You may have noticed a plethora of “Stan’s Back” ads on the Major Spoilers site, and now, all around the comic book Intardwebz. It kicked off a lot of speculation, some of it by Rich Johnston, that got me thinking of what company Stan “The Man” Lee will be aligning himself with next. We’ve seen stories of Stan and Archie Comics, Stan and manga, Stan and television, Stan and Disney, but this is something totally different.
With all the players out there wanting a piece of the Stan Lee pie, one has to wonder who is behind it all?
I’ve got an idea, but you’ll have to take the jump to see if I’m a crazy lunatic, or crazy like a fox.
My first thought was Boom! Studios, mainly because I know the company likes to use Project Wonderful to advertise their campaigns. If this is a Boom! project, they’ve done an excellent job of covering their tracks and flipping the bird to would-be-investigators, as the mystery company registered to the ad campaign is Acme Productions, which created an account 6 days ago. Remember Kids, if it’s Acme, it’s got to be good…
The Stansback.com website has nothing but the above graphic on it, which sent me on a search for the website owner. A WHOIS look up only reveals that Dotster registered the website (stansback.com), and that is in Washington state, and not Los Angeles, California, so another dead end there.
As expected, Stan is mighty quiet about these kinds of things at his Twitter feed (twitter.com/smilinstanlee)
Which brings me back to the ad.  The white on black format does look a lot like the Mark Waid is Evil campaign that kicked off the Irredeemable series for the company, and the font used for the word “Back” does look like something Boom! would use. Also, when Boom! kicked off the Irredeemable campaign, it too linked to a placeholder site to fan the flames of speculation. But then again, what mystery campaign hasn’t pulled that trick?
Probably the biggest connection I can make that this campaign is a Boom! Studios joint, is that Stan Lee and Disney have deals going on, and Disney and Boom! Studios have deals going on, so it makes sense that Stan and Boom! could cross paths and make a deal together. As a counter to that, one could also argue that Disney now owns Marvel, and that is a much easier connection to make than my flimsy Ad Campaign Theory. When I contacted my man on the inside at Boom! all he would say is, “No Comment, Schleicher!”. All is also quiet on the Marvel front. So, if anyone expects an official statement before the mystery company is ready to reveal the big surprise, I’m sure there is a bridge in San Francisco that you’d be interested in. For now, everything is going to be rumor, speculation, and a possible inside source – if someone can find that person.
And I’m almost certain that the Stan is Back campaign is not related to the Archie Comics announcement, as Archie doesn’t advertise on our site, (yes, I’m calling you out Archie), and Archie already spilled the beans on it’s upcoming super hero book, which means there’s no need to create a mystery campaign.
While my detective skills are not as keen as they used to be back in the day when I used to track down all the latest Avid, Apple, and Adobe rumors, my gut is as big as it ever was, and it’s telling me this is a Boom! project. Rich Johnston and I seem to have the same thoughts, and I’m sticking with my theory.
Regardless of what publishing company is involved, the bigger question is, “What is Stan Lee doing?” He’s signed his name to numerous projects, all of them having to do with comic in a variety of media. He’s done adventure time traveling stories, appeared as himself, and gave Striperella a new life, so this is the mystery that still needs to be unraveled. It would be really awesome if Stan Lee came back to comics to actually work on a brand new super hero universe like he created at Marvel back in the day, but that is a mighty big order for anyone (even the mighty Stan Lee) to pull off easily, and make it work. That being said, Stan Lee has a lot of sway, and his name is still revered by those who know the name, which should make the initial sales of whatever this turns out to be a big one.
What say you Major Spoilerites? What project would you like to see Stan Lee come back to do? Use the comment section below to blow my theories out of the water, and offer up your thoughts as to what project Stan Lee should sign his name to next.
5 Comments
Maybe this is about an animated project? Aren’t the Iron Man and Wolverine anime due for this year? Maybe they’ll make their debut on Toon Disney and Stan will be doing some of the writing.
Or this could be about “HEROMAN!!!” ;D
There’s a linked article on the CNN website titled “iPad’s secret weapon: Marvel Comics?”… Coincidence?
Maybe not if you follow the linkages…. Steve Jobs owns Apple. Steve Jobs own/ed PIXAR. Disney now owns PIXAR with Steve Jobs on the BOD. Disney owns Marvel… 2+2+2+2=AWESOME SAUCE as soon as Marvel Digital dumps Flash for the iPad.
That’s exactly where I think this is headed. But the Boom Studios connection is intriguing too. Guess we all win regardless :-)
with disney buying marvel and 10% of stan’s POW!
and according to stan’s twitter, pow! now moving their offices over to disney,
i think disney’s going to put stan in charge of marvel
he’s now the closest thing to walt they got…
btw POW! is a public co. ticker POWN and the stock’s been going nuts ever since DIS took over marvel and a 10% stake of pow!