When I was in junior high, one of my school assignments was to write to someone you respect or are inspired by (a state senator, an actor, a musician, a baseball player) and if you get a reply back you got extra credit. So I thought and thought about whom I would most want to write to. I was at the height of my adolescent years comic book collecting. I ended up deciding on Stan Lee, the amazing, incredible, invincible, uncanny creator of some of my favorite comic book characters, like Spider-Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, and the X-Men. A few weeks after I sent out my letter, I got a reply (actually from the Marvel Comics office of Stan Lee)! They sent me several photocopied biographies and news clippings from different magazines that were featured about him. It was simply touching and exhilarating to even get a reply back. Stan “The Man” Lee created and wrote so many astonishing and lasting superheroes that filled up my days with such fantasy, emotion, and vision. He was one of the lights in my imagination early on in my creative life. The more I learned about him and his career, the more I respected him. “I never wrote for kids – I wrote for me!” he once said. Yet he didn’t do it all by himself; he had the help of some of the most talented artists of their time – Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others. But in the end, it was Stan Lee brought mature themes and adult issues to his comic book characters. As a result, comics grew up from being “just for kids”. Grown-ups could read them and appreciate their writing and imagination as well.
We’ll miss you, Stan.
Recent Comments