Today is the birthday of comic genius and wily television personality, Stanley Lieber, better known as
Stan Lee. The Marvel writer and editor behind works such as "
The Amazing Spiderman" and
"The Incredible Hulk" is turning
90 years old this Friday, December 28.
A young
Stanley Lieber began his comic career at
Timely Comics in
1939 in
New York. His initial duties included proofreading, erasing pencil marks and filling inkwells, but two years after this drudgery he enjoyed his first
text-filler job in a
1941 issue of
"Captain American Comics," writing under the pseudonym Stan Lee.
His first real career break arrived at 19 years old, when Timely editor
Joe Simon and his creative partner
Jack Kirby left the company. Lee was subsequently given the post of interim editor, but it was his talent for writing and imagining epic heroes that earned him the permanent position of editor-in-chief, a seat he would occupy until
1972 when he was made publisher of Timely's later evolution,
Marvel Comics.
Lee's truly creative era began in the late 1950s, however, when
DC Comics spurred a trend in superhero stories, courtesy of characters like
the Flash and the
Justice League of America. Lee was given the task of creating a team of heroes similar to JLA for Marvel, the result of which was the
Fantastic Four. Working mostly with Kirby as well as with
Bill Everett and Steve
Ditko, Lee went on to devise personalities like
the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, Daredevil,
Doctor Strange and, of course,
the Amazing Spider-Man.
In his later career, Lee dabbled in work for DC Comics, refashioning heroes like
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and
Flash for a series called,
"Just Imagine..." His most recent endeavor is a new
YouTube channel, aptly named "
Stan Lee's World of Heroes."
We'd like to wish Mr. Lee a
very happy 90th birthday.