I enjoyed learning about Stan Lee's life. It truly was marvelous.. The book is full of vast details about Marvel and Stan Lee but rather than a well researched biography it seemed to rely on the author's recollections and collected interviews. Even with a number of interesting anecdotes the book was quite dry and the pace was prodding..

Comic book and Marvel movie fans rejoice! A definitive biography of Stan Lee, particularly his Marvel years, is here! Stan Lee, creator of iconic superheroes like Spider-Man and Iron Man truly led A Marvelous Life.

Beginning with his poverty-stricken childhood and ending with the lawsuits for elder abuse still waiting to be heard in the courts after his November 2018 death, this book tells the full tale of Stan’s life. And what a life! Stan began his career in comics as a person getting coffee for his cousin’s staff at Timely Imprint, the publisher of Marvel Comics #1 and Captain America Comics #1. Eventually, he would be the face of Marvel Comics and even Marvel movies through his cameos within each of them.

If you love comics or the Marvel Universe of movies and television, A Marvelous Life is a marvelous book for you to read. Many details are mentioned that were not in Stan’s previous autobiography, Excelsior! 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was skeptical about this one, as I thought writing a biography about Stan Lee to be an impossible task that no one could do justice to. However, I was blown away at all of the information and random facts included in this book. You can tell the author had a close relationship with Stan Lee, as it comes across in his writing. I highly recommend this one!

I am an adopted Marvel fan, as my fiance is a HUGE lover of the comics and movies. I’ve accepted them as a part of my life and he was thrilled when I received this book. As someone who didn’t know a lot about Stan Lee, I found a great appreciation for the man through this book. It’s written by a friend of Lee’s who were a part of each others’ lives for 40 years. It’s a little dry at points, but I think all Marvel fans will appreciate it!

I found this book to be absolutely amazing! It was such a wonderful insight into the life of Stan Lee. He was a legend who will always be remembered for bringing joy into the lives of audiences everywhere!

Boy did I ever have misconceptions about Stan Lee. Honestly I was never a comic book reader but came to know of Stan Lee with his cameos on Big Bang Theory and Marvel movies. It was interesting to see how he started out and I was surprised to hear about some things I thought he created but didn’t. Very interesting insight into Stan Lee’s life.

In an alcove on the way up to the second floor of my house there are boxes of bagged and boarded comic books, many of them Marvel. Most of these are titles from the 1960’s, like The Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil, etc. Smilin’ Stan Lee was a friend I invited into my house every time another Marvel comic book was published.

Reading this book – for me – was like visiting old friends. I recognized all the names of the artists and letterers, and it was a treat to hear author Danny Fingeroth fill in the background to stories I only partially knew.

This book, however, is not just for those of us who were fortunate enough to enjoy Stan Lee back when all the memorable characters were created. There are people alive today that have never seen any of the old comic books yet are binge-watching Daredevil or enthralled with the Black Panther movie. Stan Lee was a genius, and this book celebrates the ups and downs of his life in a way that allows one to feel as if you were there.

Mr. Fingeroth holds nothing back, and all the conversations and debates on who created what character are included. He also includes the frustrations Stan Lee experienced as well as the triumphs. For almost 50 years, Stan Lee was the face of Marvel comics, and that’s never going to change. I agree with Todd McFarlane, who said that in 20 years we will realize that Stan Lee was an even bigger influence than we thought he was. This book will explain why. Excelsior! Five stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance complimentary ebook of this title.

As a Stan Lee fan, I knew that I had to read to read this book and it didn't disappoint! What a wonderful tribute to a man who gave us some many pop culture items! A must read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this advanced reading copy for Kindle. I'm afraid this is the first book that I've received from NetGalley that I just couldn't read. It was a hagiography from a devoted co-worker/fan and boring to boot. This is probably not a fair review because I didn't finish the book but it's the best I could do. Life's too short to read bad books!

This is a real departure from what I typically read but I saw A Marvelous Life (The Amazing Story of Stan Lee) by Danny Fingeroth on @netgalley and I had to request it. My house is a marvel household and between the husband and my son there is typically always a Marvel movie or a Marvel dress up session happening in my house. I wanted to know more about the man whose name is synonym with Marvel

This book gives such an in-depth history of Stan Lee from birth throughout his career and until his death. I loved the details given in this book...it is a history of comics, a history of Marvel and the story of Stan Lee. I truly now really believe that without Stan Lee we would not have the Marvel comics, superheros and the movies we have today. Stan Lee might not have been the artistic talent behind the comics but he was the heart.
Stan Lee was just as amazing as I thought he was despite so much controversy surrounding many aspects of his career, including who was actually responsible for several of the superheroes (especially Spider-Man) that he had a hand in creating. And reading about the last years of his life and the possible abuse he may have suffered at the hands of those who were supposed to protect him absolutely breaks my heart.
I am so glad I read this book and if you love @marvel and really want to understand its history I would highly recommend this because a biography of Stan Lee IS a biography of Marvel. I’ll miss his cameos in all future movies.
I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The introduction to this awesome biography makes an important point. Most people, when asked to name famous comic book creators/writers, would respond, "Stan Lee.'' Because there are very few people who don't know who Stan Lee is (I can't bring myself to use past tense there). And for most people who aren't avid comic book fans, Stan Lee's name is the only one they can come up with. There are other greats (which my husband is introducing me to a bit at a time -- he's been a comic book fan for decades. I'm just now learning.), but Stan Lee was just a force all to himself.

This biography includes interviews, behind-the-scenes stories, background information on Marvel Comics, the characters Stan created, and his life from childhood until his death. I love how the book doesn't just focus on Marvel comics but on the man himself. It gives a full account of his life, experiences, and his writing.

I took my time reading this book. I enjoyed it a little bit at a time. Most of the time I followed up a chapter by reading a comic from my husband's extensive collection or watching a Marvel movie. I will truly miss Lee's cameos in Marvel movies. I always waited with expectation for the cute scene with Lee in it. It always made me smile. I don't remember a single theater experience where the audience didn't clap or show appreciation for the cameos. He will be missed by many.

The author of this book worked with Stan Lee for more than 40 years. And it shows. This biography is well researched, complete and obviously heart-felt. I loved every page!

RIP Stan Lee. Excelsior!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

A Marvelous Life by Danny Fingeroth is a full biography of the much beloved Stan Lee. Naturally, this read is going to be a bit emotional for fans, thanks to the fairly recent loss of Stan Lee. But it's still well worth the read.
This biography is perfect for any fans looking to know more about the comic book idol, and his life – both inside and out of the industry. And trust me, there is a lot to learn about this man. Danny Fingeroth is in a good position to tell this story, since he was a college of Stan Lee. And that's always a relief, of course.

“But for all of this enthusiasm, even Lee couldn't know that Spider-Man would become the poster child for every kid who ever felt like he didn't belong – just as the X-Men would make every alienated adolescent feel like there was a family of freaks he or she could fit into.”

A Marvelous Life is a brilliant read, both for fans of Stan Lee, and fans of comic books as a whole. This novel contains a rich and extensive amount of detail, both about the life of Stan Lee, and of Marvel Comics itself. This makes so much sense, given the role that Lee played in Marvel's early years in particular.
I will say that I found this to be an emotional read, despite all the facts within. But that probably had more to do with the timing of the novel's release than anything else. And I'm sure I won't be the only one who feels that way. But I still wholeheartedly believe that this is a book worth reading!

I received an ARC from NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own..

I didn't read comics growing up. My exposure to comics was through TV with Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk, as well as The Amazing Spiderman and His Friends or Super Friends cartoon. And of course, later, the movies. I'm a casual fan.

I wish I could say this is an in-depth biography of Lee, but it left me wanting. The author knew Lee for 40 years, and interviewed him for this book, but most of the quotes from Lee come from other source material. Details about his early life are murky at best. Sometimes facts contradict Lee's memories, which is only natural when a person is looking back almost 90 years. But I found myself asking more questions than what was answered during the early years.

In fact, the book doesn't really find a voice until chapter 8, which was the start of the Marvel Age. Then it picked up and got interesting.

Once Lee leaves the day-to-day of the comic book production, the author doesn't seem to care about the rest of his life. The years when Lee was shopping Marvel Comics as movie ideas is scant, and when he finally lands Spiderman, little is said. There's a paragraph about his famous cameos in movies, but again, I expected more. And at the end of his life, when there were charges of elder abuse being thrown around, it is just mentioned in passing, maybe because the case hadn't been resolved by the time of publication. Again, more questions raised than answered.

If all you care about is the Marvel Age of comics, this book is for you. If you want to know more about Stan Lee's WHOLE life, look elsewhere.

Wow! A marvelous life indeed! This is a wonderfully marvelous read about the legendary Stan Lee - from his humble beginnings to the man we all know and adore! I have zero knowledge and interest in comic books but my curiosity about this legendary man compelled me to pick up this book. There are a lot of stories, the ups and downs of the comic world (did you know that there was an anti-comic books movement back then??), politics and so forth that happened. I admired Stan Lee for his hard work, dedication and talent of course. This is a must read for any Marvel fans!

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

A Marvelous Life by Danny Fingeroth is the biography of Stan Lee of Marvel Comics. I will admit that I have minimal knowledge of comic books, other than when I read them as a kid in the early 90s. This biography is richly detailed about not only the life of Stan Lee, but it also serves as the biography of Marvel Comics, who employed Mr. Lee from age 17 until his passing.

We first learn of Stan Lee's (born Stanley Leiber) childhood growing up poor in New York City. Working odd jobs to support his family, once he became old enough to work, as his father had difficulties finding employment. As was often the case in immigrant families during the depression era, Lee was hired to work for a publisher owned by a family member as a favor. This is where the story really takes off.

From here on out we are immersed in the up and down world of comic books and learn a great deal about the business. For example, I found the behind the scenes stories of how some of the most well known and beloved characters were created quite interesting.

The author does a great job of holding the readers' interest in relating a lot of facts while mixing in anecdotes about Lee and the many people he worked with. Mr. Lee was definitely a pioneer in comics by realizing that it wasn't just kids reading comics, there were adults who were reading them too. He also made superheroes more human, with imperfections and real emotions. Thereby making them more relatable to readers.

Just like the heroes he created, he had flaws too, and the author does not shy away from the controversies over co-creators feeling they were not given enough credit by Stan Lee and Marvel for the parts they played in these creating these characters. The author gives both sides to the story in these cases and how they were resolved.

The book shows that despite these controversies, that Mr. Lee was charming, charismatic, and highly regarded among his co-workers, friends, and family. It is said that he would instruct his personal assistants to interrupt anything he was doing, no matter how important, if his wife, Joan were to call.

If you're a fan of comics, Marvel, or Stan Lee, you should give this book a read! My thanks to St. Martin's Press, Danny Fingeroth, and NetGalley for gifting me a copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

Full disclosure: I have zero interest in comic books or graphic novels, and I read my Kindle in the theater when my husband drags me to superhero movies. That said, Stan Lee is likable enough that I still enjoyed this biography. His rise to prominence is a true New York rags-to-riches fairy tale of the kind that belongs to the mid-20th-century. Hard work, talent, and kindness propelled his career and personal life, and created careers (and obsessive hobbies) for many other people. A good book to pick up if you need an escape from dreary reality!

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

A Marvelous Life is a Marvelous read!!!

This EXCELLENT read is about the man, the legend Stan Lee! He is the one that brought the comics to LIFE!

There are a lot of interesting stories about the awesome characters that he created and co-created.
This is for sure the book for every true Marvel fan.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!!

I don’t like biographies but I did enjoy this book. Stan Lee was a figure I’d always heard about and knew about, but didn’t actually -know- about. In that sense, this book introduced me to a whole new person and I learned a lot about Lee., especially in his pre Marvel days. Good book for comic fans.

This was a beautiful tribute to Stan Lee, it was well written and researched. I learned some things that I didn't know and had a good time reading this book. I think any comic fan will enjoy it.

This book was received as an ARC from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Being a huge fan of Stan Lee and all of the Marvel comics, I was excited to dig into this book and learn more about Stan Lee's career and how he became one of the most influential multimedia moguls. I especially liked this book because Fingeroth took the approach in examining every aspect of Stan Lee's career including his personal endeavors and all the details in between and held nothing back from the reader. He also included excerpts from interviews with Stan Lee to verify that all the content is the truth and the road to greatness was definitely a tough road for him including proving to everyone that he is the real deal and not someone who steals someone else's work. We have a few biographies of Stan Lee and with content from the man himself, this book will sure do well at our library.

We will consider adding this title to our biography collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.