Web-Slinger

Web-Slinger
Smilin' Stan Lee Goes Digital

By ERIC GRIFFITH / In 1978, I sent my first fan letter to Marvel Comics, to let the creator of the Amazing Spider-man know just how much the comic, the hero and his exploits meant to me. Spidey's was the everyman that I pictured myself as -- able to pull himself up and overcome insurmountable odds by the force of his spirit and intelligence as well as his spectacular powers. I was 8 years old and addressed my letter to the only name that I associated with the character: Stan Lee. On every issue of Spider-man (and all Marvel comics for that matter) was written "Stan Lee Presents," so, who else?

Stan "The Man" Lee (as many of his credits listed him) is the man who brought comics back to life in the 1960s, after the self-censoring induced slump of the 1950s. Asked by Marvel's publisher to do a "team" title like DC Comic's successful "Justice League of America" that featured Superman, Batman and the like, Stan went one better and cocreated (with the equally legendary Jack Kirby) the "Fantastic Four," a squabbling quartet more like a family than a bunch of heroes. This pioneering strategy of superheroes as real people worked. Stan went on to cocreate and write just about every major Marvel hero that's still around: the X-Men, Hulk, Daredevil, Ironman, Thor, the Avengers, Silver Surfer and, of course, your friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

Win an Autographed 7^th Portal Poster

By 1978, Stan had ceased writing the web-slinger for about eight years, outside of the daily newspaper strip. During the 1980s, having relocated from the Marvel headquarters in Manhattan (where he'd ruled as editor since the late 1940s) to Los Angeles, Stan attempted to usher in a new Marvel Age on television and in movies, with mixed results ("Howard the Duck" anyone?). During that time, he was contractually unable to let his creativity really shine; instead he played Marvel cheerleader to producers and directors.

Not so, today. Stan is still with Marvel as honorary chairman emeritus, but he's also free to use his legendary creativity for anything he wants. The 76-year-old will soon be launching a media empire in his name at StanLee.net and he gave WildWeb the exclusive scoop on what that all entails. Luckily, for his fans it means more than just raking in the dough with an IPO on Wall Street -- it means superheroes and the Internet coming together. In fact, they're coming so close together that the heroes of Stan's new saga, the 7^th Portal, are powered by the Internet itself. Some of the characters we heard about include:

Krog: Picture Ben "The Thing" Grimm with a more '90s look and a stronger chin.
Bear Hug: This muscular man is not as cuddly as he sounds.
Vendetta: Pamela Anderson Lee in spandex (before her reduction) wasn't this, uh, robust.
Slyme: The main villain -- you can tell by the way he wears his hat to hide his glowing green eyes.

The 7^th Portal will not merely be comics on the Web. Designed in with fast-downloading Flash multimedia, expect online animated comics that are long overdue.

Until the big launch, Stan's sites (you can find his business info at StanLeeMedia.com) have many teasers available, plus a special deal with AcmeCity providing Stan fans 20 MB of space to make their own sites. There's even a virtual Stan Lee 2.0 using the Pulse plug-in that will talk to you while you spin him round and round.

Only time will tell if the 7^th Portal characters have the staying power of the almost 40-year-old Marvel Universe stable. At least if you visit StanLee.net at its launch, in 2039 you can say you were there when. The only downside is you won't have a first issue copy of the character's adventures that sells for several thousand dollars to prove it.

TV producers: Tor Hyams and Julie Karas

WildWeb TV Show | October 11, 1999

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