Stan Lee, Does He Deserve Marvel's Wrath?
By Dave Gieber, Sat Dec 10th

Stan Lee, in my mind, has to be one of the all time mostrecognizable individuals in the "Comic Book Industry". Mostlovers of comic books have known his name all their collectinglives. For those of you who don't know Stan Lee, I am sure youhave heard of his creations. The X-Men, the Fantastic Four, theIncredible Hulk, Daredevil, and the very well known Spider-Manare all from the mind of Stan Lee. For the last forty years ormore and as an employee of Marvel Comics, he has entertained usthrough the art of comic book imagination.

Well, by now you would think that an individual of this caliberwould be taken seriously and treated with respect from hisemployers. Apparently not! In 2002 Stan Lee decided he had tofile a lawsuit against the comic giant, Marvel. It appears theagreement between Lee and Marvel was that 10% of the incomegenerated from TV and movies using Stan Lee characters, was tobe his. Seems Marvel didn't see it that way. Typical ofconglomerates, isn't it? The boys in the suits seem to want tomake all the rules. Stan Lee, at one time, had even been a suithimself. Among other positions held at Marvel, Lee had even beenpresident of the company for a while.

Years ago when Stan Lee had created most of his characters, hehad done it through a write-for-hire agreement, so he doesn'town the characters. Stan was then, just a "meat and potatoes"kind of guy, trying to put meat and potatoes on the table. Butover the years, he was very instrumental in putting MarvelComics on the map.

When the 10% deal was formally put together, apparently mostindividuals involved

didn't realize the windfall that comic bookcharacter movies would become. Now is that any reason to holdback Stan's piece of the pie? I think not. Just corporatebigwigs trying to increase their lot in life. Now this is justmy opinion so don't rant back at me as being unfair.

As luck would have it, a federal judge agreed and ruled in favorof Stan Lee. How much monetary compensation does this mean? Wellto put it in perspective, the two Spider- Man movies thus far,have reaped on the order of 800 million dollars apiece, in worldwide ticket sales. This settlement could mean tens of millionsof dollars for Lee, but the battle is not over. Marvel, willquite probably appeal the verdict and the case may be tied up inthe courts for years.

Now don't go feeling too badly for Stan Lee. He is still pullingdown a salary from Marvel on the order of a million dollars.Still not to shabby in my mind. And Lee has mixed feels becausehe has been loyal to Marvel for 60 years. To have his lifelongemployer trying to, shall we say, stiff him, for being so loyal,I'm sure, does hurt. Had it not been for Stan Lee, Marvel maynot have been in the financial position they are today.

At 82, Stan Lee does have a comfortable and successful life. Andif even his settlement is held up in the courts for years, Stanwon the first round. He didn't bow down to the corporate hammer.Just another "Joe working class hero" yelling out, hey guys,let's play by the rules.

About the author:Dave Gieber is the owner and editor of a website built aroundone of his childhood passions. Learn the basic essentials tocomic book collecting success with this free 5-day course:www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/5-day-course.html