What I liked
The performances are top notch. If you don’t know who these people are, you will after one scene with each of them. Stan as host and devil behind the curtains is pitch perfect. But so are Joan, Roz, Martin Goodman, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood and most of all, Jack Kirby. The staging and breakneck pace of the show serve it very well. It makes a lot of turbulent comic book publishing minutae understandable and interesting for all audiences.
What I didn't like
I want to see a new production of this with supertitles and projections that can enhance audience knowledge and understanding of comic book form and function. I’d love a scene that gave neophyte audiences a breakdown of how the team works to produce pages in pencils, inks, coloring, and lettering, so that they might have a greater understanding of how much work the artists were doing to create comic books in the early Marvel era. Just seeing layouts, pencil roughs, finished pencils and inks before lettering would be cool.
My overall impression
A brilliant encapsulation of a very dense period of comic book publishing history. The creations and work of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Steve Ditko, and Wally Wood persist to this day as games, books, shows, cartoons, and film. The turmoil that surrounded the workplace and lives of these smart and flawed creators is brought to life by a fantastically well-tuned cast and an excellent script. The quick pace and deft direction make excellent use of both cast and space. Excelsior!
