural context.The result is a breezy, informative little book covers the major events of Lee's life, the broad sweep of Marvel's successes and failures, and the socio-cultural-economic waves that carried them both along. Mackinder does a good job of sifting the various controversies (if he often fails to draw a conclusion, he at least lays out the parties' cases and identifies any obvious untruths) and explaining why Lee and Marvel were so successful.Stan Lee: How Marvel Changed the World is good little precis, written in an open, informed and light manner that should exclude no one. How fitting.