Decoding Stan Lee’s Spider-Man Movie Notes from 1984

The American Heritage Center houses a vast number of Stan Lee’s personal papers, including handwritten notecards from 1984 that reveal his first ideas for a Spider-Man movie. Last fall, I had the amazing opportunity to view copies of these notecards and transcribe them. Through the process of deciphering Stan Lee’s unique handwriting, I experienced, firsthand, the ups and downs of transcribing handwritten documents. I also gained a deeper appreciation for handwriting in general, as it gives us a window into understanding the humans behind our history.

What is Transcription?

Transcription is the process of converting something into written form. Spoken words, for instance, can be transcribed so that there’s a written document of what was said. When it comes to already-written documents that are found in an archive, someone might transcribe an individual’s distinctive handwriting style into a typed format in order to make it easier and quicker to read. Reading handwriting can be difficult and time-consuming, even more so with styles like cursive which we may not be as familiar with. In outlining my process of transcribing Stan Lee’s Spider-Man movie notes, my hope is to assure people that anyone can take part in the important and rewarding experience of transcribing handwritten documents at the archive.

My First Look at the Notecards

Going into this project, I assumed the task of transcribing Stan Lee’s handwriting would be fairly straightforward. I mistakenly believed that only centuries-old handwriting is difficult to read. These notecards were quite challenging for me to get through even though Stan Lee wrote them not all that long ago. Below is one of the first notecards I reviewed. I quickly realized this was going to be a lot harder than I had initially thought!

This notecard reads: “Peter sees Dr. Octavius lecturing, demonstrating use of waldoes. Ock’s waldoes work better than anyone else’s because he applies secret anti-grav discs which no one else knows about. Ock humorously mentions he wishes he had these years ago to stop his infant child from getting into everything.” Box 10, Folder 12, Envelope 1 of 11, Stan Lee papers, Coll. No. 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming..

It’s all about a person’s individual handwriting style—if you aren’t familiar with it, then it’s going to take some time to get used to, no matter how old it is. These notecards may not have been written in eighteenth-century cursive, but Stan Lee’s handwriting style is unique all the same. He primarily wrote in uppercase on these notecards, and several of his letters look alike, particularly his vowels.

All of this is to say that I was immediately overwhelmed the first time I looked at the notecards. I needed to reevaluate my approach and start looking at this like a puzzle that needed to be solved.

Getting Started

After I started to approach this project with more of an open mind, I was able to recognize a huge advantage that I had that won’t always be the case with every transcription project. That is, I was already familiar with some important details about Spider-Man’s story. I already knew about Peter Parker, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Doc Ock, Flash Thompson, and J. Jonah Jameson before I even started reading. If I found these characters’ names on the notecards, then I could use them to establish what Stan Lee’s individual letters look like. This was crucial in helping me decipher trickier words that happened to contain these letters. Below is the very first notecard. It immediately taught me a lot about Stan Lee’s handwriting, including the distinctive way he wrote the letter A. Finding “Aunt May” on this notecard provided me with two examples of the letter A that I could then apply to other words that weren’t immediately obvious to me.

This notecard reads: “Spider weaves web over credits. At end, Aunt May brushes it away with a broom. She hates spiders.” Box 10, Folder 12, Envelope 1 of 11, Stan Lee papers, Coll. No. 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Knowing details about the general plot of Spider-Man also helped quite a bit. For example, we all know that Spider-Man’s origin story includes him being bitten by a radioactive spider and gaining superpowers. I knew that these details were sure to show up somewhere in the notecards. Below is a notecard that discusses the radioactive spider bite and Peter Parker learning about his new powers. “Muggers” was a tricky word for me to figure out on this card, but it helped that I knew the context and that it was written twice. After I discovered this was a word that Stan Lee used in this context, it was easier to recognize on subsequent notecards.

This notecard reads: “Peter attacked by some muggers after lecture (after radioactive spider bite). Peter beats up 3 muggers easily. Leaps onto wall to save himself from car. Tests his new abilities. Can crawl on walls & ceilings like a spider!” Box 10, Box 10, Folder 12, Envelope 2 of 11, Stan Lee papers, Coll. No. 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Solving the Puzzle

The transcription process went from overwhelming to fun as I became more familiar with Stan Lee’s handwriting. I got better at recognizing the way he wrote different letters, and I learned which letters I frequently got mixed up. For example, the way Stan Lee wrote the letter U often looked like the letter V to me. In addition, his letter H sometimes looked like the letter W. As stated earlier, I also confused Stan Lee’s vowels, mostly A, E, and O. The notecard below includes examples of these letters and hopefully illustrates why I struggled with them.

This notecard reads: “Peter sees Doc Ock taken away on a stretcher. Peter thinks nothing much of it. But – he will!” Box 10, Folder 12, Envelope 2 of 11, Stan Lee papers, Coll. No. 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

After I had quite a bit of practice reading Stan Lee’s handwriting and was starting to feel more confident in my ability to transcribe it, I stumbled upon some notecards that feature cursive. I had to adjust to this new style, and this also took time. A notecard featuring a mix of Stan Lee’s uppercase and his cursive is shown below.

This notecard reads: “JJ buys Spidey pix (protestingly). Peter suspects that Robbie is suspicious re his real identity. Both men like each other.” Box 10, Folder 12, Envelope 6 of 11, Stan Lee papers, Coll. No. 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

As the transcription process became easier, I found myself in a better position to appreciate Stan Lee’s voice and humor. Even though I know Spider-Man’s story, I still found myself invested in what was going to happen next. There were some details that were new to me because they aren’t found in the Spider-Man adaptations that I’m familiar with. It’s amazing to be able to see Stan Lee’s ideas in his own handwriting. I was only able to really appreciate what was in front of me after I worked through my initial feelings of fear and frustration. Stan Lee’s voice and humor shine through in the notecard shown below which details a scene that takes place during the climax of the story.

This notecard reads: “Ock, via radio, demands a billion dollars – amnesty – one state to rule as his own – can be a small one, even Rhode Island will do – laughs, doesn’t wanna be thought of as unreasonable. Demands must be meet [sic] in 3 hours – after that, ray will dissipate!” Box 10, Folder 12, Envelope 10 of 11, Stan Lee papers, Coll. No. 8302, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Reading Handwriting Matters

The most important thing I learned from this experience is that being patient pays off in a big way. Transcription will be overwhelming and frustrating at points, but you will learn as you go and what you discover along the way is worth it. I took the time to understand what Stan Lee was saying in these notecards, and in addition to accessing a special version of Spider-Man’s story, I also got an intimate view of Stan Lee’s creative process and who he was as a person. I would have never experienced this if I hadn’t worked to decipher his handwriting. Reading historical handwriting lets us interact with people’s stories in such a unique way, and there is something valuable to be learned from any transcription project. Just remember to take your time, take lots of breaks, ask for help when you need it, and recognize the significance of the individuals who wrote down their stories!

Interested in Transcription?

Information is for everybody, and nobody should be deterred from discovering information just because they can’t read a certain handwriting. Going to an archive to interact with historical documents is an incredibly rewarding experience, but not everybody has the time or resources to transcribe a document’s contents from start to finish in order to understand the importance of what is being said. Viewing a typed transcript alongside the original document is the best of both worlds—it helps people more easily access the information while also allowing them to see the personality of the individual who wrote it. If you enjoy working through puzzles, consider volunteering to help transcribe handwritten documents at the American Heritage Center. You can also come view the Stan Lee Papers at the AHC to learn more about his legendary career and discover how his early Spider-Man movie ideas compare to the story we know and love!

Post contributed by AHC Graduate Assistant Harper Pachel, a student in the University of Wyoming’s American Studies Program.