‘Thank God That Jon Bolerjack Came Back to Stan’s Side When He Did!’- On The Continuing Circle-Jerk of No-Talent Comic Grifters & Their Industry Enablers

The starting saga of the inevitable ‘Stan Lee: The Final Chapter’ continues to divide hosts of terrible comic-related YouTube shows and friends of its director; among the majority of observers however, the ones that aren’t dependent on elderly professionals, the verdict seems fairly clear: this thing is highly questionable and highly cringe.

It’s quite possible there might be some worthwhile moments captured by Bolerjack, but even if there are they’ll be imbued with the unavoidable awareness of how those moments were captured; when a declining man in his nineties, beaten down by the death of his spouse and the relentless and grueling pace of his financial obligations was filmed, sometimes covertly, by an opportunistic, if genial, go-getter.

Long story short? The masses have declared this to be, well, not good. Rather than try to let the work speak for itself, Bolerjack and his cronies have decided to go on the offensive in a misguided campaign that this humble writer believes won’t change too many minds. But I can always be wrong!

Last week, the living legend Roy “The Boy” Thomas was moved to dictate his thoughts to his live-in manager John “Snakeskin in Douche Clothing” Cimino, who then shared them in the Roy Thomas Appreciation Group (and, presumably, the Comb-Over Support League private group):

“The self-righteous critics who now say that Jon should have “done something” in that situation are simply virtue-signaling to make themselves feel (and hopefully look) good. There was, at that time, nothing that could have been done unless Stan himself had fully realized what was going on and had firmly taken back control of his own life. But alas, in those last few years, Stan’s energy had been mostly spent, and he had placed his trust in the wrong people– and I don’t mean Jon Bolerjack.”

“I, for one, am firmly convinced that all of those who were Stan’s friends, or his colleagues, or his fans– and I was all three– will breathe a bittersweet sigh of relief when we see the finished documentary and will say, “Thank God that Jon Bolerjack came back to Stan’s side when he did!” – excerpt of Roy Thomas’s statement, March 2025

Unfortunately, that statement from the grand pope who put the ‘con’ in “retcon” didn’t do anything to appease the triggered egos. It’s also notable that conservative Republican Roy users the “virtue-signaling” phrase for the people that, reasonably, simply reacted to a film trailer the way anyone does, for any film.

And that’s something we’ll address again, because it seems that Bolerjack and his associates simply can’t grasp that anyone criticizing this might have some validity in describing their own honest reaction and comprehension of the footage shown and the method of dealing it out; in fact, they resort to some truly condescending and tone-deaf judgments rather than consider the optics of what Bolerjack has released.

On March 20th, 2025, Bolerjack returned to the terrible YouTube channel “POPXP!” to promote the documentary Kickstarter and respond to some of the criticisms his trailer and fundraising campaign had elicited from viewers.

Bolerjack is interviewed by a panel of uninformed and biased nobodies including Billy Tucci (with Tucci being the most successful, albeit, you know- in the nineties), Nile Scale (who?), John Cimino, and Steve Houston.

Actually, Steve Houston has been shown on popular television show Pawn Stars several times, so one could argue he’s more recognizable than Tucci is. Who knows… who cares! That’s not why you’re here.

We’re not even three minutes in and Nile Scala reiterates that the purpose of this show is for crowdfunding awareness towards Bolerjack’s Kickstarter. I’m going to hazard an educated guess that some of the people involved in this obnoxious shit might make appearances in the footage.

2:55: “I mean… boom, guys this is, this is finally happening…“ – Nile Scala

3:19: “Uh, I’m- I’m personally involved with this, because, uh, knew about it for many years… knew about what was goin’ on in- uh, a few scenes in there, that I was kind of privy to…” – John “Stretch Leather Skin” Cimino

3:41: “And the controversy that uh, my good boy, good friend is getting, uh, is very interesting to me… but uh, hey- I’m not one of controversy…“

Every one of these guys is entitled and deludes themselves over their importance or knowledge of how reality works, when, outside of Tucci, they are all guys who have worked in selling comic books and worked conventions. Not as guests.

5:22: “This- is essential for the industry to move forward, I think.” – Steve Houston

I’d disagree with Houston here, though it’s possible he’s actually the sincerest one out of this bunch. The response I’ve seen has largely included a lot of “why now” from fans and professionals alike. The general and logical argument has been why didn’t Bolerjack release this footage in real time? (Of course, we know the answer- he’s sought to profit off of it, trying to sell it to producers in 2022 even for a reality show)

It’s seven years after Lee’s death which gives a feeling of “we came to terms with it, we adjusted, now you’ve dug it up again.” And I believe that feeling is understandable, whether I’m for the documentary and people involved or not.

6:22 “I know just about everybody involved, PERSONALLY– and I know people from behind the scenes and I’ve worked with them, and I’ve dealt with them and everything and… this is something that’s, you know… near and dear to my HEART, because like I said… I knew this was coming YEARS ago… and I saw clips and footages years and years ago and, I always, just- I gotta speak for Roy here, Roy said the best thing: whether people like it or not, it’s a story that needs to be told- and THEN they can judge. Because, just like everything on the internet- hey, I was, I’M attacked all the time- people stick to these things, they don’t want to hear FACTS…” – John “Entitled Cunt Ambushes Steve Ditko” Cimino

You’ve got to love how Cimino, at this point in his established career as Roy Thomas’s lawn maintenance employee, still has to stress his bona fides as some kind of insider. It means absolute jack shit as Cimino is a tolerated laughingstock.

Hey, I know the people behind the scenes. I dealt with POW! and Gil and dealt with Lee’s legal team years before Cimino ever reached out to Roy Thomas. I do not believe it makes me cooler-than-thou and part of the comics industry. I can guarantee you- NO ONE takes Cimino seriously.

I’ve also got to point how how absolutely fitting it is that John Cimino- of ALL the comic grifters- would care so much about an elderly Lee being mistreated when he himself gleefully disrespected Steve Ditko and violated his clear and well-established boundaries.

Was this because Cimino, with his juvenile and entitled brain, rationalized that because Ditko wasn’t “friendly” he somehow deserved it?

Folks, let us never forget: John Cimino is an absolute fucking bitch of a man. He couldn’t sing, he couldn’t write, so he recognized an aging, and increasingly isolated Roy Thomas was ripe for a makeover for the lucrative convention circuit. I’ll give him credit for that.

Let us never forget, he said years before Lee’s death that ‘Roy’s time will come‘, showing a degree of foresight, which I have always given him credit for. But now he’s upset at elderly comic professionals being exploited? This shit writes itself.

14:26: “But he had the same love for Stan as I did for Roy… and we made this magic work to get these guys together. You know, I, I can’t understand how anybody would attack this guy’s character because, I mean, I, listen- I know why they attack me I’m kind of a piece of shit sometimes, and I love it…” – Cimino

I can try to help you understand why anybody would attack Bolerjack’s character.

15:20– GOOD GOD, IS BOLERJACK’S VOICE SO SHRILL AND GRATING AND NASAL AND HIGHPITCHED, PLEASE, YOU LIVE IN LOS ANGELES, TAKE SOME VOICE LESSONS MOTHERFUCKER, aargghhh… I apologize dear readers but imagine Corey Feldman’s voice slightly higher and slightly drowsy sounding.

16:52: “I launched this Kickstarter very altruistically thinking like I just, I guess I forgot what humans are capable of…” – Jon Bolerjack

Bolerjack goes on to credit a YouTube show called Moist Critical for completely getting the bandwagon against him and ruining “7 years of work in 17 minutes”, as he put it. I am not familiar with Moist Critical but will be sending them a gift card immediately.

Tucci presses Bolerjack to follow up with Moist Critical and give “his side” of things, which leads to this response, which I found slightly bizarre:

20:13: “But here’s the problem- imagine if Taylor Swift went on Twitter and said “Billy Tuccis’ a real dickhead!” How would you ever get a hold of Taylor Swift, right? It’d be IMPOSSIBLE… that’s sort of the thing, he’s like, very closed off, he doesn’t have like a talent management… can’t get a hold of him, right… so that’s the… if anyone KNOWS him, have him reach out! I’d love to, like, talk to him…”

Alright, this an inane attempt at deflection. Moist Critical has millions of followers; I hadn’t heard of him because I’m not up with things, no other reason- but within ONE MINUTE, I found his channel where he helpfully lists all of his accounts and also points out he has no others. Surely, one could send him a message via any of those outlets.

20:37: “I had a guy call me a FAG today…”

Billy Tucci throws this out here before grinning and then the assembled dorks chuckle before the legit penis-head looking Scala chimes in with, “Yeah, but you deserved it and I called you that like twice.”

Get it? Using ‘Fag‘ as derogatory humor is A-OK with these conservative dweebs, and in 2025. Allow me to adopt the same intent THEY have with the use of ‘fag’ and inform any fans of the POPXP! Network! that these guys using that term for insult humor is highly ironic since everything these guys do is of immense faggotry.

It’s also amazing that these guys would use homophobic terms as they’re all old superhero fucks sitting in front of their corporate franchise owned superhero memorabilia, and gay people are out scoring. Irony! Oh, wait… am I.. *gasps*… virtue-signaling??

Bolerjack would have gotten some points with me if he’d even been like “Aww, c’mon, don’t use that word…” but he does nothing but smile. I used to think Steve Houston was a gay Mr. Leather contestant, perhaps he is and just a well humored one conditioned to straights talking shit, who knows.

21:03: “I do a bunch of podcasts, and I explain the reasoning and, the thing is, even after you explain the reasoning, you see the chats and they’re so like, “booo, fuck you!” sort of thing and it’s like, they don’t actually want the answer, they just want to be pissed off…”

Bolerjack goes on to say that people are “getting bored of getting mad at one thing” and he might be utterly sincerely obtuse and doesn’t realize that his explanations are also what people are upset about versus an epidemic of people just wanting to be mad.

This is reactive Jon, not proactive. You’re a scum that keeps showing up and people are, wait for it, REACTING. Maybe you’re just not likeable.

Mata Nui’s expose on Reddit is discussed by Bolerjack, who admits he took the time to go over it.

(The guys go over Allen Bellman and Jim Steranko being huge Trump guys, which prompted Lee to grab a microphone and publicly tell everyone we should “thank new President Trump“- years later, I wonder if comic shop owners and small publishers wanna take ol’ Stan up on that one.)

I have been urged to monetize this blog due to the high volume it gets, and I just never will, being so gregarious- I share this simply because, right now, I almost feel I should be paid for listening to this guy talk since, really- Bolerjack’s voice is so scathing, it’s like hearing a Corey Feldman impression for over an hour. Perhaps he hasn’t hit puberty yet.

The endorsement of Liefeld and McFarlane is brought up and people dismissing it; why are Liefeld and McFarlane rehabilitated in 2025 to be seen as men of any character whatsoever? Fuck those guys! It makes SENSE that Liefeld and McFarlane would endorse this kind of shit.

28:51: “I’m no strange to this controversy, but- no matter what you put Jon, it’s the funny thing, it’s like- you can put up those facts there too, and people are gonna have their decision no matter what… and then you got people that love the salaciousness of it and they just come and they come and they come and all that stuff and they’ll just keep getting this ball going. And it’s, it’s, it’s… the internet is a very… it’s a beautiful thing and it’s a very scary thing because it can work both ways and… I mean, I’ve seen both ways of it. It’s made me very… successful but it also made me very controversial.. and HATED because of shit…” – John Cimino

Cimino never considers that he’s hated because of ambushing Steve Ditko (I’ll never stop reminding people about this), insulting Len Wein after he died, insulting Len Wein’s widow Christine Valada in YouTube comments that he immediately deleted when we called him out, and a host of other obnoxious acts. Nope! It’s just cause INTERNET choke

29:44: “…have you guys heard of that? The ‘Blood Books’..? So, here’s the thing about the blood books, it’s really interesting that no one really knows… first of all, let’s be clear… the blood books are in absolute poor taste… but here’s the thing is, like… Stan knew about the blood books, right? Everyone thinks he was like asleep, and they like, drained his blood like a vampire in the middle of the night… he went to his doctor’s office, the doctor drew his blood out…” – Jon Bolerjack

Hey, credit to Bolerjack for agreeing that the blood books are in poor taste– but he also rationalizes that Stan “knew” about it- a guy in his nineties, clearly in decline, sure! His rationalization is completely solid.

31:55: “The main question is, why didn’t you do anything.”

Bolerjack explains he gives his footage to the police and the district attorney of Los Angeles, but they refused to do anything out of legality and burden of proof. They explain (according to Bolerjack) that certain things are “immoral” and not “illegal” and Lee was still going to his office at POW! Entertainment.

Apparently, Bolerjack reached out to various YouTube shows and podcasts and everyone turned him down for one-of-a-kind, exclusive Stan Lee footage because they “don’t want to be sued” which I suppose could be true but which I’m not totally convinced on, considering- and I mean this with the utmost seriousness- the state of YouTube shows and comic related content which we can all easily see.

38:00: “You TOLD me about so much of this, all those years ago! So, I mean, this was something that I can verify that Jon actually DID all that stuff, because he TOLD me about it, and he’s told countless times thereafter about this situation and all that stuff…” – John Cimino

That’s an amazing justification. A dishonest guy told another dishonest guy, so it’s all verified! Why did we ever have doubts??

39:20: “Like; Liefeld says I’m good, McFarlane says I’m good, Campbell says I’m good, Kevin Eastman says I’m good- every person that you’re going to wait in line for to get an autograph from, has vouched for me!”

I notice- as he wanted me to- that Nile Scala has an animated neon bar on his display shelf behind him which I just find indicative of how much these comic guys are steeped in consumer status and collectible acquisition fetish as a signifier of their worth and how much they’ve obtained, like millionaires showing their fucking yachts or something.

While educators lose their jobs, these guys wanna show off their prints and statues and they’re in their fucking forties and fifties. They contribute fucking nothing, man.

44:22: “The second point is, and it’s very confusing to me, is ‘oh, I don’t wanna know! I don’t think we should know, I want to keep my idea.’ If you have criminals who were working behind the scenes, working in an insidious way- it is someone’s duty if they know- our duty, okay- to bring it to light so that those people cannot carry on in the industry, maybe latch onto someone else- maybe be a guest at someone’s show and someone says, “Oh, you worked with Stan!” and that person goes, “Well, let me explain what happened…” If you were abusing Stan you don’t have any right to be doing anything ever again in this industry…” – Steve Houston

I am fair and honest and so I have to admit that I resent having to face the fact that Houston comes off very reasonable here and makes valid points. Though I do believe its unintentionally ironic that he will declare this without recognizing that Cimino and Bolerjack are both shady sorts who latched onto aging creators, even if they’re more well liked than Max Anderson was/is.

49:52: “I think what’s also important that has to be brought to light is, in those last couple of years, everyone knew what Stan was doing… no one complained, no one whined, where is that person who had that dossier on you, screaming and crying about, oh did you hear that Stan was signing for all these hours? They were like this, okay? (Makes zip gesture across list) They just didn’t care, or they heard something, oh it’s just Stan or whatever it is. And now, you know, that he’s passed and they’re feeling GUILTY and they’re like, “Oh, well you know I was always a fan of Stan…“, you weren’t a fan of Stan, okay. You wanted to get the signed books as much as anyone else did. That there is an important factor- these people who are shouting and screaming at you- you’re giving them a lot of benefit of the doubt.” – Steve Houston

Houston destroys any credit I previously gave them, both by forgetting that many people WERE upset and outspoken in the Max Anderson/Keya Morgan days and this was a somewhat hot topic.

Secondly, not everyone criticizing Bolerjack’s conduct is a fan of Stan Lee or ever claimed to be. (raises hand)

Scala talks about Bolerjack’s credentials as this “isn’t (your) first rodeo” in documentary film. Bolerjack did attend film school in California and worked on special featurettes included as bonus material on DVDs, which I am not knocking or disregarding in any way.

Bolerjack does say that known actors that did not want him to film them were “dickheads” and also says he “linked up” with Lee based on his film work when he has previously said that he purposely reached out through a mutual friend with the specific intention of possibly filming a project or reality show covering Stan’s convention travels. (Which he later freely admits to later)

Houston makes a point that one of the worst things going on is that Bolerjack is making money off of Stan’s death and that is the primary catalyst for “normal” people losing their minds.

That may be true but let me clarify Four Color Sinner’s stance- I have not made this point, and it is not my primary argument. I feel Bolerjack has ALWAYS made money off of Stan, pre-death and that he is continuing it because he cannot make significant money on his own merits. I’m just down on the documentary on principle and not because of Bolerjack’s perceived payout.

100:08: “Why don’t I just put it on YouTube? Why don’t I just take it as it is right now and just slap it on YouTube and let everyone watch it… and we’ll have it, it’s out, right? So, your solution to this problem is, I’ll take it without having lawyers vet it, I’ll put it out unprotected on YouTube so that every person in it that I expose will sue me, I’ll have hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal fees so that you can watch it for free on YouTube and, also… with not enough context of explanation- where we are, what’s happening, who’s doing it to him, how old is Stan… I’ll just throw them out without answering those for you… and the internet, in its infinite wisdom, will parse out this information judiciously with all the context that they’ve shown so far in their ability to actually critically think….”

Bolerjack’s summation of people beneath him and their ability to actually critically think. Wow.

I don’t doubt there’s the odd comment wishing unwarranted nonsense on Bolerjack and others, but it’s amazing to me that all of these guys severely lack any capacity to recognize why anyone might DARE to be critical or wary over this documentary and its trajectory.

They really do all dismiss any emotion over it as people too stupid to comprehend reality as they see it and eager to be easily triggered.

There really are people that do not hate Bolerjack and simply think the presentation and roll out to this film just seem a little icky. I believe Bolerjack would come ahead a little better by being less swarmy and dismissive, but it really does seem like that’s just his natural speed. (See all of his smug expressions in every single Jon Bolerjack photo for reference.)

104:40: “…such a small industry, it’s like a giant FAMILY… you know, like we loved comics before it was COOL… we were making comics before it was COOL… so, this is our thing, so Stan is like a Grandfather to many, many people… just like Roy is… when you hear these greats leaving us, John Romita… a part of your childhood is gone.”- Billy Tucci, explaining the psychological foundation for every decision these adult men make

Also, does Tucci know that Lee had no passion for the comic book medium or industry whatsoever? Just asking.

106:15: “Here’s why I push back on that, though… is if I were just out here with no one, no credibility, I just came outta nowhere, no one knows who I am and I want this money, okay…? And I have no name recognition, no one knows me, 100 percent… but I come out with the Commando from Schwarzenegger with the rocket launcher, and I just shoot boom, McFarlane, boom- Liefeld, boom- Thomas… and I have literally every person you are waiting in line for HOURS for, to sign your book and tell you that you love them… they are TELLING you they have seen the documentary, it’s GOOD, that I’m a trustworthy person and that it’s important to get funded, right? So that’s why I push back on that, and I don’t buy that… because even if I can’t prove my value… there are ten bazillion other people that are out there promoting me… AND giving that credibility…”

SO, UH… why aren’t THEY FUNDING THIS FILM THEN? Also, I continue to be delighted that these guys assume every person is dying to meet shitheads like Rob Liefeld and Roy Thomas.

Houston says any critic of this film is a “weird person that’s been living in a basement for 19 years and has never taken off his jock strap.” Uh… that last component is a strange one, but Houston is a strange guy- no judgement. And isn’t Cimino living in a guest room in Thomas’s estate?

Cimino chimes in that he knows big names that “don’t do the social media thing” that back Bolerjack and just haven’t vouched publicly. Sure.

109:41: “Initially, it was actually a reality show because in 2015, if you had anything remotely interesting about you, you could get a reality show… E was pumping them out like crazy and like, VH1 was trying it again, so it was very easy to sell a reality show… so, when I bumped into a friend who was working for Stan, I thought like, cool, can I meet Stan, then I was like this would be a really interesting reality show, ’cause you’d get to see Stan going around the country, interacting with fans, it seemed like a slam dunk idea….” – Bolerjack, actually admitting it now

“We filmed eight hours of Emerald City Comic Con of him like signing… we realized the actual world is kind of small and it’s harder to translate that out into the everything… so at that point we had spent a couple months filming stuff and working on some stuff and then at that point I’d actually grown pretty friendly with Stan and the other people that I was with weren’t nerds so they didn’t care who Stan was… so then I went to Stan, hey can I just keep filming? ‘Cause I could tell, something will happen, something will inevitably happen that will make this interesting… I said, can I stay and film until I figure it out?”

What did he think a man in his nineties who is declining in health would “make something happen” for a proposed reality show? If Lee could sign for eight hours, that’s already the pinnacle of what he could be expected to do.

One of the viewer questions is the very reasonable ‘Why aren’t the big money people backing it?’

111:58: “Uh, I think, well, I mean I guess what does that mean… if they could clarify what does ‘big money people‘ mean…”

Another viewer asks why he hasn’t pitched the documentary to Amazon or Netflix if he doesn’t care about the profits? Bolerjack claims he did pitch it to them and “everybody else you could possibly name”, the very mom & pop organizations like Amazon and Netflix didn’t want the risk involved.

Then Bolerjack blames COVID since, you know, nobody would’ve been inclined to watch anything during a pandemic where they were all trapped indoors. Sounds legit!

113:34: “Whenever you’re close to someone of status, right, like Todd (McFarlane), you stay friendly with those people because you don’t cross that line and encroach on them for things…

(Um. Wow.)

“…if I go to Todd and say, “Todd, can I have 300k to get this movie?” It breaks a thing that doesn’t get unbroken again. You only stay with people when you treat them like people… as soon as they get the sense that you’re trying to piggy bank them or exploit them for your gain in some way… like, they don’t like that… and you have to treat them like people…”

I cannot express enough the gravity defying sense of aloofness and obtuse nature of this person, I’m stunned. Did he also describe Cimino’s entire motus operandi? I also thought it was interesting how he said “you only stay with people”- why phrase it like that? You ‘stay’ with people? I thought you stayed FRIENDS with people, or worked with people, and Bolerjack’s choice of phrasing really gives away a lot here. A lot.

We are treated to the teaser trailer again. I’m so swayed by seeing Mark Waid vouch for this. So swayed. Interestingly, Nile Scala points out he isn’t fond of Mark Waid which makes me wonder if Waid once threatened him online.

124:51: “Fandom, dude… just, fandom is so passionate… like, like, this is like mythology, and comics, you’re doing a documentary on ZEUS.” – Nile Scala’s entire emotional maturity and intellectual acumen, summed up in one statement

126:41: “The real- the real irony and sort of the same of this is that- who do you think right now is most happy that this is happening? Who do you think is getting the most pleasure of this, besides the trolls doing it- it’s all the people who are movie who are sweating their balls, “am I exposed in this? Am I gonna be on this list, am I gonna be exposed?” They’re happy right now, I know for a fact I’ve seen screenshots of people who aren’t even in the movie but think they are and they’re bragging to their friend that this is having a negative impact because they think they’re going to live to fight another day….”

The real irony. Wow. This documentary is Bolerjack’s grand validation and redemption, and he seems very out of touch with how reality works.

A few things are off here that these guys are almost trying to will into existence by referencing them- that people are suddenly involved, suddenly upset, or suddenly aware- when these things were well discussed back before Lee passed away; that people will be surprised by who gets exposed- as if it couldn’t be Anderson and Morgan and Jerry- that people are just waiting to be outraged and Bolerjack suddenly fit the bill for their collective madness.

You can’t reach the entitled ones. These guys will never really die off, they’ll just be replaced by more bros who consume and criticize and reference snowflakes and virtue-signalers while still being the first people to whine and get defensive over any instance of someone disagreeing with their outlook or worldview.

This- this is the geek community. They have truly inherited the earth in the 21st century and just look at how progressive and advanced it is: man-children who argue about pro wrestling storylines and collect expensive statues and debate which actor should next play Batman.

The only way to send these dorks a message is with your wallet and with your attention: don’t see this film. Wait until someone inevitably bootlegs it on YouTube or something. Bolerjack doesn’t deserve it.

Oh yeah, Bolerjack also reveals that a French company owns and controls Lee’s name and likeness. Just like Jerry Lewis!

Dedicated to all the people who don’t wait, all the people who speak up for no rewards.