Since Stan Lee's death it seems that a modern generation, or people who just want everything and everyone to be negative, have gone after him. Always the 'brave' thing to do when someone has died so cannot sue you.
One lie promoted is that Stan Lee deliberately went through comic art pages and whited out creators names. Okay, Lee was a teenager (ignore the lies from Moore) and one of his tasks at Timely was to white out creators names. That was Timely bosses dictate. Lee said later that it seemed unfair but you did what you were told to do by the boss -even if the boss was a family member.
"Stan Lee tried to steal credit from Kirby and Simon for creating Captain America". That is a complete twist of the documented facts. Lee has noted in interviews that he got a break in writing when he was "allowed" to write a Captain America page filler text story. He always credited Simon and Kirby with creating an iconic character that represented America. In the 1960s he did bring back CA but in a story in which the villain known as The Acrobat disguised himself as Captain America, He wrote -look it up- how fantastic it was that Jack Kirby was drawing the character he (KIRBY) co-created into the Marvel world of comics.
It is a fact that he NEVER stated that he had created Captain America. That is a pure lie.
It is claimed that staffers knew Lee would lock himself in his office and watch the passing crowds on the street below. It has been strongly suggested that he was voyeuristic and "up to dirty stuff". Lee often stated in interviews that he would look out of his office window at the people below and imagine that this was how god-0like beings such as Galactus saw "us tiny insects" -also remember that there were no locks on doors at Marvel; people walked in and out very casually.
Look at the fact that while Lee was alive writers did dig to try to find some dirt on him. The best they got was Ditko's erratic claims although going by facts (so inconvenient aren't they?) Lee and Ditko WERE co-creators of Spider-Man. Twist it as much as you want. Then there is the Lee doing the dirty on Kirby which is again a fiction. The OWNERS of Marvel did the dirty on a lot of creators. Lee considered the artists to be friends and stated several times that he had no doubt Kirby would walk into more work -"I mean he was Jack "The King" Kirby" Rather than let creators just get fired by uncaring bosses Lee saw each one individually and explained that they were being "let go". People in the Bullpen, including the famous Flo, noted that after firing the creators Lee could be heard heaving and being sick -again on the record.
There is an aspect no one seems to comment on. Oh, right, Stan "the egotistical showman" full of energy and working hard for just the salary he was getting to promote and make Marvel the success that it was. You can read how Lee wanted to become an American novelist but family loyalty kept him at Timely, then Atlas and then Marvel. He even wanted to quit at one point but his wife persuaded him to give it one more try and the way he wanted to and if that never worked -quit. So he got Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Spider-Man and other titles going and then pushed and pushed "company product" always as "Smiling Stan".
There are hints in Lee's personal history that indicate that he may have suffered from anxiety -I have known many smiling, laughing and joking people who in private are depressive or suffer anxiety even if successful. He wanted to quit but his wife talked him around. No locks on Marvel office doors but "Give me thirty minutes alone" could well indicate occasional anxiety attacks. Someone my age while remember British TV quiz master Michael Miles. Newspapers reported on his locking himself away in his dressing room and leaving after a long time "obviously inebriated": he was a drunk. In fact, after his death it was revealed that he suffered epileptic seizures and when he got the warning signs he locked himself in his dressing room. There was, unbelievably, a lot of stigma attached to epilepsy in the 1950s and 1960s. Miles kept his secret while being called a drunk in the national press.
I believe that it was Gil Kane (or Roy Thomas?) who once said that Lee "occasionally had very bad mood swings" and shut himself away. That would actually make sense because some people who suffer anxiety can be as successful as anyone can be -but that anxiety doesn't care.
I've suffered from bipolar depression since I was about 11 years old. Never medicated and it has never affected my work because I had to cope alone because back in the 1960s/1970s you never talked about that kind of thing. I work through it but do need a certain amount of "me" time. And although it has never affected my work and I have never missed a deadline there are people in UK comics, some who I have never even met, who whisper that "He's mad. Mental problems" and that is in the 2000s so imagine a person running a comic company day-to-day in the 1950s-1970sand what reaction they might get.
I also find that so many of these rumour mongers have their own little secrets whether Moore or one of the other "comic icons" who like to twist facts for their followers. Some of their secrets and lies have been revealed but many popular people whether Lee, Kane or others are often the targets because the "great unwashed" of comics just cannot read books or publications such as Alter Ego because "They're words not super heroes fighting in pictures".
It's your right to be a moron and believe any rubbish you read online.
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