The Amazing Stan Lee presents “Election Daze”

The creator of Spider Man, X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man and Fantastic Four has joined the likes of John Stewart and Stephen Colbert, satirizing politicians for the benefit of mankind.

I got a chance to talk to Stan Lee, aka the god of superheroes, about his recent stab at political humor with his upcoming book, “Election Daze.” This isn’t Stan’s first attempt at poking light-hearted fun at politicians, it all began in the early sixties. Back then, Stan tells me, comics sold for 12 cents a pop, but he found that placing captions on photographs of the rich and famous drew more money and more readers. He recalls developing these funny picture books (later in the conversation he scolds me for the use of such a simple term) and selling them at 50 cents an issue. “We sold out of the first two issues rather quickly,” remembers Lee, now 85 years old. Everything would change in 1963 while the third issue was on the printing press. The front cover depicted a photo of President Kennedy addressing a room full of people with a caption reading, “Allow me to introduce myself” (as if Kennedy needed an introduction). Unfortunately, Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas stopped the presses. “You can’t publish a book with the cover mocking a recently assassinated president,” remarks Stan. He returned to writing comic books once again. Stan admits his super heroes and their future legacy would have died if Kennedy had lived.

Stan loves placing humorous captions on the photos of celebrities and political figures. For him, “Election Daze” is a step back to a loved, fruitful project. Stan promises the new book will feature “laugh-a-second thrills,” while the book aims to be “the humor event of Election 2008.” Rest assured, no political candidate is ignored; examples include George Bush, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson. On the front cover, a photograph of President George W. Bush giving a speech contains a caption reading: “By Presidential decree I declare… It’s pronounced ‘Nookular’ [sic].” Another page yields Fred Thompson with the caption, “It’s not easy being a sex object.” All photographs were taken by freelance photographer Lauren Burke.

Stan shied away from discussing who he would vote for in this election, but he was more than willing to discuss his desired superpower: good luck. Stan declares, “Everything that has made me so successful comes down to good luck” and that “life is determined by the best roll of the dice.”

Stan Lee could possibly be the wittiest person I have ever had the pleasure of talking to. He may even perspire charm right out of his pores. I wish I could have him on my voice mail message saying, “You have reached the amazing Nick Veneris, please leave a message.”

Election Daze will be in stores on March 25. You can pre-order the book at Filsinger Publishing.

Stan Lee currently co-owns Pow Entertainment and resides in Los Angeles.

About the Author: Nick Veneris is the owner of www.xomba.com, a social networking community that allows users to earn money from posting articles and social bookmarks. Though not having any super powers himself, he has been known to pretend to have them when no one is looking.