I know I always loved reading Sherlock Holmes, and I loved the way Sherlock Holmes spoke, and the way Dr.

If you’re writing about people, you have to make the people come to life.

But what are the things that worry them? What are the things that frustrate them? I tried to write a well-rounded character with every character I did, rather than just somebody who is extra strong and can beat up the bad guys. What I tried to do was take these characters, who are obviously bigger than life and fictitious, and make them seem real. So, I dreamed up Spider-Man and the Hulk and the X-Men and all the others. We had never gotten fan mail before, but we started getting fan mail, and that started it. And I called Jack Kirby, who was the best artist we had, and I asked him if he would draw it. I think superheroes may sell.’” “Superman!” “But I didn’t want to do superheroes just like Superman or Batman, I wanted something a little more original, and where I played up the personality of the characters more, and where there were surprises. I said to my wife, ‘You know, there’s got to be something better than this.’ So, Joanie said to me, ‘Why don’t you write one book the way you’d like to do it?’ So, at that time my publisher, Martin Goodman, said, ‘Give me a new superhero book. But the kind of stories my publisher wants me to do are banal. And it was a living, and I was doing the best I could to make the stories a little bit better. So, I cut my first name into two and called myself Stan Lee. So, I figured I’m not going to use my real name, which I’m saving for posterity, for these silly comic books. In those days, grown-ups hated comics, didn’t want their children to read them particularly. Whenever I got an extra 50 cents, I’d buy one of those books. One was an adventurer, one was an inventor. There were the Hardy Boys, Don Sturdy and Tom Swift. And, in fact, one of the gifts that I got one Christmas, my mother bought me a little metal stand that you could put a book on, so while you’re eating you could be reading the book. My mother used to say that when I was having lunch or dinner at home, if I didn’t have a book to read I’d be reading the label on the ketchup bottle.

“Oh, I always wished I could do something better than comics, but there didn’t seem to be anything. Transcript The Last Word: Stan Lee Stan Lee, one of the most influential writers and publishers in the comic book industry, sat down with The New York Times in 2015 to talk about his life and career.

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