You just know you can count on Spider-man and X-men creator Stan Lee to inject some superhero-size excitement to the scaled-back MIPCOM Junior market. His appearance at a special dinner event held at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes was clearly the highlight of the two-day children’s televison market held in France.
Joined by DIC’s chairman and CEO Andy Heyward, Lee was on hand to launch his new animated series Stan Lee’s Super 7, a highly stylized pop-art-influenced project focusing on four super-powered alien teens, their massive bodyguard and their annoying droid who are aided by a cartoon version of Stan Lee. Since the aliens (Powerhouse, The Atomizer, Rebound, Spitfire, Green Streak and SKU-9) are being pursued by all types of supervillains, the reclusive animator (Lee) decides to become their mentor and guide on Earth.
"Like Spider-Man and X-Men, the Super 7 have their own personalities," Lee said at the event. "Although these new heroes are aliens, they all have emotions, desires and relationships with one another." He also pointed out that, as with his past creations, people can relate to them because they have the same fallible human qualities as regular mortals.
Stan Lee’s Super 7 is due to air in the U.S. at the end of next year, with international deals expected to be announced by DIC in the months ahead. The series is the first in an umbrella project in the pipeline called Stan Lee’s Super World. In his introduction to Lee, DIC’s chairman Andy Heyward pointed out that movies based on the creator’s characters have done extremely well at the boxoffice. "His movies have made over $2 billion this year and that’s something that even Steven Spielberg can’t say he’s done in one single year."
He also praised Lee for his unbelievable productivity, genius and generosity of spirit, qualities that were clearly on display last night as the master charmed the attendees with his trademark quick wit and even stayed up after midnight to autograph copies of the premiere edition of his Super 7 comic book for eager fans. Superheroic, indeed!
