The Amazing Spider-Man hits the big screen on 3 July, so discover more about comic book mastermind Stan Lee, as he shares the stories of his creations with Web of Stories

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Hailed by his millions of fans worldwide as a creative genius, Stan Lee is best known for his fictional comic book characters, including superheroes such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and the Fantastic Four. Readers loved them and Marvel Comics, with Lee at the helm as president and chairman, went on to grow from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation. Lee was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1994, and even had 2 October 2009 named as Stan Lee Day in the County of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach. In 2010 the Stan Lee Foundation was founded to focus on literacy, education and the arts. On 4 January 2011, Lee received the 2428th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the fascinating and compelling video clips on Web of Stories, Lee recounts why certain characters resonated so well with readers: 'I was lucky with Peter Parker... because he seems to have struck a chord with so many readers, and I think it's because he's probably more like a regular person, a normal person, than any other character... Until Peter Parker, no superhero - or no superhero's alter-ego - had ever had to worry about making a living, getting along well with girls, being popular.' He also shares his inspiration for The Hulk: 'I thought it would be fun to get a monster who was really a good guy, but nobody knew that, and to take a leaf from the Jekyll and Hyde thing where he could change from a normal person into the monster.' Lee also considers why he felt Marvel led the way in comic book development and popularity: 'I gave all our characters... these little balloons with bubbles instead of pointers where you knew what the character was thinking. Now, I did that to a great extent. Hardly anybody else ever did in comics, but it gave such another dimension to our characters, 'cause if you know what somebody is thinking, you really know the person.' You can read more about Lee's work, life and characters as this series of insightful, captivating recordings can be watched as a number of short clips, with a fully searchable transcript. All Web of Stories videos are easy to share with friends and colleagues, and may be embedded into personal blogs and websites.