All idols have feet of clay, but, by this unpleasant account, Lee’s were more fragile than most.
A takedown of the comic-book legend, recapitulating well-worn charges about authorship while adding bits and pieces to them.
Stan Lee (1922-2018) was something of a con man, writes Riesman, who began this book as a profile for New York magazine that, unsurprisingly, incurred the subject’s wrath. He was also easily conned, particularly in his later years, when he was beset by misery—including an allegedly abusive daughter who seemed intent on spending all of Lee’s money and hangers-on who bilked him out of millions. Former associates don’t come off much better. Of one, writes the author, “He has little to show for his years of labor other than an endless stream of stories, lots of them about how he was wronged by others (a common refrain, for whatever reason, among men Stan grew close to), but many about seemingly every interaction he and Stan ever had.” Most fraught—and a tale well known to students of comic-book history—is the question of authorship of such famed superheroes as Spider-Man, with credit going either to Joe Simon or Jack Kirby (and perhaps both) and not to Lee, who claimed it for his own. Long after Kirby’s death, Disney, which owned Lee’s Marvel brand, settled with the family for millions in a legal battle that almost went to the Supreme Court; other of Lee’s enterprises ended up under investigation. Riesman adds that Lee’s own creations were less than heroic, as when he pitched actress Whoopi Goldberg a yarn in which she would play “the offspring of an alien father and a human mother who possesses the ability to be sexually irresistible to men.” Goldberg didn’t take the gig, and she seems an odd choice if we are to accept Riesman’s charge that Lee habitually made “racist, homophobic, and misogynist remarks.”
All idols have feet of clay, but, by this unpleasant account, Lee’s were more fragile than most.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13571-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.
A future basketball Hall of Famer’s rosy outlook.
Curry is that rare athlete who looks like he gets joy from what he does. There’s no doubt that the Golden State Warriors point guard is a competitor—he’s led his team to four championships—but he plays the game with nonchalance and exuberance. That ease, he says, “only comes from discipline.” He practices hard enough—he’s altered the sport by mastering the three-point shot—so that he achieves a “kind of freedom.” In that “flow state,” he says, “I can let joy and creativity take over. I block out all distractions, even the person guarding me. He can wave his arms and call me every name in the book, but I just smile and wait as the solution to the problem—how to get the ball into the basket—presents itself.” Curry shares this approach to his craft in a stylish collection that mixes life lessons with sharp photographs and archival images. His dad, Dell, played in the NBA for 16 years, and Curry learned much from his father and mother: “My parents were extremely strict about me and my little brother Seth not going to my pops’s games on school nights.” Curry’s mother, Sonya, who founded the Montessori elementary school that Curry attended in North Carolina, emphasized the importance not just of learning but of playing. Her influence helped Curry and his wife, Ayesha, create a nonprofit foundation: Eat. Learn. Play. He writes that “making reading fun is the key to unlocking a kid’s ability to be successful in their academic journeys.” The book also has valuable pointers for ballers—and those hoping to hit the court. “Plant those arches—knees bent behind those 10 toes pointing at the hoop, hips squared with your shoulders—and draw your power up so you explode off the ground and rise into your shot.” Sounds easy, right?
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780593597293
Page Count: 432
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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