I Am Stan chronicles the life of legendary comics and entertainment icon Stan Lee, and with great detail. At times it’s a little sluggish, but only in the same way that silver age comics at times seem maybe a little text-heavy, and less art and action driven as your modern tales, or how some biographies just go down a list of memories and accomplishments year by year. This seems like it will most likely appeal to fans of those earlier era comic books.

I’d say if you’ve read works detailing his life, or followed his media appearances, you’ll find few surprises. Still, the detail in recreating his these events and such are impressive. If you want to learn about Stan Lee, this would be the route to go, as it provides a lot of info while at least being meshed into a comic book format.

I Am Stan was a fun ride through the background of Stan Lee's life and a huge lesson in the comic industry; however, I didn't always know enough details about Lee to keep up with all of the information. I loved the artwork and illustrations. The whole book feels like a 50's movie set with muted colors and an old-fashioned feel. Stan Lee had a VERY full life. He worked with and helped trained a lot of industry greats but a lot of the names weren't familiar to me. Some of the pages were almost completely filled with text and the time sometimes jumped ahead so quickly. There was so much information that I think this could have been made into a series with 3 or 4 shorter books. Maybe one day Scioli will be able to expand it to something like that. I saw a few videos online absolutely raving about this graphic novel so I think those who are big fans of Stan Lee and comics will really enjoy this. Overall, I enjoyed the whole feel of I AM Stan, I just felt like a comic noob (which I am) and so I felt a bit lost.

When I first heard of this graphic novel, I was excited to learn more about Stan Lee. But after I found out this isn’t an authorized biography and isn’t approved by Stan Lee’s family or estate, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Part of me wonders why someone wouldn’t get approval if they’re writing a biography about someone. But I decided to give it a chance instead of just writing it off.

As I read through the story, I found myself confused and bored both with the art style and the way Stan’s life was laid out. The panel set up, while trying to mimic comic strip style I guess, was repetitive. The art wasn’t anything impressive or outstanding like I would expect for a book about the King of Comic Books. Oftentimes, the story jumped from one thing to the next without context. I wish that this book had at least included dates or years to indicate when things happened in Stan’s life. It came across like the author/artist just made a list of important events in Stan Lee’s life and threw it together without making a cohesive story line.

In addition, the marketing for this book claims that it’s the first graphic novel biography about Stan Lee, but that isn’t entirely true. Stan Lee wrote his own autobiography in graphic novel form, Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible. I realize autobiography and biography are technically different, but that’s such a fine line that I feel like saying I Am Stan is the first graphic novel about Stan Lee’s life is a bit false.

While someone might enjoy reading this to learn a little more about Stan Lee’s life, especially in his later years, this graphic novel feels pointless since Stan Lee has his own autobiography about his life that was done better.

<blockquote>I'm too modest to write how wonderful i am, i gotta let other people do that.</blockquote>
Now We know where i get my modesty from Eh? My first ever comic read was X-Men, and while i didn't branch out much, i think i only read The Incredible Hulk as well by Stan, I got doses of Stanleeness, through out my Comic Reading Life, from the Stan Lee Soap Box, Cool changes, through out the ages, what is cool now, will not be exactly cool 20 years from now, through it all i felt Stan was Cool, To the point that i started thinking of it, and voicing my thought to friends, how is it a man from 60 years ago, and he is so cool by today's standards.

I received an ARC of this Graphic Biography in exchange for an honest review, Thanks Tom Scioli, Netgalley, for the opportunity.
This will come out 12 September 2023, Tune in if you want an honest Biography of the man the legend The King of comics (I don't mind there being two kings) Stan The Man Lee, With art style reminiscent of the silver age of comics, and with transparency of the sources of each and every scene happening, so even if you are not really convinced of a certain situation, that might make Stan look bad, You can check the notes and see who exactly is the source of it.
This was Comics history unraveling in front of my eyes, i loved it so much, i ll take a break and read [book:Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics|52883804] By Tom Scioli as well.
Stay Tuned it will be a blast from the past, that will remain reverberating through out our future as it has been in our history for the past 60 years.

<blockquote>I've been writing stories for the young generation for the past 30 years.
We've come to a time in history when there is a generation gap, anything we can do to bridge this gap can be a beneficial thing.</blockquote>
Stan did it because it was his job that he loved, but also he did it for all the right reasons, He even spoke his Philosophy on comics helping kids read, You Put a comic in front of a kid, they are interested in the pictures, but in order to understand what's happening they have got to read the words, and it's a stepping stone, a bridge to read real books!
We had a writer in Egypt may he rest in peace, called Ahmed Khaled Tawfek, and no i don't like him because he is the son of my son, He did these novellas pocket size, that got us so interested in reading, he would mention great works of literature and we are intrigued we don't know how to get them before the age of the internet, but we are paying attention, and then when the flood gates finally happen, when we can move about our own states, to reach bookstores, or when we are finally free to travel to book conventions, and you finally get to see these books, you are finally able to read them, he was our stepping stone, he was our bridge, He was the one who made the youth read (as is written on his gravestone) and Stan Lee pretty much did the same.

<blockquote>I'd rather be a fine art painter but who is hiring for that? I like drawing but i couldn't care less about these stories and these characters.</blockquote>
You know this is not only a problem for fine arts graduates, or talented painters in general, this is a problem for so many professions or talents, we can't all be doing the exact same thing, not enough consumers, and if you want to continue doing your specialty, you gotta settle for less, and maybe use the money from that to try and do the thing you like more, But who said Comics have to be boring and generic? You can make a unique art style, and if the top 2 are idiots enough to ask you to be generic you can join other publishers and reach fame with being innovative and doing what you love and reach success doing Great art like Dave McKean and others.

<blockquote>If i do this scene, the girl that didn't get away won't let me back in the house.</blockquote>
<blockquote>He's unbeatable, His imagination, his creativity, and his brilliance, He's not made it easy for other men I've met.</blockquote>
Stan was really a family man, It so Often happens to be the case, that a family man loses focus of being there with his family, to make stronger connections, and he is just providing them with extravagant life, He loved them, they loved him back.
And he cared, it showed so much, the guy is a terrible actor, he asked to change his role, in order to not make his wife mad, like it was real 🤦‍♂️ But Damn it He Cared!
The biography didn't have scenes of issues with his wife, but at the end things were blurry with the daughter, i say it's a poor documenting of his last days, because we truly don't know what was happening.

<blockquote>Having A Jewish father and A Christian mother creates confusion for the child, We'd like to spare them that, If possible.</blockquote>
Are you kidding me with this shit? They got this answer when they were trying to adopt because they wanted more children, it's fucking ridiculous.
<blockquote>We can provide a loving home what else is more important than that?</blockquote>

<blockquote>Stan, You Are aware that the motion picture academy was started to sidestep and circumvent efforts to unionize motion picture workers? These are changes the industry desperately needs.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Yeah, "Law and Order" Means "Keep down black people" Mostly.</blockquote>
I think the most disappointing thing about Stan is he really didn't care, I mean he was having it as bad as everyone else, the money came later, the start was miserable for all, even though they were creating legends.
But you really get a strong sense he doesn't care about fellow writers and pencilers enough to help them get better work conditions, He didn't care about the ongoing racism in the country, he probably didn't make a single black super hero, he talks in the end of his life, how he wanted to do something to help with racism and how he realized that he didn't help with it before, But that's just talking after the fact, because now it's cool, and it won't cause you issues.

<blockquote>Because even if you succeed... If you reach the pinnacle of success in comics...
You will be less successful, less secure, than if you were just an average practitioner of your art in television, radio, movies, or what have you!</blockquote>
It's really sad, these people were really at the pinnacle of success in comics, and while they were putting good on the table, they were really suffering, all your time consumed, getting minimum wages, Things are better but not really, we see many writers at the pinnacle have an aversion to continue their ongoing projects, after comics have failed them to make it big, because everyone wants this movie money, this tv series money, we are always looking at the next step, but if the current career wall that we can't climb is already good, then why not dedicate ourselves, and make history?

<blockquote>I have an inking job for you, Ayers, Don't rush it, do your usual quality job...But we need it yesterday</blockquote>
Chaos! The Quality of comics descended so fast, and became horrendous in the silver age of comics.
If a publisher is treating a genre lightly, it's hard for the writers to give it max effort and really innovate, once i saw Martin Goodman saying comics are not rocket science i felt okay we found the reason old comics sucked, But there was more reasons.

They had a wave and they had to write it, and Chaos, writer giving synopsis of the story to the penciler, who then draws the story from these wide lines, and give it to the writer, who will then write the dialogue and the story, that the penciler imagined, We know the penciler has a dialogue in mind, but it's probably awful, Stan Lee does his magic and you have a comic, The Penciler gets a big head thinking hey this is my story, when he did so many creations before that and they were horrendous unreadable trash, and the writer needs to protect his intellectual property without hurting the penciler's feelings, but feelings are gonna get hurt, because we are beating around the bushes, and the writer and the penciler are pretty much freelancers, yes Stan was the employee, but he was also a writer freelancer, he got paid by the piece on top of his wage of being editor in the first place, and the situation with the business at that time is horrendous, if the penciler was treated as a co-creator as they are now, he wouldn't feel like he wants to discredit the writer entirely, it's all about money.
I saw Neil Gaiman say before about Ownership of The Sandman, that he doesn't own it, that he was commissioned to write it, and it's owned by DC, and he got the job done, guy created the best series in comics probably, obviously he had a contract, and he was probably specifically asked to do this story, same with The Books of Magic.
Jack Kirby pretty much at one point in the biography said, I wasn't allowed to write!
So how are they your characters again? I felt the ugliness was on both sides, and it's all because art wasn't considered as co-creation of the comic, so u wanted to take credit for something you didn't do.

<blockquote>You don't want to see a middle-aged man chase his hair down the strait.</blockquote>
He was funny damn it, so funny, and unlike what so many people think about middle-aged men that wear wigs, thinking oh they wanna look younger, they want to chase women or whatever, the guy never even thought of cheating on his wife, he did it, because how it all went down hill for his hair was stressing him.
I once heard Lady Gaga telling her fans, Wear wigs put makeup on, do whatever makes you feel happy, and beautiful.
You could see through out this biography underlines of people around Stan, thinking he is fake somehow because of the whole wig thing, Even Jack Kirby went as far as to make a man who look like Stan get beaten in one of his comics and lose his wig.
I have my hair intact so far Thank you very much, but i say it like it is, I hate the duplicity of our community, we have different levels of Tolerance and Judgement depending on your gender, your sexual orientation, your religion, your color, Your Age, That shit needs to stop, Don't Generalize, that is a problem worthy of seeing a therapist, i am not even kidding i swear, ask yours!

<blockquote>I don't think I'd want to be immortal, unless it went for everybody, I wouldn't want to be alive while all my friends and relatives were dying.</blockquote>
Maybe we can't be immortal in the way that everyone craves, But we can be immortalized in the memory of so many people, and guess what Stan, You Kind of immortalized your friends with you, Your Wife and daughter Joan, Your Co-workers (Even though they were legends in their own right).

"The first graphic novel biography of the legendary Stan Lee, co-creator of many of Marvel's beloved superheroes, from Eisner-nominated comics creator Tom Scioli.

Everyone knows Stan Lee: His work at the creative helm of Marvel Comics resulted in the creation of many of the superheroes we know and love today, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and more. During his decades-long career at Marvel, Lee turned the comic book publisher into a cultural juggernaut that shaped and defined the burgeoning industry.

In I Am Stan, critically acclaimed artist Tom Scioli reveals the man behind the comics and cameos using the same medium Stan Lee revolutionized. This stunning graphic novel takes readers from his early days in the comics industry through his rise at Marvel (then Timely Comics), where his career was touched by other iconic creatives including Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Their collaboration would lead to the creation of the most iconic superheroes of today, and bring about the Marvel Age of the 60's and 70's that introduced new industry stars like Steve Ditko, and John Buscema. Readers will follow Lee's trajectory from his daily life at Marvel to his later years as a spokesperson for the company and for comics as a whole, and finally to his last years away from the spotlight. Scioli provides a clear-eyed view of Lee's triumphs at Marvel as well as the controversies that surrounded the creator at the end of his life.

Told in Scioli's inimitable, vividly cinematic illustration style, I Am Stan reveals Stan Lee's life through the medium he knew best and reveals the inner workings of the legendary creator."

Stan, The Man, Lee!

This graphic novel tells the story of Stan Lee, the creator of Marvel Comics and many other comics. I picked this up as I am a huge Marvel Fan and reading about its creators life was something I was highly looking forward too. Unfortunately, this title fell short for me. From the very first page I was confused, and only at one small part at about 25% was I not infused. I wasn't even able to finish the book because reading it and trying to follow the story was giving me such an incredible headache. The writers of this bio tried to include every single little detail, but they clearly still wanted to keep their story short, which unfortunately made for a jumbled mess of a story that hopped around so much it made me dizzy. At the beginning the story was so unclear I thought Stan was the one birthing Larry, and totally missed him growing up and finding a lady. Same with when he buys Larry a bike, I thought it was Stan on the bike. And that's how this whole story goes, the entirety of the book. When he does finally find a lady and she writes him the Dear John letter (?), but it's addressed to Jack, and Jack shows up at the airport too, but then Stan still marries her? I still have no idea what happened there. Then later in the book when they have their second child, all of a sudden now they're trying to adopt and the child is not alive? Did the child have SIDs? I just have no idea. Nothing is explained. And they focus on such minor things about the comic book writing and just brush over who everyone is and then only refer to them by their first name and there are 20 Jacks and 12 Johns, it was too much to keep track of. And began focusing less and less on Stan and his life and too much on Marvel Comics. Unfortunately not an enjoyable read for me and I didn't end up finishing it- DNF about 70%

I Am Stan by Tom Scioli is a graphic biography of Stan Lee's life from his youngest memories up to his death. The art was amazing and reminiscent of the older comics from which Stan Lee gained his popularity. The story telling was also quite good with the point always managing to get across. The thing about this biography though, as someone who has read Stan Lee's autobiographies, is that it lacks the tone and understanding of Stan Lee. It is great for getting events across, but it rarely goes into the nitty gritty of emotions. It also moves from event to event with little transition and breaking these up into chapters probably would have helped get these events understood easier.

Great look at the life and legacy of a comic book legend. This book is not only informative but entertaining. The artwork is also spectacular. I was lucky enough to meet Stan when he was alive, and I think he'd also love this book. He has a great back story and I think that Marvel is such an incredible company.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc. In no way does this sway my personal opinion of the book.

Sadly I DNFed (did not finish) this book. In all honesty I just couldn’t get through it. I found the way it was written confusing at times and the art style wasn’t for me. I wish it would have focused on some of the events that took place in Stan Lee’s life a bit more. Sometimes it felt like the author just skimmed over some really important parts of his life. If you are a Marvel fan then I feel like you would still enjoy reading about its creators life but I just have so many other books to read this year that I decided to just put it down.

Just keep in mind as you read this review all readers have opinions and this is just mine. 🤍

I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography Of A Legendary Stan Lee by Tom Scioli

Rating: 4 stars

"Excelsior"

Blurb: The first graphic novel biography about Stan Lee. This book shows how Stan's creative wheel helped create most of the Marvel characters we love today. It also showed his life that I feel like a lot of people don't talk about. From the young boy who fell in love with reading and writing to a family man. Stan was a young genius with big ambitions. Stan Lee will never be forgotten.

Review: Right off the bat I love that Scioli used the same medium that Stan Lee reformed. It definitely showed me things that I didn't necessarily know about Stan Lee. The colors were amazing in the book. The way I saw his life from the beginning to the end was heartwarming. The ending really hit home I will say I did tear up a little.

This was surprisingly bad. Stan Lee’s entire life told in tiny, single page glimpses pulled from videos, interviews, and other biographies. All of the highs and lows of his career condensed into a few sentences of dialogue. The art was uninspired and the whole book felt flippant and poorly executed. I would hate to have all of my worst moments presented in this format, and it does absolutely no work to try to give context to many of the major moments in Stan Lee’s personal and work life.
Very disappointing and I do not recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

While I Am Stan may be a visually stunning graphic novel, it ultimately falls short of delivering a nuanced and balanced portrait of Stan Lee. The book largely focuses on Lee's successes and contributions to the comics industry, but fails to adequately address the controversies and criticisms of his career and personal life. In addition, the narrative at times feels disjointed and lacks a clear focus, resulting in a somewhat disjointed reading experience. While Scioli's illustrations are impressive, they alone are not enough to carry the book. Overall, while I Am Stan is a decent tribute to Lee's legacy, it lacks the depth and insight that readers may be looking for.

As a longtime Marvel fan I was looking forward to this book but I just did not enjoy it. It was poorly written and had me skipping a lot of pages with heavy stilted dialogue. Just not my thing...

I'm not one to read biographies because I usually find them boring and not interesting to read. With this turned into a graphic biography it made the story more interesting. reading the blues and looking at the pictures gave a better sense as to who Stan Lee really was. Tom Scioli does a good job drawing readers in to see how Stan Lee became a comics writer. Lee had a number of jobs, before working at his cousins company. His mother seemed overbearing and was always putting down his father at every turn. it was obvious that Stan was her favorite child, but I was pleasantly surprised that Stan and his brother, Larry, had a good relationship.

Stan Lee seemed like a go getter and was easily liked by his co-workers and always had new ideas brewing. It did seem as time went on that he was self absorbed and thought he knew everything. Though great minds do have to have passion in their line of work and he managed to create great comics.

I would recommend this to comic book lovers to learn more about one of the greatest creators/writer of. comics. This is more of an easy read for anyone how doesn't really like reading biographies, but would appreciate learning more about someone's life.

I am a relatively new Marvel fan, so I was excited to get the chance to read about the life of Stan Lee. I thought the concept of being told in a comic/graphic novel fit perfectly. Since I didn't know a ton about Lee prior to reading I Am Stan, I felt the book had a lot of interesting information in it.

My primary issues with the book and why I landed on a 2 star rating is that while I loved the concept, I don't feel it was carried out as well as it could have. There were a handful of pages where there was an extreme amount of dialogue, so it took away from the enjoyment of the book. I also found it difficult to keep up with the timeline and what years everything was happening in. We get some clues, such as seeing a TV that reports JFK's assassination, including pop icons like the Backstreet Boys or Pamela Anderson, and references to things like Hillary Clinton running for senate. I think the illustrator should have included the year events were happening. This led to a disconnect of the flow of Lee's life events. It felt like at some points there was too much information, and other times, not enough.

But the illustrations were very well done. I can tell a lot of time and effort went into creating a physical representation of Stan Lee's life. Though there was no connection to Stan Lee's team in the creation of this book, it is apparent the author pulled from a variety of sources to help piece together his life. I like that Lee wasn't always portrayed in a good light -- I felt it added to the "he's human" thought more.

Overall, i felt the content was good, but the organization and pacing could have been better.

This was terrible. It felt like the dollar store knock off of a story about a legend. Stan Lee was a wonderful inventor of characters and this painted him as a two dimensional being. He deserves better.

As a teacher, wife, and a mother of two, I am always on the hunt for fun and educational books. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was interesting and not what I expected. The art in this book different from other graphic novel books that I have read. My husband is a massive fan of Marvel and I wanted to learn more about the legend behind the stories. I do wish they would have made this a series of books because there were so many years crammed into one book. Overall this was a delightful read and I would recommend for any Marvel fan.

I recently read "I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee" and overall, I found it to be a fascinating and well-crafted book. The first thing that struck me was the art - the simple style was easy to follow and really added to the overall experience of the biography. The illustrations were vibrant and expressive, and I appreciated the attention to detail in capturing the essence of Stan Lee and his many creative endeavors (though, at times, it was difficult to distinguish other notable figures).

As for the content itself, I definitely came away from the book knowing more about Stan Lee and his life story. From his humble beginnings as an office assistant to his rise as a comic book icon, the book did a great job of charting his journey and highlighting his many accomplishments. I also appreciated the way that the book explored some of the more controversial aspects of Lee's legacy, such as his complicated relationship with his collaborators and his sometimes contentious dealings with fans and industry insiders.

That being said, I have to admit that my perception of Stan Lee was changed somewhat negatively after reading the book. While I had always admired his creativity and his impact on the comic book industry, I was taken aback by some of the more unflattering aspects of his personality and behavior that were revealed in the book. For example, I was troubled by some of the ways that he treated his collaborators over the years, and by some of the more questionable business practices that he engaged in.

Overall, though, I think "I Am Stan" is a must-read for anyone who is a fan of Stan Lee or of the comic book medium in general. It offers a fascinating and insightful look at a true legend in the industry, and while it may not always paint Lee in the most positive light, it is an honest and engaging portrait of a complex and influential figure.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was an okey biography made in an old style comic book about Stan Lee. I have to say that I learnt a lot about Stan Lee more than just him appearing in a scene of a movie with the Avengers. It was interesting and kind of enough for me when it came to learn a bit about the subject of the book without a full book with so much details that I really don't care about.

Even though this is the first graphic novel biography, I do think other biographies give you a better sense of who the man was, good and bad. These feel like a series of one page strips in Lee's life more than a coherent look at his life. It's all conversations pulled from other sources. Part of the problem is there is very little context to who Stan is talking to on each page. Some of the major figures (like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko) are introduced early on or may get a first name mentioned to allow you to infer if you know a lot of comic book history, otherwise it probably won't mean much. It does delve some into how much of self promoter Stan was and how eager he was to take credit for joint collaborations, however I don't know just how much of the point gets across that he took the lion's share of the credit. As it gets later in his life, we skate over some of the turmoil until we get towards the end and the people who took advantage of him are only cursorily named. This works OK as a supplemental look at Stan's complicated past, but I'd urge reading one of the others if you would like something more in-depth.