NYCC 08: STAN LEE AWARDED NEW YORK COMICS LEGEND AWARD

[MattBrady]

On the eve of New York Comic Con, fans and friends gathered on the lower level of the Virgin Megastore in Time Square to celebrate with Stan Lee, who was awarded the inaugural New York Comics Legend award.

Created by the New York Comic Con this year, the award will be presented, as explained by NYCC’s Lance Fensterman to the city’s favorite comic book sons. “Each recipient will have made a major contribution to the advancement of comics,” Fensterman wrote in the original announcement, “either through achievement in art or business; they will have made a significant contribution to the civic life in New York either through charity, education, public service or by advancing the image of New York City through direct involvement with New York.”

The gathering began at 8:00 pm, with a couple hundred people gathered in a cordoned off area on the lower sales floor, and the award ceremony began around 8:30 pm.

Fensterman made the opening remarks, thanking the crowd for attending, and discussing the goals behind the award, and then introduced three individuals to talk about Stan: Peter David, Virgin Comics’ Sharad Devarajan and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. From there, the proceedings continued somewhere between a tribute and a roast, depending on the speaker.

David began with a theme that Quesada later touched upon, that is, when discussing Stan Lee, there is Stan the writer and creator, and the larger than life “Stan the Man,” whom, David added, everyone learns to do their own impression of – something like “the Ethel Merman of comics possessed by John Wayne doing Maxwell Smart.”

Refelcting back on his early days in direct market sales at Marvel, David said that he had met Stan Lee for the first time five times, explaining that, in the early ‘80s, Lee would come into the offices roughly once a month, and each time he would see David in the hall, he would introduce himself with a boisterous, “Stan Lee!” while offering his hand for shaking.

The sixth time, David explained, when he saw Lee coming down the hall toward him, he cut to the quick and said, “Hi Stan,” before Lee could say anything. Lee’s reply of “Peter,” floored David, and he felt like he had finally made it in comics, even though his writing years were to come.

David also attributed Lee with bringing a sense or realism to comics that was sorely needed at the time Lee laid the foundation of what was to become the Marvel Universe. “Stan gave us heroes with problems that we could relate to,” David said, noting that Lee’s characters had real problems and lived in real cities, which was something that he found utterly amazing and revolutionary as a young reader.

After relating a very personal, yet funny story, of the role Lee played in his custody battle for his children, David moved into familiar ground for any tribute to Lee, that is, poking gentle fun at Lee’s famously Swiss-cheesian memory, reminiscing about, among other things, how Lee was stunned to find out that his and Jack Kirby’s original Hulk stories had the character changing into the Hulk at night originally, rather than when he was angry.

Devarajan then spoke from a prepared statement, thanking Lee for all his contributions over the years, which have inspired the imagination of so many, while transcending culture race and religion.

This led the way for Quesada to take the stage and pay tribute to his corporate mentor, telling of how Lee calls him every couple of months out of the blue, after he reads through the previous couple of months’ worth of titles, sometimes opening with a jovial, “What the ____ are you doing?”

Taking things in a definite “roast” direction, Quesada noted that Lee had left Marvel with several jewels to play with, and he likes to play with Lee’s jewels all day. Running down the list of the characters Lee had created over the years that…weren’t his finest moments, Quesada joked that his favorite creation was “Stan Lee,” an inspiring, creative person created by a young Stanley Lieber. Following on that track, Quesada sincerely thanked Lee, and thanked him “for being Stan Lee.”

Fensterman then introduced Lee to loud applause from the crowd, and presented him with the small cut glass award, to which Lee good naturedly joked that at least it wouldn’t take up too much room, but he was going to have trouble explaining to his wife whey he had to come all the way to New York to receive the physically small award, leaving her to walk the dogs and take out the trash while he was away.

Lee then joked that every day he tells himself that he forgot to do something, and today, he realized, he had forgotten to write a speech, which he added with a smile, he felt was okay, because he likes the idea that people might now fully know him, and, despite all he’s done, he could still be a mysterious character.

The legend of Marvel Comics then noted, while talking about the award, that he had recently been asked to put his hands in cement in Hollywood, and offer that he was profoundly honored to receive – until he noticed, at the end of the letter, that it would cost him money to be immortalized in the same way as the likes of Benji. With a characteristic twinkle in his eye, Lee added that he might just have to pass on that honor.

Lee then turned his gratitude to the crowd, thanking the attendees for coming, and the convention for the award. Ever the salesman, Lee ended his comments with a few words about POW Entertainment and his new book, Election Daze, which would be available at Amazon.com if attendees couldn’t find it there at Virgin.

Lee ended with a characteristic, “Excelsior!”

Later in the milling crowd, discussion ran to who will receive the award next year, with Joe Kubert coming out ahead in early bets, with John Romita Sr. a close second.

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[steve2275]

very well deserved