At 89, comics king Stan Lee is busier, more popular than ever

KIRK BAIRD. Toledo Blade

                 Photo by Associated Press

Marvel Comics scribe and film producer Stan Lee at a special signing during New York Comic Con, Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. 

Stan Lee turns 90 in December and is arguably more popular now than at any point in his decades-long career, thanks to the surging box-office influence and might of comic-book heroes such as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Thor and Iron Man.

As the co-creator of these mythical figures, mostly with his former partner at Marvel, the late Jack Kirby, Lee has become a driving force of popular culture, though he long ago moved beyond these heroes and their home at Marvel Comics.

These days the former Marvel Comics editor and publisher is chairman of POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment, making event appearances and filming cameos for the superhero films that are often cheered by fans as loudly as the appearance of the heroes themselves.

Q: What is your official role with Marvel?

A: I'm not sure. I'm still under salary with Marvel. I have my own company also, but I'm obligated to spend 15 percent of my time working for Marvel. Of course, I spend more than that because I love Marvel and I do whatever I can, and I do voice recording for a lot of their book projects, especially for little kids, and I do whatever promotion I can. I mean, I'll always be with Marvel.

Q: Do you like the direction of Marvel, especially with the increasing emphasis on its films?

A: How can you not like it? It's the movies really that have given Marvel the biggest boost, I believe. They've made those characters so famous worldwide.

Q: Do you have much input into the films now?

A: Not really. Sometimes I'll have a lunch with whoever is going to direct a new movie if he hasn't directed one of ours before. I remember once I had lunch with Robert Downey Jr. He just wanted to get my take on what Iron Man was like.

Q: So many of Marvel's titles have made it to the big screen, but is there one superhero you think would make a great film?

A: I think any of them if they're done right. I think that Dr. Strange would be great, and I think the Black Panther would be a major hit. They're even trying to develop an Ant-Man movie now.

Q: Christopher Nolan took a gritty and grim approach to the Batman movies with his Dark Knight trilogy. Did you see them and what did you think?

A: Well, I think the Batman movies, those I've seen, have been great, they're terrific. And that's the style apparently they want for Batman, dark and gritty, and it seems to work for him. I think (DC Comics) must be a little unhappy because they've had the Justice League way before The Avengers, and yet we came out first with The Avengers and it was so successful. They have a good line of characters at DC. As you know, everything depends on how you do it.

Q: Talk about your relationship with Jack Kirby. There are some who say he didn't get enough credit for what he did at Marvel.

A: I had a wonderful relationship with him, I was his biggest fan. There was never a time that I wrote my name when his name wasn't as big. Everything said "By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby." I'm the guy that gave him the name "King Kirby."

Q: Some have suggested your partnership was like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and that neither of you were as potent once you quit working together.

A: Well, I hate to say this, but he really never had a hit when he left Marvel and went to DC. He never had another Fantastic Four or Thor or anything, I mean, he did a lot of books, but they weren't great successes.

Q: Why did you help create POW and what are your plans for the company?

A: Well, we're doing everything we can. We have a number of movies in development, we have some television shows in development, we have a live-action big spectacular that is going to open up in about year in Macau in Asia. We have a lot of work on the Internet. In fact, if you go to Stan Lee's World of Heroes on YouTube there's a million things there. We're really in every phase of entertainment. And we're just getting started.

Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.