The Hero Initiative

I like Kevin Smith. I have liked him for a long time. Yes, his language is atrocious. And he’s weird. But he’s super cool and funny and utterly cute and sweet underneath all that rough beard language stuff. I had a different facebook a couple years ago, and I remember he posted a question- Who wants to see me kiss my wiener? It was the cutest picture of him kissing his dachshund. You can click that pic to get to Kevin Smith’s facebook page.

I also like Stan Lee. I was a Spider-Man fan as a girl, but I had no idea he was connected to Stan Lee for a long time, all I cared about was playing Spidey. One of my fave things Stan Lee has ever done is Who Wants to Be a Superhero? My girls and I saw every episode without fail. You can click this pic to get to Stan Lee’s facebook page.

In 2007 I helped Lexx Zone man a Lexx booth at MegaCon. We sold t-shirts donated by Emerson Art and Frank Shannon to help raise money for Hero Initiative. You can see more Lexx from Emerson Art on the Art of Caricature and Art Doll Galleries pages.

The Lexx connection to the Hero Initiative that year was the guy on the right on this next picture, Tony Panaccio, who shared a still to Lexxzone from Marvel Then and Now: An Evening with Stan Lee and Joe Quesada which he was producing around that time. Also at the time I was allowed to host the promo on my youtube account, but I no longer have that, alas. This pic clicks back to its source on Lexxzone.

Why am I bringing this up now? Because last week my copy of this dvd (below) arrived in my mail and today I’m watching it again. I actually have an original print copy from before it was marketed, but while I was on Amazon.com last month picking up Men at Work with Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, Amazon prompted me to check out the Then and Now dvd, and I was very surprised to see it selling for super cheap. I got my copy for 18 cents. Click this pic to go get one, if there are any left.

When this dvd first came out there were all kinds of snarky troll remarks about it, but I think it’s a very nice collector kind of thing, you have all these neat guys together in one place talking about all their comic stuff, and you get some behind the scenes stills and extra interviews, it’s my fave Stan Lee/Kevin Smith production. Yeah, I may be a little partial because I’m being nostalgic, but there is no way I’m ever letting go of this disk (or the original) for such a silly piddly amount.

And this guy. I still don’t know if it was a fluke that Kevin Smith followed me on myspace only 11 hours after I created it, and was my only friend there for over a year. I never did much with it, and for a long time it was only connected through my Lexx blog and never otherwise mentioned anywhere when he first followed. THAT made me feel good. Even if the whole thing is a fluke, THAT. FEELS. GOOD. :edit: And that’s no longer a thing, so I wish I had screen snipped it.

Every year around the holidays there are all kinds of charities popping up and it’s hard to choose one to believe is doing some real good vs farming out the dough to bureaucratic structure. Tell you what, the Hero Initiative is one dang cool charity, taking care of the artists who worked for pittance and even for free for years and have no retirement or savings to fall back on now. These artists who have moved and inspired the world shouldn’t fade in dark corners out of sight and mind. Why not choose your charity NOW. Check out this site and all the cool things they do, click on their store link, find out how you can show your appreciation for artists who have changed so many people’s lives with very little reward back in their own lives for so long. Click this logo to see “What We Do”.

Thank you.