What I liked
I love how it was told: Stan Lee giving his side, Jack Kirby giving another perspective. I love the mixture of respect and resentment between the two. It also gave nuance to these creators’ motivations. Even though I take the side of Stan Lee bashing, there was also a sympathetic and human side to him. The actor who played Stan Lee had a good balance between doing a Stan Lee impression and making the role his own. The actor who played Jack Kirby was excellent too. Even though he wasn’t trying to do an impression of his voice from old interviews, he was able to get that working-class vibe, toughness and gentleness the King of Comics had in his voice. We only really saw Wally Wood’s role in Marvel. But the way the actor portrayed him, I was thinking “Yeah, this guy feels like he would draw a bunch of Disney characters in an orgy”. And even though Steve Ditko was very cartoonish, that’s how you’d imagine him to be like.
What I didn't like
I think the challenge with depicting Stan Lee, to me, is that he didn’t really change from the 1970’s onto the end of his life. He seemed ageless. (Those glasses really helped) So it felt unconvincing seeing him at 19. I wonder if another actor should’ve portrayed him at that age. Or maybe a minor costume change like a sweater or wig would help.
My overall impression
Before the show, in line, a father and son were reading who the characters are. “Who is Martin Goodman?” I had to butt in and say “That’s the publisher, before comics he was publishing pulp magazines. Also he’s Stan Lee’s uncle-in-law” later on, the play corrected my trivia. “Who is Steve Ditko?” I said “Creator of Spider-Man”. I came in VERY knowledgeable about these people and this story. In interviews with these creators, there are often conflicting accounts of what happened. This play was able to capture that! I hope you have another run soon so I can get all my friends to see it.
