It is with heavy hearts that we put together this episode of Planet 8. Stan Lee, the face of Marvel Comics, passed away on November 12th. It's impossible to adequately relate how much Stan meant to all of us, or the magnitude of what he achieved in his life. But there was no way we could let his passing go by unnoticed. Stan not only co-created so many super-heroes that we love, but he gave us a sense of belonging. He made Marvel, and comics, feel cool. He spoke out against bigotry and spoke up for equality. His promotion of Marvel eventually led to the amazing films we have now. He brought enjoyment to so many people across the world -truly, a life to be celebrated. Excelsior.
For our Sensor Sweep, Bob salutes another person who passed on November 12th, Fred Patten. Mr. Patten was instrumental in bringing Japanese manga and animation to America. Patten was the owner of the Graphic Story Bookshop in Long Beach, California in the 1970s, and discovered manga at Westercon in 1970. He began to import comics from Japan, and founded the Cartoon Fantasy Organization in 1978. He also consulted on a number of animated features.
That's it for now -we'll be back in a week with our regularly scheduled episode. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us, either here or on our other locations:
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Thanks for Listening!
Stan Lee interview clips courtesy Fandango. Closing song is Wallopin' Websnappers by Moxxi (Vaughn Smith) from the album The Spider-Man Swinging 60's Cartoon Retro Remix Collection.
Nice episode and a nice discussion about Stan Lee and his legacy, i.e., the long shadow he ended up casting not just over comics but also a huge chunk of pop culture in general.
ReplyDeleteBob makes a really good point about how Stan became (well, sort of made himself) the face of Marvel in a way no one else did either there or at any other comics publisher. To echo the comment I left at Back in the Bronze Age, when I first started reading comics as a very young kid, one thing I noticed right away in every Marvel comic was the "Stan Lee presents" at the top of the opening page. I knew about that Stan Lee guy long before I started recognizing the name and/or art of any other comic book creator.
Otherwise, though, I have to say I'm a bit taken aback at how nonchalant Bob is about having a letter published in a comic book - man, if any of my letters had ever gotten published, that fact would have been burned into my brain forever: the title, the issue no., the month and year it came out...
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Best,
Edo Bosnar