Booster Gold and Stan Lee

This marks my 2,500th cover on the blog!

I read recently that Leonardo DiCaprio has expressed interest in portraying Stan Lee in a movie biography.  While I have my reservations about whether he is the perfect actor for the role, I do think that there is potential for a very interesting film there.  I have enjoyed reading about the formation of Marvel Comics and it would be cool to see it on the big screen.  There's a great opportunity to lend some interesting visuals to it as well, given the subject matter.

Justice League of America and Stan Lee

One of my favorite things about watching a movie based on a Marvel property is seeing how the director manages to fit in a Stan Lee cameo.  Stan usually gets in a good one liner or reaction shot. My favorite by far was his role as Willie Lumpkin the Mail Man in the first Fantastic Four film.  In a film that certainly had its share of flaws, that little moment was perfect!  Hmmm, maybe it would have been fun to have Stan as one of the shadowed figures that Nick Fury was taking orders from in The Avengers.

George Perez had a short but fantastic run on Justice League of America.  As much as I loved his work on New Teen Titans, it always bummed me out that he left the title and never got a chance to return.  His JLA/Avengers was a nice tease of what could have been, but I would love for him to get another chance at the main title.

Batman and Stan Lee

I'll never forget the first time I read the paperback Origins of Marvel Comics, where every chapter was headed up by a few pages of text by Stan Lee, explaining the genesis of his ideas. It seemed to cool to me that this master creator was just as interested and enthusiastic about the art form as I was. I then devoured his How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way and made sure to read his Stan's Soapbox columns on Bullpen Bulletins. He was and remains the greatest spokesman the form has ever seen. I love all of his cameos in the movies as well. Stan Lee as Willie Lumpkin was perfect casting!

When I got the request to do a cover with Lee, I knew just what to use. The cover and issue of B&B where Jim Aparo depicted himself as part of the story was always one of my favorites. This cover was probably the easiest one I made.

I recently picked up the hardcover collection of Lee's Spider-Man newspaper strips and enjoyed it immensely. Stan really knew how to write in that format.