Every Marvel Comics fan knows the names Roy Thomas and Danny Fingeroth, curators of a new book, The Stan Lee Universe. Both have been editors at Marvel Comics during its long and storied history and both have gone on to establish their credentials as comics industry historian. And both will be joining us in a moment. ROY THOMAS audio excerpt: "Stan really worked almost every way you could image during the Marvel Era -- except maybe a full script! He did everything from a detailed plot for the early Fantastic Four to a little conversation over the phone for five to 10 minutes to telling somebody, 'Why don't we make Doctor Doom the villain?'" Fingeroth, now a senior VP of education of the Museum of Comic and Comic Art in New York, was a guest on Mr. Media back in 2008 promoting his book, Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. As for Thomas, the editor of Alter Ego magazine, I interviewed him for my biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, at the behest of Stan Lee himself. Lee had told me about his exchanges with Eisner, two of which were quite eye-opening. In one, he literally solicited the creator of The Spirit and a well-respected publishing success himself, to take The Man’s seat as publisher of Marvel Comics. (Eisner declined.) In the other, he vaguely recalled proposing a humor magazine and asked Eisner to flesh it out. Lee said to talk to Thomas for all the details, which I did. For most comics fans, those too little-told stories of the history of the Marvel Comics Universe were delightful “What If…?” moments. Now Thomas and Fingeroth have come together on a project, , which collects rare memorabilia, letters and interviews with one of the greatest creators – and characters – in the known universe. It’s a really fun read and I heartily recommend it to you. Roy Thomas Danny Fingeroth • • •