Stan Lee

Stan Lee is the chairman emeritus and retired writer and editor for Marvel Comics. Although Marvel did not become a name brand until the early 1960s, Lee's contributions to the field go back as far as 1939. In addition to creating iconic comic book heroes such as Spider-Man, the Hulk and the X-Men, Lee has also written literally hundreds of tales for horror-themed anthology titles such as Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. It is quite possible that Lee was the first to introduce the sensationalized serial killer Jack the Ripper to the comic book medium. Jack the Ripper first appeared in All-Select Comics #7 (1945), where he served as a foil against patriotic heroes Captain America and Bucky. One of Lee's more memorable creations, the incredible Hulk was inspired by the dual personalities of Doctor Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde as first introduced in the Robert Louis Stevenson novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll. Many of Lee's other sympathetic monster characters, such as the Fantastic Four’s Thing were also inspired by the sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s, which typically showcased an innocent who has been transformed into a monster via atomic radiation or some other scientific element.

During his tenure as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, Lee was responsible for adapting two of horror's most famous icons: Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster. Dracula was featured in his own title Tomb of Dracula, which premiered with cover date April, 1972. Dracula's first comic book appearance was in Suspense #7 (1951) in an uncredited story entitled "Dracula Lives". This obscure appearance represents the only Golden Age appearance of Marvel's Dracula. The character didn't become a mainstream figure until the Tomb of Dracula series.

A year following the publication of the first issue of Tomb of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster received his own title in 1973's Monster of Frankenstein. Prior to this series, the Frankenstein Monster made three appearances in Marvel Comics. His first appearance was in Menace #7 in a story written by Stan Lee entitled "Your Name is Frankenstein". Menace was published by Atlas Comics, a forerunner to Marvel Comics. Lee resurrected the Monster once again in 1968 in Uncanny X-Men #40, and again in 1969 in Silver Surfer #7.

Lee's editorial contributions were not limited to just Dracula and Frankenstein however. In 1971, Lee edited an issue of Savage Tales, which introduced scientist Ted Sallis whose Frankensteinian scientific research inadvertently transformed him into a Man-Thing. In 1972, Lee began publishing stories that circled around a werewolf named Jack Russell and a skull-headed motorcyclist known as the Ghost Rider. Both the Man-Thing and the Ghost Rider would receive their own feature films.

As Editor-in-Chief

 * Tomb of Dracula (Volume 1) #1

As Editor

 * Tomb of Dracula (Volume 1) #1