A Weekend With Stan Lee

Traveling Thy and the Great Stan Lee
Last weekend, my wifey Yuka and our ninja buddy Max invited me to join them at the Catalina Film Festival. They work for the amazing Stan Lee – comic book genius and creator of legendary heroes such as Spiderman, Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk.

I’ve met Stan at a handful of events in the past, and he wows me every time. The man is going to be 90 years old this year, and is more vibrant and charismatic than most young people I know. He’s so full of life!

I tagged along like a silly fangirl to his press events, movie screenings, dinner. Pictured above is us at a press brunch on Catalina Island, overlooking the Avalon Harbor.

It was a great weekend:

• Stan received the Ronald Reagan “Great Communicator” Award.
• The Avengers opened that weekend, and we got to watch it with a live introduction from Stan himself.
• We joined Stan on a private tour of Catalina Island’s beautiful, historic Avalon Theatre, which you can see over my right shoulder in the photo above.
• We got to see his new documentary With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, as well as a live FAQ with Stan.

The documentary was great – even for someone (including yours truly) who’s not all that into comic books. It gave some interesting insight into Stan’s career and how he came up with such incredible characters and stories. The best part for me was seeing him and his wife together. They’ve been married for more than TWICE my lifetime – since 1947! They’re still over the moon in love after all these years and it’s absolutely adorable. It’s the kind of love I think everyone dreams of having someday.

As for The Avengers – well, if you haven’t seen it, you might be the only person left in America. The movie’s doing very, very well. It was the biggest opening weekend in North America of ALL time. It was so cool to be in Stan’s presence on such a legendary weekend. When his cameo in the movie flashed across the big screen, everyone in the theater went wild!

Stan’s had a tremendous career and his work has touched so many people. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to have such a legacy, to have created these superhero characters that will live for all of eternity. Take Spiderman, for example. My dad read Spiderman comic books as a kid growing up in Vietnam. His grandkids will know who Spiderman is and someday their grandkids will know who Spiderman is too. As a matter of fact, if they’re living in Los Angeles, they can see Spiderman on the corner of Hollywood and Highland every single day – seriously, does that guy ever go home?!

Anyway, it was an honor and a privilege to spend a weekend with the great Stan Lee. I have to thank Yuka and Max for making it happen, with a shout out to Darren and Maria too. Love you guys!

For more on Stan, visit his webpage at therealstanlee.com.