‘GOD BLESS’: ROY THOMAS’ Final Meeting With STAN LEE
An EXCLUSIVE account… Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego #161 is out this week – Oct. 16 – from TwoMorrows and it’s chiefly dedicated to his mentor Stan Lee, who died nearly a year ago. Just check out the table of contents: As you see above, the issue is jammed with Lee features and remembrances but for me, there was no question that our regular EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT would be Thomas’ account of his final meeting with Stan the Man, just two days before he died. It’s a moving story, told by someone whose own storied career was guided by a visionary who changed popular culture forever. — Dan — By ROY THOMAS At around 3:00 p.m., John and I were greeted at Stan’s gate by (Stan’s assistant) Jon Bolerjack and a fit-looking young man who I assumed was there to help with any heavy lifting that was needed. With John hanging back, Jon B. escorted me in to see Stan, who was sitting dressed casually (but nattily) in a big stuffed chair, his trademark sunglasses firmly in place. He sat facing a gigantic picture window, with a swimming pool and patio directly outside. After a slightly weaker than usual but still jaunty “Hiya Roy,” he went on: “You know, this trying to live to be 100 isn’t turning out to be nearly as much fun as I’d hoped it would be.” I figured he might’ve greeted one or two others with that joke, but I appreciated it just the same. I told him he was looking fine—and, given what I knew of the fragile state of his health recently, that wasn’t too far off the mark. I gave him greetings from Dann. He asked how she was, and how our “farm” and all the animals on it were. I told him everything was going fine. I mentioned how amusing I found it that I’d be sitting in a tiny audience in Columbia, South Carolina, watching a Marvel movie (I usually go to matinees to avoid crowds) when suddenly that film’s “Stan Lee cameo” would come on, and there would almost always be someone even in that tiny audience who would laugh and/or start applauding. He said he wouldn’t mind doing more of them, if they could find a way for him to do them without his having to sit in a...
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