In Memoriam: Stan Lee

Hi, Everybody!

As we all know, Stan Lee has died.

Everybody's Friend (and Superman's Frenemy) David Birdsong sent in:

 And because 2018 has been a bit of a cluster#$@% for comics fans, he also sent in:

And now, my Stan Lee story:

I met Stan Lee once in 1998 at the Wizard World Chicago comic convention. It was the 35th anniversary of the X-Men and Marvel had announced that Stan would be there for a special panel. I figured that he would be doing a signing as well, so I brought along my copy of Origins of Marvel Comics. 

Stan was gonna be there on Saturday, so that Friday, I went to the Marvel booth, and asked if Stan would be doing a signing. A nice young man told me that he couldn't say one way or the other, but if I showed up at 1PM on Saturday, I might be in luck.

That's when I got the brilliant idea to have as many creators that had worked at Marvel to sign the book as I could BEFORE I got Stan to.

So for the rest of that day, I pestered everybody I could to sign my book. Explaining, that I was gonna get Stan to sign it on Saturday. Everybody thought that was the neatest thing ever.

On Saturday around one, I showed up at the Marvel booth and was told to hang around in a certain area. So I loitered, with intent. If anybody asked me what I was doing, I said I was waiting for Stan, because he was doing a signing. And then they'd loiter with me.

Soon, there was a crowd of between twenty or thirty people loitering with me, and a Marvel employee told us we had to disperse. So I moved to the other side of the Marvel booth. And the process began again.

The next time a Marvel employee came up to us, they said that we couldn't form a line yet.

To which I replied, "We're not a line, we're an unruly mob! Tell us WHERE we can form a line, and we'll do it."

The Marvel employee walked away.

Then another Marvel employee came up and told us we couldn't line up yet. And I said, "we're not a line, we're an unruly mob," and then I pointed to the first Marvel employee and said, "when he comes back and tells us where we can line up, we'll move." And the second Marvel employee walked away.

Then the THIRD Marvel employee walked up... for this one I just pointed at the first two and said, "they're dealing with us." And the third employee walked away.

Then all three of them came back and told us we had to leave. I asked, "where are we supposed to line up?" And they marched us over to a roped off area.

That's how I went from the first guy in line to the twelfth.

But I was in line!

Then the signing started. And I met Stan and shook his hand, and he signed my book:

I can not tell a lie. I'm more proud of this photo then I am of my kids...

After I left the Marvel booth, there was an autograph dealer who asked what I got. I showed him the book, and he offered me five hundred bucks. I declined. I've since gotten more signatures in the book.

Fifty points to anybody who can name ALL the signatures.

And then Kevin, remember Kevin? Here's some columns by Kevin, had a Stan encounter:

I met Stan Lee once. True story.

I'm standing outside The Rosemont convention center having a cigarette (this is during Wizard World Chicago probably 1999 or 2000) [1998, it was 1998 - Matt] and minding my own business, when the front doors open and out walks Stan Lee. I have a total Brodie in "Mallrats" moment and blurt out, "Holy shit, you're...", at which point Stan turns and looks at me.

At this point I'm fumbling in my backpack for an old issue of Thor he had written, when he reads my t-shirt, emblazoned with Tom Smith's "Timebomb 3:16", and he says to me, "Timebomb? We better get out of here!"

Before I can even register this, two Marvel security goons throw him in the back of a car and take off. As I stand there dumbfounded, my best friend, Matt Dow, walks out clutching our grade-school's copy of "Origin of Marvel Comics" saying, "I got Stan to sign it." All I could do was laugh.

I thought I had a photo of the shirt, but no dice.

Next time: Dave and Comicsgate

Bonus: That time I ruined two guys lives by having them stage a photo:

Literally, as I walked away, forty people asked to take this same photo...