I left the entertainment business for the video game industry almost tens years ago. Seeing this gives me a small amount of validation, but quite seriously, hollywood has sucked for years and deserves to be be taken down a notch by interactive media.
I've always thought Stan Lee was a really cool guy, but just about 10 seconds ago it was like a light bulb went off in my head and I realized he is one of my personal heroes. If anyone deserves a geeks respect, it is this man.
hrm. This is something that bothers me actually. Like would Stephen Spielberg go into games? Dante? Poe? If alive now how many of those artists would actually choose Video Games as their medium of expression.
Are games officially considered art yet? I sat down with a coder once and he argued that video games are not art. I swear I wanted to punch his stupid face.
@anglon: Spielberg has already gone into games... sorta. There's a "Director's Chair" game out there with his name. And I think he had a stake in Dreamworks Interactive, too.
Stan Lee gave his creations memorable titles, colors, meaning and depth, marketing them and making them, concepts bound by time, into something timeless. To take something from a state of just existing and turning it into something deeply loved - that does not come by accident or greed, but with devotion and a respect for the art and mankind.
Simply put, video games are today's comic books. Visually-centric, relatively simple media - in terms of presentation and required user skill - allowing for broad accessibility and enjoyment. As I type this, my roommate and a friend of ours are playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 on the XBOX 360 in our living room and it's getting across the same story as the Civil War series did.
As for the shortcomings of printed media, time restraints and storage space.. Well, that is all that is. Shortcomings that are manipulated into manipulating the human need for instant gratification - toying with feelings you wouldn't experience if everything in the universe flowed with no pause.
... Okay, okay. I actually have no idea what I'm talking about. I don't follow comic books like my roommate does (fanatic), nor do I care what you nerds think about some old guy's opinion about the national pass time of an entire generation of virgins. You're all gay. STFU.
@Astronus: I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I just wanted a funny way to end it. The first two comments were *way* too serious for my taste. Thought I'd thrown in a quick plot twist of my own, you know? This hedgehog is kind of like that, but seriously, it is unlike me to "curse" or name-call, even on the internets.
You'll have to forgive a bored internet junkie. I was serious about most of the stuff I said until the ending, though, if it makes any difference.
One thing bugs me more than anything else about Stan Lee: His full name is also his first name had his first name not been shortened. That annoys me beyond reason, no matter how much I like the guy.
(And yes, I know that his real name is Stan Lieber. That doesn't change anything.)
He only adopted the pseudonym Stan Lee when he started writing comic books, because he actually aspired to be a novelist. Since comics were seen as pulp at the time (as they still are), he didn't want his real name to be associated with them.
I got this info from the Marvel Chronicle, by the way. Great read if you're interested in the history of Marvel and Timely Comics.
hopefully this will inspire good comic book writers to get involved in game making. for many games, the mechanics are good and graphics are great but characters and story are a little goofy, cheezy etc...
@TT:
Lol, and there aren't goofy and cheezy comic books characters and stories? I'm reading one right now (apart of reading almost every single one that there is, since I research them and games for development and fun.) and 90% of comic books and games have dumb teen children as target consumers.
A good game can surely come from any kind of person, but I think that "good comic book writers" would make me excited about a game made by them the same way that a game made by.. heck, anyone else, from you to someone at a grocery store.
It's like getting excited about a Sean Connery's awesome recipes of fried chicken (heck I don't know if he's into chicken cooking, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't).
By experience most comic fans are wary of any cross media adaptations of their beloved characters and series. Especially with video games.
Having a respected writer overseeing at least the story of a game goes a long way towards gaining support and interest from the fanbase from the beginning of the game.
I for one was extremely optimistic about Batman: Arkham Asylum when I found out that Paul Dini would be the writer/consulatant for the project.
And it payed off at the end with the final product imo.
He would then come up with rudimentary ideas that were based on simplistic arch-types that have been used by a plethora of writers throughout history. Any innovative ideas or game mechanics created by his supporting team would be jumped on by Stan "The Man" and he would then use his greatest story telling techniques to make it seem he was responsible for them.
Man, there's absolutely no love for comics in that quote. Not even a, "but comics are exciting too!"
I love video games and film; don't get me wrong. But very little beats the excitement of the next book after reading a GOOD cliffhanger in a comic book -- it's like waiting for your favorite tv show, but not having it spoiled by commercials.
I guess Stan Lee assumes that we all assume he means that comics also kickass, but it'd be nice to see a little affirmation there.
@NKato: Comprehension fail on my part aside, I think we can all agree on your assessment of his mustache. I do believe that it's growing legs at one end.
Oh great, now I have to suffer his cameos in video games, too?
Look, I love many of the things that he (co-)created, but can we please stop with the wink-wink pointless cameos?
(Incidentally, those cameos don't mean jack to 99% of non-American viewers, who don't recognise him and only see his appearances as awkward parentheses of bad acting.)
@Antiterra: Hah. 99% of non-American viewers don't know who Stan Lee is? As a non-American viewer, I think I can safely say that statistic is plain stupid.
And what is wrong the cameos? They show respect to a great man, and give comic-fans a bit of an in-joke. It's not like the Marvel films were deadly serious, only to be ruined by one little cameo.
09/30/09
09/30/09
Hypothetical.
09/30/09
09/30/09
09/29/09
Are games officially considered art yet? I sat down with a coder once and he argued that video games are not art. I swear I wanted to punch his stupid face.
09/29/09
09/30/09
@Kitsune Sniper: Boom Blox.
*edit*
Oh, and The Dig.
09/29/09
Could be grey hair, could be a trick of the camera, could be some Columbian flake.
It was the 70's...Nuff said.
09/29/09
Simply put, video games are today's comic books. Visually-centric, relatively simple media - in terms of presentation and required user skill - allowing for broad accessibility and enjoyment. As I type this, my roommate and a friend of ours are playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 on the XBOX 360 in our living room and it's getting across the same story as the Civil War series did.
As for the shortcomings of printed media, time restraints and storage space.. Well, that is all that is. Shortcomings that are manipulated into manipulating the human need for instant gratification - toying with feelings you wouldn't experience if everything in the universe flowed with no pause.
... Okay, okay. I actually have no idea what I'm talking about. I don't follow comic books like my roommate does (fanatic), nor do I care what you nerds think about some old guy's opinion about the national pass time of an entire generation of virgins. You're all gay. STFU.
09/29/09
09/29/09
You'll have to forgive a bored internet junkie. I was serious about most of the stuff I said until the ending, though, if it makes any difference.
09/29/09
09/29/09
(And yes, I know that his real name is Stan Lieber. That doesn't change anything.)
09/29/09
09/29/09
And Alpa Chino has NOTHING on Huge Ackman. How huge IS his Ackman, you ask? Fucking huge.
09/29/09
@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.:
09/29/09
09/30/09
@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: Actually, his real name is Stanley Lieber (in MUA2 he actually has a cameo as "Senator Lieber").
He only adopted the pseudonym Stan Lee when he started writing comic books, because he actually aspired to be a novelist. Since comics were seen as pulp at the time (as they still are), he didn't want his real name to be associated with them.
I got this info from the Marvel Chronicle, by the way. Great read if you're interested in the history of Marvel and Timely Comics.
09/30/09
Never mind... :/
09/29/09
09/29/09
there are many many exceptions to this of course.
09/29/09
Lol, and there aren't goofy and cheezy comic books characters and stories? I'm reading one right now (apart of reading almost every single one that there is, since I research them and games for development and fun.) and 90% of comic books and games have dumb teen children as target consumers.
A good game can surely come from any kind of person, but I think that "good comic book writers" would make me excited about a game made by them the same way that a game made by.. heck, anyone else, from you to someone at a grocery store.
It's like getting excited about a Sean Connery's awesome recipes of fried chicken (heck I don't know if he's into chicken cooking, maybe he does, maybe he doesn't).
09/29/09
09/29/09
By experience most comic fans are wary of any cross media adaptations of their beloved characters and series. Especially with video games.
Having a respected writer overseeing at least the story of a game goes a long way towards gaining support and interest from the fanbase from the beginning of the game.
I for one was extremely optimistic about Batman: Arkham Asylum when I found out that Paul Dini would be the writer/consulatant for the project.
And it payed off at the end with the final product imo.
09/29/09
09/29/09
Lol, I bet he was born with wrinkles.
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
I love video games and film; don't get me wrong. But very little beats the excitement of the next book after reading a GOOD cliffhanger in a comic book -- it's like waiting for your favorite tv show, but not having it spoiled by commercials.
I guess Stan Lee assumes that we all assume he means that comics also kickass, but it'd be nice to see a little affirmation there.
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
Either way, his moustache is hideous.
09/29/09
07/22/09
Look, I love many of the things that he (co-)created, but can we please stop with the wink-wink pointless cameos?
(Incidentally, those cameos don't mean jack to 99% of non-American viewers, who don't recognise him and only see his appearances as awkward parentheses of bad acting.)
07/22/09
And what is wrong the cameos? They show respect to a great man, and give comic-fans a bit of an in-joke. It's not like the Marvel films were deadly serious, only to be ruined by one little cameo.
07/22/09