1 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. supervising        B. serious        C. hit        D. illustrate        E. transformed F. practiced        G. contrasted        H. landscape        I. comparing        J. critical K. starts

If Stan Lee revolutionized the comic book world in the 1960s, which he did, he left as big a stamp on the even wider pop culture     1     of today.

Mr. Lee was a central player in the creation of all properties of Marvel Comics. Indeed, he was for many the father of Marvel,     2     the company^ emergence as an international media giant. A writer, editor, publisher, Hollywood executive and tireless promoter of Marvel, he played a     3     role in what comics fans call the medium’s silver age.

Stan Lee was born on Dec. 28, 1922, in Manhattan, the older of two sons born to Jack Lieber, and Celia Lieber, both immigrants from Romania. When graduated at 17 from high school, he aspired to be a writer of     4     literature. He was set on the path to becoming a different kind of writer. However, after a few false     5     at other jobs, he was hired at Timely Publications and the comics field.

In 1961, Mr. Lee and Mr. Kirby produced the first issue of The Fantastic Four, about a super-powered team with humanizing dimensions, which was a     6    .

Mr. Lee     7     what he called the Marvel method: Instead of handing artists’ scripts to     8    , he summarized stories and let the artists draw them and fill in a plot details as they chose. He then added sound effects and dialogues.

Under Mr. Lee, Marvel     9     the comic book world by filling its characters with the self-doubts, as well an awareness of trends and a sense of humor. In humanizing his heroes, giving them character flaws that     10     with their supernatural strengths,Mr. Lee tried “to make them real flesh-and-blood characters with personality.”