Stan Lee, who defined comic books as a popular art form for millions of readers, offers an exclusive glimpse into his career when he joins director Kevin Smith for STAN LEE’S MUTANTS, MONSTERS & MARVELS, premiering May 14 only on DVD and videocassette from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

Lee, the creator of Spider-Man and The X-Men, and Smith, popular director of “Clerks and Dogma,” guide viewers on a journey through Lee’s history in this exclusive home-entertainment release, produced by Creative Light Entertainment. It’s a one-of-a-kind oral history – a lively conversation between two mutual admirers.

STAN LEE’S MUTANTS, MONSTERS & MARVELS explores the history of comic books during what is now called the “Silver Age,” a time when Stan Lee – as a writer, editorial directorand, later, publisher of Marvel Comics – co-created an astonishing number of the most legendary characters in comics.

With SPIDER-MAN set for a theatrical release by Columbia Pictures on May 3, an “X-Men” sequel in production, and both “Daredevil” (with Ben Affleck) and “The Incredible Hulk” (directed by Ang Lee) slated for release in 2003, Lee’s work has never been more popular or more faithfully adapted.

In STAN LEE’S MUTANTS, MONSTERS & MARVELS, Smith acts as a wise and witty surrogate for the legion of fans who have followed Lee’s career since his beginnings as a 17-year-old writer at Timely Comics, the predecessor to Marvel. With remarkable detail and good humor, Lee divulges his storied past in two separate features on the DVD: “Creating Spider-Man” and “Here Come the Heroes.”

In “Creating Spider-Man,” Lee gives a definitive set of answers to Smith’s questions about Spider-Man, who may be Lee’s most famous creation. With complete candor, Lee discusses the creator-credit controversy between him and artist Steve Ditko; Peter Parker’s role as a new kind of hero – a kid with real problems to whom readers could relate; Spidey’s arch-villains and true loves; and Columbia Pictures’ hotly anticipated SPIDER-MAN movie.

In the program’s second feature, “Here Come the Heroes,” Lee traces his own personal history and the beginnings of his 60-plus years in the business.

The DVD version of STAN LEE’S MUTANTS, MONSTERS & MARVELS is loaded with extras. In addition to cast and crew biographies and a behind-the-scenes featurette, the disc includes an exclusive interview with Lee’s wife, Joan; rare home movies from Lee’s personal archives; details about the never-released “Fantastic Four” movie; an original poem, “God Woke,” read by Lee; and many surprises for avid DVD fans. Also included is a one-of-a-kind tour of Lee’s magnificent Hollywood home, in which Lee points out some of the Spider-Man memorabilia he has accumulated through the years.

STAN LEE’S MUTANTS, MONSTERS & MARVELS represents a labor of love for its director and executive producer, Scott Zakarin, CEO of Creative Light Entertainment. “Stan Lee’s stories influenced an entire generation of filmmakers, including me,” Zakarin says. “Stan has a way of making the most complex characters and conflicts accessible to all audiences. I consider it an honor and a privilege to present the insights and personality of this incredible talent to fans.”

Smith agrees that it is time to give Lee his due. “Especially now, in what looks like it’s shaping up to be the year of Spider-Man, it’s great that we kind of take a moment to pay homage to the guy without whom there is no Spider-Man,” Smith says.

Creative Light Entertainment is an independent, vertically integrated film, television, new media and distribution company. Creative Light Entertaiment (www.crlight.com) acquires, creates and incubates new entertainment brands with broad or niche consumer appeal. Past successful straight-to-DVD/video projects distributed by Creative Light Video include “The Sid Caesar Collection,” a lovingly restored series of classic episodes from Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour,” as well as “Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime,” an intimate, exclusive conversation between Star Trek stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Creative Light was founded by Scott Zakarin, Rich Tackenberg and Peter Jaysen who all served as executive producers on STAN LEE’S MUTANTS MONSTERS & MARVELS.

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. Sony Pictures’ global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution, television production and distribution, worldwide channel investments, home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities, development of new entertainment products, services and technologies, and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries worldwide. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com.

DVD ADDED-VALUE ELEMENTS

* Widescreen Presentation
* Cast Biographies
* Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
* Bonus Interview With Stan Lee’s Wife, Joan
* Bonus Story: The Never-Released “Fantastic Four” Movie
* Stan Lee Recites His Original Poem, “God Woke”
* Rare Stan Lee Home Movie Footage
MPAA Rating: Not Rated / Original Release: 2002
Price: $19.96 VHS Two-Cassette Set / $24.95 DVD
Color / Closed Captioned / 95 minutes
VHS #09611 / UPC Code: 0-43396-09611-0
DVD #09612/ UPC Code: 0-43396-09612-7

Street Date: May 14, 2002

For Smith, the opportunity to discuss comics and movies with a living legend like Lee proved too good to pass up.

“I had done an interview with Stan a couple of years ago for Rolling Stone, and it was fantastic, but most of it did not make it into the story because of limited space,” Smith said. “It was great to be able to do it again, learn new things and have it all be made available for people to see.”