Known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Stan Lee's famous co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange, among many others. Lee first became publisher of Marvel Comics in 1972 and is presently the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics. In 1977, he introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip that went on to become one of the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips. Spider-Man now appears in more than 500 newspapers worldwide making it the longest running of all Super Hero strips.
Without question, Stan the Man Lee has exerted enormous influence over the comic book industry throughout his many years. He had a hand in creating many of Marvel's most recognized characters, the majority of which have been successfully licensed and marketed since 1965. The numbers are impressive. More than 2 billion of his comic books have been published in 75 countries and in 25 languages. In Europe alone, Stan Lee's name appears on over 35 million comics annually. Each year, X-Men sells more than 13 million copies.
In 1981, Stan Lee transformed his Spider-Man and Hulk creations into Saturday morning and syndicated television cartoons. When Marvel Comics and Marvel Productions were acquired by New World Entertainment in 1986, Stan's horizons expanded even further, giving him the opportunity to become more deeply involved in the creation and development of filmed projects for both the big and small screen. He supervised such diverse animated series as X-Men, Spider-Man and The Hulk. To date, Stan's characters have populated over 24 separate television series, all of which continue in syndication around the world.
Stan Lee's admirers are not limited to the younger generation. His avowed fans include Presidents (Ronald Reagan once said he started every day reading Spider-Man comics and George Bush, in presenting Stan with a Medal of the Arts, praised him for encouraging and assisting millions of young people to broaden their own imaginations). Media titan Steven Spielberg once explained that Stan and I do the same thing. Only my pictures move. Even his competitors have only good things to say: Most of my generation of writers learned our craft from or through Stan Lee. He's an incredible part of the business, states Paul Levitz of DC Comics.
Now Stan Lee is broadening his horizons with his new company, POW! Entertainment, where Stan is currently developing entirely new franchises for film and television. He still proudly cherishes the title of Marvel's Chairman Emeritus.
