Details on the Upcoming Stan Lee Tribute and How Fans Can Attend the Event
Last year, we lost one of the all-time greats. Now, Stan Lee’s life will be commemorated on January 30, 2019 in a Hollywood tribute to one of Marvel’s most prolific creators in “Excelsior! A Celebration of the Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible & Uncanny Life of Stan Lee”.
Many geek culture celebrities, including people who have worked with Lee on a personal level, are set to attend the event. Attendees will have to pay to enter, but the funds amassed will go toward raising money for comic book creators that are struggling to get by.
The full press release, issued by POW! Entertainment (a company that Stan Lee co-founded in 2001), Legion M, the Agents of Mayhem, and Kevin Smith, can be read below:
Next week, “Excelsior! A Celebration of the Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible & Uncanny Life of Stan Lee,” will be attended by Mark Hamill, RZA, Clark Gregg, Felicia Day, Bill Duke, cast members from Marvel’s “The Runaways,” cast members from FX’s “Legion,” and Fox’s “The Gifted,” among many other luminaries from the entertainment world.
Fans wishing to attend “Excelsior! A Stan Lee Celebration” can get a limited number of tickets at legionm.com/stantribute. All net proceeds from the event’s ticket sales will go to the non-profit organization The Hero Initiative, a charity supporting comic book creators, artists and writers in need.
The tribute event on Wednesday, January 30, will begin at 4 p.m. PT with a section of the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt transformed into a fan experience of Stan Lee’s life and career. There will be a memorial centered around his cement imprint which will be displayed next to the speaker’s podium. Ticketed fans will be allowed to leave flowers, candles and sign a book of condolences.
Photos, artwork, Stan’s classic comic books and memorabilia will be on exhibit in the forecourt along with a special preview of pop-culture artist Rob Prior’s upcoming gallery show The Legacy Collection of Stan Lee. Prior will do a live painting in the forecourt during the opening portion of the tribute. Artist Jennifer Contini will also have her series “This Love Lives On” featuring images of Stan Lee on display. The White Castle Crave Mobile will be serving sliders, one of Stan’s favorite snacks, for all the fans.
Producers of the event, Legion M’s David Baxter and Terri Lubaroff, Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment’s Bob Sabouni and Agents of Mayhem Darren Passarello will greet fans and introduce several public speakers before Kevin Smith arrives and assembles an honor guard of world class cosplayers representing many of Stan’s co-creations, including Avengers, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and more to pay their respects and lead the crowd in a final salute to this legendary pop culture icon accompanied by a police band of pipes and drums.
On the red carpet, a group of veterans from Veterans in Media & Entertainment and The American Legion of Hollywood Post 43 will honor Stan for his service during World War II, and Chief Paul Cell, President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, will recognize Stan’s contributions for his work supporting law enforcement and creating safer communities.
Family from the other co-creators of the Marvel Universe will attend to pay their respects and join in the celebration, including Tracy and Jeremy Kirby, grandchildren of Jack Kirby, Mark and Stephen Ditko, nephews of Steve Ditko, and Jenna Parker, daughter of Sol Brodsky, all of whom were part of the original Marvel Bullpen.
After red-carpet arrivals, the tribute will commence in the TCL Chinese IMAX Theatre where Kevin Smith will moderate conversations with celebrity speakers from the entertainment industry including Mark Hamill, Rob Liefeld (Co-Creator of Deadpool), Michael Uslan (Executive Producer, “The Dark Knight”), RZA, and Tom DeSanto (Executive Producer, “X-Men”).
The evening will also include discussions with stars from the comics world and Stan’s personal friends, including Marv Wolfman (Blade creator), Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada and Executive VP, Head of Television Jeph Loeb, artist Bill Sienkiewicz (Elektra: Assassin), and Stan’s business partner at Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, Gill Champion.
Members of the creative team behind the Academy Award®-nominated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” including writer/producer Phil Lord and producers Chris Miller, Avi Arad and Amy Pascal will also be on stage to honor Stan. Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Derek Hoffman round off the evening’s panels as they speak to and celebrate the modern impact of Stan’s characters through two decades of X-Men in film and television.
The evening will be complete with video tributes from stars who are unable to attend as well as live celebrity performances of Stan’s favorite music and poetry.
The tribute event is being produced by fan-owned entertainment company Legion M, which is revolutionizing the way entertainment is made in Hollywood by uniting a growing fan community of 50,000+ members, including more than 10,000 fan-owners. In addition to producing film and television projects, Legion M organized Stan Lee’s hand and foot imprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in 2017. Legion M is producing the tribute with the production and consulting company Agents of Mayhem whose founder Darren Passarello worked for Stan for several years.
Both companies are working with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, the multimedia company founded in 2001 by Stan with his friend and business partner Gill Champion, its president.
Under the leadership of CEO Scott D. Williams and Gill Champion, the company has been and will continue to be the guardian of Stan Lee’s legacy and is excited to roll out new projects and new adventures Stan had been working on. On behalf of Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, Chief Marketing Officer Bob Sabouni will be overseeing and guiding the tribute day alongside the other event partners.
Producers of the tribute event will continue to announce additional details for the event via social media feeds. Details of specific speakers, performers and other activities will be shared on the social channels for Kevin Smith, Legion M, Agents of Mayhem, and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment. (@TheRealStanLee, @ThatKevinSmith, @LegionMOfficial, @AgentsofMayhem).
The “Excelsior! A Stan Lee Celebration” public event will be held on January 30, 2019 at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
