Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 10:44 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10277" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/stanleedoomt.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Stan Lee Meets Doctor Doom #1"></a>Reviewer: Kerry Birmingham, birmy@juno.com
“Send him back– out of my sight! And let him fly coach!”
Story Title: “Stan Lee Meets Doctor Doom”
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Story Title: “The Rest of the Story”
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Story Title: “True Believer”
Story & Art: Tom Beland
Story Title: “The Power and the Pride!”
Writer: Stan Lee
Co-plotter & Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Artie Simek
Assistant Editors: Molly Lazer & Aubrey Sitterson
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com/)
Let me say this: I love Stan Lee. Not, you know, love love him, but as a comic book fan. There’s his obvious feat of co-creating countless characters, concepts, and tropes that have come to make Marvel and superhero comics in general what they are today. More than that, whatever the controversy of his moves, I’ve always admired his enthusiasm, his showmanship, and his willingness to declare his own ideas as brilliant despite the fact he obviously knows better. This, to me, was always key to Stan (I can’t even force myself to call him “Lee” or “Mr. Lee”): he knew his ideas weren’t brilliant, but he liked them and hoped you would, too, even if he had to cajole you with pronouncements and endless alliteration to do so.
Sixty-five years later, Marvel has decided to honor The Man by publishing a series of specials in which Stan, who had a habit of interacting with his characters even then, comes face to face with his creations. It’s a nice idea, and hypothetically more trouble than it’s worth; while Stan’s got nothing to prove at this point in his career, like any creative type with any kind of longevity, there’s definitely a law of diminishing returns in effect with his later work, which in this case means the last decade or so. At least half of his Just Imagine... DC specials weren’t very... well, imaginative, though his short DC Comics Presents Superman story a few years later was a good bit of fun and a reminder of the Stan of old.
That being the case, all of the Stan Lee Meets... one-shots have been enjoyable, if inessential reading (even the weakest of the lot so far, Stan Lee Meets The Thing, was an entertaining read). All of the specials feature a short lead story written by Stan which more or less follow the same formula: a representation of Stan, either exaggeratedly haughty or relentlessly self-deprecating– take your pick– gets inadvertently confronted by a self-aware version of his own creation who complains, in Grant Morrison-esque meta-conversation, about the things that bastard Stan has done to them over the years. In this case, villainous Doom (or, if you’d prefer, DOOOOOOOOM!) summons a particularly nebbishy version of Stan to Latveria. Doom knows he isn’t well-liked– and he wants Stan to do something about it in his comics. Those looking for canon should look elsewhere, as Doom sounds more like a stand-up act than himself, and Stan stands nervously by as he tries to appease his creation. It’s all in good fun, Stan’s clearly having a ball at his own expense, and his habitual amicability shines through on every page. Sal Larroca provides his usual beautiful line work, providing his own color washes which seem a touch too soft, but beautiful nonetheless.
Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness provide a “deleted scene” from an earlier Fantastic Four adventure in “The Rest of the Story.” It’s honestly a bit predictable, but comes from the same vein of good-natured silliness as the lead story. I had actually forgotten how much I liked Ed McGuinness’s art on things like Deadpool, lo those many years ago; seeing it here reminded me of how good his pencils are when he’s not drawing the elephantine jaws of Superman and Batman.
Tom Beland, of True Story, Swear to God fame, contributes a two-page strip that is more personal anecdote than actual story, but it’s a cute tribute on a par with the brief cartoon honors that have popped up in the other Stan Lee Meets... one-shots. Fans of TSSTG might do a double-take at the sight of li’l Tom sporting a full head of blond hair.
Neither “The Rest of the Story” nor Beland’s “True Believer” are as strong (or as funny) as pieces by Joss Whedon and Brian Bendis in the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange specials, but they match the lead story in charm.
The isssue closes, as all of the released specials have so far, with a reprint of an issue by Stan spotlighting the theme character, this time June, 1969's Fantastic Four #87. A story from the tail end of Stan’s fabled tenure on the title with Jack Kirby, “The Pride and the Power!” shows the kind of ease Stan had assumed with the characters by the time the ‘60s, and the peak of his workload, were abating. The Fantastic Four have evaded one of Doom’s deathtraps only to stumble upon another, but this time Doom’s strategy is a little less orthodox than unleashing the Doombots: he essentially plans to kill them with kindness. Mass destruction is unleashed, lives hang in the balance, but it’s just as well: there’s always a way out for that accursed Richards– or, excuse me, to speak the Doom, “RICHARDS!”– to get his team out of a jam with neither hero nor villain the worse for wear. In a lot of ways, it’s quintessential Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four, breezy while dramatic, corny while remaining palatable. What better way to commemorate the work of a man who’s exhibited all of those same qualities?
RATING:
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DOOOOOOM! BUY this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=20968)
“Send him back– out of my sight! And let him fly coach!”
Story Title: “Stan Lee Meets Doctor Doom”
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Story Title: “The Rest of the Story”
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Story Title: “True Believer”
Story & Art: Tom Beland
Story Title: “The Power and the Pride!”
Writer: Stan Lee
Co-plotter & Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Artie Simek
Assistant Editors: Molly Lazer & Aubrey Sitterson
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com/)
Let me say this: I love Stan Lee. Not, you know, love love him, but as a comic book fan. There’s his obvious feat of co-creating countless characters, concepts, and tropes that have come to make Marvel and superhero comics in general what they are today. More than that, whatever the controversy of his moves, I’ve always admired his enthusiasm, his showmanship, and his willingness to declare his own ideas as brilliant despite the fact he obviously knows better. This, to me, was always key to Stan (I can’t even force myself to call him “Lee” or “Mr. Lee”): he knew his ideas weren’t brilliant, but he liked them and hoped you would, too, even if he had to cajole you with pronouncements and endless alliteration to do so.
Sixty-five years later, Marvel has decided to honor The Man by publishing a series of specials in which Stan, who had a habit of interacting with his characters even then, comes face to face with his creations. It’s a nice idea, and hypothetically more trouble than it’s worth; while Stan’s got nothing to prove at this point in his career, like any creative type with any kind of longevity, there’s definitely a law of diminishing returns in effect with his later work, which in this case means the last decade or so. At least half of his Just Imagine... DC specials weren’t very... well, imaginative, though his short DC Comics Presents Superman story a few years later was a good bit of fun and a reminder of the Stan of old.
That being the case, all of the Stan Lee Meets... one-shots have been enjoyable, if inessential reading (even the weakest of the lot so far, Stan Lee Meets The Thing, was an entertaining read). All of the specials feature a short lead story written by Stan which more or less follow the same formula: a representation of Stan, either exaggeratedly haughty or relentlessly self-deprecating– take your pick– gets inadvertently confronted by a self-aware version of his own creation who complains, in Grant Morrison-esque meta-conversation, about the things that bastard Stan has done to them over the years. In this case, villainous Doom (or, if you’d prefer, DOOOOOOOOM!) summons a particularly nebbishy version of Stan to Latveria. Doom knows he isn’t well-liked– and he wants Stan to do something about it in his comics. Those looking for canon should look elsewhere, as Doom sounds more like a stand-up act than himself, and Stan stands nervously by as he tries to appease his creation. It’s all in good fun, Stan’s clearly having a ball at his own expense, and his habitual amicability shines through on every page. Sal Larroca provides his usual beautiful line work, providing his own color washes which seem a touch too soft, but beautiful nonetheless.
Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness provide a “deleted scene” from an earlier Fantastic Four adventure in “The Rest of the Story.” It’s honestly a bit predictable, but comes from the same vein of good-natured silliness as the lead story. I had actually forgotten how much I liked Ed McGuinness’s art on things like Deadpool, lo those many years ago; seeing it here reminded me of how good his pencils are when he’s not drawing the elephantine jaws of Superman and Batman.
Tom Beland, of True Story, Swear to God fame, contributes a two-page strip that is more personal anecdote than actual story, but it’s a cute tribute on a par with the brief cartoon honors that have popped up in the other Stan Lee Meets... one-shots. Fans of TSSTG might do a double-take at the sight of li’l Tom sporting a full head of blond hair.
Neither “The Rest of the Story” nor Beland’s “True Believer” are as strong (or as funny) as pieces by Joss Whedon and Brian Bendis in the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange specials, but they match the lead story in charm.
The isssue closes, as all of the released specials have so far, with a reprint of an issue by Stan spotlighting the theme character, this time June, 1969's Fantastic Four #87. A story from the tail end of Stan’s fabled tenure on the title with Jack Kirby, “The Pride and the Power!” shows the kind of ease Stan had assumed with the characters by the time the ‘60s, and the peak of his workload, were abating. The Fantastic Four have evaded one of Doom’s deathtraps only to stumble upon another, but this time Doom’s strategy is a little less orthodox than unleashing the Doombots: he essentially plans to kill them with kindness. Mass destruction is unleashed, lives hang in the balance, but it’s just as well: there’s always a way out for that accursed Richards– or, excuse me, to speak the Doom, “RICHARDS!”– to get his team out of a jam with neither hero nor villain the worse for wear. In a lot of ways, it’s quintessential Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four, breezy while dramatic, corny while remaining palatable. What better way to commemorate the work of a man who’s exhibited all of those same qualities?
RATING:
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DOOOOOOM! BUY this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=20968)