A little background: I have more comics than you. I have been collecting since I was six. I was offered a job at “The Secret Stash” when I attended UCLA because I was in the shop so much that they said “You might as well work here.” Basically I was raised on Super Heroes, and more than any others Spider-Man. The creator of all the greats is Stan Lee. You probably recognize him from his cameo’s in every super hero movie ever.
Meeting Stan Lee was a really big deal to me and I got to meet him and have lunch.
Things I learned from meeting Stan Lee.
1. Try And See The World As A Contrarian
Stan Lee made a living off of creating these fantastic characters that captured the imagination. However, what he did to create the characters was to look at what the world at a specific time and build a history and character around controversy, rather than what people wanted. He created the character for Iron Man in the late 60's:
“They were all hippies, War was unpopular, wealthy people were unpopular, so I created a rich kid who sold weapons to the military.” — Paraphrase from Stan Lee.
2. Trust Your Gut And Take Chances
Spider-Man was his first major success. Again the contrarian in him went to his boss to get a new character into the comics,
“I have this idea for a kid to be a super hero, and I think that we should call him Spider-Man, and he will have all the powers a spider has.”
His boss made the logical decision:
“That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. Kids can’t be heroes, they can only be side-kicks and more than that NO ONE WILL BUY ANYTHING NAMED AFTER A SPIDER!”
But obviously, we have all heard of Spider-Man today, so what happened? Stan Lee snuck the character into a dying storyline called “Amazing Fantasy”, which is why the first Spider-Man is actually called “Amazing Fantasy #15". The first “Amazing Spider-Man” Comic is actually Spider-Man’s second comic book. #knowledge
His boss came into Stan’s office a couple months later, and the Amazing Fantasy comics were running off the shelves. His boss then said:
“You know that comic book character about the spider super hero that we both liked? I think that we should put him into it’s own series.”
3. Characters Are The Most Important Thing
“Stories are easy. Characters are what I have spent all my time thinking about and designing.”
I found this bit of information to be very interesting. I always thought that the stories were the most complicated part of building out comic books, and the characters would be the a side effect of the story. But really the stories are an effect of these interesting characters running into each other.
This is true in a start up too. The people are the most important part of what you are building and your startup becomes the result of all of these different characters with an aligned goal. #startupknowledgefromstanlee
4. Stan Lee Is The Coolest Dude On The Planet
When you are about to meet someone you have idolized for a long time, you pray that he/she meets your unreal expectations. Stan Lee exceeded all expectations. He is the funniest, kindest, sharpest guy, and at 94 that is something to be admired. He is still doing what he loves, which is create characters for people to imagine and love. He claims to have 100 new characters that are unreleased.
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Thanks to Holly Cao for making the lunch possible. I am eternally in your debt.
