As we did in 2021 and 2023 and 2024, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the community. This go round, we're talking with Isaiah about his review of Chaz Gower's "STAN LEE LIED: YOUR HANDY GUIDE TO EVERY LIE IN THE ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS.". You recommend it?
Isaiah:
I do. I recommend it for a number of reasons. First, it's a
fascinating book. Gower gets very detailed and involved and you'll love
the amount of information he presents. Second, Stan Lee has stolen
credit over and over from others so I recommend it because it sets the
historical record straight.
And that's important.
Isaiah:
It's very important. The truth does matter. That's what so many of us
respond to in your writing. And look at the impact -- "California
Dreamin'" was the Mamas and the Papas biggest hits. But it took you two
pointing that out at THIRD for WIKIPEDIA and others to grasp it.
To
be clear, for any late to the party, "Monday Monday" was a number one
hit for one week. "California Dreamin'" -- the group's first single --
peaked on different charts around the country at different times and
never hit number one on the national weekly chart. But it is the bigger
hit because it made to number one on BILLBOARD's singles chart for 1966
-- the number one selling song of the entire year. It sold two million
more copies than "Monday Monday." It is the band's biggest hit. What
was Stan Lee's biggest hit?
Isaiah:
When MARVEL started reprinting older comics and he got to add his name
to them as writer even though Jack Kirby wrote and drew his own comics.
People were credited in the original editions. But when those 60s
editions were reprinted a decade or more later? Suddenly, they had Stan
Lee's name on it.
Why?
Isaiah:
Because he was a glory hog who had no glory and because he was related
to the owner. And putting his name -- falsely -- on these books meant
he and MARVEL could retain the intellectual rights. He's just a liar.
And it's interesting how lies get started and who they're used against.
The book reminded me of the stuff you two have written about THE WIZ
and how it's been falsely attacked regarding money and regarding Diana
Ross.
You
can talk about that if you want, we're probably not going to very much because we've
actually traced down another lie on that, the original lie that
popularized it online. And we plan to write about that soon. But we will again note that the film was not a bomb.
And that the film was released beyond North America even if no one wants
to ever note the overseas box office. But it is cute how IMDB is the basis for
box office for CRAPAPEDIA and CRAPAPEDIA calls CONVOY, released the same
year as THE WIZ, a hit and they call F.I.S.T. a hit when THE WIZ is 21
for 1978, right between CONVOY and F.I.S.T. It's part of the attack on
Black history and Black artists to downgrade THE WIZ and to attack Diana
Ross.
Isaiah:
Without Diana, there is no movie. It would never have been made. Can
we talk about that? I know it's not books but as a Black man I've
gotten really sick of all the attacks and that was before you guys
started writing about how these attacks were based on lies.
Sure.
Rob Cohen, the producer, knew that Diana as Dorothy meant two things
-- the film got made and Diana would get a million dollars for her
portrayal. Diana was the first box office actress to be Black. She
twice made the list of the 20 box office stars. And without her, the
film wouldn't have been made. It would have been another successful
Broadway show with an all Black cast or even a majority Black cast that
got optioned throughout the seventies but never got made. Diana meant
box office. A film that brought in that amount -- and this is film
rentals, not ticket sales -- is not a bomb.
Isaiah:
It brought in basically four times the box office that Richard Pryor's
BLUE COLLAR did the same year. But NETFLIX didn't mention that in the
'documentary' where they slammed Diana and accused her of ending Black
movies. And, to bring it back to the book, Chaz Gower's book does a
real service, for the record, for truth, for Jack Kirby and others
who've seen their credits watered down or outright stolen.
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Previous book discussions:
"Books (Rebecca, Marcia, Ava and C.I.)"
