R.I.P. Stan Lee

[chrisbishop]

The father of Silver Age comic book heroes from Marvel Comics - Stan Lee - died today, November 12, 2018 - at the venerable age of 95.

Writer, publisher, editor, publisher, Stan Lee did it all at Marvel. A true visionary, he created or co-created renowned and beloved characters such as The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, X-Men, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man (his favourite) and many, many others. These characters became famous well before they appeared in movies, in which Stan also appeared, in a variety of memorable cameos. In direct contrast with superheroes of the time - which were 'super' before being human - the characters created by Stan Lee were more or less ordinary people, with not only qualities, but with flaws as well, facing the problems of real life.

Stan Lee was one of those giants who, with people like Gerry Anderson, Walt Disney and Gene Roddenberry, to name but a few, gave us a sense of wonder that will never die.

Excelsior.

[Carrie]

Chris, thank you for that post. I wanted to leave it to you as webmaster to place it first, and you've done an eloquent job.

A sad day for me, as Stan 'the man' Lee was a constant companion in my teenage years and beyond. He seemed, like so many of his characters, invincible.
Like Stan during his early Marvel years, embarrassed to tell people that he wrote comics, I was as embarrassed to read and enjoy them, and yet now, it's recognised as an art form in its own right, and that in an enormous way, is down to his sheer exuberance, creativity and staying power. Like Gene Rodenberry, Stan used his medium to explore taboo subjects, inequality, and show minorities in a new light, giving depth and realism to the stories of super-powered people who for many years had been 2 dimensional ciphers.
It's wonderful that my teenage daughters share my love for those powerful women characters from the Marvel stable - like Jean Grey, Storm, Ms Marvel (now promoted to Captain!) and Rogue.
Stan retained such a childlike joy and enthusiasm for his genre and it was contagious.
I'll leave this with a few of Stan's many quotes:

I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing."

To my way of thinking, whether it’s a superhero movie or a romance or a comedy or whatever, the most important thing is you’ve got to care about the characters. You’ve got to understand the characters and you’ve got to be interested. If the characters are interesting, you’re half-way home.

Luck's a revolving door, you just need to know when it's your time to walk through

'nuff said.
Shine brightly in heaven, Stan, we shall miss you.

[Elentari]

End of an era I guess.

I felt the same way when Lee Falk died.
He was the creator of The Phantom (very popular in Oz) and Mandrake the Magician.
I even spent a couple of years in The Phantom Fan Club. :-) Loved his comics.

[chrisbishop]

My first comic book heroes were actually Mandrake and The Phantom! I would certainly classify Lee Falk amongst those who left their imprints on us.

Few really realise that Mandrake the Magician is credited as being the first superhero - although, I would argue that wearing a tux, top hat and cape qualifies as a costume. He has powers, pretty amazing in the start. In later years, his powers were toned down to simple hypnotism and illusions, but that didn't explain his earlier feats. Hey, he transformed a simple rug into a magic carpet, and flew himself and his companions out of a city full of assassins! No small task, there...

The Phantom may possibly hold the titled of first COSTUMED super-hero. He didn't have powers, but he certainly has a rich back story. For 400 years, the Phantom has been fighting evil and piracy (yes, piracy). But few people knows that the mantle of the Phantom has been passed from father to son during all that time. Talk about a family tradition...

Did you know that Stan Lee actually wrote the lyrics to 'Defenders of the Earth', an animated TV series which featured both Mandrake and the Phantom (alongside Flash Gordon) against the evil of Ming the Merciless? They were aided in this by their respective children (as would be required by a TV show aimed to kids, I suppose...). Stan also wrote the first issue a comic book miniseries of the same title, which lasted only four issues.

[Elentari]

Chris,

Don't know if you've ever seen this but Aussie comedian/actor Paul Hogan (of Crocodile Dundee fame) had a TV series for a while and here is his famous Phantom sketch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8zu1_EoBxQ