With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story

Dir: Nikki Frakes, William Lawrence Hess, Terry Dougas

2010

****

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story is pretty much everything you need to know about Stan Lee but it does leave out 20% or so of the complete story. We learn about Lee's early days and how he started work at Timely Comics, a division of Martin Goodman's popular Pulp Magazine. He tells the story of how he was inexperienced and was essentially a human pencil sharpener for the authors and illustrators working there (including Jack Kirby). He goes on to tell the story of how he was promoted to editor at the tender age of 19 after Joe Simon and Jack Kirby left the comic following an argument with Goodman but what he doesn't divulge is that his cousin was actually Goodman's wife, I'm sure his charm and enthusiasm severed him well but the truth is he got his start thanks to good old fashioned nepotism. I don't want to sound like I'm hating on Stan 'The Man' Lee though, far from it, the fact that he has contributed to many charities over the years is also missing from the documentary. To be honest, you can't really do Lee's history justice in just a 90 minute film. However, With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story does go some way in explaining just how big his legacy is. There are many different ways of finding out about Stan Lee, you can see a lot of the man in the characters and comics he has developed but what this documentary really shows us, and quite excellently too, is the man, the father and husband. He and his wife talk candidly about their long and happy marriage, their daughter and the child they both lost. It's a rare and genuine look at the man who I'm still not sure really recognizes the true impact he has had on popular culture, art and literature, and of course the movies. You could argue that the likes of Jack Kirby, Bob Kane and Jerry Siegel are just as important and would be enjoying just as much success if they were still alive and all Lee has really achieved over the others is long life but I think that would be unfair. There is something uniquely special about Lee, he never comes across as arrogant and is always friendly, enthusiastic and extremely modest. Watching him dance with his wife was a lovely scene, not the sort of thing you'd expect from a nerd doc but very much appreciated. It is the most modest and sincere of documentaries, of one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. I'm pleased to say that I have met him and after watching this doc I'm thrilled to see that his charm and friendliness was indeed genuine.