Happy Birthday, Stan!

Today is Stan "The Man" Lee's birthday, Groove-ophiles, and Ol' Groove is sure you'll all join me in wishing him a very happy 88th. We all know that Stan is one of the greatest creators, writers, editors, and all-around cool pop icons of all time. We've all grooved to his cosmic sagas in mags like Fantastic Four and Thor. We've been awed by his wall-to-wall action tales for heroes like Daredevil and Captain America. We've even shed a tear or twelve with Spider-Man or the Silver Surfer. But one area of Stan's skills is often given the short-end, and that's his humor. I love his corny, self-deprecating style, m'self. Of course, it always helps that Stan manages to team up with just the right co-creator/artist on his endeavors (Jack "King" Kirby on FF, Thor, and Cap; Gene Colan on DD; Steve Ditko and John Romita on Spidey; John Buscema on Silver Surfer, for those of you from Outer Slobbovia). When Stan came up with his earth-shattering single-panel gag strip, "My Son the Super-Hero" he teamed with humor artist supreme Marie Severin. What? You never heard of "My Son the Super-Hero"? Huh. Mebbe it's 'cause Stan and Marie never sold the strip to any newspaper syndicates. A shame, too, 'cause it was a hoot. I know this 'cause Marvel dug it up and presented a few sample strips in FOOM Magazine. Ya wanna see 'em?

Okay, it's not Krazy Kat, or Pogo, or even Frank and Ernest, but hey, it's Stan and Marie and super-heroes, baby! C'mon, you know you giggled...

Ah, well, I tried Stan! Happy Birthday, anyway--we love ya! You'll always be The Man!! (Mebbe I should'a run some Millie the Model...?)