By Steve Morris

SFW? NSFW? I suppose it all depends on if your boss has an alliterative name or not. Writer Sean Howe, building up to the October 9th release of his new book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, has been releasing snippets and previews via the book’s Tumblr page. And this most recent update certainly gives you something you’ve never seen before. Dare you risk the jump?

Who needs Prince Harry photos? The photo apparently came about in 1983, during the creation of a Marvel photo-comic celebrating the behind-the-scenes office life for Marvel Comics. When Stan Lee visited the office, the staff suggested he do a nude photoshoot, and by all accounts his pants were flying through the air in a Mighty Marvel Manner before anybody could stop him.

Covered only by a copy of The Incredible Hulk, Stan sprawled across the luckiest sofa in comic-book history and Eliot R. Brown snapped him for posterity. Upon finding out what he’d done, Stan’s assistant reportedly called the office:

Stan is wild. He should not have been naked for your centerfold. Please. Don’t

So, in respect to Stan’s legacy, a Hulk costume was photoshopped over the image when it was published.

Rumours that Joe Quesada will be replicating the pose next year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the X-Men have yet to be confirmed. Or denied!

1 COMMENT

  1. It’s part of the Marvel Fumetti Book (Apr 84), a fun one-shot.

    And that’s a copy of DC Special Series #27 (Dec 81), the final issue after it switched to treasury sized, that Stan’s holding.

    Fun background story, though.

  2. “…a Hulk costume was photoshopped over the image…”

    I suppose on some level, it pleases the folks at Adobe that their Photoshop program has become so synonymous with imagery manipulation that it’s the first, natural way we describe this instance from 1983, which I believe is a few years earlier than the earliest versions of Photoshop were released.

    Also, I want to read something into the fact that it’s the Batman/Hulk comic that Stan’s holding over his junk here. Now *that’s* really a crossover.

  3. Peter David has a shot with the exact same pose in Patti Perret’s “Faces of Fantasy”. The photo is entitle “Hiding behind a great body of work.”

    You really should get permission to share it.

  4. Yup. Say what you will about Stan Lee, but the man has always kept himself in damn good shape for a man his age.

  5. As much as I loathe Stan Lee’s business ethics and the direction he turned American comics… I bet you couldn’t find another mainstream editor who looks this good naked at 60.
    Bet you can’t find one who’s this fit at 40.

    The obesity epidemic in this country makes Stan Lee look good.

  6. “Covered only by a copy of The Incredible Hulk…”

    It saddens me that the author of this article cannot take the time to look at the photograph in question and notice that it is NOT a copy of The Incredible Hulk.