Author: Michael Cavna / Source: Washington Post
LAST SUMMER, everything changed. That was when Stan Lee lost his wife of seven decades — and, subsequently, so much else.
Without her, the factions within Stan Lee’s circle have fought and fractured, right up to this week’s allegations of elder abuse of Lee, who turned 95 in December.
Joan Lee — Stan always calls her his beloved “Joanie” — was a former British model and showgirl, but he forever credited her with the advice that would launch the multibillion-dollar creative enterprise that became Marvel Comics and Marvel Entertainment.
At midcentury, Stan Lee was mired in a depressed-sales life as editor of Timely Comics, Marvel’s precursor. But in 1960, his life took a sudden positive turn: Lee’s boss told him to create a superhero team that could compete with DC’s popular Justice League of America.
“I told my wife, Joanie, ‘ I’m going to quit.’ ” Lee told The Washington Post’s Comic Riffs in 2011, at his Beverly Hills office. But she said: “ ‘Why not write it the way you want to write it? If it doesn’t work, the worst that’s going to happen is that they’ll fire you. And you want to quit anyway.’ ”
With those words, Joanie Lee altered everything. Lee soon co-created and edited many of the superheroes that now dominate the multiplex, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men and the Black Panther. Stan Lee long dreamed of heading to Hollywood and, finally, after decades of his efforts, Marvel’s superheroes helped Lee build a personal wealth that some media reports say is between $50 million and $70 million.
Before Joanie Lee died last July 6, she was also credited by many close to the family with keeping most of the financial predators, would-be scam artists and other sketchy interlopers at bay. From their Hollywood Hills home, she protected Stan’s…
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