A Marvelous Life

The Amazing Story of Stan Lee

By: Danny Fingeroth

Narrated by: Danny Fingeroth

This program is read by the author.

The definitive biography of the beloved - often controversial - co-creator of many legendary superheroes, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee presents the origin of "Stan the Man", who spun a storytelling web of comic book heroic adventures into a pop culture phenomenon: the Marvel Universe.

Stan Lee was the most famous American comic book creator who ever lived.

Thanks, especially, to his many cameos in Marvel movies and TV shows, Lee was - and even after his 2018 death, still is - the voice and face of comics and popular culture in general, and Marvel Comics in particular. How he got to that place is a story that has never been fully told - until now.

With creative partners including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko - with whom he had tempestuous relationships that rivaled any superhero battle - Lee created world-famous characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Hulk!

But Lee’s career was haunted by conflict and controversy. Was he the most innovative creator to ever do comics? Was he a lucky no-talent whose only skill was taking credit for others’ work? Or was he something else altogether?

Danny Fingeroth’s A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee attempts to answer some of those questions. It is the first comprehensive biography of this powerhouse of ideas, who, with his invention of Marvel Comics, changed the world’s ideas of what a hero is and how a story should be told.

With exclusive interviews with Lee himself, as well as with colleagues, relatives, friends - and detractors - Fingeroth makes a doubly remarkable case for Lee’s achievements, while not ignoring the controversies that dogged him his entire life - and even past his death. With unique access to Lee’s personal archives at the University of Wyoming, Fingeroth explores never-before-examined aspects of Lee’s life and career, and digs under the surface of what people thought they knew about him.

Fingeroth, himself a longtime writer and editor at Marvel Comics, and now a lauded pop culture critic and historian, knew and worked with Stan Lee for over four decades. With his unique insights as a comics world insider, Fingeroth is able to put Lee’s life and work in a unique context that makes events and actions come to life as no other writer could.

Despite F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous warning that "There are no second acts in American lives," Stan Lee created a second act for himself that changed everything for him, his family, his industry, and ultimately for all of popular culture. How he did it - and what it cost him - is a larger-than-life tale of a man who helped create the modern superhero mythology that has become a part of all our lives.

©2019 Danny Fingeroth (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Should have been a first draft

This book should have been a first draft of a shorter, much more to the point memoir. There's fantastic and interesting information here, surrounded though it is by minutiae. Unfortunately, "A Marvelous Life" is also a key example of why authors should rarely narrate their own work.

That said, if you can get past these low points, there is a wealth of well-researched information about the full career of the great Stan Lee. Excelsior!

An Enjoyable Read!

The author brings a fair and balanced perspective to the often complicated narrative of Stan Lee’s amazing life. While being empathetic toward Lee, Fingeroth is also realistic when dealing with controversy (unlike another author who shall go unnamed here). I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Stan Lee was a wonderful HUMAN being whose positive influence on generations has been, and will surely continue to be, cosmic in proportion!

A Detailed and Personal Look at Stan the Man

This not only is a personal account of Stan Lee but also the definitive history of Marvel comics. Danny Fingeroth provides a first-hand look into how Stan Lee became and forever will be an American icon. I will cherish my Marvel comics with greater affection. I'm grateful that I met Stan Lee at a trade show in Las Vegas and had a few precious moments with him. Thanks Danny!

I grew up reading comics, and the real story is even far more interesting!

Written by a comic book insider, the book is well informed. A great story. A great life. I taught a class at the Kansas City Art Institute called Superpowered Products. My opening line to my group of foundation students was “if you can look at fiction as a source of product inspiration, Stan Lee gave us enough innovation for the next 100 years.” I cofounded a company that built a product helping the first blind person run the New York City Marathon (HapticNav in the AppStore). When I gave presentations to investors, I would mention our marathon feat, and jokingly I would end saying, “it’s like Daredevil… on a sick day”. So to finally learn of the life that was behind so many of the creations that inspired so many of my life choices and ways of being, was absolutely marvelous.

Too long with too much detail

Book really goes into the weeds with details behind the scenes. First half of book was slow even at x1.70 speed. Happy I got it on sale, worth it if one sale and you crave details on Marvel and Stan.

I would have skipped this one

The book was ok information wise but it was under a crap load of useless information that told everyone in the comic book industries life story (including mentioning DC artists a lot). The booked jumped around going here and there getting sidetracked and then back to the point. If this book was solely what it advertised to be (a biography of Stan lee) it would have been half as long but Stan lee was more of a side story in this book than anything else. My boyfriend and I could barely get through it. The whole book was more about the battle between comic book divas and their drama than anything else. I thought the book would be something else which is mostly why I’m disappointed.