speaking of stan lee and zines, “the man” created one of his own: Secrets Behind The Comics.

there is a controversy in the comic world about whether stan lee was a superhero himself or just a huckster. regardless of which side you take in that debate, stan does deserve credit for elevating comic book creators from anonymous tradesmen to recognized artists and writers. when he became the editor of marvel comics, he introduced a credits page and gave all the artists nicknames (like jack “the king” kirby and “jazzy johnny” romita) so that they would be recognized and remembered by their readers.

before that though, when stan was still a hired hand at timely comics, he used his spare time and comic book connections to publish this booklet. it was an early bid for recognition for himself and his coworkers. the book was a behind the scenes look at the hard work that goes into the creation of a comic book.