Local artist looks back on his time working under Stan Lee at Marvel Comics

Stan Lee made a huge impact on the comic industry and its characters, but didn’t do it alone. He worked with many artists who brought his ideas to life. One of those is right here in Lincoln.

Local artist Bob Hall remembers his first day working as an artist for Marvel comics.

It started with a trip to the office of legend Stan Lee.

“It was him standing on his desk and acting out how a Marvel comic should be done and how dramatic it should be and especially when being heroes they were larger than life, and I think that’s because he was larger than life,” Hall said.

Stan Lee died Monday at 95–years–old.

“He’ll be missed, he was a really great guy,” Hall said.

He’s credited with turning Marvel comics into what they are today.

“They had real problems, real lives outside of being superheroes,” Hall said. “Just like regular people, Spiderman worried about girlfriends and dandruff and about paying rent, it had a touch of reality.

Hall said many people doubted Lee in the beginning, but if you look at where marvel comics are today, he was right.

Everyone was in awe of him, even his employees.

“One day he was walking through the office and he looked at Iron Man and said why doesn’t he have a nose?” Hall said. “It was joke but editors took it very seriously and started drawing Iron Man with a nose, he looked like an upside down coffee pot.”

Lee also had a soft spot. He agreed to be a board member on a theater company Hall ran in New York City.

“I asked him and he said I’d never be able to come to meetings because I live in Los Angeles, I told him I didn’t want him to come to meetings, I just wanted Stan Lee on the board,” Hall said.

Another thing that Hall said is special about Lee is the way he involved fans into the Marvel world.

Hall said he’d answer their questions in an advice column, and send them a signed envelope with nothing in it as a “no prize” for finding mistakes in his stories.

His legacy stretches far and wide, but Hall thinks it’s that feeling he gave fans that will be missed the most.

“He gave you the sense that you were part of it, it’s a legacy people are trying to replicate but nobody’s done it as well as Stan did it,” Hall said.

Bob Hall worked at Marvel with Stan Lee for 15 years. He worked mainly on the Avengers, Spider–Man and the Fantastic Four.

Take a look at his art here: https://bobhall.com/