R&B star Ne-Yo shared a stage with Stan Lee, the 87-year-old former president and chairman of Marvel Comics, at New York Comic Con on Saturday (Oct. 9) to discuss his debut venture into comics. Lee’s POW! Entertainment collaborated with Ne-Yo on “Libra Scale,” a comic book that the singer wrote to accompany his upcoming album of the same name.
In a panel hosted by blogger and radio personality Miss Info, Ne-Yo and Lee debuted the comic book about an ordinary guy named Jerome who is granted superpowers on the condition that he never fall in love. When he meets and falls for Pretti Sinclair, she’s transformed into the evil supervillain Diamond Eyes, and takes over the city.
Ne-Yo’s Five Favorite Comic Book Heroes
Ne-Yo also showed videos for the first three singles from the album — “Beautiful Monster,” “Champagne Life” and “One in a Million” — which together tell the story of the comic in live-action form. He said the story will conclude with two more videos, in which we’ll learn the hero’s ultimate choice–kill Diamond Eyes and keep his power, or save Pretti and sacrifice himself.
During his portion of the panel, Lee turned on his well-known exuberance to praise Ne-Yo and the importance of both music and comics in pop culture. There was some giggling as Lee repeatedly referred to the R&B singer as a “rapper,” but a hug between the two elicited an extended “Awwwwww” from excited fans.