STAN LEE ENTERS THE COMIC BOOK INDUSTRY

A Little Mystery and Uncertainty Surround Young Stan’s Job at Timely Comics

Many episodes in Stanley Lieber’s early life are shrouded in uncertainty. How the teenager bounded from Clinton High School to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s assistant at Timely Comics involves both a bit of mystery and a touch of mythmaking.

Courtesy of Stan Lee Papers, Collection Number 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

There are several versions of his Timely Comics origin story. One account begins with his mother Celia. Clearly she put her hopes in her oldest son, particularly since her faith in her husband nearly led the family to ruin. Here we have Celia telling Stanley about a job opening at a publishing company where her brother Robbie worked. Without delay, the young high school grad shows up at the McGraw-Hill building on West 42nd Street, but knows little about the company or comic books.

With Robbie’s prodding, Simon explains the business and how comic books are made. He then offers the teen a job. Basically, he and Kirby are so frantic and overworked, particularly with their new hit Captain America, that they just need someone (anyone, really) to provide an extra set of hands.

Robbie Solomon is also at the center of a different account (here the main player), essentially a conduit between Simon and Timely owner Martin Goodman. In addition to being Celia Lieber’s brother, Robbie married the publisher’s sister Sylvia. Goodman surrounded himself with family members, despite the imperious tone he took with everyone who worked for him. Receiving Robbie’s stamp of approval (and the familial tie) made the boy’s hire fait accompli. Simon, then, despite what he may or may not have thought of the boy, basically had to take Leiber on. “His entire publishing empire was a family business,” explained historians Blake Bell and Michael J. Vassallo.[i] Solomon had a strange job – a kind of in-house spy who ratted out employees not working hard enough or playing fast and loose with company rules.

While the family connection tale is credible and plays into the general narrative of Goodman’s extensive nepotism, Lee offered a different perspective, making it more of a coincidence. “I was fresh out of high school,” he recalled, “I wanted to get into the publishing business, if I could.” Rather than being led by Robbie, Lee explained: “There was an ad in the paper that said, ‘Assistant Wanted in a Publishing House.’”[ii] This alternative version calls into question Lee’s early move into publishing – and throwing up for grabs the date as either 1940, which is usually listed as the year of his hiring, or 1939, as he later implied.[iii]

Lieber may have not known much about comic books, but he recognized publishing as a viable option for someone with his skills. He knew that he could write, but had no way of really gauging his creative talents. Although Goodman was a cousin by marriage, he did not have much interaction with his younger relative, so it wasn’t as if Goodman purposely brought Lieber into the firm. No one will ever really know how much of a wink and nod Solomon gave Simon or if Goodman even knew about the hiring, though the kid remembered the publisher being surprised the first time he saw him in the building.

The teen, though bright, talented, and hard working, needed a break. His early tenure at Timely Comics served as a kind of extended apprenticeship or on-the-job training at comic book university. Lieber was earnest in learning from Simon and Kirby as they scrambled to create content. Since they were known for working fast, the teen witnessed firsthand how two of the industry’s greatest talents functioned. The lessons he learned set the foundation for his own career as a writer and editor, as well as a manager of talented individuals.

By Marvel Comics/Marvel Entertainment.The original uploader was Iftekharahmed96 at English Wikipedia..Later version(s) were uploaded by DatBot at en.wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.(Original text : http://marvel-microheroes.wikia.com/wiki/File:Timely_Comics_logo.png), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=132830648

NOTES
[i] Blake Bell and Michael J. Vassallo, The Secret History of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby and the Moonlighting Artists at Martin Goodman’s Empire (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2013), 98.

[ii] Stan Lee interview, “Interview with Stan Lee (Part 1 of 5),” IGN, June 26, 2000, http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/26/interview-with-stan-lee-part-1-of-5 (accessed June 1, 2016).

[iii] Lieber’s hiring date never been conclusive. In an unpublished draft of the history of Marvel, Lee wrote “early 1940,” but other publications and places he says or infers 1939. Lee, “History of Marvel (Chapters 1, 2, 3),” Unpublished, 1. Marvel Comics -- History (Draft of “History of Marvel Comics”) 1990 Box 5 Folder 7, Stan Lee Papers.

THE GREAT GATSBY IN THE HEADLINES -- $2.99 SALE ON THE GATSBY CODE

The Gatsby Code eBook just $2.99

When The Great Gatsby surges back into the news, we are reminded once again that America’s most shimmering and elusive novel still haunts the culture—class, ambition, desire, the fragile scaffolding of the American dream.

The Gatsby Code: A Century of Dreams and Disillusion by award-winning cultural historian Bob Batchelor

To celebrate the conversation (and help more readers join it), Tudor City Books has dropped the price of eBook to $2.99 on Amazon for a limited time.

If you’ve been meaning to revisit Gatsby’s world—or explore why the novel keeps gripping us a century on—now’s the moment. More than just a literary analysis or criticism, The Gatsby Code is a century-spanning cultural biography of a novel and its enigmatic protagonist. From Gatsby’s humble roots as James Gatz in North Dakota to his glittering rise and tragic fall in West Egg, Bob Batchelor decodes the psychological and sociological layers of Fitzgerald’s antihero and the America he both embraced and exposed.

Bob Batchelor has written a powerful study of The Great Gatsby and its ability to resist the erosion and forgetfulness of time...and discovers a Gatsby we had never seen before—wounded and alone. — Jerome Charyn, author of Maria La Divina, a novel of Maria Callas

Bottom line: Gatsby’s back in the conversation—jump in while the eBook is just $2.99. Get the The Gatsby Code eBook today!

Also in Book News: Stan Lee: A Life (Paperback) Out in Time for the Holidays!

Bloomsbury Academic has released the paperback, Expanded Centennial Edition of Stan Lee: A Life—a full portrait of Marvel’s tireless ambassador from Depression-era New York to global icon. Early praise called it “respectful, well-sourced…may be the best of the bunch” (Booklist) and “exceptionally well written…an extraordinary biography” (Midwest Book Review).

Stan Lee: A Life by Bob Batchelor, Foreword by Blink-182 and To The Stars* icon Tom DeLonge

Paperback details: 264 pages • ISBN-13: 979-8881808860 • List: $16.95
Order & save: Use code GLR BD8 at Bloomsbury.com for 20% off.

About Bob Batchelor

I write about the people and stories that shape American culture—icons who cross generations and mediums. I’ve published 16 books (and edited 19) on subjects ranging from The Great Gatsby and Mad Men to Jim Morrison and Prohibition kingpin George Remus. My work has appeared in or been featured by the New York Times, BBC, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, PBS, and NPR. I’m an Assistant Professor of Communication, Media, & Culture at Coastal Carolina University. More at bobbatchelor.com.

REPLAY ON-DEMAND -- "WRITE YOUR BOOK" WITH DONALD THOMPSON & BOB BATCHELOR

Get Your Book Project Started (or Finished) with Help From Experts!

Watch the on-demand replay of “Write Your Book,” which outlines the steps from brainstorming through publication.

For more information, check out the conversation I had with EY Entrepreneur of the Year honoree Donald Thompson. Then, see the recent livestream we recorded at https://youtu.be/tGiNRqWGh4Q?si=1wOaFvbLm4dV2KBe

We share expert insights for leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives ready to turn their ideas into a published book. Whether you’re starting with a spark of inspiration or a rough outline, you’ll gain practical advice, motivation, and the tools you need to take the first step toward authorship.

DOUBT, FEAR, AND CONFUSION FOR MOST PEOPLE WHO WANT TO WRITE A BOOK

Roadblocks and Challenges Keep Many People from Writing Books. Overcome these Doubts and Get Your Project Off the Ground

Despite the clear benefits, many executives and senior leaders hesitate to write a book. The resistance is rarely about skill. The real challenge is often focused on fear, time, and clarity.

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash

These mental roadblocks often present themselves in familiar refrains:

• “I’m not a writer.”

• “I don’t have time.”

• “What if no one reads it?”

• “It’s too late to start.”

These objections are understandable, but often shortsighted. The truth is, you don’t need to be a professional writer. You need to be a professional with insight: someone who has seen, solved, and led through challenges worth learning from.

The BIG Secret…

You don’t have to be a writer to get your ideas into the body of knowledge. As a matter of fact, some publishing insiders estimate that upwards of 60 percent of bestsellers are actually ghostwritten. Therefore, the research and writing can be supported by expert collaborators. In other words, let a professional writer put their expertise to work for your ideas or storytelling.

What matters is your willingness to own your narrative. Savvy leaders never win by themselves, so don’t think that writing your book means holing up by yourself for a year, hovering over the keyboard, and slowly driving yourself bonkers.

 Teams make winning possible, so crafting your book with the best available resources should be your goal.

The greatest risk is not writing. Executives who stay silent lose control of their story. They allow competitors, markets, or algorithms to define their leadership brand. Worse, they miss the opportunity to document their unique thinking in a way that benefits their organization and inspires their team.

 “Leaders often underestimate how much their story can inspire others. That’s not ego—it’s impact.”
 —Kurt Merriweather, Vice President of Global Marketing, Workplace Options, and co-author, The Inclusive Leadership Handbook

Many people view writing a book as a personal win. That’s fine, since everyone will have different reasons for crafting their book. Here’s another way to look at it, though. Think of your book as a strategic tool for clarity, alignment, and growth.

Your book forces you to ask:

• What do I really believe?

• What do I want to be known for?

• How do I want to be remembered?

Answering those questions? That’s where great leadership begins.

For more information about writing your book, ghostwriting, or executive-level thought leadership, visit the team at ExecBrand Authority or email me directly: bob@bobbatchelor.com.

AI IS NOT KILLING CREATIVITY...OUR LACK OF MASTERY IS

I have spent thousands of hours writing books and decades leading communications teams, while testing ideas in the “real world.” That long life of learning and leading has taught me something many miss in today’s AI debates: a tool only becomes powerful when real expertise is already in place.

I use AI every day. Not as a shortcut, but as a partner. It helps me scan information quickly, test narrative angles, and surface new possibilities. Those outputs matter only because I already know how to judge, refine, and shape ideas into something meaningful.

Without that background, AI is just noise.

This is why the hand-wringing over “AI plagiarism” in universities is so revealing. Students who lean on AI to produce work they can’t create themselves (by themselves or with the guidance of caring, professional faculty members) undercut their own education. They get the appearance of knowledge, not the substance. Professors are right to worry: when novices outsource the struggle, they graduate with hollow skills.

So when I hear, “AI makes people lazy” or “AI kills creativity,” I push back. Bad writing and shallow research existed long before machine learning. The problem is not the technology, but rather how unprepared people are to use it well (or properly).

The real question is: what happens when AI is in the hands of people who already bring discipline, judgment, and creativity? This is where the true frontier lies. It should unsettle us, because the threat is not AI. We suffer from our failure to cultivate and reward mastery in the first place.

WHY WE KEEP PRODUCING BAD BOSSES -- AND HOW TO STOP TRAINING THEM THAT WAY

The leadership industry’s paradox

We spend staggering sums on leadership programs, books, and degrees—yet far too many people still dread their manager, distrust their executives, and disengage from their work. I have watched this pattern across sectors for years as a Marketing and Communications executive and a ghostwriter working with senior leaders.

The core problem isn’t a shortage of content. We face a capacity problem—leaders who can translate values into everyday communication behaviors that people actually experience as trustworthy, humane, and useful. That’s the heartbeat of my book, The Authentic Leader, which argues that authenticity isn’t a slogan, rather authentic leadership is a practice people can feel in the room, on video, and in the words one writes. Authenticity serves as a North Star, guiding a culture that brings out the best in teams and colleagues.

What young leaders actually need

When I work with emerging leaders, I see similar gaps in their development: an instinct to “sound leaderly” rather than being leaders and a habit of polishing messages, while avoiding difficult truths. Early-career leaders don’t need more pep talks. They need a short list of observable behaviors. Here’s mine: start with the human stakes, explain your logic plainly, set an update cadence, and close the loop publicly. In The Authentic Leader, I lay out three initial steps: embrace your story, practice radical transparency, and lead with empathy—each framed as action, not attitude.

Start with authenticity (and make it observable)

Authenticity begins with self-knowledge, but it shows up as what people can see you do:

• How you open a message

• How you acknowledge impact

• How you respond to a tough question

As I explain, “Authenticity is more than being true to yourself… an authentic leader is also attuned to the needs and emotions of others.” In other words, focus on actively listening, reflecting back what you’ve heard, and making support visible. These behaviors help create psychological safety and deeper engagement, rather than performative “openness.”

Transparency is the second pillar. Young leaders often ask, “How transparent is too transparent?” My answer: default to clarity about what you know, what you don’t, and when you’ll update. Authentic leaders don’t hide behind a veil of secrecy…transparency builds trust. Direct communication—even about sensitive issues—isn’t cruelty; it’s respect. I profile leaders who “address the elephants in the room,” modeling candor as a cultural norm.

“Authentic leaders don’t hide behind a veil of secrecy… transparency builds trust.”

Empathy is the third pillar. Leaders who name the burden on others, provide resources, and stay present reduce stress and raise engagement. In my resilience writing, we show how authentic communication and empathy foster trust and psychological safety, particularly during uncertainty—conditions under which teams don’t merely endure; they improve.

Train for communication behaviors, not performances

If we want fewer bad bosses, we have to stop training leaders to perform persona and start training them to practice presence. That shift is concrete:

• Open with a value sentence (“We’re prioritizing quality over speed to protect customer safety”)

• Acknowledge human impact before directives

• Explain why in plain language: state what’s known/unknown and the next update time

• Invite dissent on purpose; thank the first tough question

• Close loops in public: what changed (or didn’t) because of feedback

These are teachable moves that convert empathy and integrity into felt experience. The result is creation of a culture people can trust.

Two simple mental models (not another 300-slide deck)

When I train young leaders, I give them two scaffolds they can remember under pressure:

The EAT Model (Engage → Adapt → Transform) is a process lens: first win attention and belief (Engage), then iterate message/channel/rituals from real feedback, both for yourself as a leader and audiences/people you engage with (Adapt), and finally prove change with policies, cadences, and evidence (Transform). I developed EAT initially to explain how culture works—not as a “thing,” but as a process people experience and reshape. That verb-like quality helps leaders design communication people actually ingest and use.

The 6-M Communication Model (Mindset, Message, Medium, Mechanisms, Membership, Measurement) is a design checklist. Mindset puts values and ethics first; Message clarifies framing and story; Medium matches channel to intent; Mechanisms turn words into repeatable routines; Membership ensures real voice and dissent; Measurement shows salience, sentiment, behavior, and trust. Use it every time there’s a stake. It prevents “clever-but-unethical” campaigns, message theater without follow-through, and “change” with no proof.

Together, these models keep young leaders from improvising charisma and instead coach them to sequence change and design communication so people experience respect, clarity, and steadiness.

Why so many programs fail (and how to build ones that don’t)

We create toxic managers when we reward optics over outcomes and charisma over care. Many curricula skip the part where leaders have to show up consistently and make support tangible. In our leadership development at Workplace Options, we emphasized that safety and engagement require cadence, boundaries, and human connection—not slogans. Leaders who model clarity, encourage balance, and keep conversation channels open cultivate resilience rather than burnout.

We create toxic managers when we reward optics over outcomes and charisma over care.

For young leaders, the path forward is clear: treat authenticity as a daily discipline. Write the value sentence first. Be honest about uncertainty. Make empathy visible. Discuss and publicize what changed because people spoke up. Do these things, repeatedly, and the culture will begin to mirror the leader.

A better beginning

The future doesn’t need more boss-shaped performances. We need leaders who communicate with courage, clarity, and care. If you’re training the next generation—or becoming it—start with the practices I outline here and in The Authentic Leader. We want to help leaders develop skills that are short on theatrics and long on results: Lead with empathy…actively listen…create a safe space for authenticity to flourish.

The future doesn’t need more boss-shaped performances; it needs leaders who communicate with courage, clarity, and care.

If this resonates, consider picking up a copy of The Authentic Leader. And, if you want to put these ideas into action, pick one communication this week and run it through these behaviors, particularly the EAT Model and the 6-M checklist. Remember: the only leadership that works is the kind people can feel.

2030: YOUR BUSINESS IS DYING...

...Because You Didn’t Hire Enough Humanities Graduates...

Critical and contextual thinking are the new superpowers!

Walk the halls of any failing organization in 2030 and you will see the same patterns: brilliant engineers with no sense of context; marketing departments drowning in dashboards, but blind to meaning; and leaders who can’t connect decisions to human experience.

The tragedy isn’t lack of intelligence...but lack of perspective.

For years, executives doubled down on “hard skills.” They thought: “Hire more coders. Scale the analysts. Push productivity through process.” And yet, here we are: disengaged employees, customers who don’t feel understood or valued, and cultures that suffocate innovation.

What organizations (and their leaders) missed is that human beings drive business, not algorithms or workflows. And human beings are messy, contradictory, and infinitely complex. To make sense of that complexity requires something more than efficiency metrics. It requires context, empathy, narrative, and the ability to hold multiple truths at once.

“Complex problems need people who are energized by tackling big, complex challenges.”

— Bob Batchelor

This is precisely what the Humanities teach. Graduates who have wrestled with history, philosophy, literature, creative writing, or art bring more than cultural awareness. They bring tools for thinking systemically, questioning assumptions, and connecting disparate dots. They can spot patterns across centuries, frame ethical dilemmas in ways that unlock better strategy, and articulate meaning when others only see noise.

The Authentic Leader argues that leadership is ultimately about one question: Are we helping people? Leaders who can’t answer that—who can’t even see it—build organizations that crumble when faced with complexity. Humanities graduates, by training, are equipped to keep asking that question, even when the numbers look good on the quarterly report.

This is not an argument against technology, finance, or engineering talent. Rather, it is a call for balance. If you want to future-proof your business, you need people who can code and people who can contextualize. People who can design systems and people who can challenge their consequences. Professionals who can solve problems and people who can imagine futures worth solving for.

Ignore this at your peril.

The companies that thrive in 2030 won’t be those with the most data. Instead, think of a future in which leaders and teams know what the data means for human lives. Complex problems need people who are energized by tackling big, complex challenges.

The EAT Model created by Bob Batchelor

Bob Batchelor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, & Culture at Coastal Carolina University. He is a critically-acclaimed, bestselling cultural historian and biographer. He has published widely on American cultural history and literature, including Stan Lee: A Life and books on The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Great Gatsby, Mad Men, and John Updike. Batchelor earned his doctorate in English Literature from the University of South Florida.