No, the title of this entry is not referring to the fact that Stan Lee wears a toupee and is in actuality bald. I believe that's true, anyway. I read it on a website so it has to be, right?
What this entry is about is the re-broadcast on Bravo of that new game show Identity this evening, a re-broadcast I happened to catch. Who did I see on the screen? Why, it was none other than the effusive Stan Lee.
It's funny. Shortly after I first saw a commercial about the show and found out about it, I found myself wondering if they'd get Stan Lee to appear as one of the identity-obscured guests. After all, he'd appeared on To Tell the Truth before (the most recent version), and given everything I'd seen of him, it sounded like something he'd be up for.
Huh. I just realized, this is the third entry in the short time since APLOMB was erected that has to do with predicting the future. Just the tiniest bit weird, that. Okay, aside over.
I happened to tune into the show some minutes into it, when a few of the guests had already been Identified. As I saw an avuncular, elderly man in one of the back rows, my thoughts went something along the lines of "Wait a minute, is that... no, it couldn't be... hey, it is. Cool."
The Identity that the constestant had to attach to Lee was "the creator of Spider-Man," which she was able to do based on his age. She pointed out that Spider-Man was pretty darn old, to which Penn Surname-Unknown-To-Me (the host) jokingly replied, "I believe Peter Parker is 26-years-old." I remember wondering if the people who only know Spider-Man from the movies, one of the various cartoons, or even the Ultimate titles thought, "Hey, that ain't right..."
When "The Man" revealed himself, he told her, "My spider-sense tells me you're right."
I wondered if there'd actually been a lot of buzz about Lee's appearance on comic fan Internet circles and I'd simply managed to miss it all, so I did a Blogger search. What I found was nice. Nice in that it's always nice to be reassured that it's not just the diehard, obsessed comic fans who can be awfully crazy.
Ahem:
WTF is with NBC's limited-time gameshow, Identity? Tonight's moronic Rachel Ray lookalike had to be spoonfed clues as to who Stan Lee was ( I haven't read a comic book in my life and I could still pick him out on sight)...
That's from one blogger, someone who apparently thinks not being able to recognize Stan Lee is reason enough to label a person idiotic.
Of course, those who are obsessed fans, never ones to disappoint, also provided their reliable brand of craziness:
As someone young enough to not respect Lee for anything more than a creative mind (yeah, his writing was crap. Creative crap, but crap), I don’t know why I felt such an overwhelming sense of shame and revulsion at seeing this legend propped up before a small studio audience as some pretty bimbo named Nikki tried to figure out whether he was the creator of Spider-Man.
***
While I do feel somewhat sorry for Lee, even more I feel aggravated with him. Yes, the spotlight is a hard thing to let go of, but those who revere Stan Lee and have revered him for many, many years are comic book fans. He needs to realize that those loyal readers are who trained a spotlight on him, and if he wants to keep in their minds, he can do so through comic-book related projects.
By keeping on with these other appearances, he’s only making a fool of himself, and making comics appear foolish to non-readers.
No, what makes comics appear foolish to non-readers are the fans so uptight that Stan Lee having some fun and appearing on a harmless game show drives them into a fit. You know, the same fans who think Lee is betraying them -- betraying, I say!-- if he does something in the public eye that's not comic book-related?
And this blogger insults the contestant's intelligence, too. What's with that?
So in conclusion, now that I sort of predicted Stan Lee's appearance on the show, no doubt you're all sorry that you doubted my deduction of the Mystery Project's identity. Not really, of course. I'll repeat that I don't even believe my deduction.
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2 comments:
Hee hee, I'm going to have to let Jean-Claude know you called him crazy. Quite frankly, I agree with you. I thought his appearance on the show was fun, and I'm glad the crowd seemd to give him the respect he deserved.
I took it as an old man clinging to his tenuous fame as an object of silliness for a middling studio audience, i.e. acting the fool (I got no sense that the crowd or anyone involved was very celebratory of Lee).
So, if it's wrong of me to wish that Stan Lee wouldn't willingly make himself (and comics) look ridiculous, then I'll have to accept being wrong.
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