Originally published December 31, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1363

“Being Stan Lee” (Part Two)

As Stan Lee roared up to the First Savings and Loan bank, Gregor Samsa—a helpless spectator within Stan Lee’s mind—watched in amazement. Stan slammed his Range Rover to a halt and had vaulted from the car before the engine noise fully faded. Crowds of people had gathered at the police barricade and, when they saw him, an excited buzz began to work its way through them. Applause began to ripple and then built, moment upon moment, to a full-fledged ovation. Stan Lee waved to them all, moving with confidence, as the barricade was parted to let him through.

Walking toward him briskly was a plainclothes, older cop who Greg immediately assumed was the “Captain Tangretti” who had summoned Stan Lee. “Thanks for coming so fast, Stan. Break any traffic laws getting here?”

“Only all of ’em,” said Stan. “So what’s the story, Jimmy?”

Continue Reading ““Being Stan Lee,” Part II” →

Originally published December 24, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1362

“Being Stan Lee”

Gregor Samsa awoke one day to discover that he was Stan Lee.

Gregor—“Greg” to his friends—had been sorting through back-issue comics, part of his job at Ninth World Comics in Malibu. It was, however, taking Greg longer to do than usual, because he had stumbled over old issues of Fantastic Four that he remembered fondly. The storyline was the immortal “Battle of the Baxter Building” sequence, and reading those issues had led to reading others, both before and after. Childhood memories seized him, and he was transported to those pleasant recollections of the first, heady days of Marvel—back when it was the company that could do no wrong, and every issue was an infinity of possibilities.

He muttered the dialogue out loud as he read it, carried away as always by the style of the inimitable Stan Lee. So many people had tried to diminish his contributions to Marvel’s success, but there was no question that it was his voice that provided the heart and soul of the characters.

Fired by sudden inspiration, Greg used the store’s computer to go online and ran a search under the name of his creative hero. Sure enough, he was quickly led to stanlee.net. He chuckled as curtains opened on the screen and a computer cartoon of Stan Lee—recorded with Lee’s inimitable tone—welcomed him. He surveyed the options and was attracted to the entry of “free newsletter.” It was the description that caught his eye. It read, “Get wired directly to Stan all the time!”

He couldn’t pass that up. Yet, for some reason, the mouse vibrated urgently beneath his hand as he paused over the option. It seemed to be—warning him. He ignored it—and clicked on the invitation to “Get wired directly to Stan.”

Continue Reading ““Being Stan Lee,” Part I” →