io9 took a spin through Gallery 1988 and Golden Apple Comics last night in Los Angeles as artists like Ruben Rude, Travis Lampe, Brandon Bird, Patrick Gannon, Misha, Angry Woebots, Jeff McMillan, Sarah Coleman and Daniel Danger paid tribute to Stan "The Man" Lee through reinterpretations of some of his most famous characters. The result was some seriously trippy artwork ranging from X-Men plushies to a sort of wacky Mickey Mouse meets The Hulk on acid painting. Take a look for yourself in the gallery below.

There's a lot more to see — just click on an image to get to the full gallery.

While the gallery was packed tighter than Emma Frost's pants, next door at Golden Apple artists were signing pieces and doing original sketches for fans, with all proceeds going to The Hero Initiative, a non-profit organization that helps comic book artists and writers in hard times. Stan Lee came in, flashed his grin around the gallery, flitted over to the comic book shop to sign some items for the charity, and then vanished into the night.

We spoke briefly to artist Sarah Coleman who painted a huge Scarlet Witch piece for the show. Admittedly not a "comic book person" to begin with, Coleman struck out on her own and did a lot of research on Marvel characters before settling on Wanda Maximoff and her magical powers. Although she was quick to point out to us that Wanda's powers "were initially math-based, giving her the ability to affect probability." Rewrites over the past few years have changed her ability from "hex magic" to "chaos magic," and she's now one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel universe.

So, you do learn something new every day, true believer. We feel like we should have known this and retreated into the night ourselves, but not before shouting "Excelsior!" at several random passers by.