The definitive, revelatory biography of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, a
writer and entrepreneur who reshaped global pop culture--at a steep
personal cost
HUGO AWARD FINALIST - EISNER AWARD NOMINEE - "A biography that reads
like a thriller or a whodunit . . . scrupulously honest, deeply damning,
and sometimes even heartbreaking."--Neil Gaiman
Stan Lee was one of the most famous and beloved entertainers to emerge
from the twentieth century. He served as head editor of Marvel Comics
for three decades and, in that time, became known as the creator of more
pieces of internationally recognizable intellectual property than nearly
anyone: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, the
Incredible Hulk . . . the list goes on. His carnival-barker marketing
prowess helped save the comic-book industry and superhero fiction. His
cameos in Marvel movies have charmed billions. When he died in 2018,
grief poured in from around the world, further cementing his legacy.
But what if Stan Lee wasn't who he said he was? To craft the definitive
biography of Lee, Abraham Riesman conducted more than 150 interviews and
investigated thousands of pages of private documents, turning up
never-before-published revelations about Lee's life and work. True
Believer tackles tough questions: Did Lee actually create the
characters he gained fame for creating? Was he complicit in millions of
dollars' worth of fraud in his post-Marvel life? Which members of the
cavalcade of grifters who surrounded him were most responsible for the
misery of his final days?
And, above all, what drove this man to achieve so much yet always boast
of more?
