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tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I confess: I judged this book by its cover. I found it in a Little Free Library in my neighborhood and, as a sometimes Marvel fan with a soft spot for Stan Lee, I picked it up, even though the low-budget cover suggested a late '80s/early '90s snoozefest. Instead, this 2020 offering from Yale University Press, rather than a straightforward biography or a play-by-play of Lee's time at Marvel, is a surprisingly deep look at Lee's comics work through the lens of his Judiasm, an angle I'd personally not seen before.
For the most part, this works incredibly well. I actually gasped as some of Leibovitz's interpretations turned my understanding of Lee and Jack Kirby's work on its head. There are some head-scratching contradictions and some assertions that all but the most die-hard Lee fans will consider a stretch. And the last chapter falls apart for me, as Leibovitz attempts - unsuccessfully, imo - to sum up Lee's life and work. The book works best when offering interesting takes on Lee's work and letting the reader decide how we feel about those takes. It works less well when Leibovitz tries to finagle specific feelings and reactions from us. Still, overall this is one of the most interesting biographies - of anyone - that I've ever read, and that's no small feat.
For the most part, this works incredibly well. I actually gasped as some of Leibovitz's interpretations turned my understanding of Lee and Jack Kirby's work on its head. There are some head-scratching contradictions and some assertions that all but the most die-hard Lee fans will consider a stretch. And the last chapter falls apart for me, as Leibovitz attempts - unsuccessfully, imo - to sum up Lee's life and work. The book works best when offering interesting takes on Lee's work and letting the reader decide how we feel about those takes. It works less well when Leibovitz tries to finagle specific feelings and reactions from us. Still, overall this is one of the most interesting biographies - of anyone - that I've ever read, and that's no small feat.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism and War
Minor: Alcohol, Death, and Car accident
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