Pow! Entertainment

Stan Lee: Real vs. Fake

After the last two days, I think we need something to lighten things up before we head off to the Thanksgiving weekend.

If someone thinks about comic books long enough to consider that people actually make them, that person is probably aware of Stan Lee. The head editor and face of Marvel Comics in the 1960s, Stan “The Man” Lee helped plot and script nearly the entirety of Marvel’s then growing line of groundbreaking superhero comic books. He also either helped write or oversaw the western, romance, suspense, humor, war and other comics back when Marvel wasn’t primarily limited to one genre. He was also an innovator in fan interaction for the comics world of the time, taking on a carnival barker persona that remains to this day. While he hasn’t been involved in Marvel’s day-to-day operations for a long time, he’s still thought of as the guy who created the Marvel Universe, even if that title almost completely ignores the contributions of the brilliant artists working at Marvel at the time (most significantly Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko). Despite the controversies and legal issues of who really created Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four and all the others, and to what extent, Stan Lee remains a beloved public figure of Marvel and a legendary force of goodwill and visibility for comics in general.

These days, he remains as active as ever with his POW! Entertainment, where he’s provided concepts for a mini-line of superhero comics published by BOOM! Studios, superhero characters for the NHL, manga, and countless other projects, along with a first look deal with Disney and other production partnerships. (But not Stripperella. Nobody had anything to do with Stripperella.) And on the side, he makes cameos in Marvel Studios’ films:

To expand his Twitter and Facebook presence, Stan Lee is getting ready to launch TheRealStanLee.com, which is going to be a community-focused site. Here’s the promotional video that was released yesterday:

And thus we get to the real point of me posting all of this. Included in the above video is a clip of Stan Lee meeting The Fake Stan Lee. Played by cartoonist/improviser Kevin McShane, the Fake Stan Lee hits the right balance of playful tribute and pointed satire. For a few years now, McShane has been posting funny videos of himself as Stan Lee attending comic book conventions and interacting with attendants unabashedly being Stan Lee. And if you don’t know what that means, you got a glimpse at the above video. Now check out the below two videos. The first includes the two Stans meeting at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

And they had another showdown in last year’s Comic-Con:

For more Fake Stan Lee videos, check out his YouTube channel.

Now That Arnold’s Scandal Is Out, What of The Governator? [UPDATE]

The Governator, developed by Stan Lee (artist unknown, unimportant)

In case you haven’t heard, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger secretly fathered a child with a member of his household staff nearly a decade ago. That secret was kept even from his wife, former First Lady of California Maria Shriver, until just recently. The two had announced a separation following 25 years of marriage last week just prior to the information being made public.

Yes this makes for sudsy gossip for some but what does it mean for Schwarzenegger’s plans to enter the world of comic books? At the end of March, he announced through Entertainment Weekly that a combination comic book and animated TV series would launch starring the former Hollywood action hero as a crime fighter. The character and concepts were created in collaboration with Stan Lee, co-creator of such flawed and troubled superheroes as Spider-Man and tons of other Marvel Comics characters. While Stan Lee will forever be remembered for his classic work with seminal artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko in the early 1960s, he remains remarkably active today. Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment helped develop a new line of superhero comics for Boom! Studios and even superheroes for the NHL, to name just two recent projects. He’s even a prolific Twitterer.

So will this scandal sink The Governator? Perhaps cause Stan Lee to distance himself from the flawed and troubled Arnold who may no longer be the best example of a real world hero? According to the LA Times today, probably not.

An outline obtained by The Times says the lead character was to juggle the responsibilities of being an “action hero” and “family man.” One potential theme was to have been when Arnold’s mission was complicated by “remembering to buy Maria a gift for their anniversary.”

After the couple confirmed their separation last week, [Stan] Lee told the Associated Press that plans to include Shriver had been dropped, and that the break-up wouldn’t affect “anything at all, except we can probably have a lot of girls having crushes on our hero as the story goes on — which we probably would have done anyway.”

That quote, given prior to the recent revelation, seems a little harsh now in light of the scandal. For now, I’m sure all parties are waiting to see how public perception evolves, and with so much put into The Governator so far, will try to launch it anyway. If it lands on a network and makes it to print, how will it be received? Will it become the next Spider-Man, or the next Stripperella? I bet Maria Shriver has an opinion.

UPDATE, 5/20/11: This morning, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lawyers released a statement that his acting career was now on hold while he dealt with “personal matters”. That was followed by another statement from the production companies behind The Governator:

“In light of recent events, A Squared Entertainment, POW, Stan Lee Comics, and Archie Comics, have chosen to not go forward with the Governator project.”

Less than two hours later, the statement was revised to saying the project was “on hold.”

Excessive coverage of Stan Lee receiving Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Stan Lee signs fan's Iron Man helmet on Hollywood Walk of Fame (click for more pics)

Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man and tons of other characters published by Marvel Comics, received the 2,428th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday in front of the Live Nation Building in Hollywood. I’m fairly confident saying he is the first comic book creator to be recognized by this institution. Stan’s fellow POW! Entertainment executive Gill Champion and Image Comics co-founder and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane were guest speakers.

I was kind of hoping to get away from work and shoot the ceremony on Tuesday afternoon, but the realities of life had other plans. Not that I think it’s some big crucial moment in comic book history (maybe if the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had created a new category of comic books for the Walk, but no, Stan Lee is in the Motion Pictures category) (plus I became disillusioned some when I found out years ago that recipients pay $30K to get their Star), but still it might’ve been fun to do. I knew coming off the holidays that it would never really happen, though. Plus, when Randy Newman got his Star, there were several videos posted online, so I figured others would already have their cameras ready for someone as beloved as Stan Lee. And I was right. Videos starting hitting YouTube about an hour or two after the event.

For more slick coverage, check out the LA Times’ Hero Complex blog, the LAist‘s collection of pics (like the one above), the Washington Post, and with videos of their own: CNN, Hollywood Reporter, and LA station ABC-7. Also, Variety has a quick story on the after-party Tuesday night.

Some bold statements in the above links caught my eye, and I just want to touch on them briefly, because while Stan Lee deserves a lot of praise, it’s important to keep things in perspective and not get overcome with hyperbole. Phrases like “father of the super hero” and “created or co-created 90 percent of Marvel’s characters” stand out to me most. The former is pretty silly. I could see him being called the father of the modern super hero (or some such modifying term), but he did not create or co-create Superman (that would be Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster). The latter percentage seems really rounded up. I can agree with 90% of the Marvel characters most people have heard of or know about through mainstream movies and TV shows, but not of the entire library of thousands of Marvel characters. But I’m nitpicking, so enough of that. There is no doubt that Stan Lee helped rejuvenate, even revolutionize, the super-hero genre in the 1960s, and he helped build the foundation of Marvel Comics both as a company and a fictional universe. He has also done a lot as a personality/celebrity to bring comics awareness to the masses. I know plenty of people who have never read a Spider-Man comic (or any other comic) but they know of Stan Lee because he’s a character himself. So congratulations, Stan Lee! And congratulations, comics! There’s no way I could see this happening 5 or 10 years ago.

Click through for your Stan Lee Star Video Feed complete with shaky handheld and subpar audio.

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Comics Events in LA: Week of 1/2/11

You don’t have to sit at home alone reading to get into comic books and graphic novels. There are always great events going on that celebrate the vitality and creativity of comics. Just here in Los Angeles, there are more events I can ever make. But I try, and so should you. You never know what you’ll discover.

Here are some local Los Angeles events coming up that celebrate the sequential art form.

This week:

Tuesday, January 4, 11:30 AM: Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, et al.) will be honored with the 2,428th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (in the category of Motion Pictures) at 7072 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 90028 (in front of the Live Nation Building). Guest speakers: Gill Champion (President/COO, Pow! Entertainment) and Todd McFarlane (Spawn). Tickets: $0.

Wednesday, January 5: NEW COMICS DAY! Find your local comics specialty shop.

Wednesday, January 5, 8 PM: Comics podcast Bagged & Boarded with SModcastle’s Matt Cohen and Brendan Creecy with special guest TBA has a live show broadcast at SModcastle, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles 90038. Tickets: $10.

Wednesday, January 5, 8:30 PM: The Meltdown (weekly comedy show) with stand-up comedians Barry Rothbart, Brett Gelman, Jackie Kashian, Brendon Walsh, and Maria Bamford, at Meltdown Comics, 7522 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 90046. Tickets: $8.

Saturday, January 8, 8 PM: Battle for the Planet of the Geeks, calling itself “the dorkiest trivia war ever waged”, is being held at SModcastle, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles 90038. Tickets: $10 or $40 for 4-person team.

The future: (more…)