This post is WAAAY too long but hopefully will clear up a few things

I feel like the Salman Rushdie of the comic world given the sh*tstorm after the RIP Stan Lee post. I've got emoticons throwing what appear to be rotten tomatoes at me ( they're so small I can't accurately assess freshness ), I've got people going ALL CAPS on me. I received death threats and a late night tone poem from RonnyLama. I worry about the safety of my online persona. I picked up a follower, which is funny cause I have no idea where the hell we're going. Man this thing really took on a life of its own, which I think is good in a way.

Lets be clear though, I don't hate Stan " The Man " exactly the opposite, I don't want Stan to die, I'm not trying to inspire anyone to hate Stan Lee or create an argument as to why anyone should. Who joins a site called Collectors Society and hates Stan Lee. I just truly thought the content of the post was funny and the title was to catch the eye. I never actually thought people would read the title alone and rush out into the streets mourning the death of Stan without reading the post or checking to see if it were true. I wouldn't. My usual response to this sort of thing is " Get the F**K out of here ", until I hear it from a credible source. When Stan passes, I don't think the Collectors Society blog will be where the news is broken. If I caused anyone any undue distress or need to change their underpants then I sincerely apologize, truly. Also, if Stan, his family, or any personal acquaintances read the post and were offended ( I don't believe so ) then again I truly apologize. Please ask Stan to sign my books and respond to the letter I sent him circa 1986.

As far as the criticism goes, it goes both ways. Some didn't like the humor, which I can respect. Some thought it was tasteless and crass which I can also respect, but hey, I like tasteless crass humor. If you can't join a site about comic books, with mostly men, and be tasteless and crass then I think that speaks volumes in and of itself. Others simply hated the title, were offended by it and couldn't get past that and didn't bother to read the post. But truly, I never imagined anyone would read the title and rush out into the streets. Lastly, some people clutched their pearls as though to say " how dare he speak of Stan Lee like that ", which I think is kind of silly, others were overly self righteous. Honestly, no one has lived a perfect life, we've all got dirt under our nails and thus no one is sacred or sacrosanct. Theres Stan Lieber the man and Stan Lee the legend and they're like two different people walking two different paths. When you read the post its not cruel to the Stan Lee I know and love, I let him out the exit in the very beginning, its about something else entirely. I do poke fun at Stan about things that are truly funny but stop short of being cruel, like his hair plugs or Youngblood #1 making him keel over. The post may seem bizarre or macabre but not any more so than the reality that inspired it.

I was talking with some friends recently and I mentioned that I had a pretty scarce book in a good grade, bout 9.4. Friend was like, dude you need crack that slab, get Stan Lee to sign it, get it pressed and reslabbed, and pray for a 9.8 cause it'll be worth X much more. Then he was like, " Dude you better hurry, you know that dude could die at any time now ". He didn't say it to mean, " I can't wait for Stan to die " or " I hope he dies soon so my signed books will be worth so much more ", but more as a point of practical wisdom. We laughed about it, cause it was macabre and bizarre but also true, books signed by Stan Lee are worth a lot more and who knows how long he's gonna be around. You simply can't talk about collecting comics today without being cognizant of the fact that they're worth money, and that you can make them worth even more money depending on how far your willing to go. Therein lies the crux of the matter for me. That's the 800lb gorilla in the phonebooth and the elephant in the room getting it on and like it or not Stan is in the middle of that orgy.

When I was a kid, you went to the corner store ( there was no comic shop ) and picked up a copy of what you liked and read it until it disintegrated. You rolled it up, you traded it, you copied or traced the pictures. Then came the idea of having to get nice copies, then bags and boards, then specially made boxes, then multiple copies, then CGC. Initially I was good with just having nice copies, I was a little reluctant to slab books but then it became obvious that slabbing was the most practical thing to do, like it or not. Initially I was happy with a 9.0, then it started slowly creeping toward 9.8, then it was cracking slabs for signatures and pressing, then multiple signatures and pressings. Tnerb often talks about his triple pressed, double slabbed, double signed ASM 129. I think this is what happens to us all. The original creative outlet that intrigued us and the nostalgia that ties us to comics is inseparable from the real world economics of the comic industry. Even Tnerb commented that his ASM, which I'm sure he loves, is worth about $2600 which I think is pretty low as it is an OAK after all. And whether we like it or not Stan Lee signings are as much a part of the economics as anything else.

When I met Stan at Comic Con, and when I say met I mean standing 20ft away with a couple hundred other people, it was amazing. I definitely had my moment when I thought, " I can't believe it, its Stan Lee ", Members Only jacket, checkered shirt, thick opaque glasses and all, and he genuinely seemed to be a man of the people. He signed a bunch of stuff but I did notice a few things. Like the scalphunters didn't have to wait in line like the rest of us, their stuff got signed regardless while the rest of us had to battle it out for like 25 tickets. Some stuff he signed and he was like, " Ahh a fine specimen ", but someone handed him a copy of say TittyMonster #1 or Bloodkill #1 and for a second he looked like " What the F**K is this ". And while he signed a great many books he might as well have been signing checks cause it was not lost on anyone there that his signature instantly quadrupled the value of whatever he signed. TittyMonster #1, quadruple value. Its this perverse relationship between nostalgia and economics that the original piece makes light of, not " The Man ". See LittleBills on Tnerbs post response about scalphunters not even knowing Stan's real name or Mackenzie999's post about Stan's signature being devalued.

Lets be real also, in the sense that Stan Lee has little to do with the modern evolution of the comics we collect. I feel that he's the face and spirit of what originally got us into comics but I don't know where that fits into whats going on now in the industry. In a way I'm all for Stan Lee signings and wouldn't mind a few signatures myself but also I feel its like taking pictures of your kids with a plastic Santa. Yeah it represents Christmas but is that what its really all about, is that not tacky. Also, when I was a kid I looked at my parents and thought they were perfect and could do anything, and why shouldn't kids think that. When you grow up though you look at your parents for who they really are

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