Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, NYCC, stan lee

Getting Stan Lee A Chair – A Confession From NYCC

Chris Troy writes for Bleeding Cool

(Author's note, photo attached is from a previous encounter with Stan the Man from 2010!)

As Bleeding Cool previously reported, Stan Lee did attend this year's New York Comic Con. I've ran into Stan at 2 separate occasions at conventions this past year alone, so the sense of wonder kind of wears off after awhile. Especially when the circumstances I've first met him involve me being piss drunk at Dragon*Con. Ah, memories.

As we all know, Stan's been having some health issues of of late, and he had to cancel some appearances at shows over the last couple of weeks . And given the fact that I've meet "The Man" before, I stopped tracking what cons we both attend, because the cost of his autograph fees can used towards sketches instead. However, it's impossible to be unimpressed when Stan Lee walks into a room and be all of 10 feet away from you.

Which is exactly what happened to me on this past Friday. After attending the Oni Press panel, I was in the changing room for cosplayers getting into my Hawkeye gear (The modern Fraction/Aja version if you're curious), when Stan and his convention handler walked in. One would think the door would fly open and we all would be greeted with a "HIYA HEROES" or some such, but no, Stan, with his handler's assistance, walked in clutching his chest. Within a few seconds he was walking on his own and released his chest, but I'll admit, there was a brief moment of internal panic. Seeing a man of Stan's stature act like that takes a bit of the mysticism away from him, as he stopped "looking" like the co-creator of Marvel Comics and more like a fragile 90 year old man. Stan regained his composure after a minute of two, but was still looking weak. His handler then looked in my direction, but without saying anything, I motioned that I knew better to bug Stan, and he gave me a firm nod, as if he appreciated me keeping my fanboy in check. The two then talked about heart problems, which wasn't exactly the type of conversation I wanted to be witness to.

At this time, I decided to make my way over and asked if Mr. Lee would like me to run out and get him a chair or something. One can only stand there awkwardly for so long after all. Stan said he didn't want to be a bother as there were none in the room, but I wasn't having that. Leaving the room, I didn't have to venture out too far, as Art Asylum was having some sort of show the next room over, and were more than happy to hook me up with a chair. Me running in there yelling that Stan Lee may or may be next door dying may have played a role, but still, they were al nice guys, and super helpful.

I returned to the changing room with said chair and both Stan and his handler thanked me. By now the other cosplayers in the room had figured out that Stan Lee was in the room with them and asked for photos when he sat down. Initially I thought it was in poor taste given the circumstances, but when Stan agreed to take photos, I asked too because HONESTLY PEOPLE HOW COULD I NOT, I AM ONLY HUMAN! Stan smiled and said "You got me a chair, legally I have to say yes", which made me feel a bit guilty but still, I would to like have a photo with the guy when we were both sober. Also that was a pretty funny response I thanked him after the handler used my new iphone to take said photo, got changed, and immediately went to track down my wife (cosplaying Black Widow) to humble brag. I'm far from perfect.

From what I understand, Stan wasn't around the con that day much longer (this had all gone down around 2:40pm-ish), but he came back for Saturday. As for the photo I got for my time-Deleted. Yeah, I had just purchased a new phone that morning, so when I came that night to synch it to iTunes that evening, it was erased as my phone reverted to my last back up..which was a month ago. Moral of the story? Don't humble-brag? Tragedy makes for articles? Hell if I know.

-Don't weep for Chris Troy, he still got Ryan Ottley to draw Emma Frost for him.

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