INTERVIEW WITH THE LEGEND STAN LEE

BY THE NY TIMES

RED BANK, N.J. - Friday seemed like a special morning in the life of Jack Davis, a towheaded boy who had been granted entry to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, a comic-book store here. Though a familiar sign in the window said "I Assure You We're Open," the shop was in fact closed for a taping of "Comic Book Men," the AMC reality series about its proprietors.

But Jack was on the inside, being recorded by video cameras as he gingerly handed a home-made comic that he had written, illustrated and published himself, to Stan Lee, the venerated Marvel Comics writer and editor who helped create such long-lived heroes as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four.

"You laid the whole thing out, it's your idea?" Mr. Lee, 89, said in an avuncular, resonant voice as he thumbed through the leaflet's pages. "Son of a gun, you're a triple threat. This is pretty colorful. Interesting looking characters."

He asked its young author how old he was, and when Jack answered 11, Mr. Lee tried to pay him a compliment.

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