Stan Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber in Manhattan, New York on December 28, 1922. During World War II, he wrote training manuals stateside in the Army Signal Corps while moonlighting as a comics writer. He joined Marvel Comics in the early 1940s and worked there for 60 years. He was a central player in the creation of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and the X-Men. He wrote several books including Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee written with George Mair, Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir written with Peter David, and A Trick of Light written with Kat Rosenfield. He died on November 12, 2018 at the age of 95.
Stephen Ditko was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on November 2, 1927. After graduating from high school in 1945, he joined the Army and was stationed in Germany, where he drew cartoons for a service newspaper. In 1950, he attended the Cartoonist and Illustrator School in New York. He was best known for his role in creating Spider-Man. He also created or helped create Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Iron Man, the Hulk, Dr. Strange, and Squirrel Girl. He was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 1994. He was found dead on June 29, 2018 at the age of 90.
