Stan Lee's SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS "Secret No. 12 How a Comic Strip is Created!"

Here's a classic example of Stan Lee's hyperbolic retelling of history...

...noting the fact it's, at least partially, fiction!

Note that Lee, despite naming numerous other Timely writers and artists in Secrets Behind the Comics, makes no mention of Joe Simon or Jack Kirby!

Note that both Joe Simon and Jack Kirby themselves offer origin stories that are sometimes-contradictory to themselves and each other, so the truth is probably somewhere in-between...and we'll never know the complete story...

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Secrets Behind the Comics

by Stan Lee

The Long Out of Print How-To Book, Digitally Remastered

Stan Lee (1922-2018) IN the Comics (Conclusion)

As we've been showing for the past couple of days, Stan Lee didn't just write and edit comics...

...he appeared as a character in them as well!

Writer/editor Stan Lee (in the pink...er...salmon shirt), and artist Stan Goldberg (doing a great Dan DeCarlo imitation) produced this tale for Marvel's Chili #3 (1969).

Note: In the  Silver Age, Stan and the assorted artists he was working with would appear in 3-5 page stories in the 64-page Annuals, showing to fans how they conceived the stories in those books and their monthly counterparts.

Since there are a half-dozen of them, and they've already been reprinted (plus, I couldn't decide which of them I'd include), we suggest you track down the reprints of...

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964) "How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man!" Lee & Steve Ditko

Daredevil Annual #1 (1967) "At the Stroke of Midnight!" Lee & Gene Colan

Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) "This is a Plot?" Lee & Jack Kirby

Avengers Annual #2 (1967) "Avenjerks Assemble!" Lee & Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Don Heck

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 (1968) "Here We Go-a-Plotting!" Lee & John Romita Sr, Larry Lieber, and Roy Thomas

...in various trade paperbacks and hardcovers.

Once Lee stepped down as a writer/editor and became publisher, he became more an icon than mere mortal...

...as the publication of the Origins of Marvel Comics book series, with intros and behind-the-scenes stories about the early days of the Marvel Age of Comics by Stan the Man made him into an almost Watcher-like figure who would pop up almost everywhere...including this one-shot about Marvel's greatest boo-boos...

(Yes, the cover's upside down!)

BTW, The never-reprinted book is a fun read, but I'n not running it here...yet!
Remember the quote on the cover?
Here's the explanation for it...

...and here's the cover...right-side up!

This is only an example of the stories Stan (the Man) Lee has appeared (or just cameoed) in.
There are many more (almost a hundred) that I've seen over the years, not to mention his film and TV appearances.
Let me know which ones you find...

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Stan Lee
Man Behind Marvel
Bob Batchelor

Stan Lee (1922-2018) IN the Comics (Part 2)

As we have previously seen, the late, great Stan Lee would occasionally cameo in the books he wrote and/or edited...

...as in this tale from Atlas' Astonishing #4 (1951), written by Hank Chapman (who's the protaganist) and illustrated by Wayne (Superman) Boring!

The snarky Stan Lee we all knew and loved finally appeared in several stories illustrated by Dan (Archie) DeCarlo...

...like this one from Atlas' Casper the Friendly Ghost imitator Homer the Happy Ghost (V1N18 in 1958)...

...and this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' My Friend Irma #41 (1954), based on a then-popular radio/tv/movie character!

As the Silver Age dawned, Stan continued to appear in more "breaking the fourth wall" stories, including this one from Atlas' Amazing Adult Fantasy #12 (1962) rendered by co-star Steve (Spider-Man/Dr Strange) Ditko...

Note the story's title is "Something Fantastig!"

Sometimes Stan didn't properly proofread his own work!

There's more, gang. but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see them!

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EXCELSIOR!

The Amazing Life of Stan Lee

by Stan Lee and George Mair

Stan Lee 1922-2018

This is how I first saw Stan Lee in the 1960s...

...as the host/showman of Marvel's Fantasy Masterpieces reprint anthology!

But, he had already made several appearances in the comics themselves...as a character!

In this fourth-wall breaking tale where we met the creatives behind Timely's Terry-Toons Comics, we don't see Stan until the end of the story...

...since, at the time of this tale (Terry-Toons Comics #12 in 1943), he was only the office boy at Timely (though he didn't have red hair)!

Stan wrote Secrets Behind the Comics in 1947, expanding on an article he had penned for Writers' Digest!

...and had, in five years, become Managing Editor and Art Director!

We've already run most of the book...

Secrets Behind the Comics 1-3

Secrets Behind the Comics 4-6

Secrets Behind the Comics 7-10

...and the rest will follow this week!
Stan preferred to stay behind the scenes, but the early 1950s persecution of comics as being the driving force behind juvenile delinquency compelled him to script a tale...

...Raving Maniac!...where he explains how comics are no different than other forms of children's literature!

Be here tomorrow, as we continue our look at Stan Lee in the comics...

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Amazing Fantastic Incredible
A Marvelous Memoir
A graphic autubiography by Stan Lee with Peter David and Colleen Doran

Monday Madness ALICE "Rock-Candy Mountain"

Most of the Alice stories involved non-Lewis Carroll concepts...

...including this one featuring a rather Willy Wonka-esque character!

Is Alice a psychotic who can't tell reality from fantasy, or does she just have a wild imagination?

Only creator/writer/artist Dave Berg knew the answer to this never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Alice #10 (1951), and he ain't talking (because he passed away over 15 years ago)!

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Dave Berg

Five Decades of "The Lighter Side of..."