Martin Stever is a friend of ICv2 and was an employee of Capital City Distribution, where Internal Correspondence, ICv2’s magazine, was founded.  Prompted by Stan Lee’s passing, Stever penned this remembrance of a Capital City event where Stan Lee had a prominent role, and gave us permission to reprint it.  ICv2 founder Milton Griepp mentioned the same event in his article on Lee’s passing (see “RIP Stan Lee, at 95”) We have added photos of the event from the ICv2 Vaults.  Enjoy.

I had met Stan at the Second Capital City Distribution Sales Conference, but Stan was not a featured guest. He signed tons of autographs and posed for pictures, that was it. Carol Kalish had arranged a special lunch just so I could get a break from running the Conference to meet Stan.

At the fourth Capital City Sale Conference, the Marvel event went badly. They had a super-long very boring presentation in which they went through every single book on the schedule and mentioned every writer, penciler, and most inkers. By the end of the 2+ hour presentation the audience was absent.

For the fifth conference, which Peggy Rynearson and I were managing, Marvel wanted to do a much better event. They had figured out you can't dull your way into the hearts of retailers. During a brainstorming session, they asked "What if we invited Stan back? He told us he really enjoyed meeting all the retailers." We all thought Stan hadn't gotten a spotlight two years earlier.  We also realized the conference coincided with Spider-Man's 30th anniversary. We'd host a 30th birthday party for Spider-Man, or at least that's what Stan was told.

Carol Kalish asked me, "Who else from Marvel would you like to have there?"

"Ummm...could we ask John Romita?" I loved Romita's Spider-Man work. I loved all his stuff. I'd never seen him at a convention, though.

Carol said, "He usually doesn't do conventions, but I'll ask him. I think he'll do it if it's for Stan."

The event sort of evolved. Mr. Romita wanted to be at was now being billed as "Spider-Man's OFFICIAL 30th Birthday," but we kept it a secret from Stan that Mr. Romita would be there. We also had Spider-Man there (I can't remember if it was Lou Bank or someone else in the costume). The other speakers were Peter David, Tom DeFalco, then editor-in-chief at Marvel, and the duplicitous Terry Stewart.  We had champagne glasses made for the event, and Marvel sprang for an extra-upscale dinner for the retailers. The conference had grown over the years to 1,000 people, and the room was filled to absolute capacity.

The event further evolved; Romita, the other speakers, and Spider-Man were going to roast Stan for making Peter Parker's life miserable.

Mr. Romita came in as we're being seated for dinner and Stan just about jumped out of his skin. John and Stan hugged and start talking. Evidently, they hadn't seen each other in two or three years. They spent dinner talking a mile a minute about wives and kids and mutual friends.

Stan didn't know we had a character appearance lined up. In theory, Stan was going to talk first. Instead Spider-Man showed up from behind stage, jumped on the table and took the microphone. He had all kinds of inside jokes relating to classic Spider-Man adventures that the audience knew--blaming Stan for all his woes. The guy in the Spider-Man outfit did a GREAT job.  And I've been told that Peter David killed it, but honestly that portion of the evening has slipped from my memory.

Mr. Romita then took the podium and said, "Stan, I'm supposed to roast you, but I can't do it." He then spent 20 minutes telling everyone how great Stan was to work with and how many people owed Stan for making their dreams of being artists and writers come true. It was a 100% positive career review. Mr. Romita choked up a couple of times, which was sweet. Mr. Romita (and Stan) got a standing ovation that must have gone three or four minutes.

John Davis made a few comments about how much people in the room owed to Stan. Stan then talked about how important the direct market was to Marvel and to Spider-Man. He told some stories of the early days and outlined some of his rules for writing Spider-Man. He talked about how great it was to work with Mr. Romita and mentioned he adored Carol Kalish, who had recently passed. He wrapped up with a long thank you to retailers for making today's Marvel possible--he knew his audience. When Stan finished, the applause and cheers were thunderous. Retailers were crying and hugging and clapping each other on the back.

I hopped to the microphone to give the directions for what would be happening next, playing conductor. Out of the blue Stan grabbed me, put his hand behind my neck, pulled my ear to him and said, "You jerk! If I had known, I would have brought my wife. You shoulda told me." He gave me a big hug and patted my shoulders, he was teary and grinning.

After that I was no longer "Power Tie," which had been Stan’s nickname for me but "Marty."  I bumped into Stan many times over the years following.  Each time he went out of his way to greet me and recall, “That great night with retailers you put on.”

Working at Capital City included countless tough days and about ten great moments. A hug from Stan Lee was right up there.

Thank you and RIP Stan.

Click Gallery below for photos from the 1993 Capital City Sales Conference!

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.