Animazing Gallery l Comic Book Legends

NEW YORK, NY - Comic Book legends Stan Lee and Neal Adams will be making appearances at Animazing Gallery in SoHo this October. Stan Lee will be signing on October 9th from 7-10PM, and presenting Marvel art by Alex Ross, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and more.  A portion of the proceeds from this show will benefit the Stan Lee Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to provide access to literacy, education and the arts throughout the nation. Neal Adams will be signing on October 21st from 6-9PM, and presenting original comic book pages from his new DC series Batman Odyssey. Animazing Gallery is located at the corner of Broome and Greene in SoHo, at 54 Greene St. RSVP to the event via rsvp@animazing.com, or by calling 212-226-7374. Gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 10AM - 7PM, and Sunday from 11AM- 6PM. The exhibition is up through November. Admission is free and open to the public.

ABOUT STAN LEE Stan Lee is known world-wide as the man who propelled Marvel Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry. His co-creations include Spider- Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange. Stan Lee has had more influence within the comic book industry than anyone before or since. He either created or assisted in the creation of over 90% of Marvel's recognized characters, which have been successfully licensed and marketed since 1965. The numbers are staggering -- more than 2 billion of his comic books have been published in 75 countries and in 25 languages. In Europe alone, Lee's name appears on over 35 million comics annually. Each year, X-Men sells more than 13 million copies. The syndicated comic strip Spider-Man now appears in more than 500 newspapers worldwide -- making it the longest running of all Super Hero strips. In 1939, at the age of seventeen, Stanley Martin Lieber joined the staff of Timely Publications-the original publisher of Marvel Comics-as a copywriter and proof-reader. His first story was published in Captain America in 1941 under the byline of Stan Lee, and later that year he was appointed editor. As editor and chief writer, Lee collaborated with Marvel artists to create some of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe, including the Fantastic Four (1961), the Hulk (1962) and Spider-Man (1962). He was promoted to the position of publisher in 1972 and through the end of the 20th century, continued to increase the success of the Marvel Universe by expanding into the film and television industries. Lee's career at Marvel has spanned six decades, and he is presently the chairman emeritus of Marvel Enterprises, Inc., a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics, and executive producer for their motion picture productions. In 2002, he formed his own company, POW! Entertainment , where he continues to create and license intellectual property for the entertainment industry. Lee's admirers are not limited to the younger generation -- his avowed fans include Presidents (Ronald Reagan once said he started every day reading Spider-Man comics and George Bush praised Lee for encouraging and assisting "millions of young people to broaden their own imaginations") and media titans (Steven Spielberg once explained that "Stan and I do the same thing. Only my pictures move.") and even his competitors ("Most of my generation of writers learned our craft from or through Stan Lee. He's an incredible part of the business," said Paul Levitz, publisher of DC Comics). ABOUT NEAL ADAMS "He revived Batman, saved the X-Men, challenged the system and changed comics forever." - Wizard Magazine  "Describe him in one word? Genius." - Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief, Marvel Comics "He's a pivotal figure in the world of comics. He has positively altered the state, the ethical structure of the industry, and always for the better." - Harlan Ellison "Adams transformed Batman into the sleek, brooding Dark Knight depicted onscreen for the past two decades." - Brian Lowry, Variety "Who is the greatest living comic book artist? As I've said before, my vote is for Neal Adams"- Geoff Boucher, LA Times Neal's had legendary 'runs' on Batman, X-Men, Green Lantern-Green Arrow and Deadman. Adams rescued Batman from his campy TV show, and transformed him into his present "Avenger of the Night." When people say 'modern Batman,' they mean Neal Adams' Batman. His run directly led to the realistic incarnation seen in Batman Returns, and the Dark Knight movies. He godfathered a generation of new talent, brought down the comics code by introducing "relevant comics" and gave America its first black comic book superhero.  While fighting for creator's rights, he convinced publishers to return original art to its creators, improved standards of comic book production, forced publishers to pay royalties...and crusaded against work-made-for-hire in the copyright law. In addition, Neal has launched a successful production company - Continuity Studios - which produced the popular Nasonex Bee Campaign and introduced us to the concept of Motion Comics. He designed the popular Terminator, T2 4-D ride, and the Spider-man Rides at Universal Studios. While setting-up his own characters with various Hollywood Studios and Producers, Neal is currently writing and drawing Batman Odyssey, for DC, a 12 issue series, and writing and drawing a 5 issue series of Wolverine for Marvel.