Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Rest In Peace, Mrs. Joan Lee

Several creators I follow on FB have posted condolences to Stan Lee on the passing of his wife, Joan... somebody remarked this year marked their 70th anniversary.

Very sad. Do you know if they got to their anniversary or if it was coming up?

I was surprised to realize that I didn't know his wife's name. Roz Kirby is such a big part of jack's legacy. But then I realized that this was probably because she outlived Jack and became the caretaker of his legacy after he was gone.

My condolences to Stan, to his and Joan's daughter J.L. Lee, and all the rest of their friends and loved ones.

Legend has it that Joan turned around Stan's life and career when he was ready to quit comics at the beginning of the 60s, by asking him something along the lines of, "Why don't you do one more comic book before you quit, but do it the way you want it done, get it out of your system, and show the industry what they'll be losing?" Cue the first issue of Fantastic Four...

I don't know how much truth there is to that tale, but it's clear that Joan was a loving, loyal, and supportive partner to Stan. May she rest in peace.

^ you never know if that story is apocrypha or not, but its certainly a good legend. Regardless, there is no doubt about one thing, which is that Joan was a major force to help push Stan in the early 1960's to undergo a total personality change and become the show-business master, Stan "The Man" Lee of Marvel legend. From his over the top personality on the letter pages and in news articles, to his style of dress to everything else, Stan was a major reason Marvel ascended to the top--his personality was (and is) a critical part of Marvel, probably even more than his actual writing and editing. And so much of that is because Joan encouraged him to just go for it. The more you learn about Joan, the more you understand the "making" of Stan the Man.

RIP Joan. Major condolences to Stan. 70 years is one helluva of a ride.

I've read that when he was RE-writing John Romita's stories at the dialogue stage, and back-seat driving the direction of the book after-the-fact, that Lee based HIS version of "Gwen Stacy" (which had virtually NOTHING in common with the character Steve Ditko created), on his wife Joan. I can believe it.

I mainly know her as the voice of Madame Web from the 90s Spider-Man cartoon

I’ve always had a real soft spot for Lee-Romita era Gwen Stacy, so I hope that’s true. It’s true in my head now at any rate, and I suspect if someone asked Stan it would be true for him as well, whether it was or not at the time.