Stan “The Man” Lee passed away on Monday at the age of 95, and I’ve gotta say this one actually hurts.
Sure, there have been celebrities and creators I’ve greatly admired who’ve passed away—Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Robin Williams, John Belushi, Steve Gerber, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko—but Stan Lee was my first writing influence; the mastermind who understood there was more to comics than people in costumes bashing the crap out of each other; that heroes could have feet of clay and suffer crises of conscience and stumble through bad days and worry about paying the bills, just like any real person, but through sheer willpower and fierce determination they could overcome those obstacles—so long as they never did it at the cost of other people.
After all, “with great power there must also come…great responsibility.”
Back in my editing days at indie publisher ibooks, inc., I had two occasions to work with Stan Lee—not closely, but close enough for a nerdy fan to say he’d been involved in a few projects headlined by a living legend:
In 1998, I was tasked with editing The Ultimate Hulk, an anthology of Hulk short stories by various writers; Stan Lee and Peter David were credited as its editors on the cover. At one point I contacted Stan about an intro he needed to write for the book; when it showed up in the mail, the note you see here was attached to it.
Oh, that Stan!
Then in 2005, I was hired to write captions and dialogue for Stan Lee’s Alexa, a comic loosely based on a novel series called Stan Lee’s Riftworld, about a comic artist who can open portals to other dimensions (the publisher she worked for was based on Stan).
I tried to write it like The Man (since the conceit was that Stan plotted it), but one day he called me and yelled, “What is it with this script?! It’s like every third word is boldfaced! Where did you ever learn to write like that?!”
I paused—I mean, Stan Lee was yelling at me!—and then said, “Uhhh…from you.”
There was one other comic project I was supposed to be the writer for, in those ibooks, inc. days, that involved adapting/updating The Inmates, a film treatment that Stan wrote in 1971 for a planned collaboration with French director Alain Resnais. From what I remember, the update was about a space princess arriving on Earth and being locked away in an asylum; she escapes and eventually falls in love with the man who helps hide her from the authorities. (Something like that; I can’t remember the exact details. I think the title changed to The Visitor.) What scuttled the project, as well as the concluding two issues of Alexa, was the death of ibooks, inc. publisher Byron Preiss in 2005, shortly after Alexa #1 came out.
Stan Lee—Stanley Martin Lieber—always wanted to be a literary icon; to write The Great American Novel. In a way, he accomplished both goals—it just took hundreds of characters and thousands of pages and a ton of illustrations to tell the story. And we’ll never get tired of re-reading it.
Thanks, Mr. Lee, for everything.
Today is the launch of the Love Your Bookstore Initiative, a collaboration between industry magazine Publishers Weekly and Sourcebooks in which they make a pretty simple and easy challenge to all lovers of literature in exchange for the chance to win free books:
It’s true! Not only did the original king of the monsters celebrate his 85th anniversary back in March, but he’s returned to the Broadway stages of New York City where producer Carl Denham made the mistake of trying to exploit a giant gorilla with no acting experience who wouldn’t take direction. Hopefully, this time it’ll go better!
King Kong
Fall is in full swing, and with it comes that annual November event called National Novel Writing Month. To explain what it is, I’ll let this quote from the organization’s website provide you with some background:
You remember Satana, don’t you? No, not the guitar-playing rock legend—that would be Carlos Santana of “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va” fame. I’m talking about 
However, where Marvel missed the boat was in not promoting Satana to series star and giving her her own magazine series—in fact, she made only three feature-cover appearances during her short 1970s run: The Haunt of Horror #5 (Dick Giordano art for a Chris Claremont story); Marvel Premiere #27 (Gil Kane art for another Claremont tale—but this one was a full-color comic); and Marvel Preview #7 (a Bob Larkin painting for, yes, another Claremont story, although that issue has become more well-known for being the first appearance of Guardians of the Galaxy member Rocket Raccoon). Mostly, though, Satana occupied Vampire Tales’ and Haunt of Horror’s back pages. Not a smart move—if you’re gonna go head-to-head with the queen of the bad girls, you can’t do it from backup-story land.
Lorelei currently stars in two critically acclaimed titles (no backup status for our girl!):
Just in time for yesterday’s release of Halloween, the highly anticipated (and similarly named) sequel to the John Carpenter horror classic from 1978, we’ve dipped into the Bob Larkin Archives for this haunting image: an ad Bob painted for TV Guide in 1981, for the NBC broadcast premiere of the original film. Bob still has the painting in his collection and pointed out that, for the print ad, the knife he’d put in Michael Myer’s hand was edited out by the magazine staff. It’s still a creepy image anyway!
But it’s not just his painting skills that are impressive—Bob’s also one hell of a pencil artist, as you’ll see if you order a copy of SWC’s 
With the Spooky Season officially in high gear, e-book distributor DriveThru Comics has launched its annual Halloween sale, during which you can purchase thousands of horror-themed digital books and comics at special prices! It runs from now to November 1—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion. Included among the many participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (of course), which means you can get the following titles at lower prices:
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is my young adult novel that’s perfect for lovers of dark urban fantasy.It introduces readers to Pandora Zwieback, a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets professional monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world. In Blood Feud, Pan, her parents and friends, and Annie are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father. It’s a character-driven action-fest that leads immediately into the second novel:
Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2: Pan and Annie face even greater challenges as the vampire clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover! But Pan isn’t about to let some ancient monster win the day, not when the lives of her parents and friends—along with those of every human on the planet—are at stake, so she leads a charge of her own. But whose side is going to emerge the victor remains to be seen…
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 is a spinoff from the novel series. In this 56-page, full-color comic special, the teenaged Goth adventuress battles Gothic Lolita vampires in a shopping mall and a jealous, man-stealing siren in the middle of New York’s Central Park. It features stories by me and Sholly Fisch (Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Mighty Mouse), art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0), comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), and Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), and cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella).
Lorelei: Sects and the City is a Mature Readers graphic novel in which Lorelei Munro—a fiery-haired, soul-stealing succubus whose supernatural appetites are firmly set on devouring the life-forces of bad guys—battles a cult of Elder God worshipers attempting to unleash hell on Earth. Basically a love letter to 1970s horror comics like Vampirella, Tomb of Dracula, and Ghost Rider, it’s written by yours truly, and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (Stargate Universe, Lady Death), Steve Geiger (Web of Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk), andNeil Vokes (Flesh and Blood, Fright Night). It also features a cover by legendary artist Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna, Lady Rawhide), a history of succubi illustrated by Ernie Colon, and a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night).
Lorelei Presents: House Macabre is Lori’s first outing as the hostess of a horror comic anthology, in this one-shot special that contains four tales of horror, behind eye-catching cover art by fan-favorite artist Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella, Supergirl, Batman 80-Page Giant). “The Old, Dark Manse” is written by me, penciled by Uriel Caton (JSA Annual, The Ex-Mutants, Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), and inked by “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Harvey Kurtzman’s New Two-Fisted Tales), and has Lori welcoming readers to this special. “All in Color for a Crime” is another tale from me, with art by Lou Manna (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Young All-Stars). Two comic book collectors clash over a rare back issue—and only one of them will be adding it to their long boxes! “The Basilisk,” from me and artist John Pierard (Graphic Classics: Horror Classics, My Teacher Fried My Brains), is a “Lori’s Feary Tale” that examines the history of a supernatural creature that’s a cross between a deadly snake and a…chicken?! Wrapping up the special is “Requiem for Bravo 6,” by New York Times bestselling author and comic writer Dwight Jon Zimmerman (She-Hulk, Steve McQueen: Full-Throttle Cool) and artist Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo (Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror). A special-ops team goes on a life-or-death mission…but will they be prepared for what awaits them at mission’s end?
Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a general readers’ graphic novel about a group of supernatural-superheroes-for-hire taking on their first case. The team consists of a wizard, a female ninja, a sorceress, a werewolf, and a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer wearing high-tech armor. Sure, they might not be on a power level with the Avengers or Justice League of America—they’re more like superpowered Ghostbusters—but they get the job done. The graphic novel is written by the husband-and-white team of Richard C. White (Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, For a Few Gold Pieces More, Harbinger of Darkness) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman.
And Snow White is the classic story by the Brothers Grimm that’s been adapted numerous times. Our edition features incredibly lush full-color illustrations first published in 1883.
Face front, true believer! The third issue of The Formidables—the superhero comic that I’m involved with as editor—has reached comic shops!
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