The marvelous folks at POW! Entertainment sent NerdSpan their most recent installment of The Stan Lee Box, dubbed The Marvelous Age, which contains three stages of a homage to a classic Silver Age cover, a classic Stan Lee catchphrase on the Jolly Roger, a compilation of columns for True Believers, and other collectibles.
My first impression of The Stan Lee Box is its relative bulk and weight. The reason why it is so huge? The Marvelous Age is a nerd cornucopia packed with tons of Marvel-themed comics, books, and collectibles, with the additional twist that much of it is slanted towards fans of Stan “the Man” Lee.
For instance, my favorite inclusion in the box: the exclusive reprint of Stan’s Soapbox Collection, which is exactly what it says, a fourteen year compilation of Stan Lee’s “Stan’s Soapbox” column from 1967-1980 Marvel comics.
Next, there’s the exclusive Stan Lee Wham Blox. If you don’t have a Wham Blox, it’s basically a free-standing foam pillow with character art imaged on its polyester exterior. In this case, Stan is depicted with a notebook bearing one of Stan’s famous quotes: “I don’t have inspiration. I only have ideas. Ideas and deadlines. Excelsior!”
The next three exclusives are related: the Inhumans: Once & Future Kings Volume 1: #1 & #2, and an illustration by Joe Jusko each depict a different stage of Jusko’s homage to Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1. Stan Lee makes a cameo in this cover variant–he’s the one wrestling the monstrous green finger.
Comics fans were pleased to receive not only the aforementioned Inhumans variants, but also one of five Marvel Masterworks. These are high quality, color trade paperbacks that reprint Marvel classics for new readers.
Fun Facts trading card #61 has a comic art portrait of Stan Lee on one side, and on the flip side, a memory from a key moment of the Marvel Universe. When I was reading Bronze and Copper Age comic books, I was also a non-sports card enthusiast, and though I haven’t bought a waxy pack of cards in over 25 years, I still appreciate the way each card opens a tiny window into fandom.
The exclusive Stan Lee “Excelsior” T-shirt depicts a variation on the Jolly Roger with Stan Lee’s head above not a crossbones but crossed pencils. Though the image looks black and white, the shirt artist also used silver to great effect in the hair and sunglasses.
One of two exclusive Q-Figs was included in The Marvelous Age, either Daredevil or a light-up Iron Man. Both are not only really nice sculpts, but have detailed coloring.
The Marvelous Age was an outstanding collection that appealed less to the current zeitgest of Marvel fandom than to Stan Lee’s lifelong relationship with his fans, and comic fandom’s longtime relationship with Stan Lee. As I thumbed through the Soapbox compendium, I was reminded of the pleasure of reading Stan’s Soapbox and thinking, at the time, how novel it was that one of the minds behind what I was reading spoke in their own voice, and not through a character, to the audience. With an audience comprised in large part of children, Stan Lee chose to speak in a relatively unfiltered way about not only his vision for Marvel Comics, but his vision for comics as a whole, and his vision for the world. Similarly, the Stan Lee Box speaks not only the language of Marvel Comics, but the language of Stan. The Stan Lee Box is highly recommended for Marvel fans.
While box five has sold out, you can currently order box six through this hyperlink.
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