Despite Stan Lee's strong association with American comics, the legendary writer actually tried his hand at creating two manga series. Far more out there than even the wildest adventures of the Fantastic Four though, his manga Ultimo literally made Lee himself the villain.
Teaming up with Shaman King mangaka Hiroyuki Takei, Lee's Karakuri Dōji Ultimo is far more complicated than anything readers would expect from Lee. Taking place in modern Japan, the series follows a high school student named Yamato whose life is changed by the eponymous mechanical boy, Ultimo. Readers eventually come to learn that Ultimo, and his evil counterpart Vice, are both creations of a man from the future named Roger Dunstan. Dunstan created the two androids as the ultimate good and the ultimate evil. He also created seven other evil androids representing Christianity's seven deadly sins, as well as six other good androids, representing the six perfections of Buddhism. While all of that is ridiculous in its own right, it becomes even stranger with the knowledge that Dunstan is clearly based on Lee himself, right down to his sunglasses and mustache. As if to remove any doubt about his identity, he even uses Stan Lee's catchphrase, Excelsior.
From there, things get even more over-the-top. Dunstan isn't just a scientist who created powerful robots, he himself is basically omnipotent. His experiments on his own body have given him control over all elements, meaning he's basically as powerful as Dr. Manhattan. Dunstan's goal is ultimately to have the forces of good and evil prove which is superior in a potentially cataclysmic event called the Hundred Machine Funeral. Dunstan also possesses his own personal android named Milieu who represents neutrality. Despite Dunstan's insistence that he takes no sides though, his scheming and calculating put him firmly in the grounds of villain. One of his empowered forms even looks like the final boss from a JRPG like one of the Final Fantasy games.
While the choice to base Dunstan off of Lee might seem strange, and it definitely does add a layer of weirdness, symbolically it makes sense. As a writer and creator of stories, Lee's role is essentially to pit good against evil. This also explains Dunstan's omnipotence, as Lee has the power to make anything happen in his story. Looking at it this way, a few confusing plot points are also explained. The recurring theme of reincarnation could very well represent how creators are always reusing old ideas and making them new again.
Despite Ultimo's confusing plot, the series is clearly Lee's attempt at saying something deeper about human nature and humanity's relationship to stories. It's almost tempting to see Ultimo as Lee's attempt at fusing manga with the cosmic ideas famously explored by Lee's longtime collaborator Jack Kirby. Regardless of its inspiration though, Stan Lee's attempt at creating a manga is a wild ride worth taking.