ANOTHER COMEBACK AGAIN: PART TWO

Stan Lee, still trading on a reputation for character creation that is founded (even stranded) in the 1960s, is at it again — this time, in India, where he’s engaged with Liquid Comics to invent India’s first comic book superhero. Lee will be working with local artists and writers on Chakra the Invincible, who originates in an Indian teenager, Raju Rai, a technology genius living in Mumbai, who is determined to use science to unlock the secrets of human potential. Raju develops a technically-enhanced suit that activates the mystical Chakras of the body, unleashing newfound abilities and powers.”

Lee, with characteristic bombast, describes the new “saga” as “thrill-a-minute” and Chakra “our daring and dangerous teenage hero.”

Sounds a bit like Iron Man wedded to Spidey, to me. But not, apparently, to Liquid Comics co-founder and CEO, Sharad Devarajan, who saith: "Stan Lee is one of the most prolific storytellers in the world today, having created iconic characters that have generated billions of dollars at the box office and are known by nearly every man, woman and child on earth. The opportunity to bring Stan's unparalleled experience of the superhero genre to India and enable him to collaborate with local talents to create a new Indian character is the culmination of a lifelong dream."

I don’t mean to belittle Stan Lee’s monumental achievements in revitalizing the American funnybook biz, but we’ve heard these trumpets sounding before over the last couple decades, and none of Lee’s “thrill-a-minute” creations of those years is still operating. No matter. My guess is that his creative work on Chakra is already done: having named and conceptualized the new superhero, the rest he’ll doubtless leave to those “local artists and writers.”