Lee promises that the series will be neither wholly American nor entirely Japanese, uniquely combining the two to create an entirely separate form of artistic expression. Details of the plot are somewhat thin, though Takanori Asada , the editor of the Japanese version, described the story as revolving around androids possessed of human-like souls. The titular Ultimo, one of the robots, appears to be sort of a punk rock lobster, at least from where I was sitting. Another character was amusingly modeled after Lee himself, or at Lee as a kung-fu serial killer rather than the enthusastic elder of the comic book industry.

Ever the showman, Lee regaled the crowd as if P.T. Barnum were delivering the Sermon from the Mount. “I’m glad I’m not an American comic book publisher,” said Marvel pioneer Lee, who co-created such titles as Spiderman and X-Men, “because if I had to compete with something like this, I’d be going out and getting drunk right now.”