Stan Lee may be a comic book legend, but even he had his share of epic misfires over the
decades.
As fans around the world commemorate his life's work, there are a few comics getting attention
that he'd probably wish had stayed forgotten.
"Aren't you…?
"Oh!
Stan Lee.
Hi."
Fearful that another company could swoop in and snatch the name out from under them, Stan
Lee hastily threw together a one-off issue, featuring the superbly titled superhero as
a woman who'd evolved from a spider.
It was slapped-together, and it felt like it.
The character was allegedly never meant to continue past this story, much less find an
audience.
But when Spider Woman's debut issue of Marvel Spotlight #32 sold remarkably well, Lee and
company had a bit of a problem on their hands.
They'd made the character for legal reasons, now they had to make her good.
Writer Marv Wolfman was given the task of making her more than a piece of intellectual
property.
He gave her a new backstory, insisting that her memories of being born an arachnid were
actually implanted by HYDRA, an easy enough fix, so why not?
She was also given a new name, combining the name of his daughter with fictional detective
Nancy Drew.
Jessica Drew soon developed a fan base and an ever-evolving set of powers that never
really made a lot of sense.
Regardless, she went on to become a popular player in the Marvel Universe.
We're a long way away from that terrible debut.
Few people go on runs like Stan Lee did in the '60s, when he was setting creative milestones
and churning out classic characters as a matter of habit.
Considering all the different projects Lee was involved in, it isn't surprising that
a few ideas would turn out to be clunkers.
That's really the only explanation for Paste-Pot Pete, a villain who took advantage of the
evil powers of glue.
Or super glue, if you're feeling clever.
Pete was a lowly chemist when he accidentally created a fireproof superglue.
The discovery abruptly made him act like an insane person, immediately donning a giant,
purple hat and taking up a life of crime.
His debut in Strange Tales #104 made it clear that Pete's glue was not that intimidating
and more just inconvenient.
Who could lose to this guy?
Shortly after he was released into the wild, Lee and his team realized that Pete needed
a serious revamp.
They ditched the paste for high tech gadgets, and gave the villain a new name, Trapster.
Even with those small improvements, the character is still arguably one of the worst enemies
Lee ever had a hand in creating.
Look back fifty years or so, and you can find some astoundingly weird racism casually nesting
in the occasional Marvel Comics story.
Take, for instance, the brief period of time when "being Asian" was somehow considered
a superpower.
The year was 1961, and the comic was Amazing Adventures #1.
One story in the issue, written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Steve
Ditko, included an American character named Dr. Anthony Droom being physically transformed
into an Asian person by a Himalayan lama.
As the changes take effect, he shouts cringe-worthy lines such as "My eyes!
They're becoming slanted!"
Droom's racial transformation wasn't just an aesthetic one.
He also received mystical powers.
The character only stuck around for a couple of more issues before the Fantastic Four's
popularity took over.
When he did come back in 1976, he had a whole new name, Dr. Druid.
He also had a different backstory, which thankfully left out any elements of race-swapping.
Regardless, we wouldn't expect this guy to show up in the movies anytime soon.
Comics have been getting dinged for decades for the less-than-great ways they represent
women.
But when readers have called for strong female characters, we're guessing Stan Lee's Stripperella
isn't what they had in mind.
This shameful comic tells the story of Exotica Jones, a stripper-turned-superhero who spent
her downtime in the club, making money moves.
While you can kind of see where Lee was coming from, this was a comic with severely misplaced
ambitions, so much so that it never even saw official release.
Stan Lee explained that he thought the stripper by day, superhero by night character would
be an intelligent figure and someone audiences would emphasize with.
While the proposed tie-in comic was cancelled, the Stripperella idea lived on as an adult-oriented
animated series, making its debut on Spike TV in 2003.
The show lasted for one 13-episode season.
Years later, Lee tried to bring the property back as an app-based webcomic, apparently
not listening as the world begged him to just stop.
Considering Lee got sued by a real stripper who claimed she pitched the idea while giving
him a lap dance, we're betting that this is one comic creation he probably wished had
never made it out of the Champagne Room.
DC Comics thought they'd hit the jackpot when they talked Stan Lee into swapping sides to
write a miniseries featuring his reimagined versions of classic DC characters like Superman,
the Flash, Wonder Woman, and all the rest.
Sadly, the Stan Lee they got wasn't the 1960s visionary, but the turn of the century creator
whose name showed up on questionable stuff like Striperella.
That's how Stan Lee's Batman turned into a misfire for the ages.
The final product isn't awful, it's just really unoriginal.
The comic book tells the story of Wayne Williams, an ex-convict who takes up wrestling while
looking for vengeance against the gang members who killed his father.
You may recall a character from Lee's glory days who also honed his skills in the wrestling
ring.
That's right: while putting his own spin on The Dark Knight, Lee just couldn't help but
rip off Spider-Man.
Lee had a tendency to go back to the same creative well every once in a while.
He's responsible for so many comic book legends that it's hard to blame him, but if this comic
had anyone else's name on the cover, it would get dragged as the retread that it is.
While Lee of course deserves high honors, we're betting comics like this aren't what
he wanted to be remembered for.