“This is Iron Man Can, a statue of Iron Man made by Brad Walker from soft drink can tabs. He has exhibited the statue at a number of comic conventions and was recently invited to do the same at Stan Lee’s Comikaze convention in 2012, after he approached them.
It didn’t go well. Walker has finally been able to write about it. First the e-mail he received:
He also mentions his disability:
A spinal injury sustained during an athletic competition produced constant pain in my back and impeded normal functioning, including my ability to continue working as a special education teacher. A back operation in 2011 only aggravated the symptoms.
We’ll get to that later, as he and his family and friends took the statue to the show.
A slight and unassuming man in a suit named Sam, who identified himself as a personal assistant to Stan Lee, and a nearby vendor helped us scout the most appropriate placement for Iron Man Can in front of Stan Lee’s Museum. Ultimately, Peter and Bryan positioned the artwork to face patrons as they exited. Sam and a security guard posted at Stan Lee’s Museum endorsed the location. When I shared reservations about leaving my statue to go eat breakfast, Sam and the security guard assured me that the sculpture would be safe and remain where it was placed.
You know what’s coming, right?
My relatively quick movement to the escalator betrayed a sense of unease. But I focused on the moment I would glimpse Iron Man Can sparkling majestically in front of Stan Lee’s Museum. We reached the second floor. My sculpture was gone. I immediately looked around for the security guard and Sam. A new security guard stood watch. He conveyed a complete lack of information regarding the whereabouts of my artwork. Panic set in.
It continues:
I called Ms. Carpinelli and left her a message requesting the current location of Iron Man Can. Bryan, Peter, and I nervously searched the convention floor. After fifteen minutes we found a few Stan Lee’s Comikaze representatives. One of them told us that the statue had been moved into the green room. A short time later, Bryan, Peter, and I discovered an enclosed space formed from flimsy dividers and black curtains next to the main stage and negotiated our way inside. Reporters, photographers, and spectators focused on a single individual sitting at a table. I saw Iron Man Can standing a few feet away from the center of attention. A photographer hovered dangerously close to my sculpture as he seemed to plan his next shot of Stan Lee.
So, sculpture located, everything okay? Not quite…
I asked why my artwork had been relocated to the green room. They failed to agree on a reason. I quoted the email invitation from the CEO of Stan Lee’s Comikaze, Ms. Carpinelli: “Stan likes the Iron Man. We will put it in front of his museum and he will sign it.” Doron struggled to compose a response. His face twitched. Bryan and Peter flanked me, listening.
Doron related that “(they were) looking for the best way to display (my) statue.” In the meantime, he continued, the green room constituted a far superior venue compared to the convention floor because of all the celebrity visitations.
Events continue but Stan Lee isn’t being asked to sign the statue in question. Or even go near it.
Stan Lee seemed to protest and indicated my statue. I could not hear his exact words. The man then responded, “Stan, we can’t do the interview in front of the Iron Man statue because (the interview is) not a Marvel thing – it’s a Comikaze thing!” Stan Lee appeared to resist again. I could only guess that Stan Lee wanted to film his interview in front of my Iron Man Can sculpture while headset man wanted to conduct the discussion in front of the Comikaze octopus logo. Quite irritated, his eyes bulging, headset man repeated himself two more times, successively increasing his volume. Stan Lee eventually got up and followed the man out of the room.
So it didn’t happen. And kept not happening. But there were other problems.
Ms. Carpinelli called her assistants together and barked the same mandate several times: “The green room is for actors only! Do not let anyone else inside the green room!” She proceeded to complain loudly regarding their performance thus far and issued detailed reprimands. As I was about to leave the green room, my sculpture, an embodiment of pure fandom, taunted me. Was I really going to allow Ms. Carpinelli to deny me the right to be in the same room with the very artwork she had invited me to display? Not only had Ms. Carpinelli failed to honor any of the promises from her email, she was also attempting to hijack my sculpture for her celebrity room. I requested Bryan and Peter to remove Iron Man Can from the present environment.
Moments later, the convention-going public at Stan Lee’s Comikaze 2012 finally saw a fleeting glimpse of Iron Man Can, a strange confluence of comic books and carbonation. Curious attendees began to gravitate toward the piece and ask questions. Within minutes, three Stan Lee’s Comikaze representatives surrounded my sculpture, thereby blocking public view, and communicated a requirement from Ms. Carpinelli to move the artwork outside to the loading dock until they established a proper display area. I knew Ms. Carpinelli was taking the penultimate step to eject my artwork and me from the convention completely.
But there were more takes on what was happening.
A young Stan Lee’s Comikaze representative with dark hair and glasses leaned his arm on the sculpture like it was a piece of furniture and assumed an abrasive, matter-of-fact attitude: “Stan saw the statue (at Stan Lee’s Museum) and didn’t like it,” he said, motioning with disgust at my handiwork, “so they moved it.” I asked the young man to remove his arm from Iron Man Can and he did. I showed them the email from Ms. Carpinelli. The trio of Stan Lee’s Comikaze representatives seemed to draw a collective breath. The young man with dark hair countered, “Well, Stan is 90 years old. He has the right to change his mind.” (Stan Lee was actually 89 at the time).
But there were other problems, involving Brad’s health.
I requested the whereabouts of the first aid station and related my medical status. This seemed to catch her off guard. She did not know. The young woman said that she needed to check on something and went back into the convention. A few minutes later the young woman returned and stated that Ms. Carpinelli wanted me to leave the premises with my artwork immediately. I asked for a reason while hoping to see Peter, Bryan, or Emily round the corner momentarily. She simply repeated the same direction. I asked about the first aid station again. The young woman sighed and radioed for the location. It was on the lower level. I informed her that there was no way I could make it downstairs in my current condition or leave my sculpture in the care of her organization.
Ms. Carpinelli walked outside with an entourage and heckled me from a distance as she passed by, “You should have been happy just to get the comped tickets!”
At that point Bryan, Peter, Emily and her friend arrived almost simultaneously. Emily asked what was happening. I explained the difficulties we had encountered thus far and my repeated requests for medical attention. Shifting gears, Doron turned conciliatory. He was not going to kick a disabled man to the curb in front of his family. “Don’t worry,” he enthused, “We’re going to take care of you! Just hang on and let me make a few calls. We will get you a place to display your statue and the signature from Stan Lee.”
So how does this journey end? Well, you can probably guess.
Eventually, Doron placed us in a partially deserted corner of the convention hall behind a line of people. He said that Stan Lee would visit us after his lunch. Bryan, Peter, Emily, her friend, and I took turns asking people to part the line so that the statue could be seen by passersby. Stan Lee, of course, never arrived.
You can read the full post here. It’s worthy reiterating that this was two years ago. The convention was younger then and there can often be teething troubles. I haven’t heard any similar stories of late. And this is only one man’s side. I talked to management at Comikaze who told me:
To resolve this matter we gave him his own booth to showcase his art so all attendees could see it. When Stan was available we offered to have Stan sign it and Brad refused to let ANYONE touch it including Stan. We also gave him passes for the whole weekend. –Regina Carpinelli”
Here’s a walkaround video of Iron Man Can:
Source: BleedingCool
