The Stan Lee story is out - VERY deep pockets required

With terrible timing Taschen's The Stan Lee story is now available to pre-order for an eye-watering sum...it looks like this...

...is signed by Stan...

...and the price is a staggering one thousand pounds. One. Thousand. Pounds.

As the Forbidden Planet outlines here...

This is the big one, True Believers! The mostly true tale of Stan Lee: an unparalleled, Giant-Size extravaganza, eight years in the making, about the one and only Godfather of Comics.

From his childhood in Depression-era New York, to making Marvel into the number one comics publisher in the world, to his modern-day reinvention as Chief Creative Officer of global entertainment company POW! Entertainment, Stan “the Man” Lee stands the test of time as the most legendary name in comicbook history.

Stanley Lieber began working at Timely Comics in 1940 at the age of 17 and found himself at the helm of the bullpen as its top editor just two years later. As an editor and writer he guided the company through good times and bad, World War II and the Korean War, the threat of government censorship, and changing readership tastes, until 1961 when he ignited a revolution in comics, helped rebrand the publishing house as Marvel, and revitalised a dying industry with the “Marvel Age of Comics.”

With a legendary stable of art partners including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, and Jim Steranko, Lee unleashed a dizzying cascade of seminal comicbook creations, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men, and the Avengers to name a few.

After moving to Hollywood in 1980, he did it again, developing TV and film projects that laid the groundwork for the “Marvel movie,” now a cornerstone of 21st-century film. Stan’s constant cameo presence in these billion-dollar world-wide events is a testament to his influence.

As the man behind POW! Entertainment, he has become a master of all media, working with rock stars and professional sports leagues, movie mavens and reality TV shows, reinforcing his creative stature the world over.

Lee’s tale is told in this Collector’s Edition by his successor at Marvel, renowned comics writer, editor, and historian Roy Thomas, who brings “you are there” insights and wide-eyed clarity to key moments of Lee’s journey to pop culture immortality.

Featuring hundreds of treasures of comicbook art, a novel-length essay by Thomas, a foreword written by Lee himself, and intimate photographs sourced straight from his family archives, this is a titanic tribute worthy of the Man, not only in breadth but also in sheer size. ’Nuff said.

This Collector’s Edition of 1,000 numbered copies, each signed by Stan Lee, includes:

• A foreword by Stan Lee and in-depth career biography by Roy Thomas.
• Complete facsimile comicbook reprints of Stan’s greatest hits and coveted rarities from throughout the decades, true to original size, tipped-in throughout the book; plus a separately bound reissue of Stan Lee’s 1947 Secrets Behind the Comics!
• More than 1,000 images, including intimate photographs and artefacts from Stan and Joan Lee’s personal archives, and new reproductions of original art and rare comicbooks from the vaults of the world’s premier Marvel collectors

Printed on archival paper and presented in an acrylic slipcase.

The contributing author:

Stan Lee is known to millions as the man whose super heroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry. His co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and hundreds of others.

As the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel, he was also the Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment, where he created numerous new characters and stories in areas including publishing, film, TV reality, stage, documentary, and multimedia. Stan Lee passed away in 2018.

The author:

Since 1965, Roy Thomas has been writing for movies, television, and especially comic books. With notable runs on Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Conan the Barbarian, The Incredible Hulk, and Star Wars, he served as a Marvel editor from 1965–80 and editor-in-chief from 1972–74. He currently edits the comics-history magazine Alter Ego and writes two online Tarzan strips as well as the occasional comic book. He and his wife Dann live in South Carolina.