May 3, 2012

EXCELSIOR...THE STAN LEE STORY




Yes, I have laid claim to the fact that Shuster and Seigel created my favorite super hero ....BUT...there is a bloke just a smidge below them on the ladder of comic greatness that created my next 47 favorite super heros (and villians)...the man that has a restraining order on Dr Sheldon Cooper, the one, the only, EXCELSIOR, STAN "THE MAN" LEE...comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics., ...the man is , was and probably shall ever be a prolific genius, I dont know if you have watched the specials on Spiderman One DVD or not, I have, and its got a amazing documentary/interview with the great man himself, an awesome watch if you have time.


Stan is sort of like the James patterson of comics, he collaborates with people, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and this has led to the amazing amount of heros and villians that can be claimed to have come from the Marvel Universe...Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, Prince Namor, Captain America and Black Bolt, are among the names that have been placed firmly into comic book mythos because of the creativity of Stan and his cohorts...Hell, we can even put the blame squarely on Stan's shoulders for the creation of KISS's own blood spitting god of Thunder, The Demon himself, Gene Simmons, who was, is and shall forever be a Stan Lee super fan.


the one thing I have noticed is that, and maybe Ive missed something, but Stan seems to have deliberately stayed away from creating a hero with similar origins to the man of steel, by all means correct me if i'm wrong on that one,  Lee whilst creating his vast armada of heros also seemed to give a good percentage of the heros a large heaping of humanity ...Spidey, The Hulk and Ben Grimm,  at some time or another, Ive felt for these guys and the life that was forced upon them.


The one thing about creations of Stan is that some cracking movies have come to pass, DC can claim only Superman, Batman and Green lantern as any real success in recent moviedom...BUT Stan can claim Spidey, 3 times with one on the way, Capt America, Thor, Iron Man TWICE, The Hulk 3 times and to a lesser point The Punisher and Daredevil....you will probably add Electra to the list, I dont, but you might...and of course, most recently THE AVENGERS, wasnt that a deadset cracker...awesome ...and Stan has got his head in most of the flicks at one time or another which is pretty good too I reckon.


Anyway, Stan was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995....so there you go, my thoughts on the great man himself...


Characters created by Stan the Man













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