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IMAGINATION, FROM NOW ON / THE STAN LEE STORY…

Imagination ist nicht limitiert. Superkräfte haben nur Phantasie-Helden. Und irgendwann, aber unbeirrbar, kommt die Wirklichkeit. Da entscheidet sich, wie viel Kraft die Visionen eines Artisten aufzubringen in der Lage sind, um seine Realität in der Vorstellungskraft weiter leben zu lassen. Der TASCHEN VERLAG wollte mit der STAN LEE STORY mit dem Helden zusammen ein Denkmal setzen. Stan Lee ist gestorben. Das Buch ist nun ein Memorial. Ein fulminantes Werk, in dem er in seinen Brainchildren Spider-Man, Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor und The X-Men in der Phantasie weiter leben wird. Geschrieben hat es Roy Thomas, über Jahrzehnte Vertrauter und Begleiter. Auf 444 Seiten Bilder und Zeichnungen. Darunter Fotos aus dem realen Leben von Stan Lee auf seinem Weg heraus aus bescheidenen Verhältnissen hin zur Ikone der Popkultur. Eintausend Bücher wird es als Collectors Edition geben, noch signiert von Stan Lee. Am 22.November 2018 wird es als sein Vermächtnis erscheinen. Aus Respekt geht jetzt das Wort an den Künstler. Sein Vorwort zu seinem Buch:

Congratulations, my friend! If you were able to lift this book, then you truly belong in our wondrous world of Marvel super heroes. As for me, although I have no secret superpowers of my own — and if I did, I couldn’t tell you because they’re secret, right? — still, I can hardly believe that my life is the subject of a fantastic book like this.

Y’know, if I had ever suspected that the life I’ve lived and things that I’ve done would be chronicled in such a fantastic volume, I’d have tried to do more outrageous things to ensure that you’d be excited by every page. But alas, I’m afraid that the super heroes who have occupied so much of my life are the really colorful ones. I’m just a guy on the sideline living much of my life in my imagination. But you may still find a surprise or two in the almost countless pages that follow. It’s lucky for both of us that this titanic tome is written by my longtime friend and fellow writer/editor Roy Thomas. Roy was so young when he joined our colorful bullpen that I used to refer to him as “Roy the Boy” until a few decades had passed, after which he became “Rascally Roy.” (To me, a person without a nickname is like a movie without my cameo!) Since you’re obviously a Marvel fan— — or else you just like to show off your strength by carrying this book — —you can be sure you’ll meet all  the terrific artists and writers I was fortunate enough to work with. While names like Kirby, Ditko, Buscema, Romita, and Colan will certainly ring a bell, you’ll also meet many of the colorful guys and gals who were so important and so influential in my roller-coaster life.

Y’know, it’s tough for me to be serious for too long. Even when writing life-and-death stories about our super heroes, I like to inject whatever humor I can. In fact, here’s something you may not have thought of: I often refer to Spider-Man as “Spidey,” Iron Man as “Shell Head,” and the Hulk as our “Jolly Green Giant.”

Not screamingly funny, I’ll admit, but an effort to inject a little light-ness into tales of menace and mayhem.

Speaking of humor, I really got a kick out of the fan club I founded decades ago called the M.M.M.S. (the good ol’ Merry Marvel Marching Society) and the “NO-PRIZE” awards I used to send to surprised readers. You’ll find those and all the other examples of my near lunacy as I tried to combine  a light touch with the sobering sagas of “super herodom.”

I’d love to write more, but I’m sitting with a copy of what is possibly the world’s biggest book and I can’t wait to read it myself.

So hang in there, hero, as all True Believers know— the best is yet to come!

The Stan Lee Story / Edition von 1.000 Exemplaren / Stan LeeRoy Thomas  / Hardcover im Acrylschuber, 31,5 x 47 cm, 444 Seiten / ISBN 978-3-8365-3677-6 / Ausgabe: Englisch