The Format Factory has over three hours of exclusive interview featuring the father of the worlds’ favourite superheroes - Stan Lee. We have had privileged access to colleagues both past and present, social and cultural commentators, comic book celebrity fans and experts which is also kept in The Format Factory archive. Together these interviews will form the basis of a riveting 90 min documentary about the life and times of Stan Lee and his work at Marvel Comics. This documentary is intended as a considered and intelligent reflection of Stan Lee and his work presented by Comedian and life-long Peter Parker identifier Stewart Lee. Stewart will be leading the narrative with a sturdy reappraisal of Stan Lee and his contribution to the oeuvre.
The programme is timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the birth of Marvel, 1961 was when the first Marvel Comic, featuring MC on its front cover was published. This is the beginning of Lee's most creative period when he rewrote all the rules about superheroes, and indelibly stamped his mark on the comic world.
Though his impact on comics and pop culture was nothing less than seismic, his path to becoming a legendary figure was fraught with disputes over creator rights. In an age when we're finally having open conversations about abuse of power, how do we look back on a man known for championing inclusion, but who some believe built his career on the work of others?
Lee was tremendously skilled as a spotter of a talent. He was also a razor-sharp editor, but in the early days of Marvel Comics, he often held the title of writer as well. During this period, he's credited with co-creating many titans of serialized storytelling. Alongside the luminary Jack Kirby - one of the most iconic comic-book creators of the 20th century - Lee's co-creations included Iron Man, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Black Panther, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Hulk, Thor, and The Avengers. Daredevil was co-created with Bill Everett, one of Marvel's original Golden Age cartoonists. And, of course, Lee worked with Steve Ditko to create Spider-Man (as well as Doctor Strange, though many accounts, including in a published letter from Lee himself suggest the idea of the sorcerer was more Ditko's than Lee's. Lee's ambition and propensity for self-promotion while spinning his personal legend, however, often saw the efforts of his creative collaborators diminished or erased. Many of Lee's artistic collaborators were effectively co-writers on all of his stories thanks to the infamous "Marvel method." This has become shorthand within the comics industry as a way to describe the pressure to push out as many comics as possible; the artists who drew the books often worked from vague plots instead of full scripts, deciding for themselves what and how much was seen on each page. Despite their contributions, these artists were rarely acknowledged with writing credits in the books.
Our story is of how from the early 1940's Lee pioneered new methods of comic storytelling and characterization, addressing incredibly important and serious themes, and in the process kept and attracted readers in their teens and beyond while in the process become instantly recognisable as the wise and kind fatherly face of comics.
The documentary will tell the behind the scenes history of the iconic American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. In addition, his impact on the comic world in practical terms were also incredibly important, he headed the first major successful challenge to the industry's censorship organization, the American 'Comics Code Authority' and forced it to reform its policies. It also tells the epic story of how Lee led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to the legendary large multimedia corporation that it is today.
Using a mix of our archive footage and specially commissioned artwork (various moments in Lee's live will be illustrated with comic Ditko style drawings!) this powerful biography will both an intellectual and visual pleasure.
