Fuck Stan Lee.

Or why I changed my opinion about the devil over the last two decades...

When Stan Lee died there were a couple of people at work who knew of my history and took it upon themselves to express condolences only to be surprised when by the reaction I had and how to me at least the world is a better place without him.

I know this flies in the face of the popular opinion of the man. Stan Lee was a charming guy, REALLY CHARMING! Then again, I hear the Devil is very charming too so I’m not so surprised.

If you really know the history of comics, there is little to say that is good about Stan Lee.

Lee was a self aggrandizing, glad handing creep who achieved fame on the backs of others’ hard work.

You keep hearing how Lee was such a great creative force, right? Time and again the whole tale about how Lee reinvigorated Marvel, he suddenly started writing comics the way HE wanted to. He was discouraged and went home one night to his wife who encouraged his efforts.

BULLSHIT.

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were already at Timely when Lee was still a wet behind the ears kids looking for fame and because he was the boss’ nephew in a company that had several family members working for it, Simon and Kirby grudgingly took Lee on as an assistant. No doubt, Kirby regretted that for the rest of his life.

Sometime later, Kirby and Simon left to venture out on their own (after creating Captain America by the way which was an astounding smash) and by default Goodman’s nephew who had been placed with Simon and Kirby to watch them became editor... great guy there. He suddenly becomes Editor in Chief and then stays in that job for decades.

Lee meets a married woman who he romances and she divorces her husband to marry Lee. That’s a reall charmer there, a stand up guy, right?

Over the next almost twenty years the company flounders until... wait for it... KIRBY RETURNS!

Suddenly there is a boom! Oh, and the ‘Marvel way’ is instituted where the artist is doing ALL the heavy lifting but since Stan puts the credits on each issue he’s sure to give himself top billing.

Now, here’s where things are telling... Kirby leaves.

Stan stays in his job for a short time afterward but he too leaves.

In the meantime, Kirby goes to the distinguished competition where after the last several years of building Marvel’s pantheon of characters Kirby creates THE FOURTH WORLD!

Kirby churns out in some months over 100 pages of work! It’s simply amazing.

Lee goes to Hollywood where not surprisingly very little of what he touches comes to fruition and what does can’t be considered a ‘classic’ in any stretch of the word.

Kirby comes back to Marvel and does another stint on Captain America as well as creating EVEN MORE CHARACTERS! (The Eternals, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man)

Then Kirby goes into animation after leaving Marvel again.

Stan got a golden parachute with a ridiculous annual salary, Kirby got nothing and Ditko didn’t either. As a matter of fact Kirby spent the eighties fighting to get his original art back.

In the meantime, what exactly did Stan do after Kirby left? What great piece of his ‘art’ are we left with that stands as a testament to his talent?

Oh, that’s right, there will always be Stripperella, I’m sure that will be revived any day now.

So again, FUCK STAN LEE. He shafted a lot of people in comics and there’s a special place in hell for people like him.