True Believer Quotes

“To me, faith is the opposite of intelligence, because faith means believing something blindly. I don’t know why God—if there is a God—gave us these brains if we’re going to believe things blindly.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“Men who had been doctors and lawyers in the Old Country were reduced to roving as street peddlers. “This was the boasted American freedom and opportunity,” said Ravage, “the freedom for respectable citizens to sell cabbages from hideous carts, the opportunity to live in those monstrous, dirty caves that shut out the sunshine.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“Even if the informer were right, and Couza were a sham, America surely was no sham.” Perhaps we are to take the story as allegory; either way, the point stood: In the new Jerusalem they called the United States, you could make it just fine as a bullshitter.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“ENDING UP IN the care of one’s child is generally seen as a natural outcome of a life well lived, but it is unlikely that Stan knew peace once his daughter was calling the shots in his life. Stan’s existence grew quieter for the remainder of his days, insofar as there were no more visits from the cops or notarized statements attesting to Grand Guignol circumstances. But based on all we know about Stan’s relationship with JC, from testimony and his own recorded words, we can only assume that his hours were still privately hellish. As a source close to the Lees says, JC is “very fear-based” and prone to verbal violence. “It’ll be something simple,” the person says, “like ‘Oh, I forgot to pick up the milk,’ and suddenly this whole avalanche of ‘You’re a terrible person and you’re just trying to use me!’ That kind of thing will happen. It’s incredibly hard to be around. It’s incredibly toxic.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“What’s more, members of Stan’s inner circle say JC lost all control in this stretch of time, allegedly going so far as to physically attack her parents. And yet, in a stunning contrast, while Stan became mired in the grime of his private world, his public image shone brighter than ever. As the Marvel brand ascended—first gradually, then rapidly—to the heights Stan had dreamed of, he was allowed to bask in its reflected glory, his face plastered on the big screen in cameo appearances that made him recognizable around the globe and swiftly solidified his status as a cultural icon of the upper echelons.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“Such is the legacy of Stan’s final attempt to achieve professional success. Ostensibly a humble shop dedicated to gifting the world with new gems from the mind of the man who made Marvel, POW was, by many accounts, a largely criminal enterprise. It stands accused of routinely ripping off investors, lying to shareholders, entering the stock market through an illegitimate merger, and committing bankruptcy fraud, among other misconduct. Reports differ as to how much Stan knew about what was going on, but even if he was out of the loop, his decision to stay out of the loop and remain uninterested in his own company’s dealings—especially in the wake of the Stan Lee Media debacle—does not speak well of him. Perhaps his neglect meant he ultimately had no problem with the commission of crimes, so long as the company kept filling his coffers with relatively easy money, as one lawsuit claims.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“In the summer of 1998, as Marvel was restructuring after its bankruptcy, Stan’s contract was terminated (a later lawsuit brought by JC against Marvel said he was fired, but that may just be a matter of semantics). When he went to meet with Perlmutter about getting a new one, the latter reportedly told him he could come back with a two-year deal that paid him only $ 500,000 a year—a significant reduction from what he’d been paid previously, and a paycheck that could easily stop after the two years were up. It wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Joan and JC’s expensive habits and the lifestyle he himself had grown accustomed to. “And he cried on my shoulder, literally,” Paul recalls. “He said, ‘What do I do? I can’t live on $ 500,000 and two years. I don’t know what to do.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“(For what it’s worth, Kirby had him beat by a mile: The show’s creators had put the King in an episode as a police sketch artist a decade prior.)”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“MAY 7, 1989, brought a quiet milestone for Stan: the first of his many onscreen cameos. That evening saw the airing of a TV-movie sequel to the old NBC live-action series The Incredible Hulk, entitled The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“After a decade of lackluster leadership at Marvel and a prior decade of taking credit for things he didn’t do, Stan’s demons were finally starting to catch up to him in public.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“Stan had, in a way, fulfilled the wish he’d harbored since at least the end of World War II: He was finally free from the world of comic books. The time had come to try his hand in showbiz. Like a wish on the monkey’s paw, the results ended up being as much curse as blessing.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“Wood gave up, left, and never forgave Stan as long as he lived. “He despised Stan,” recalls Wood’s former assistant Ralph Reese. “He was always on, he was always being Stan Lee. He was just a relentless self-promoter. He was kind of a phony, in Wood’s opinion.” Years later, according to Reese, Wood and Ditko would spend time together and kvetch about Stan. “They said that Stan’s a blowhard and took credit for a lot of stuff he didn’t really create,” Reese recalls. “Even more than that, they resented the fact that Stan was making millions of dollars and they were still struggling, living in rented apartments.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

“WE CAN BE certain of one thing: Stan Lee was far less than truthful about his life and accomplishments. He lied about little things, he lied about big things, he lied about strange things, and there’s one massive, very consequential thing he may very well have lied about. If he did lie about that last thing—and there’s substantial reason to believe he did—it completely changes his legacy.”
― Abraham Riesman, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee