True Believer

The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

By: Abraham Riesman

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 14 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The definitive, revelatory biography of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, a writer and entrepreneur who reshaped global pop culture—at a steep personal cost

HUGO AWARD FINALIST • “A biography that reads like a thriller or a whodunit . . . scrupulously honest, deeply damning, and sometimes even heartbreaking.”—Neil Gaiman

Stan Lee was one of the most famous and beloved entertainers to emerge from the twentieth century. He served as head editor of Marvel Comics for three decades and, in that time, became known as the creator of more pieces of internationally recognizable intellectual property than nearly anyone: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk . . . the list goes on. His carnival-barker marketing prowess helped save the comic-book industry and superhero fiction. His cameos in Marvel movies have charmed billions. When he died in 2018, grief poured in from around the world, further cementing his legacy.

But what if Stan Lee wasn’t who he said he was? To craft the definitive biography of Lee, Abraham Riesman conducted more than 150 interviews and investigated thousands of pages of private documents, turning up never-before-published revelations about Lee’s life and work. True Believer tackles tough questions: Did Lee actually create the characters he gained fame for creating? Was he complicit in millions of dollars’ worth of fraud in his post-Marvel life? Which members of the cavalcade of grifters who surrounded him were most responsible for the misery of his final days?

And, above all, what drove this man to achieve so much yet always boast of more?

©2020 Abraham Riesman (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Illuminating.... A well-researched, engrossing and compulsively readable book." (Los Angeles Times)

“Tantalizing...Riesman puts in the hard yards to separate fact from myth.” (Dorian Lynskey, The Spectator)

“An illuminating and reliable account of Lee’s improbable odyssey.” (Jacob Heilbrunn, Washington Monthly)

It’s a hard one...

It is a very one sided story and how and old business man was always a business man ...

Over dramatic performance

Not exactly balanced, but very informative and well researched.
Performance contains too many flourishes. distracting.

Engrossing

Such an insightful and deeply heartbreaking look into a very complicated man’s very complicated life

Fantastic. A real roller coaster.

Loved it overall. You will NOT believe the directions this story takes.

Very good narrator, especially when he's Quoting Stan and becomes especially animated!

Just sad

It’s a very interesting story but it’s just sad everyone would love to leave their mark on this world at the end of the day can’t take that away from Stan or Ditko

A heartbreak tale of comic’s mighty marvel

While I’d been acquainted with the less than marvelous aspects of Stan Lee’s life, this warts and all look at the man behind our current pop culture juggernauts was a fascinating listen. The author is by no means trashing Lee, nor does he present any axe to grind, rather he gives us a bare and occasional sympathetic look at the man behind the image. While some may come away shocked, it’s always a great reminder that any hero, as long as they’re flesh and blood, is not above the fray of human failings. It is a must listen for any comic fan/historian.

Who was Stan Lee?

Abraham Riesman does an admirable job of storytelling combined with investigative journalism bringing to light the patina associated with one of America’s most revered pop culture icons, Stan Lee.

Don’t listen to these babies

Yeah I have no Ill will against Stan Lee, I honestly don’t care that much about marvel, but to see all these reviews just bashing this book for saying something mean or using the word “allegedly” a lot is bonkers. Yes this book can be harsh and sad but if you left this just thinking, “that author was biased and clearly hated Stan” you’re missing the point. The author makes it very clear his intent from the beginning is to humanize the mega myth that was Stan Lee, he takes on a bunch of different sides to stories and facts about marvel because like he said in the book, there was so many different stories and Stan himself would change stories as he got older. This book is complicated, like the man. It’s not a hit piece, it’s an honest book that talks about a man who had flaws, knew how to sell himself, and was surrounded by bad people in the end. It’s a sad honest look that yes can sound harsh but that comes with Demystifying someone so legendary as Stan and if you just see this as a biased hit piece you seriously need media literacy classes. Only note is the narrators voice sounded like a theater kid reading a monologue in his “this is very serious” voice

Engaging, sad, unflinching

This is a blistering, unflinching view on Stan Lee, the man, giving casual fans a context for all the antagonistism and hostility by other comicbook professionals. Story was engaging and unflinching.

not cool

The man pronounced RZA as R, Z, A instead of Rizza. negative 1 star for that BS.