Dot-com debacle: USA Today chronicles the mess that was Stan Lee Media, the dot-com that launched to much fanfare in 2000 only to fall apart in a $25 million stock-manipulation scheme hatched by co-founder Peter Paul:

"The case is particularly vexing to fans of Stan 'The Man' Lee, the former head of Marvel Comics who helped create Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Avengers and hundreds of other characters in the 1960s and '70s. The start-up was supposed to launch a late-life career for Lee, who would introduce new characters and eye-popping yarns on the Web to another generation. Others would handle the business end.

"'It's a larger-than-life ending to a fantastical tale,' says Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics and a longtime observer of Lee. 'This was played on an operatic stage.'"