As a writer, editor, and promoter Stan Lee revitalized comic books, created pop culture icons, and, in the process, became "comicdom's" first celebrity. Yet, before he made his mark on the industry and the culture, Lee spent 20 years toiling in obscurity.

Young Stanley Lieber, who had won the New York Herald Tribune essay contest for three consecutive years, had visions of being a great writer. After graduating from high school, the 17-year-old Lieber took what he thought would be a temporary job with Timely Comics (a company owned by his cousin-in-law, Martin Goodman). At first, the job consisted mostly of proofreading, sharpening pencils, and making coffee, but by the middle of the following year young Lieber did his first writing for comic books—a two page text piece in Captain America number 3. He signed the work "Stan Lee." It was the first use of...