Stan Lee to Appear at Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles

VIZ Media has announced a very special personal appearance by comic book legend Stan Lee on Friday, June 16^th at 7:00pm at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles, located at 189 Grove Drive Suite K 30, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Lee is the co-creator of comics’ most iconic superheroes including Spider-Man™, the Fantastic Four™, and the X-Men™. His Barnes & Noble appearance celebrates the release of Volume 2 of his latest co-creation – ULTIMO, and he will be autographing copies of ULTIMO Volumes 1 and 2.

ULTIMO (rated ‘T’ for Teens) is a historic East-meets-West collaboration between Lee and famed Japanese manga creator, Hiroyuki Takei, the creator of the popular SHAMAN KING series. ULTIMO, Volume 2 is available in stores now and is also serialized in VIZ Media’s SHONEN JUMP Magazine.

VIZ Media will also welcome Stan Lee for a special appearance in the company’s booth #2813 on Saturday, July 24^th atComic-Con International 2010, the nation’s largest comic book convention taking place in San Diego, CA.

The ULTIMO back-story: High above Farmless City, citizens are stunned by the sudden appearance of two floating figures. Are they human boys, monolithic robots, or something much more strange? As the battle ensues between them, destruction and devastation falls on the hapless city. One figure is Vice, who seems to be as evil as his name implies. The other is Ultimo, intent on trying to stop Vice from wreaking more havoc. But who are Vice and Ultimo really? Where did they come from? In Volume 2, with girl and money troubles, life is hard enough for high school student Yamato, but then he stumbles upon Ultimo, a peculiar-looking puppet. Things only get stranger when Ultimo awakens and his archenemy, Vice, shows up. Ultimo and Vice are Karakuri Dôji, the mechanical embodiment of pure good and pure evil, devoid of human emotions that can cloud one’s judgment. Their purpose: to battle to the death to prove once and for all whether good or evil is the most powerful force in the universe.

For more information on ULTIMO please visit Ultimo.viz.com or www.shonenjump.com.