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114-548: The company was founded by Stan Lee ( Spider-Man , X-Men , Iron Man , The Hulk , and Fantastic Four co-creator) with his then-friend, Peter F. Paul in 1998 as Stan Lee Entertainment. Stan Lee Entertainment merged with Stan Lee Media, Inc. of Delaware in April 1999. In July 1999, SLM of Delaware acquired Boulder Capital Opportunities, Inc., a publicly traded company, in a reverse merger structured by investment banker Stan Medley, and through this reverse merger Stan Lee Media became

228-588: A US$ 1 billion lawsuit against POW! in May 2018, asserting that POW! had not disclosed the terms of its acquisition by Camsing to him. Lee stated that POW! CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion had presented him with what they said was a non-exclusive license for POW! for him to sign, under Camsing, to use his likeness and other intellectual property. This contract turned out to be an exclusive license, which Lee claimed he would never have entered. Lee's lawsuit contended that POW! took over his social media accounts and

342-533: A dress cutter , worked only sporadically after the Great Depression . The family moved further uptown to Fort Washington Avenue , in Washington Heights, Manhattan . Lee had one younger brother named Larry Lieber . He said in 2006 that as a child he was influenced by books and movies, particularly those with Errol Flynn playing heroic roles. Reading The Scarlet Pimpernel , he called

456-474: A "lifetime" agreement Lee had signed violated California labor law. On May 27, the Colorado Court of Appeals issued an order to reverse the Colorado Court decision of March 17, 2009, having determined that a sufficient number of shares were represented at the 2008 board of directors meeting to establish a quorum and elect the board of directors. On September 15, Raymond J. Dowd moved to substitute SLMI as

570-525: A 1982 one-shot drawn by John Byrne , the Judgment Day graphic novel illustrated by John Buscema, the Parable limited series drawn by French artist Mœbius , and The Enslavers graphic novel with Keith Pollard . Lee was briefly president of the entire company, but soon stepped down to become publisher instead, finding that being president was too much about numbers and finance and not enough about

684-453: A Superlawyer. New York magazine and Los Angeles magazine have named him both as one of America's best trial lawyers, and one of America's best intellectual property lawyers. The New York Times described Garbus as being "on the front lines of... nearly every important First Amendment court battle for more than three decades." He has defended clients such as "Lenny Bruce, Samuel Beckett, Cesar Chavez, and Chuck D" and has "locked horns... with

798-775: A Supreme Court advocate and Constitutional lawyer whose firm represented Alger Hiss , and who won every one of the nine cases he argued before the Supreme Court. He was in 1966 co-director of the Columbia University Center on Social Policy and Law while he taught law at Columbia. He was director-counsel of the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU, which had offices in Florida, Mississippi, Atlanta, Georgia, Alabama, and California and now has

912-436: A budget in excess of 2 hundred million dollars. Some of the leading civil rights lawyers, for a period of time staffed these offices, including Charles Morgan, Armand Derfner, Al Bronstein, Bruce Ennis, and Richard Sobel. While there, Mr. Garbus created the legal arguments of the case, O’Connor v. Donaldson, the first mental health case to reach the Supreme Court, which was argued by Bruce Ennis. Foundation clients included some of

1026-671: A co-owner of the characters that Lee created for Marvel. On April 7, 2007, pursuant to a Resolution of the board of directors of Stan Lee Media Inc. of Colorado John Petrovitz was elected to the board of directors of the Company and appointed President of Stan Lee Media Studios, Worldwide. On June 9, 2007, Peter Paul and his associates filed suit against POW Entertainment , Stan Lee, and other former executives of Stan Lee Media, accusing them of improperly transferring assets from SLM's bankruptcy to start POW Entertainment in November 2001 without

1140-579: A declaratory judgment that SLMI "is the owner of the copyrights and trademarks regarding Spider-Man." In October 2014, SLMI suffered two legal defeats, as a suit they had brought in the 9th circuit against Stan Lee himself was discarded as "simply implausible," and their attempt to intervene in the Disney/American Musical Theater suit was barred by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Schmehl, who wrote "These issues have previously been addressed in one form or another by multiple courts around

1254-565: A figurehead and public face for Marvel Comics. He made appearances at comic book conventions around America, lecturing at colleges and participating in panel discussions. Lee and John Romita Sr. launched the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip on January 3, 1977. Lee's final collaboration with Jack Kirby, The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience , was published in 1978 as part of the Marvel Fireside Books series and

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1368-446: A friendly, chatty style. Lee remarked that his goal was for fans to think of the comics creators as friends, and considered it a mark of his success on this front that, at a time when letters to other comics publishers were typically addressed "Dear Editor", letters to Marvel addressed the creators by first name (e.g., "Dear Stan and Jack"). Lee recorded messages to the newly formed Merry Marvel Marching Society fan club in 1965. By 1967,

1482-478: A kid has to go to a dictionary, that’s not the worst thing that could happen.” Following Ditko's departure from Marvel in 1966, John Romita Sr. became Lee's collaborator on The Amazing Spider-Man . Within a year, it overtook Fantastic Four to become the company's top seller. Lee and Romita's stories focused as much on the social and college lives of the characters as they did on Spider-Man's adventures. The stories became more topical, addressing issues such as

1596-786: A master's candidate in law. He was admitted in New York, and six other states and federal appeals courts, to the United States Supreme Court Bar in 1963. Mr. Garbus is a member of the Advisory Board, Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital After law school and after two years in the United States Army, he clerked for Emile Zola Berman , an internationally known trial lawyer who represented Sirhan Sirhan , and Ephraim London,

1710-588: A medical emergency earlier in the day. Lee had previously been hospitalized for pneumonia in February of that year. The immediate cause of death listed on his death certificate was cardiac arrest with respiratory failure and congestive heart failure as underlying causes. It also indicated that he suffered from aspiration pneumonia . His body was cremated and his ashes were given to his daughter. Roy Thomas , who succeeded Lee as editor-in-chief at Marvel, had visited Lee two days prior to his death to discuss

1824-619: A memorabilia collector, had been isolating Lee from his trusted friends and associates following his wife's death in order to obtain access to Lee's wealth, estimated to amount to US$ 50 million . In August 2018, a restraining order was issued against Morgan to stay away from Lee, his daughter, and his associates for three years. The Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed that Morgan was charged in May 2019 with five counts of abuse for events that had occurred in mid-2018. The charges were false imprisonment , grand theft of an elder or dependent adult, fraud, forgery, and elder abuse. Another figure in

1938-425: A new suit against Marvel Entertainment, Inc., in which he represented Nelson Thall and John Petrovitz against Marvel Enterprises, Inc., Marvel Characters, Joan Lee (Stan Lee's wife), Joan C. Lee (Stan Lee's daughter), Isaac Perlmutter (Marvel executive), Avi Arad (Marvel executive) and Arthur M. Lieberman (Marvel executive) for recovering more than $ 750,000,000 in profits owed by Marvel to Stan Lee Media since 1998. In

2052-460: A period between 2001 and 2017 during which Lee's partners Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman were said to have misled Lee about various intellectual property rights deals. In June 2020, Judge Otis D. Wright II dismissed J.C. Lee's lawsuit against POW! Entertainment, declaring it "frivolous" and "improper", sanctioning J.C. Lee for $ 1,000,000, and sanctioning her lawyers for $ 250,000 individually and severally . The court also gave POW! Entertainment

2166-508: A publicly traded company under the symbol SLEE. The company won the Best of Show Web Award in November 2000, as the best Entertainment Portal on the internet, beating Warner Bros and Disney's portals. The company launched the first new team of superheroes to be created by Stan Lee in thirty years, The 7th Portal , at a $ 1 million gala hosted by Dick Clark at Raleigh Studios on February 29, 2000. The first high concept 'webisode' to be broadcast on

2280-493: A reverse merger structured by investment banker Stan Medley in 1999, but, near the end of 2000, investigators discovered illegal stock manipulation by Paul and corporate officer Stephan Gordon. Stan Lee Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2001. Paul was extradited to the U.S. from Brazil and pleaded guilty to violating SEC Rule 10b-5 in connection with trading his stock in Stan Lee Media. Lee

2394-463: A review of stock transactions by co-founder Peter Paul and corporate officer Stephan Gordon. Paul fled to São Paulo , Brazil to avoid prosecution, and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 11, 2001. Paul was extradited back to the U.S. after the US Attorney in New York indicted him for violating SEC Rule 10b-5 , a securities regulation felony. Paul pleaded guilty. He

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2508-476: A sense of community between fans and creators. He introduced the practice of regularly including a credit panel on the splash page of each story, naming not just the writer and penciller but also the inker and letterer. Regular news about Marvel staff members and upcoming storylines was presented on the Bullpen Bulletins page, which (like the letter columns that appeared in each title) was written in

2622-590: A sequential art story in 2014 by Lee and Bruce Timm in Marvel's 75th Anniversary Celebration . Lee graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a backup feature, "'Headline' Hunter, Foreign Correspondent", two issues later, using the pseudonym "Reel Nats". His first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer , in Mystic Comics #6 (August 1941). Other characters he co-created during this period, called

2736-506: A variety of topics including trial practice, jury selection, copyright and the Supreme Court. Garbus debated former Independent Prosecutor Kenneth Starr at venues across the country. He served as a commentator for NBC , ABC , CBS , PBS , Charlie Rose , CNN , Fox News , Court TV , CCTV in China and the BBC , Time and Newsweek . Garbus has written numerous pieces for The New York Times ,

2850-500: Is also the New York state motto ). To maintain his workload and meet deadlines, he used a system that was used previously by various comic-book studios, but due to Lee's success with it, became known as the " Marvel Method ". Typically, Lee would brainstorm a story with the artist and then prepare a brief synopsis rather than a full script. Based on the synopsis, the artist would fill the allotted number of pages by determining and drawing

2964-706: Is apocryphal, and so is his story of a life-changing plea from the editor, because the likelier story is that Lee won a seventh-place prize of $ 2.50 and two honorable mention awards. He graduated from high school early, aged sixteen and a half, in 1939 and joined the WPA Federal Theatre Project . From 1945 to 1947, Lee lived in the rented top floor of a brownstone in the East 90s in Manhattan. He married Joan Clayton Boocock , originally from Newcastle , England, on December 5, 1947, and in 1949,

3078-600: Is considered to be Marvel's first graphic novel . Lee and John Buscema produced the first issue of The Savage She-Hulk (February 1980), which introduced the female cousin of the Hulk, and crafted a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated #1 (Spring 1980). He moved to California in 1981 to develop Marvel's TV and movie properties. He was an executive producer for, and made cameo appearances in, Marvel film adaptations and other movies. He occasionally returned to comic book writing with various Silver Surfer projects including

3192-485: Is referred to as SLMI, as opposed to the original Stan Lee Media, which is referred to as SLM. In January 2007, Lee sued SLMI and Jim Nesfield, who was then running the company, claiming the company was committing $ 50 million worth of trademark infringement. On March 15, 2007, Nesfield, representing shareholders of SLMI, filed a lawsuit in New York against Marvel Entertainment for $ 5 billion, claiming that Stan Lee's assignment of all of his creative rights to SLM made SLMI

3306-539: The Los Angeles Times , The New York Review of Books , The Nation , and Huffington Post . Garbus' career is set forth in the award-winning HBO documentary Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech . Garbus spoke with journalist Christiane Amanpour about challenges to free speech, including social media, political vitriol, and the role of the media. He also spoke with Daniel Lelchuk, who runs

3420-468: The Mail Online alleged that Lee was accused by a small number of nurses of sexually harassing them at his home in early 2017. Lee denied the allegations and claimed that the nurses were attempting to extort him. In April 2018, The Hollywood Reporter published a report that claimed Lee was a victim of elder abuse ; the report asserted that, among others, Keya Morgan, Lee's business manager and

3534-648: The Bronx High School of Science in 1951. He earned his undergraduate degree at Hunter College in 1955 and his Juris Doctor from New York University Law School . During that time he drove a taxi for two years in New York and worked at The Ford assembly line in Tarrytown, New York . He thereafter attended Columbia University as a master's candidate in economics, at The New School as a master's candidate in English and at New York University Law School as

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3648-550: The Comics Code . The U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare had asked Lee to write a comic-book story about the dangers of drugs and Lee conceived a three-issue subplot in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 ( cover-dated May–July 1971), in which Peter Parker's best friend becomes addicted to prescription drugs. The Comics Code Authority refused to grant its seal because the stories depicted drug use;

3762-657: The Fantastic Four in 1961. The team's immediate popularity led Lee and Marvel's illustrators to produce a cavalcade of new titles. Again working with Kirby, Lee co-created the Hulk , Thor , Iron Man , and the X-Men ; with Bill Everett , Daredevil ; and with Steve Ditko , Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful character, Spider-Man , all of whom lived in a thoroughly shared universe . Lee and Kirby gathered several of their newly created characters together into

3876-1035: The Flash , and later in 1960 with the Justice League of America super-team. In response, publisher Martin Goodman assigned Lee to come up with a new superhero team. Lee's wife suggested that he experiment with stories he preferred, since he was planning on changing careers and had nothing to lose. Lee acted on the advice, giving his superheroes a flawed humanity, a change from the ideal archetypes typically written for preteens. Before this, most superheroes had been idealistically perfect people with no serious, lasting problems. Lee introduced complex, naturalistic characters who could have bad tempers, fits of melancholy, and vanity; they bickered amongst themselves, worried about paying their bills and impressing girlfriends, got bored or sometimes even physically ill. The first superheroes Lee and artist Jack Kirby created together were

3990-534: The Golden Age of Comic Books , include Jack Frost , debuting in U.S.A. Comics #1 (August 1941), and Father Time , debuting in Captain America Comics #6 (August 1941). When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left in late 1941 following a dispute with Goodman, the 30-year-old publisher installed Lee, just under 19 years old, as interim editor. The youngster showed a knack for

4104-595: The Hulk , Ant-Man , the Wasp , the Fantastic Four , Black Panther , Daredevil , Doctor Strange , the Scarlet Witch , and Black Widow . These and other characters' introductions in the 1960s pioneered a more naturalistic approach in superhero comics . In the 1970s, Lee challenged the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority , indirectly leading to changes in its policies. In the 1980s, he pursued

4218-597: The Inhumans and the Black Panther , an African king who would be mainstream comics' first black superhero. The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement is the three-part " Galactus Trilogy " that began in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), chronicling the arrival of Galactus , a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer . Fantastic Four #48

4332-816: The Los Angeles Times . Shouting Fire is a documentary film about his life and career. He received the Fulbright Award for his work on International Human Rights in 2010. In 2014, University College Dublin's Literary and Historical Society honored Garbus with the James Joyce Award for Excellence in Law. The same year Trinity College awarded him for his human rights and free speech work. He has represented dissidents in amongst other places such as China, Russia, Czechoslovakia, India, India, South Africa, and Taiwan. The Guardian called Garbus "one of

4446-784: The New York State Bar Association and one of the Appellate Divisions of the New York Supreme Court to disbar Rudy Giuliani following the 2021 United States Capitol attack where in a prior "Save America" rally, Giuliani encouraged "trial by combat." Garbus has participated in lectures and debates before the American Bar Association , the Bar Associations of New York, Washington and Los Angeles on

4560-465: The Vietnam War , political elections, and student activism . Robbie Robertson , introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #51 (August 1967) was one of the first African-American characters in comics to play a serious supporting role. In the Fantastic Four series, the lengthy run by Lee and Kirby produced many acclaimed storylines as well as characters that have become central to Marvel, including

4674-434: The 1950s, Lee teamed up with his comic book colleague Dan DeCarlo to produce the syndicated newspaper strip My Friend Irma , based on the radio comedy starring Marie Wilson . By the end of the decade, Lee had become dissatisfied with his career and considered quitting the field. In 1956, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz revived the superhero archetype and experienced significant success with an updated version of

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4788-669: The 1970s they owned a vacation home in Remsenburg, New York . For their move to the West Coast in 1981, they bought a home in West Hollywood, California , previously owned by comedian Jack Benny 's radio announcer Don Wilson . The Stan Lee Foundation was founded in 2010 to focus on literacy, education, and the arts. Its stated goals include supporting programs and ideas that improve access to literacy resources, as well as promoting diversity, national literacy, culture and

4902-462: The Barbarian . Plans for a third Conan movie and webisodes were made. With SLM stock price falling below the sale agreement level, a legal battle ensued between with the previous owners, Baums, LSDC, Arthur Lieberman and the de Camps. The company ran out of operating capital during the dot-com meltdown and closed operations entirely by December 19, 2000. Near the end of 2000, investigators began

5016-690: The Bronx. In his youth, Lee enjoyed writing, and entertained dreams of writing the " Great American Novel " one day. He said that in his youth he worked such part-time jobs as writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center; delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center ; working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer; ushering at

5130-524: The California proceedings. This was granted, and they filed a new, consolidated complaint in February 2011 They sought a jury trial over the question of whether or not they actually own the characters that Lee created. Hearings were scheduled for March 8, 2012. On August 21, 2011, the day the Conan the Barbarian opened, SLMI sued Paradox Entertainment , Conan Sales Co., Arthur Lieberman and others over

5244-844: The Court’s a Stage ,” a series of dramatic adaptations by Susan Charlotte , directed by Antony Marsellis and presented by Cause Célèbre Productions , a Not-for-Profit organization. The series, based on the writings of Garbus, includes stories about the legal journeys of Samuel Beckett, Lenny Bruce, Daniel Ellsberg, Václav Havel, Henrietta Wright, Salman Rushdie, Andrei Sakharov, and "Jane Doe" and played to sold-out audiences in NY and LA. The casts included acclaimed Broadway, film, and television actors: two-time Tony Award winner James Naughton; Tony Award Nominees Penny Fuller, Zach Grenier, and Tony Roberts; Drama Desk Award winner Bob Dishy; Obie Award winner Larry Pine, and Jack Wetheral and Nesha Ward. Garbus graduated from

5358-637: The DC superheroes Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Green Lantern , and the Flash . Martin Garbus Martin Garbus (born August 8, 1934) is an American attorney. He has argued cases throughout the country involving first amendment , constitutional , criminal , copyright , and intellectual property law. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court , as well as trial and appellate courts throughout

5472-514: The Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As of February 2016, all of the court's judgements for SLMI to pay for various legal fees equaled nearly half a million dollars, and SLMI's bank accounts were nearly empty. In January 2020, Stan Lee's daughter, JC Lee, attempted to take ownership of the intellectual property supposedly owned by Stan Lee Media by suing Pow Entertainment. Pow Entertainment's lawyer, Chaz Rainey argued that JC's complaint

5586-620: The Federal Government... and with writers and reporters," including Norman Mailer and Mike McAlary. Though "a hero to liberals," Garbus drew controversy when "his dedication to the First Amendment led him to defend the right of Nazis to march through Skokie, Ill.," which "earned the enmity of many friends and colleagues." In 2023 and 2024, several of Martin Garbus‘ high-profile, controversial cases have been featured in “ All

5700-499: The New York court tossed out SLMI's claims but without deciding res judicata, thus allowing proceedings against Stan Lee in California to proceed. SLMI brought suit in California the next day, but the suit was dismissed by U.S. federal judge Stephen Wilson. SLMI filed a notice of appeal on September 21, 2012. On October 10, 2012, SLMI sued The Walt Disney Company (the current owner of Marvel) in Colorado for billions of dollars over

5814-599: The Rights Assignment Lee made to the company when he founded it. Various parties, including some connected to co-founder Peter Paul, sought to take control of Stan Lee Media Inc of Colorado (SLMI), a successor company to Stan Lee Media, and to sue Stan Lee, Marvel Entertainment, and other parties, for intellectual property owned by Lee, his later company Pow Entertainment, or Marvel Comics, claiming that this property belonged in fact to Stan Lee Media Inc of Colorado. For clarity below, Stan Lee Media Inc of Colorado

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5928-711: The Rivoli Theater on Broadway ; and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. At fifteen, Lee entered a high school essay competition sponsored by the New York Herald Tribune , called "The Biggest News of the Week Contest." Lee claimed to have won the prize for three straight weeks, goading the newspaper to write him and ask him to let someone else win. The paper suggested he look into writing professionally, which Lee claimed "probably changed my life." However, Lee's story

6042-475: The Talking Beats podcast, for a discussion of the first amendment—what it really means, and how perhaps, in this social media dominated era, there are implications that go far beyond what previously would have been just a person yelling in the town square that is reported by the local newspaper. Garbus is also a TED speaker, where he presented on Free Speech and the First Amendment. Garbus has worked for

6156-742: The Twentieth Century". An international observer in foreign elections, he was selected by President Jimmy Carter to observe and report on the elections in Venezuela and Nicaragua . Garbus also participated in drafting several constitutions and foreign laws, including the Czechoslovak constitution. He also has been involved in prisoner exchange negotiations between governments. He is the author of six books and over 30 articles in The New York Times , The Washington Post and

6270-595: The United States and abroad, including Harvard and Stanford . A Fulbright scholar , he taught in 2005 and 2006 at Tsinghua and Renmin law schools in Beijing, China. At the same time he represented Chinese dissidents, he taught the judges, government officials and drafters of China's new copyright and intellectual property laws. He also participated in "rule of law" seminars in Shanghai and Beijing. Garbus

6384-418: The United States in leading First Amendment cases. His cases have established precedents there and in other courts throughout the country. He has argued and written briefs that have been submitted to the United States Supreme Court; a number of which have resulted in changes in the law on a nationwide basis, including one described by Justice William J. Brennan as "probably the most important due process case in

6498-515: The alleged abuse was Lee's former business manager Jerardo Olivarez, who was introduced to Lee by J.C. after his wife's death. Lee filed suit against Olivarez in April 2018, calling him one of several "unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists" that approached him during this period. According to Lee's complaint, after gaining Lee's power of attorney, Olivarez fired Lee's personal banker, changed Lee's will, convinced him to allow transfers of millions of dollars from his accounts and used some of

6612-454: The animated Web series The 7th Portal (where Stan Lee himself voiced the character Izayus), The Drifter , and The Accuser . The 7th Portal characters were licensed to an interactive 3-D movie attraction in four Paramount theme parks. The 7th Portal became the first ever web animation series to succeed as a 3D ride attraction and to be developed for a $ 150 million movie by Paramount with producer Mark Canton. The first public use of

6726-477: The anti-drug context was considered irrelevant. With Goodman's cooperation and confident that the original government request would give him credibility, Lee had the story published without the seal. The comics sold well and Marvel won praise for its socially conscious efforts. The CCA subsequently loosened the Code to permit negative depictions of drugs, among other new freedoms. Lee also supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about

6840-466: The arts. Lee regularly donated papers, photographs, recordings and personal effects to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming between 1981 and 2011. They cover the period from 1926 to 2011. Lee engaged in several legal actions in his later years. In 2017, POW! was acquired by Camsing International, a Chinese company, during the period Lee was caring for his terminally ill wife and dealing with his own failing eyesight. Lee filed

6954-449: The base captain, who did not like Lee. He faced tampering charges and could have been sent to Leavenworth Prison . The colonel in charge of the Finance Department intervened and saved Lee from disciplinary action. In the mid-1950s, by which time the company was now generally known as Atlas Comics , Lee wrote stories in a variety of genres including romance , Westerns , humor, science fiction, medieval adventure, horror and suspense. In

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7068-402: The best trial lawyers in the country." Fortune magazine called him, "One of the nation's premier First Amendment attorneys", and "legendary". Reuters called him a "famed lawyer" while other media have called him "America's most prominent First Amendment lawyer" with an "extraordinarily diverse practice" and "one of the country's top ten litigators." Super Lawyers Magazine designated him as

7182-437: The brand was well-enough ensconced in popular culture that a March 3 WBAI radio program with Lee and Kirby as guests was titled "Will Success Spoil Spiderman [sic]". Throughout the 1960s, Lee scripted, art-directed and edited most of Marvel's series, moderated the letters pages, wrote a monthly column called " Stan's Soapbox ", and wrote endless promotional copy, often signing off with his trademark motto, " Excelsior !" (which

7296-543: The business that led him to remain as the comic-book division's editor-in-chief, as well as art director for much of that time, until 1972, when he would succeed Goodman as publisher. Lee entered the U.S. Army in early 1942 and served within the U.S. as a member of the Signal Corps , repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment. He was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films , slogans, and occasionally cartooning . His military classification, he said,

7410-426: The characters to Stan Lee Media). Garbus believes that high levels of compensation given to Stan Lee by Marvel after a 2005 lawsuit indicate that Marvel acknowledged Stan Lee's co-creator status, and that this acknowledgment probably appears in the settlement agreement between the two (the agreement was sealed by the court). On January 27, Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Lee and POW Entertainment had illegally transferred

7524-431: The company settled in 2005 for an undisclosed seven-figure amount. In 2001, Lee, Gill Champion, and Arthur Lieberman formed POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment to develop film, television, and video game properties. Lee created the risqué animated superhero series Stripperella for Spike TV . That same year, DC Comics released its first work written by Lee, the Just Imagine... series, in which Lee reimagined

7638-497: The country." In December 2014, the 10th circuit concurred with the October decision by the 9th circuit, reviewing the dispute de novo and refusing to revive SLMI's suit against Disney. In March 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear SLMI's appeal of the 9th Circuit decision. In July 2015, SLMI was ordered to pay Disney nearly $ 82,000 in legal fees in respect of its failed 10th Circuit claims, and an additional $ 140,000 in respect of its claims regarding American Music Theater before

7752-420: The couple bought a house in Woodmere, New York , on Long Island , living there through 1952. Their daughter Joan Celia "J. C." Lee was born in 1950. Another daughter, Jan Lee, died a few days after her birth in 1953. The Lees resided in the Long Island community of Hewlett Harbor, New York , from 1952 to 1980. They also owned a condominium on East 63rd Street in Manhattan from 1975 to 1980, and during

7866-518: The court determined that there had been no quorum and thus no meeting to reconvene. In September 2009, Garbus, complaining of "irreconcilable differences with his clients" was replaced as lead counsel by Oliver Armas at Chadbourne & Parke , and the new firm sought to amend Garbus's original complaint. On March 31, 2010, Judge Paul Crotty dismissed the New York lawsuit against Marvel, Stan Lee, and others, citing lack of standing, expiration of statute of limitations, and other causes. Crotty ruled that

7980-420: The creation of China's intellectual property laws. He has traveled to Russia, former Czechoslovakia , Rwanda, China, Cambodia, North and South Vietnam, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Spain, Tanzania, Namibia, and Argentina defending human rights. He taught law in China, Czechoslovakia, and South Africa. He also worked on

8094-470: The creative process he enjoyed. In 1976, Stan Lee was one of the cartoonists who illustrated the Costello's wall. He drawn Spider-Man. Lee stepped away from regular duties at Marvel in the 1990s, though he continued to receive an annual salary of $ 1 million as chairman emeritus. In 1998 he and Peter Paul began a new Internet-based superhero creation, production, and marketing studio, Stan Lee Media . It grew to 165 people and went public through

8208-549: The decision against them in the Colorado case (which appeal, if effective, would have also cancelled the $ 239,941 judgment against them), and sold a license to the Marvel character "Spider-man" to the American Musical Theater for use in their show "Broadway: Now & Forever." Disney had already sued American Musical Theater, and expanded their legal actions to include SLMI as well. In December 2013, SLMI sued for

8322-492: The development of Marvel properties in other media, with mixed results. Following his retirement from Marvel in the 1990s, Lee remained a public figurehead for the company. He frequently made cameo appearances in films and television shows based on Marvel properties , on which he received an executive producer credit, which allowed him to become the person with the highest-grossing film total ever . He continued independent creative ventures until his death, aged 95, in 2018. Lee

8436-601: The first twenty were shown on-line before the website went bankrupt. The final two episodes were only visible on television. All 22 episodes are on YouTube. Other productions included the Evil Clone (a cartoon parodying modern media), the StanLeeMedia.net website, and The Backstreet Project , a project including the Backstreet Boys . Different editions on The Backstreet Project comic books were released on

8550-521: The funds to purchase a condominium. In September 2012, Lee underwent an operation to insert a pacemaker , which required cancelling planned appearances at conventions. Lee eventually retired from convention appearances by 2017. On July 6, 2017, Joan Boocock, his wife of 69 years, died of complications from a stroke. She was 95 years old. Lee died on November 12, 2018, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being rushed there for

8664-478: The governments of the former Soviet Union , Czechoslovakia , Poland , Rwanda , and China as a consultant on constitutional, media and communications law. Recently in 2002, the government of China hired Garbus to help address the problems posed by digital piracy. He represented dissidents Václav Havel , Nelson Mandela , and Andrei Sakharov . In 2004, he was appointed advisor to the Chinese team responsible for

8778-450: The help of his uncle Robbie Solomon, Lee became an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division belonging to pulp magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman . Timely, by the 1960s, would evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee, whose cousin Jean was Goodman's wife, was formally hired by Timely editor Joe Simon . His duties were prosaic at first. "In those days [the artists] dipped

8892-724: The internet, The 7th Portal' s worldwide debut crashed the servers of Macromedia's Shockwave web site with millions of viewers. The President of Sony Digital studios was hired away to become the CEO of Stan Lee Media in June 2000, and a joint venture with the largest anime manga company in Japan resulted in production and distribution deals over the internet, on television and in theme parks in Europe, South America and Asia. SLM used $ 4.3 million in stock to purchase Conan Properties Inc. , owner of Conan

9006-656: The knowledge of the Bankruptcy Court or creditors of SLM. In July, they filed suit in California. On July 27, 2007, Stan Lee Media Studios, Inc. was formed in Delaware. In September 2008, Nesfield's suit from March 2007 was dismissed without prejudice. It would be replaced by a largely similar suit, again in New York, in January 2009. On January 20, 2009, Martin Garbus held a press conference in New York announcing

9120-471: The late 1950s and early 1960s, it had run into a creative drought by the decade's end. There was a new audience for comics now, and it wasn't just the little kids that traditionally had read the books. The Marvel of the 1960s was in its own way the counterpart of the French New Wave ... Marvel was pioneering new methods of comics storytelling and characterization, addressing more serious themes, and in

9234-549: The leading civil rights figures including Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. Additionally, Garbus was legal director and associate director of the ACLU, as well as director of the Lawyers Committee to Defend Civil Rights, ran for political office in 1974 and formed his own law firm, Frankfurt Garbus in 1977. He subsequently taught at an adjunct professor at Yale Law School , and has lectured at many law schools in

9348-699: The litigation history arising out of the 1998 Agreement stretches over more than a decade and at least six courts . . . Taking its cue from the Southern District of New York and the Central District of California, this Court holds that Plaintiff is precluded from re-litigating the issue of its ownership of copyrights based on the 1998 Agreement..." The judge held that SLMI owned no valid copyright, and disallowed their further amending their claims. Disney then sued SLMI for almost $ 500,000 in legal fees, of which they were granted $ 239,941. SLMI appealed

9462-535: The mail clerk overlooked his letter, explaining that nothing was in Lee's mailbox. The next day, Lee went by the closed mailroom and saw an envelope with the return address of Timely Comics in his mailbox. Not willing to miss a deadline, Lee asked the officer in charge to open the mailroom, but the latter refused. So Lee took a screwdriver and unscrewed the mailbox hinges, retrieving the envelope containing his assignment. The mailroom officer saw what he did and turned him into

9576-519: The market. Six webisodes were also released in 1999 via StanLeeMedia.net. Stan's Evil Clone was often voiced by Stan's friend Jim Salicrup . Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber / ˈ l iː b ər / ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer , editor , publisher and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later became Marvel Comics . He

9690-431: The panel-to-panel storytelling. After the artist turned in penciled pages, Lee would write the word balloons and captions, and then oversee the lettering and coloring. In effect, the artists were co-plotters, whose collaborative first drafts Lee built upon. For his part, Lee endeavored to use a sophisticated vocabulary in his dialogue and captions to encourage his young readers to learn new words, often playfully noting “If

9804-626: The pen in ink, [so] I had to make sure the inkwells were filled", Lee recalled in 2009. "I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, I erased the pencils from the finished pages for them". Marshaling his childhood ambition to be a writer, young Stanley Lieber made his comic-book debut with the text filler " Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 ( cover-dated May 1941), using

9918-412: The press conference Garbus explained his theory that Stan Lee retained an interest in his early characters by virtue of having been a 'co-creator' of those characters, and that he had assigned these to SLM in an October 15, 1998 agreement. Garbus believes that Marvel's claim to the characters rests on a similar agreement signed a month later, by which time Lee had nothing left to assign (having already given

10032-399: The process keeping and attracting readers in their teens and beyond. Moreover, among this new generation of readers were people who wanted to write or draw comics themselves, within the new style that Marvel had pioneered, and push the creative envelope still further. Lee's revolution extended beyond the characters and storylines to the way in which comic books engaged the readership and built

10146-627: The pseudonym Stan Lee (a play on his first name, "Stanley"), which years later he would adopt as his legal name. Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that because of the low social status of comic books, he was so embarrassed that he used a pen name so nobody would associate his real name with comics when he wrote the Great American Novel one day. This initial story also introduced Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss. It would be adapted into

10260-575: The real party of interest and filed "Memorandum of Law in Reply and Further Support for Motion to Unseal and Motion to Substitute" in United States District Court Southern District of New York. In 2011, investor Michael Wolk organized a group to finance SLMI's legal actions against Walt Disney. His primary investor is Elliott Management . SLMI hired new counsel, who petitioned Judge Wilson to lift his stay on

10374-413: The real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry . "Stan's Soapbox", besides promoting an upcoming comic book project, also addressed issues of discrimination, intolerance, or prejudice. In 1972, Lee stopped writing monthly comic books to assume the role of publisher. His final issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was #110 (July 1972) and his last Fantastic Four was #125 (August 1972). Lee became

10488-498: The right to make a motion to recover legal fees. "We feel vindicated by the Court's decision today," said POW! in a statement. "Stan purposefully created POW! eighteen years ago with me as a place to safeguard his life's work. Before he passed, Stan was adamant that POW! continue to protect his creations and his identity after he was gone, because he trusted that we would safeguard his legacy for generations to come." On January 10, 2018,

10602-402: The rights to Conan , as they claim Conan was improperly transferred to Conan Sales Co. and sold to Paradox. On February 9, 2012, Judge Stephen Wilson dismissed all of SLMI's claims. By 2012, the proceedings in California courts were placed on hold until the New York suits were decided (to be placed permanently on hold if the New York court affirmed the matter were res judicata ). On March 21,

10716-543: The rights to the Marvel characters, claiming that Stan Lee assigned the rights for his characters to Marvel, and that Disney never publicly recorded Marvel's agreement with Lee with the U.S. Copyright Office. In motions to dismiss the lawsuit, Disney called the suit "frivolous" and "a wholly improper attempt to revive a claim already rejected three times." As quoted in Forbes , Wolk responded that prior legal efforts by some shareholders of Stan Lee Media to pursue ownership rights of

10830-503: The rights to the characters The Drifter, The Accuser and Stan's Evil Clone from SLM, without the knowledge or consent of the Bankruptcy Court. On March 17, A Colorado court gave a victory to Stan Lee, denying efforts by P.F.P. Family Holdings, a company affiliated with Peter Paul, to reconvene the December 2008 SLMI shareholder meeting. The plaintiffs had hoped to use the meeting to install themselves or their allies as directors of SLMI, but

10944-598: The saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses. Lee and artist John Buscema launched The Silver Surfer series in August 1968. The following year, Lee and Gene Colan created the Falcon , comics' first African-American superhero, in Captain America #117 (September 1969). In 1971, Lee indirectly helped reform

11058-509: The superhero characters were stymied because the claims were brought by minority shareholders who were trying to stand in the shoes of the company without its authorization. But after wresting control of Stan Lee Media, Wolk claimed he would be able to pursue infringement claims directly for the first time. In September 2013, Judge William Martinez dismissed SLMI's Colorado suit as a retread of previous failed efforts, writing "Plaintiff has tried time and again to claim ownership of those copyrights;

11172-461: The team title The Avengers and would revive characters from the 1940s such as the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. Years later, Kirby and Lee would contest who deserved credit for creating The Fantastic Four . Comics historian Peter Sanderson wrote that in the 1960s: DC was the equivalent of the big Hollywood studios: After the brilliance of DC's reinvention of the superhero ... in

11286-480: The title character "the first superhero I had read about, the first character who could be called a superhero." By the time Lee was in his teens, the family was living in an apartment at 1720 University Avenue in The Bronx . Lee described it as "a third-floor apartment facing out back". Lee and his brother shared the bedroom, while their parents slept on a foldout couch. Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in

11400-429: The upcoming book The Stan Lee Story and stated "I think he was ready to go. But he was still talking about doing more cameos. As long as he had the energy for it and didn't have to travel, Stan was always up to do some more cameos. He got a kick out of those more than anything else." Lee's last words to Thomas was “God bless. Take care of my boy, Roy,” leading fans to speculate that he was referring to Spider-Man. With

11514-550: The word Webisode has been attributed to the marketing and promotion of The 7th Portal . It is a portmanteau formed by the words 'web' and 'episode'. The 7th Portal premiered on the new animation hub Shockwave, on February 29, 2000, when its global launch overwhelmed Macromedia's servers. It became the most successful web originated animated series, being picked up by Fox in mid run, for distribution on TV in South America and Europe. Twenty-two episodes were made, of which

11628-452: The world’s finest trial lawyers" and the "founding partner of one of America’s most prestigious law firms". The New York Law Journal called him "one of America's finest criminal lawyers...a legendary criminal lawyer." In 2007, Business Week called him "legendary", "a ferocious lawyer who has received numerous media citations as one of America’s leading trial lawyers" and a "ferocious litigator". Time magazine named him "legendary, one of

11742-628: Was "playwright"; he added that only nine men in the U.S. Army were given that title. In the Army, Lee's division included many famous or soon-to-be famous people, including three-time Academy Award -winning director Frank Capra , New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams , and children's book writer and illustrator Theodor Geisel , later known to the world as "Dr. Seuss." Vincent Fago , editor of Timely's "animation comics" section, which put out humor and talking animal comics, filled in until Lee returned from his World War II military service in 1945. Lee

11856-414: Was Marvel's primary creative leader for two decades, expanding it from a small publishing house division to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries. In collaboration with others at Marvel – particularly co-writers and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko  – he co-created iconic characters, including Spider-Man , the X-Men , Iron Man , Thor ,

11970-536: Was chosen as #24 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "As the fourth year of the Fantastic Four came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up. In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age." Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over

12084-591: Was happy to be working with POW! again. Following Lee's death, his daughter J.C. gathered a legal team to review the legal situation relating to Lee's intellectual property from his later years. In September 2019, J.C. filed a new lawsuit against POW! in the United States District Court for the Central District of California not only related to recent events but also to regain the intellectual property rights that Lee had set up when founding Stan Lee Entertainment in 1998. The complaint identified

12198-450: Was impersonating him inappropriately. POW! considered these complaints without merit and claimed that both Lee and his daughter J.C. were aware of the terms. The lawsuit was dropped in July 2018, with Lee issuing the statement: "The whole thing has been confusing to everyone, including myself and the fans, but I am now happy to be surrounded by those who want the best for me" and saying that he

12312-536: Was inducted into the Signal Corps Regimental Association and was given honorary membership of the 2nd Battalion of 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord at the 2017 Emerald City Comic Con for his prior service. While in the Army, Lee received letters every week on Friday from the editors at Timely, detailing what they needed written and by when. Lee would write stories, then send them back on Monday. One week,

12426-610: Was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the NEA 's National Medal of Arts in 2008. Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, 1922, in Manhattan , New York City, in the apartment of his Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia ( née Solomon) and Jack Lieber, at the corner of West 98th Street and West End Avenue . Lee

12540-1155: Was involved in the following notable cases: Other clients include Nelson Mandela , Andrei Sakharov , Václav Havel , Samuel Beckett , Al Pacino , Daniel Ellsberg , Philip Roth , Michael Moore , Sean Connery , Michael Caine , Michael York , Lauren Bacall , Agnes Martin, Pace Gallery, Estate of Mark Rothko, Robert Mapplethorpe , Cincinnati Museum of Fine Art, Robert Redford , Spike Lee , Sally Mann , Allen Ginsberg , Kathy Boudin , Garry Marshall , Marilyn Monroe , Igor Stravinsky , Nora Ephron , Salman Rushdie , Simon & Schuster , Random House , Bertelsmann , Penguin Books , Putnam , Grove Press , The Sundance Film Festival , Alger Hiss, Ecuadorian plaintiffs, Estate of John Cheever, Julie Taymor , Justices in India, Knopf, Leonard Weinglass , Michael Bloomberg , Michael York, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party , Philip Roth , Rwanda , Sean Connery, Sonny Mehta, Sophia Loren to clients, Steven Donziger , Susan Sontag, Viking Penguin, and William Kunstler. In January 2021, Garbus called on

12654-499: Was never implicated in the scheme. Following the success of Fox's 2000 X-Men film and Sony's then-current Spider-Man film, Lee sued Marvel in 2002, claiming that the company was failing to pay his share of the profits from movies featuring the characters he had co-created. Because he had done so as an employee, Lee did not own them, but in the 1990s, after decades of making little money licensing them for television and film, Marvel had promised him 10% of any future profits. Lee and

12768-525: Was raised in a Jewish household. In a 2002 interview, he stated when asked if he believed in God, "Well, let me put it this way... [Pauses.] No, I'm not going to try to be clever. I really don't know. I just don't know. " On another interview from 2011, when asked about his Romanian origins and his relationship with the country, he said that he had never visited it and that he did not know Romanian because his parents never taught it to him. Lee's father, trained as

12882-586: Was sentenced to ten years in jail, and was incarcerated in October 2009. During the Chapter 11 debtor in possession proceedings, Stan Lee assigned the major character franchises he created to his new public company, POW! Entertainment , without the knowledge or approval of the Bankruptcy court. Courts later determined that Lee and his new partner Arthur Lieberman failed to disclose the existence and value of

12996-468: Was “so fatally flawed that it is difficult to decide where to begin.” In June, Judge Otis Wright dismissed the suit with prejudice (meaning it could not be refiled), and fined JC Lee $ 1,000,000 for bringing a frivolous suit. The judge wrote "The Court finds it completely unreasonable to file a suit premised on an issue debated and analyzed in more than five federal district courts over the last decade." Some of Stan Lee Media's most important projects included

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