Barb Smith
Comic book legend Stan Lee, and Gene Simmons of KISS, made a stop in Park City Tuesday. The duo is there for a premiere of the documentary “With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story” about the Marvel creator’s life.
The two icons might seem like an unlikely pair, but Gene Simmons was the focus of two Marvel Comic books decades ago. The rocker says his relationship began with Stan Lee years before that, and long before the two met.
Simmons was an immigrant and says his early years in America were spent feeling like an outsider. “I had to empower myself and become my own superhero. I had to get my self esteem in order. By reading Stan Lee’s comic books I noticed there was a character called Peter Parker who was a pimply faced teenager that girls didn’t care about.”
He says he related to the Marvel superheroes because they weren’t perfect, they all had weaknesses and frailty but each also had enormous strength. Simmons was deeply impacted and even wrote Stan Lee a heartfelt letter. “When Stan Lee sent me a post card as a 13-year-old boy saying ‘you will do great things’ it felt like a missive from the gods.”
Tuesday the two highly successful friends sat side by side fielding questions from around the world. Simmons has launched another endeavor that brings web video, in real time, with translation, in dozens of languages. Lee and Simmons accepted questions from viewers in Asia, Europe, South, and North America, using the Ortsbo translation technology.
Simmons says he has an answer to one question that wasn’t asked by his worldwide fans. He says the secret to success goes beyond just having comic book confidence. “We all start out as pimply faced teenagers with a big dream and the difference is whether you go work for it.”
Stan Lee says everyone has imagination. “It’s just how you use it”. He credits Simmons as highly imaginative. “I find him one of the most fascinating guys I’ve every known and I’ve never known anybody like Gene. Simmons says Lee is one of the great American heroes, and is as powerful as the superheroes he’s created.