Doing a Double Take

A Facebook group I enjoy is “At the Controls,” featuring vintage photos of control rooms and equipment. Radio station and recording studio photographs are particular favorites.

A picture posted in the group caught my attention immediately. You can see why by recalling my post about the original art for Bernie Krigstein’s “Master Race” being up for auction at Heritage.

“Master Race” page 1, panel 2. Eddie Michalski at Columbia Records Studios, 799 Seventh Ave, NYC, 1963.

Roy the Boy’s Goodbye to Stan the Man

Stan Lee and Roy Thomas, 11/10/2018

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/11/12/roy-thomas-stan-lee-ready-to-leave-this-earth/

I’m sadder than I can say that Stan has died… even though I know, from my recent phone conversations with him, that he was more than ready to leave this Earth. I’m so grateful that, by sheer circumstance, I got to spend a half hour or so with him this past Saturday, less than 48 hours before he passed away. At that time, it was obvious that he lacked much of the old Stan Lee energy that everybody had got to know at conventions and in movie cameos, but when I asked him about future cameos, he expressed a real interest in making them, if he could find a way to do it without their being too much trouble. He asked me about Dann and all the animals on our place (Dann had, at his request, sent him a DVD we made for him a couple of years ago), and got fairly animated when talking about his battles with publisher Martin Goodman over doing Spider-Man. I opined as how maybe the one important creative decision Goodman ever made was when he commissioned Stan to create a super-hero group back in 1961. Stan seemed to get a kick out of that. He posed for a couple of pictures with me, and then the last one with me and my friend and manager John Cimino, who had worked (in concert with Stan’s buddy and handler Jon Bolerjack) to arrange for Stan and me to get together one more time. But I wish I could look forward to seeing him and sparring around with him again. Still, I consider myself so very lucky to have known and worked with him for so many years… one of the most important mythmakers of the 20th century.

Best

Roy

Stanley Martin Lieber, 1922-2018

Stanley Martin Leiber, 1968

Marvel advertised this 8×10 glossy photo of Stan for a buck in 1968 (fans know the year from the comics on the wall). I bought one and 20 years later I handed it to Stan for an autograph. They were free back then, by the way. Stan looked at me incredulously and asked, “Where did you get this??” I explained, and Stan lived up to his admitted bad memory by having no recollection of the picture.