What is it that I can say regarding Stan Lee’s passing that hasn’t already been said.
The only thing I can say is how I feel about it. I never met Stan, although I certainly felt like I knew him since I was ten years old.
Stan’s Soapbox spoke to me. Directly to me. We had a rapport. I even won a no-prize once. The no-prize has long since disappeared, and honestly, I don’t remember what mistake I caught that had me rewarded with that empty envelope with the bold “Congratulations” on the outside of the envelope. There was a “no-prize” inside!
I remember being able to “hear” his voice in Stan’s Soapbox, and years later when I finally heard his voice, miraculously, he sounded just as I imagined.
I for one learned a lot of big words from Stan, like bombastic and cataclysmic as well as alliteration, heady concepts like time travel, Negative Zones, and just the sheer love of reading!
The really surprising thing that I realized about Stan was that when he passed away, everybody seemed to know who he was!
I was in a meeting with four other people: three women and one man ranging in age from 30-55. My phone was on the counter beside me because I was using the calculator app in the meeting.
Suddenly, the phone buzzed and the message lit up the screen: “Stan Lee passes away at 95”.
I involuntarily said out loud “oh no”.Everyone turned to me and I said “Stan Lee just passed away. Everyone in the room knew who he was with just those 5 words, and the conversation became about Stan Lee and Marvel. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knew who Stan was and was sad to hear of his passing.
That Stan was larger than life goes without saying, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you faithful readers had similar experiences as I did!
So I’ll just finish off with saying my life was richly blessed with the bombastic and sometimes cataclysmic stories that Stan was part of creating. His contribution to the Marvel Universe cannot be overemphasized, and he was blessed with collaborating with some of the best creative minds in the business.
When I was ten, there were people who thought comic book readers were simple, or just plain strange. Stan brought comic books out of the shadows and created stories that now fill the seats of theatres all around the world, with the biggest blockbusters of our time and comic conventions are held all over the world.
Stan did this. Not alone mind you but without Stan, I think it is safe to say the comic book landscape would not be what it is today.
Continued Happy Collecting!
Nuff said!
This is such a beautiful heart felt tribute Dennis.
I thoroughly concur Dennis. I have a lot of comic sales in our apartment lounge and everybody in the building knows of my love for the comics as a longtime fan, historian and creator, and I couldn’t believe the outpouring of genuine sympathy from these people, many of whom have never read a comic their lives. But, they all knew the impact Stan had on so many kids and adults of the last couple of generations. He was the ambassador that the comic world needed to reach a wider audience than just kids and geeks. He’s the first guy to make the comics cool. There never has been, and I don’t think here ever will be, another person quite like Stan. He defined a medium for many of us and will remain in our hearts for years to come. Thanks for reminding us.
cheers, mel
P.S. As I mentioned on one of Walt’s posts, the word “Excelsior!” will never again mean anything more to me than wood shavings for packing.
Yes a great post. “We happy few” (maybe not so few, but I think you know what I mean) who were believers from our days as wee lads took great inspiration from this _um_ adult who was as excited about “our” medium as we were. No apologies. Comics had something that the dryness of text or the linearity/reality of movies could not (and still can’t) match, and Stan was in your face telling you about this every month. “Stan ‘The Man'” gets it exactly right – Stan was definitely a man, warts and all in some of his dealings – but in comics he was definitely “The Man” and I don’t think it can be disputed that his bombastic and cantankerous very public persona has had a fundamental impact on human history. (That sounds utterly pretentious and yet is utterly defensible. SNL’s spoof on Fox News mentioned that Thanos was in The Caravan – ’nuff said.) I think the best way to honor his legacy is to try to keep the spark alive – it’s nice for a movie to make a billion dollars, but it’s _exciting_ to turn the page and see Our Hero call on his inner strength and ingenuity to narrowly escape the death trap of The Villain.
Thanks for all of your well thought out comments gentlemen.We all knew this day was going to come ,and we knew it was sooner rather than later ,but obviously it affected a lot of people probably more than they were expecting.It really is amazing the impact that Stan and the Merry Marvel Bullpen had on “we happy few” and he certainly did “define the medium.”