Book Review by Aarene Storms: Amazing Fantastic Incredible: a MARVELous memoir

Amazing Fantastic Incredible: a MARVELous memoir
by Stan Lee and Peter David and Colleen Doran

Of course Stan Lee's memoir is told in comic format.

Mere print could never capture the exuberance, the ego, and the buoyant zest of the most legendary name in the history of comic books.

Stan Lee not only co-created many of Marvel Comics' most popular superhero characters like Spiderman, Iron Man, and the Uncanny X-men, he spent his long and prolific career writing, editing, promoting and publishing comic books and the comic book industry.

Stan Lee narrates his own life story with the same bouncy, conversational narrative style that he uses when talking to groups at comic book conventions: big gestures, big ideas, and lots and lots of enthusiasm for the fun life he has had.

He doesn't skip over the sad stuff or the hard stuff, but he doesn't dwell there, either. There are lots of little anecdotes from his life and plenty of unexpected stories too, like the time he worked on a WWII US Army campaign to combat venereal disease (give yourself a giggle and do a Google Image search for "VD Not Me" to see some of the vintage posters created by the campaign).

The narrative reads like a brag sheet splashed with copious amounts of super-radioactive slime: it's not great literature, but it is great fun. There are mentions of sex and sexual situations, references to comic book violence, and plenty of scantily-clad female superheros pictured. Plus a few epic superheros who turn green or burst into flame periodically.

Highly recommended.


The events may not have happened; still, the story is true.  --R. Silvern

Aarene Storms, youth services librarian
Richmond Beach and Lake Forest Park Libraries, KCLS