Stan Lee
COMIC BOOK HERO STAN LEE HONORED WITH
STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME
Emcee: Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO Leron Gubler
Guest speakers: Gill Champion, President and COO at POW! Entertainment and Todd
McFarlane, creator of Spawn and founder of McFarlane Toys
2,428th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Category of Motion Pictures
at 7072 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Live Nation Building
on Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Stan Lee was born December 28, 1922 in New York City. He began his career as an assistant at Timely Comics in 1939, getting lunch, filling inkwells, proofreading, etc. Two years later, he was named interim editor at Timely after editor Joe Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left.
Known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Stan Lee's famous co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange among many others. Lee first became publisher of Marvel Comics in 1972 and is presently the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics. In 1977, he introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip that went on to become the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips. Spider-Man now appears in more than hundreds of newspapers worldwide — making it the longest running of all Super Hero strips.
Without question, Stan 'the Man' Lee has exerted more influence over the comic book industry than anyone in history. He created or co-created 90 percent of Marvel's recognized characters, which have been successfully licensed and marketed since 1965. The numbers are staggering — more than 2 billion of his comic books have been published in 75 countries and in 25 languages. In Europe alone, Stan Lee's name appears on more than 35 million comics annually.
In 1981 Stan Lee transformed his Spider-Man and Hulk creations into Saturday morning and syndicated television cartoons. When Marvel Comics and Marvel Productions were acquired by New World Entertainment in 1986, Stan's horizons expanded even further, giving him the opportunity to become more deeply involved in the creation and development of filmed projects for both the big and small screen. He supervised such diverse animated series as X-Men, Spider-Man and The Hulk. To date, Stan's characters have populated over 24 separate television series, all of which continue in syndication around the world.
Stan Lee's admirers are not limited to the younger generation — his avowed fans include Presidents (Ronald Reagan once said he started every day reading Spider-Man comics and George Bush, in presenting Stan with a Medal of the Arts, praised him for encouraging and assisting "millions of young people to broaden their own imaginations") and media titans (Steven Spielberg once explained that "Stan and I do the same thing. Only my pictures move.") and even his competitors ("Most of my generation of writers learned our craft from or through Stan Lee. He's an incredible part of the business," said Paul Levitz of DC Comics).
Now, as he enters the 21st Century, Stan Lee is broadening his horizons with his new company, “POW! Entertainment” where he is currently developing entirely new franchises for film and television while still proudly cherishing the title of Marvel’s Chairman Emeritus. Stan Lee is the Founder of POW! Entertainment and has served as its Chairman and Chief Creative Officer since inception.
Lee’s POW! Entertainment has many projects in the pipeline. They include:
1) Publishing
a) Boom! Studios – “Solider Zero”, “Traveler”, “Starborn”
b) Archie Comics/ A Squared Entertainment – Stan’s newest comic creations “The Mighty Seven” and “Airwalker” with three more to follow
c) 1821 Comics – Coffee table book – “Romeo and Juliet: The War”
d) “Ultimo” – published by Viz Media in Japan (in Shonen Jump) and the US
e) “Heroman” – published in Japan and also appears on Japanese TV (Bones and Wowmax)
2) Co-branding
a) The Guardian Project with the National Hockey League
b) “Kid Fitness”
c) “The Seekers” comic series in partnership with MTV Geek
d) “Libra Scale” – a comic strip written to complement R&B star Ne-Yo’s upcoming album
e) Working on live action rock opera-style musical – “Yin and Yang: The Battle of Tao”
3) Screenplays
a) Seven screenplays in various stages of development including POW! Entertainment’s first Chinese super hero
4) TV
a) Three TV series in various stages of development
5) Also, 10-15 other projects in various stage of development
There is also a foundation in Stan Lee’s name whose purpose is to promote literacy and education.
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ALL PRESS MUST RSVP TO ANA MARTINEZ AT (323) 468-1376 OR [email protected]
About POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment, Inc. (Pinksheets:POWN)
An advanced media and entertainment company, was founded by world famous comic book and motion picture icon Stan Lee, together with award winning producer Gill Champion and intellectual property specialist Arthur Lieberman, Esq. POW! Entertainment’s principals have extensive backgrounds in the entertainment industry encompassing the creation, production and licensing of original intellectual properties including some of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time. POW! Entertainment, capitalizing on this combined expertise specializes in franchises for the entertainment industry, including animation and live-action feature films, plus television, DVDs, video games, merchandising, and related ancillary markets all of which contribute to global expansion. www.powentertainment.com.
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