Director and comic fan Kevin Smith recently sat down with comic book godfather Stan Lee for an open discussion of Lee’s creations from Spiderman to The Incredible Hulk. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Creative Light Entertainment got in on the action and are presenting the conversation as a new DVD this summer.

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 is presented in widescreen and contains biographies for both Stan Lee and Kevin Smith. The disc also comes with a wealth of extra information for any comic book fan including a behind-the-scenes featurette, a bonus interview with Stan Lee’s wife, Joan, a bonus featurette on the never-released “Fantastic Four” movie, Stan Lee recites his original poem, “God Woke” and rare Stan Lee home movie footage.

Owners of Creative Light ”s recent DVD release of “Mind Meld” know that their documentaries don’t pull any punches. This disc should be no exception. The disc will hit shelves on May 14th and will carry a suggested retail price of $24.95. Pick up your copy from the DVD Review Store for $19.96