RIP Stan Lee

[Unspeakable Evil]

R.I.P to remarkable creator and legend

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

RIP, Stan.

[JBatmanFan05]

A terrible loss, but the world of comics was so lucky to have so much time with him.

[Denirac]

I didnt say much when I started the thread because I wanted to find the right words to use and I found them:

"Feels like half of The Comics Community is here today to say goodbye to Stan “The Man” Lee. Seems fair. He certainly welcomed everyone. And that was his way. To think of the community, and the individuals in it. To think in terms of, "What can I give?" He gave his Creativity and his spark.

If Stan Lee had an enemy, I would say it was fear.

For me, personally, his work caused me to spend many years trying face my own fears. To understand how they enslaved me, how they divided me from the people that I love. His Work counseled me to transcend my fears, to be brave enough to forgive and see the possibilities of being a man without fear. That was his legacy. And now it's up to all of us to live up to it."

[Divine Spark]

RIP to Stan Lee and all the other comic book legends that passed this year.

[Hush]

Rest in Peace Stan, thank you for all the memories.

[Vanvakaris]

Thank Stan for everything! Rest in peace. Excelsior!

[Ginkasa]

To be honest, most of my life Stan Lee seemed more like a piece of trivia about Spider-Man or, at best, just a spokesman for Marvel Comics. I didn't have any kind of personal connection with him or the work he was directly involved in. However, I recently finished reading through Spider-Man's back catalog including including Stan's original run with the character. It was surprising how well those stories still hold up today and immediately apparent how much Spider-Man is still defined by that original run.

Many other characters that have had decades long runs are hardly recognizable if you go back and read their original stories by the original creators. The identities we know today were really defined much later in that character's history. Spider-Man, however, was fully Spider-Man in that very first issue and the strength of that character has stayed largely the same since then. That is an incredible testament to talent and skill Stan Lee had for storytelling. The world has lost a true icon today.

[Sodam Yat]

My whole day is ruined.

I just don't understand this: I didn't hear any news about his health or anything. I'm very shocked and saddened about this.

[KurtW95]

RIP Stan Lee. Thank you for changing our world for the better with your fantastic, astonishing, uncanny, amazing, mysterious, and incredible creations as well as your one of a kind personality.

[Fairyprincess]

I was a born storyteller. For a whole section of this world, he was an amazing grandad sat in a chair and telling his stories.

He wrote with a distinguished language of his own..,

[Xalfrea]

Auuuugh. Knew this day would come and I have accepted he would leave us soon, but it still doesn't make it any less difficult and painful.

Hard to remember when I first became aware of Stan the Man, having not been too much into comic books when I was younger. I do remember seeing my very first Stan-eo when I watched the first X-Men in theaters and I distinctly remember my friends at the time laughing at Stan's appearance there. I believe it was around the time when the MCU was starting that I first began to take notice of Stan and read his Wikipedia page and researched more on his involvement in Marvel and importance in comics as a whole. Looking back on all his cameos, my favorite, bizarrely enough, would have to be this one:



One of the biggest events of my nerd and pop culture life was the 2016 run of one of Philippines's local conventions, ToyCon. The special event and highlight of that year was an exhibition of Stan Lee memorabilia, awards, photographs, autographs, etc, as well as a one-hour event where, over Skype, Stan was talking with all the convention attendees and even answered the questions of a lucky few who were able to talk to him via Skype. Being part of that and seeing Stan in person (more or less) and not on TV or in a film was just surreal.

RIP Stan Lee. You may be gone from this world, but not from our hearts. Stan's legacy will probably be along the lines of Chuck Jones; he may perhaps get a little too much credit and there will be arguments and debate on just how much he contributed and accomplished to both Marvel and comics as a whole, but it will never change the things he actually really did.

[Iron Maiden]

I feel.....conflicted

I appreciate all what Stan has done for the buisness, and pushing Marvel to the forefront of the American comics industry

but I just feel he has somewhat of a problematic legacy


We all know that Jack Kirby created the Marvel we know and love today. what Lee did to him and do Ditko is indefensible. We should respect Stan as a promoter, a businessman that did alot for the industry, but not as a creator

That's why I used the term "co-creator" in reference to Stan in my post above, but I also used the separate term of "originated" in regard to Stan to denote Stan's separate contribution.

Yes, the Marvel Universe was co-created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko primarily, but Stan originated the characters that the others fleshed out.

As far as the Marvel Universe is concerned, it all originates with Stan Lee.

Exactly. You only have to look at the titles that got created where Jack was not involved....Daredevil, Spider-Man.

but didn't he try to push Kirby out of Marvel and out of his due credit and royalties etc.

Aren't you forgetting Stan Lee answered to the publisher, Martin Goodman? Stan never had control of that part of the company in those days. Printed on the back of all their checks that they were doing work for hire. Jack Kirby was well aware because he had a comic book company with Joe Simon before the war.

The reform to that situation did eventually come when Jim Shooter was EIC. By that time Goodman had sold the company. Stan never had an owners stake in it.

Let's not talk ill of the man this soon after he has passed away and celebrate his life.

[gurkle]

Stan's creative contribution seems obvious if you compare what Kirby and Ditko did on their own (especially Kirby because he was writing and editing himself) to what they did with Stan as writer/editor. Even with Kirby doing most of the plots himself, his own work is not the same as the Marvel stuff but with different dialogue; it's very different, and it even looks different because Stan's tastes influenced the art and how it was inked. Many of Kirby's fans like his '70s DC/Marvel work better because it's so different from, and more personal than, his '60s work with Stan Lee. But that means that a lot of what those '60s comics are is hard to separate from Stan Lee.

I think Stan had a real love for certain types of characters and plots. He loved stories about minor villains who reform at the last minute and then die (this was how Wonder Man was introduced in Avengers and how Frederick Foswell went out in Spider-Man). He loved heroes who are in some way disabled - Tony Stark's heart, Matt Murdock's sight, Don Blake's leg. He loved love triangles so much that even the Archie editors might have thought Stan was overdoing it with all the triangles. Marvel comics are sort of a mix of superhero, romance and comedy and while Stan didn't create that mix alone, it's a mix that couldn't have happened without him.

[CaptCleghorn]

We're not ever going to be able to properly differentiate the roles Lee, Kirby, Ditko, and others played in Marvel's growth.

However, Stan Lee was responsible for a lot of it. That's irrefutable. American comic books are a completely different medium without Stan Lee's involvement.