RIP Stan Lee (1922 - 2018)

Marvel Comics legend and popular culture icon, Stan Lee, the man responsible for many of Marvel's most popular superheroes in comic books and movie died on Monday, November 12th at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He was 95 years old. 

Born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922 in Manhattan, New York City, New York to Romanian-Jewish immigrant parents, Lieber at 17 would become an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division of pulp magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman's company. By the 1960s, Timely Comics would evolve into Marvel Comics. He made his comic-book debut with the text filler "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941), using the pseudonym Stan Lee, which years later he would adopt as his legal name.

Lee entered the United States Army in early 1942 and served as a member of the Signal Corps, repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment. He was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked under the title of "playwright" writing manuals, training films, slogans, and occasionally cartooning.

Lee was instrumental in creating a host of popular comics heroes while working as head writer, then later editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics in the 1960s. Along with creative partner Jack Kirby, Lee co-created iconic comic characters such as: The Fantastic Four, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the Inhumans, and The X-Men. Working with Bill Everett, Lee co-wrote Daredevil; and with Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful character, Spider-Man. Many of his and Kirby's comic characters would team up as The Avengers with popular characters like Captain America. Lee and artist John Buscema also launched The Silver Surfer series in August 1968.

Lee produced superheroes that had more complex, naturalistic characteristics instead of the seemingly flawless superhero and comics archetypes of the past, giving them a quality that helped his characters relate to people reading his stories. When fans asked, Lee said Spider-Man was his favorite heroic creation, mainly because of his Every-man nature.

Lee also served as a progressive force in his chosen medium. He tackled racial and ethnic prejudice and intolerance, and in 1966 introduced the first major black comics superhero Black Panther, an African king and brilliant scientist named T'Challa from the fictional African nation Wakanda.  Lee and Gene Colan also created the Falcon, comics' first African-American superhero in Captain America #117 (September 1969). 

Lee also supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about the real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry. He used his monthly column "Stan's Soapbox" to address issues of discrimination, intolerance, or prejudice -- in addition to promoting upcoming Marvel comics.

In 1971 the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare asked Lee to write a comic-book story about the dangers of drugs and Lee conceived a three-issue subplot in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (cover-dated May–July 1971), in which Peter Parker's best friend becomes addicted to prescription drugs. The Comics Code Authority refused to grant its seal because the stories depicted drug use. Lee had the story published without the seal. The comics sold well and Marvel won praise for its socially conscious efforts. The CCA subsequently loosened the Code to permit negative depictions of drugs, among other new freedoms.

A Captain America cosplayer standing
at Stan Lee's star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.

From the 1970s until the ’90s, Lee became the face of Marvel and a frequent staple at comic and pop culture conventions, entertaining fans with his stories and signature catchphrase, “Excelsior!” He created his own POW! Entertainment in 2001 to develop film, TV and comic properties but always stayed connected to his original superhero roots as geek culture rose in Hollywood. He moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1981 to develop Marvel movies and TV shows, and he narrated cartoons such as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Lee and fans had to wait nearly 20 years to see the big-screen potential of these characters.

Perhaps the thing Stan Lee is best known for is having had a cameo in nearly every Marvel movie, beginning with director Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000), as well as several other films like director Kevin Smith's Mallrats (1995) and the Disney animated film Big Hero 6 (2014). Lee completed filming his last two on-screen cameo appearances for the upcoming Marvel films: Captain Marvel (2019) and the yet untitled sequel to Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and will appear posthumously in both films. 

Mr. Lee is survived by his daughter, Joan Cilia Lee. His wife of 69 years, Joan, died in 2017.

In a world where divisions are everywhere, he was a uniter. His contributions to society and the messages of tolerance and respect he promoted though his published works continue to have a profound impact on our culture today, and to this blogger in particular.

Goodbye and thank you, Mr. Lee. RIP!