“To a Global Audience as Never Before”- The Endless Fake Creations of Stan Lee

The weekend had not yet arrived when news trickled in from such esteemed and terrible “news” websites such as hoax supporting Bleeding Cool and glorified press release hub Comic Book Resources that a brand new line of comics was on the horizon, a line that was sure to launch a new and glorious media empire. This line of comic books was amazingly, undeniably based upon the concepts and characters that Stan Lee created before his death in 2018.

That’s right, Frantic Ones- STAN LEE COMICS is impending. Coming half a decade after Lee’s death, eBook startup Legible is ready to connect to that Marvel Studios money and capitalize on the vague collected public consciousness and their impression of Stan Lee as the creator of all super-heroes.

It is going to fail. It is going to fail tremendously.

I don’t say that with any bitterness or even glee towards it’s failure. It’s simply another in a long, long history of failed and flawed “concepts” that were- apparently- created by Stan Lee, long established in the pop culture mind as a visionary creator of profitable characters and brands. Around the turn of the millennium is when the “the guy that created Marvel also created this, therefore it can’t fail!” cottage industry really hit the track running. Before we delve into that, let’s examine more about this grandiose if cryptic press release, coming as it does with no details about titles, characters or creators involved…. but of course, I’ve got a few theories on that last part.

From Legible’s unintentionally entertaining press release:
“We are celebrating Stan Lee’s 100th birthday this year and what better way to honor this true legend than to launch STAN LEE COMICS, with a logo that Stan had created himself, and bring his never-before-seen creations to life through this series of new digital and print comic books!”

“Stan also left us his unique editorial page as well, Yakkin’ with Stan, which will highlight each comic. Not unlike Stan’s Soapbox, which graced every Marvel Comic, Yakkin’ with Stan will speak to all the ‘True Believers’!”

“The platform brings publishing and reading into the twenty-first century, and there is just no better way to do so than with Stan Lee, who was always ahead of his time.”

“Stan Lee is the legend behind beloved and well-known comic book characters such as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and a legion of other superheroes.”

Damn! Quite a bit to comment on there. A legion of other super-heroes… well, if I believed these people had any grasp of comic book history whatsoever, I’d feel that was a “ah, I see what you did there” reference but, no… no, that’d be giving Legible too much credit. A clever PR writer would have not used that sentence as they would have known it would inevitably either remind readers of a long lasting comic property published by Marvel’s competitor and/or read as a sort of easter egg, referencing that title. And that’s far from the most head scratching statement!

“Stan also left us his unique editorial page as well, Yakkin’ with Stan, which will highlight each comic. Not unlike Stan’s Soapbox…” – Say what? Are we honestly to believe what the implication here is… that Stan, in lieu of his impending demise, took the time to write out several Stan’s Soapbox-esque columns for a potential line that might not even have come out?

It’s inane and ridiculous. Let’s say that was indeed the case- and what I believe Legible is going to try to claim. For Stan to have done that it means that the agreement and arrangement and launch had been worked out really far in advance, considering Stan’s been dead for five years. Why would this launch take so long? Was Legible even around five years ago? It’s utter nonsense. Stan Lee did not write Yakkin’ with Stan and I defy them to prove otherwise.

“what better way to honor this true legend than to launch STAN LEE COMICS, with a logo that Stan had created himself…” They… do realize that Stan was an Editor and dialogue writer, yes? When has it even been stated that Stan Lee designed logos or designed anything? In fact, we have documentation that shows everyone from Stan Goldberg to Sol Brodsky were among those that designed all of the early Marvel logos. Saying that Stan designed the logo himself… is another way to cement that Stan was involved, but in such a forced manner.

“Stan Lee is the legend behind beloved and well-known comic book characters such as Captain America…” Anyone reading this is surely aware that Stan Lee had nothing at to do with the creation of Captain America which precedes his employment at Timely Comics.

I also stress the inclusion of this statement from Legible not because of geek trivia knowledge or outrage due to Simon & Kirby fandom. No, I include it for something much more significant within this context and a reason that illustrates just how flawed, hapless and unprofessional this “company” is.

I want you to think about this- Legible obviously has a team. A team of people working on this projected line- and a team of people did not recognize a huge and noticeable error such as Stan Lee being credited as the creator of Captain America. Forget about the proper credit in this instance. Focus on that mistake. What does it say about them, as a company??

Imagine you’re about to board a small plane for an air tour. The flight company boasts that they’re the best in the industry. And then you notice a crack- on the wing. Do you then want to board the plane? That error, that flaw is too glaring to ignore. Therefore, the entire company seems suspect and shoddy due to that flaw which should have been noticed by the pilot, the flight crew, the mechanic, the inspector, anybody.

That’s what’s happening with Legible’s proposed Stan Lee Comics line. It is suspect and shoddy. But why would I waste so much energy? After all, it’s destined to fail. For one thing, non-comic people keep overestimating the value of Stan Lee amongst actual comic people. The comic people want their Marvel and want the sainted old Geek Godfather cameo actor Stan- if they cared about Stan’s comic efforts, they’d be buying reprints of Silver Age material.

That being said, let’s examine just a few- I have to specify this before people on forums start excitedly pointing out that I missed specific ones– a few of the many, many failures of supposed concepts and “creations” that Stan Lee had his name and, yes, his brand associated with.

“Stan Lee’s Lightspeed” (2006)– This was a glorious Sci-Fi Network original movie that was apparently going to launch Lightspeed as the “next great Stan Lee super-hero character!” as a press release breathlessly intones. A government agent named Jason Leight gets the power of moving at the speed of light and a spandex costume, in 2006. Compare this to the CBS television show The Flash from 1990 and compare and contrast.

I’m not saying the failure of this film was Stan’s fault as I do not believe he had anything to do with it, other than- and this is debatable- writing the names of the characters and giving a general one or two sentence summary of what it was generally going to be about. Gill Champion, the CEO of POW! Entertainment boldly stated that “Lightspeed is going to be the next ‘X-Men’- you’ll see the branding within a year, with Lightspeed backpacks and so forth“- as of this writing, this never happened. Marvel fans who flocked to the actual X-Men films simply didn’t turn up for Lightspeed– a film they could have watched without leaving their homes.

“Stan Lee’s The NHL Guardian Project” (2011) The most notable thing about this bona fide disaster is that it literally caused an animation company to go bankrupt. Such was the value in Stan Lee creating 30 new characters that each represented a team of the National Hockey League. Yes, you read correctly.

Stan’s company teamed with the great Neal Adams to illustrate these characters and they were given a big roll out, premiering during half-time at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game. The reception was not positive. Absolutely no one had interest in this as part of their hockey experience and booing and jeering were audible. Stan Lee wouldn’t have cared however- he and his company had a very specific plan that was largely protected in contractual legality- once Stan was paid for his involvement and netted future royalties on the use of his name- and that’s basically it- he was not held responsible for any future responsibilities of the product.

This is especially notable because a company named Filmula invested $500,000 after assurances that both Stan’s name and Stan’s touch meant guaranteed fortunes ahead. As the NHL Guardians projected imploded, Filmula realized they’d been hoodwinked and sued accordingly. (And yes, that’s an “original” Stan character called THE PANTHER developed for the NHL. Did the originality ever stop with Stan the Man?)

“Stan Lee’s Mighty 7” (2012)– Much ado was made- at least in press releases for this dual comic/animated pilot- that Stan himself was a character in the series. It’s also worth noting that the concept, which shows Stan as a working writer was tellingly written by Tom DeFalco.

A six-issue miniseries was launched in March 2012… but was cancelled after three issues. A company called Black Lantern agreed to develop a video game.. which didn’t come out. Factory Entertainment publicly announced they won the bid to have the worldwide toy license for Mighty 7 action figures. None were made. JCorp and Fame Jeans held licensing for a Mighty 7 clothing line. Guess how many t-shirts came out. Two more films and a summer season were announced by the Hub Network.. and were never made.

I don’t say that with satisfaction or glee. Many people that were involved in these projects on lower levels undoubtedly lost time and money due to the product’s failure. And that is my point. A warning, if you will, to future start-ups that want to deal with either the Stan Lee Estate or the companies that hold controlling power in licensing Stan’s name and intellectual property. It has never worked. It will never work. Stop trying to capitalize on a barren field. All of these projects failed when Stan was living, and able to promote them.

“Who Wants to be a Superhero?” (2006) Conceived not by Stan back in 2004 which was a bit closer to the competition reality show craze that occurred at the beginning of the aughts, this was lent Stan’s name when Gill Champion at POW! realized that Stan could function as a genial host of sorts. Per the agreement for this scripted series, Stan is credited as the “creator” of everything down to the costumes the contestants wore.

I suppose one could argue that this wasn’t a failure per se as it lasted two seasons and the winners of each season got to appear in a Dark Horse comic book that was written by “Stan”- but future plans of a third season and a kid’s version quickly fell off as audiences lost interest. One thing about devoted comic enthusiasts is their pretentious need for comics and superheroes to taken seriously and this show had a humorous slant which likely didn’t add to it’s chances.

There’s more… so much more. But I don’t have the time and inclination to cover every failed Stan Lee concept today, oh devoted readers. But I was serious about my warning to these companies which understandably are never going to read this blog: it can’t win. Or it would have already. Stan Lee’s name isn’t the sure-fire business opportunity you think it is. If it were, why don’t we still see these properties listed above?

Thanks for reading.