Stan Lee's SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS "A Great Surprise for You from Stan Lee!"

The book ends with the ultimate opportunity to learn from Stan the Man himself...

...an opportunity which no True Believer could possibly pass up, right?

Mind you, it's $1 if he's reviewing just a single page, a book-length (about 64 page) story, or a mini-series!

Wotta deal!
(Plus it was, in fact, his home address!)

I wonder how many would-be writers and artists took advantage of the offer?

At any rate, it's a classic example of Stan Lee's hyperbolic selling style that he'd utilize to great advantage in the Silver Age and beyond as he became the "Face of Marvel" to the world at large!
The back cover ends the tale in equally-enthusiastic fashion...

Excelsior!

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Secrets Behind the Comics

by Stan Lee

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

Stan Lee's SECRETS BEHIND THE COMICS "Secret No 14 What Happens INSIDE of a Comic Publishing House?"

In 1947, Timely Comics was based at the Empire State Building!

You'll note not much is actually shown about the office...

Even at this point, most of the creatives were freelancers who either had studios in the city or suburbs and would use the rooms when they were dropping off material...usually to do corrections/alterations.

There were a couple of inkers/letterers on-staff along with the assistant editors to do print production-prep and assist with corrections if deadlines were really tight or the volume of corrections was massive!

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Secrets Behind the Comics

by Stan Lee

Special 1994 Limited Edition Hardcover from Marvel Comics

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