By Rowanne Reifman
SAN DIEGO — The Comic Con Museum currently has an exhibit about one of the most influential men in pop culture history, Stan Lee. The exhibit will run until March 1st, 2024, and focuses mostly on Lee’s career and how he created one of the most famous comic franchises in the world, Marvel.
The exhibit was curated by Michael Uslan and his son David Uslan. Both were consultants to Kartoon Studios “Stan Lee Universe” and Michael Uslan was the writer and producer of The Batman movie franchise.
The first part of the exhibit is about Lee and how he got his career started, while also paying tribute to the co- creators of the franchise. The exhibit displays many historic and rare pieces that were created by Marvel Comics, some even first editions of the comics.
Stan Lee was born on December 28, 1922 in New York City to poor Romanian Jewish immigrants. When Stan Lee was a young boy he would watch Errol Flynn and Tarzan films, which was what inspired Lee to become a comic book writer and helped plant some comic ideas. When he was sixteen he landed a job at Timely Comics, running errands for the staff. However he was eventually able to write short stories and was promoted to editor at the comic company.
When he enlisted in World War II however, he still secretly wrote comics on the side, developing some early comic book ideas. Timely Comics shortly after the war would become known as Marvel Comics with Lee as creative lead. In the early 1960s, Lee, with the help of Jack Kirby (who drew most of the art for the comics), co-created The Fantastic Four in order to compete with DC comics. Shortly following the creation of Fantastic Four were other popular characters such as Iron Man, The Hulk, Doctor Strange, and (reportedly Lee’s personal favorite), Spider Man.
Lee wrote many Marvel comics until the early 1970s, where he assumed the role of publisher, and then later retired. In 2001, Micheal Uslan (who was co-curator for the exhibit) asked Lee to consider helping him over at DC Comics, and recreate some of the heroes. At first, Lee was hesitant as he felt DC would not agree with his ideas, however he agreed and recreated many of the characters. Lee’s Batman was a Black man, and his Wonder Woman was Hispanic, along with many other changes.
Now with the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel’s popularity alongside Lee’s Marvel-ous legacy continues to grow!
Sources Cited:
“How Stan Lee Became the Man behind Marvel.” Los Angeles Review of Books, 21 Apr. 2018, lareviewofbooks.org/article/how-stan-lee-became-the-man-behind-marvel/
“Stan Lee.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 July 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StanLee.
*
Rowanne Reifman is a freshman at San Diego State University focusing on art history and journalism.