Mouse Extra

Today’s Disney News column is by Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.

Stan Lee is a genius. He really is. Along with partner/artist Steve Ditko, he created Marvel Comics out of the rubble of some old comic company. The pair created some of the biggest icons in the history of this country- Spider Man, the Hulk, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and many, many more. Stan Lee brought two important things to the comic industry. First off, like Walt Disney and Jim Henson, he understood that children are, in fact, not idiots. Secondly, he followed the important aspect of science fiction. That is, you need real characters to support these fantastic situations. Good fantasy relies on good characters. Spider Man at its core is about the difficulties of being a teenager. The Hulk is about a man who can’t control his emotions.  The Fantastic Four is about family. The X-Men were way, way before their time. Those characters deal with issues of bigotry and racism in a kids’ comic.

Now, Stan Lee has joined forces with Disney. Unfortunately, Spider Man and Wolverine aren’t coming with him. An agreement has been announced that will have Lee working on developing characters for action films that might also be featured in direct-to-DVD productions, video games, and comic books. Since leaving Disney, Lee’s biggest character creation was that great super-heroine, Strippella, immortally brought to “big” screen life by Pamela Anderson.

Stan the Man has become a bit of a character himself. He appears, ala Alfred Hitchcock, in nearly all the movies based on Marvel characters. He is the host of a Sci-Fi reality show that brings superhero campy-ness to new heights. He claims to have many ideas in filing cabinets just waiting to be produced. I love the man, but this is a wait and see proposition at best. It’s also a nice press event for a day. In the end, it’s likely meaningless. But I hope I’m wrong. Maybe the next Spider Man is sitting in one of those cabinets.

‘Nuff Said