BOOK REVIEW: Amazing Fantastic Incredible by Stan Lee

Shane | 23 February 2016 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Amazing Fantastic Incredible by Stan Lee
Simon & Schuster
November 2015
Hardback, $45.00
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Memoir / Graphic Novel

8/10

Stan Lee is the writer behind many of Marvel Comics greatest creations, and with Marvel riding so high with their movie & TV franchises right now, it seems anything that they touch turns to gold – hence this graphic bio of the public face of their creative ranks.

Entirely appropriately, this memoir is presented as a graphic novel, in the same way as his comic books always have been. It makes for some skimming over significant moments in Lee’s life – but the man has long been a grand showman, and isn’t about to dwell on negatives here. Anyway, they say a picture speaks a thousand words, right, and Colleen Doran’s illustrating here is top notch, not only capturing the iconic figures that Lee helped create (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four), but also doing wonderful justice to the period pieces of Lee’s New York childhood.

Lee moves his story along at a fast pace (with help from co-author Peter David), touching on all his triumphs, and not shying away from referencing his ups and downs, even if he doesn’t go into detail on the downs. Hey – this is a comic strip, and people need entertaining, right?

Entertaining Lee’s story certainly is, even if portraying him on stage bigging up himself so self-aggrandisingly becomes slightly irritating quite quickly, but there is a lot to enjoy in AMAZING FANTASTIC INCREDIBLE, and my comic book nerd friends tell me there’s enough referential nods to his and Marvel’s past work to keep even their insatiable appetites at bay.