Stan Lee's comic show kicks off in Los Angeles

Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con officially opened the doors following a ribbon cutting ceremony participating by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the legendary co-founder of the Comic Con, Stan Lee.

"Creativity and imagination are L.A.' s calling cards to the world, and Stan Lee' s Los Angeles Comic Con celebrates our unrivaled impact on popular culture," said Eric Garcetti. "We' re proud to welcome fans from all over the globe to this unique experience."

Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man and other beloved Marvel superhero characters, founded the comic show in 2011. The event previously known as Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo was officially renamed "Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con," Lee said.

The 93-year-old former president of Marvel Comics said "we want to have the most glamorous and sought-after guests possible in the entertainment field, because after all, Los Angeles to me is the home of entertainment -- this is where it all starts."

The former New Yorker, who has lived in Los Angeles for at least the past three decades, said his adoptive city is "the movie capital of the world, the music capital of the world -- everything, it's all here in L.A. and we should have the best convention of all."

The last year' s event attracted more than 76,000 attendees, with about 90,000 people expected to attend this year's convention to meet comic book artists and actors in shows and movies, according to the show organizer.

"It's about anything pop culture, being a nerd,"

said Regina Carpinelli, who co-founded the convention with Lee.

The Los Angeles City Council declared it Stan Lee Day in the City of Los Angeles, an honor that Lee said made him "the luckiest man alive."

"We're honoring the most notable person in the history of comic books, and that is a very colorful history," Councilman Paul Koretz said. "He has created so many amazing characters, and we're just honored to have him here"

"It's amazing that someone like him even exists that could have created so many comic books and drawn so many comic books and written so many," Koretz added. "We're just proud to have him here."

Lee has become synonymous with Marvel Comics, the publisher of stories that feature his biggest super-hero creations, such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil, Thor, the Hulk, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

In recent years, his comic book characters, many of them created with artist Jack Kirby, have maintained their popularity and sparked a flurry of big-screen adaptations in which he often makes cameos to the delight of his fans.

Lee said that "it's exciting for me" to see his comic book creations gain a bigger audience via the success of films and television shows, many made as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise -- though he said that because of poor eyesight, he often has those movies described to him.

He said "it's hard to have favorites" with the adaptations "because I love them all," but he does have a soft spot for "the first Spider-Man, because that's what started it all -- so that might be my favorite."

This year's Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con will last to this Sunday. Endit