Stan Lee passed away the 12th of November, 2018 at the age of 95. All day long, I read post after post and meme after meme about his impact on comics as well as his legacy of creations that extended passed comics and into television, movies, and video games.
Whenever I thought of Stan Lee, I always thought about how he didn’t become The Man until he was in his 40s. That resonates with me because I didn’t start actively writing comics until I was in my 40s. I say actively because I started writing scripts when I was 38 in the spring of 2013. Back then, I was more aimless in my creative process, only writing when I wanted to make digs at people who would never read what I had written. I had a lot of growing up to do.
It was that year that I got to meet Stan The Man at the first Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con. I paid the $60 for his autograph and snapped a pic if him signing my Mallrats DVD.
Not pictured: chocolate-covered pretzels
Once I went through what I needed to go through, I was presented with an opportunity to tell stories in a comics format. That led to a position on the board at Plot Twist Publishing and in the years since, I’ve managed to tell a few stories here and there. While I’m nowhere near how prolific he was I’m further ahead than who I was back then. While the masses will look at the Marvel characters he helped create as his impact on pop culture – and deservedly so – for me, I guess you can count me in the legions of comics creators that were either directly or indirectly inspired by The Man.
Art by James Stone
Rest in peace.
Excelsior.