Avengers Week: George Perez covers







A peek at the Stan Lee Archives

Marvel Comics scribe Stan Lee several years ago donated his papers to the American Heritage Center at, of all places, the University of Wyoming.

There's nearly 100 boxes of stuff, including script pages, art proofs and memorabilia. It could prove fertile ground for knowledgeable comics historians seeking out new details regarding Marvel's early days and Lee's contributions to the characters he co-created with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others. I'd like to poke around that stuff, myself, actually.

In the meantime, here's a teaser of what's in all those boxes from the Casper Star-Tribune.
Those who look inside Lee's boxes will find manuscripts and notes on Lee's Soapbox column, character outlines for the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer proof sheets.
Photocopies of proofs for the Spider-Man comic strip show notes written in the margins.
"Not too dramatic a pointing gesture," is written to the artist in one panel.
"Make more imaginative," appears on a Silver Surfer pencil sketch.
Lee kept boxes of fan mail: drawings of the X-Men done in red marker by young boys, letters written on lined school paper.
There are some written by the famous, like one sent to Lee and his wife by Linda McCartney: "Just a note to say that our 4 year old son James thinks he's Spider-Man at the moment, and loves Hulk and a few of the others as well -- so ‘keep rocking'!"

Photos: Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger




Poster for latest Asterix live action film

Here's the poster for the new Asterix film, the fourth, starring Edouard Baer and Gerard Deparidieu as Asterix and Obelix.

The Asterix comics are beloved worldwide, so this is the German language version of the film, which in its native French, is titled "Astérix et Obélix: Au Service de Sa Majesté" and seems to draw on the "Asterix in Britain" volume of the diminutive-but-strong Gaul's adventures.

It's a pity the U.S. just doesn't seem to get Asterix, although if you try and look hard enough, you can find these films. I've watched only "Asterix: Mission Cleopatra," which was a blast.


New trailers for Amazing Spider-Man film