I had meant to post this back in November, but in the move it got lost in the shuffle. So please indulge me the moment to pay tribute to a personal influence of mine.

Stan Lee died in November. He was 95.

Logically, it makes sense; he was an old man in declining health who lived an interesting and prosperous life. He got more years out of life than the average Joe, and there was plenty of life in his years. The kid in me—the fan who grew up reading Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four—is floored. I never met the man personally, but his characters have had a lasting effect on me. They helped shape my morals and helped build strength of character. His talent for storytelling and nuance has certainly influenced my writing.

Stan Lee was a master of long-term character development; his characters grew and evolved over their many years to reflect what was going on in their world (and our world, at large). They started as archetypes, but developed full and rich personalities with flaws, insecurities, and stresses that came with their lives. They loved. They lost. They sometimes broke. They were people, like you and me. Lee’s heroes were fallible, everyday folk; his villains were never completely beyond redemption. I grew up on a steady diet of his work, and it influenced my own.

In the weeks since his passing, there has been talk of comics as a medium being for kids, and that the acceptance of such childlike entertainment in the mainstream is the reason for our current political climate. I beg to differ. Modern comics touch on things that aren’t taught to our children. In an era that still lauds the accomplishments of men like Christopher Columbus, that still oversimplifies complex historical narratives like slavery or the Cold War, comics weave complicated human stories that deal with war, xenophobia, racism, and their consequences. So what, the stories are illustrated. That doesn’t make them simple. And let’s be honest; in this day and age, some people do need concepts like xenophobia and racism simplified with pictures.

Stan Lee created worlds and mythologies that persist, that are updated, and are adopted by billions. He shone a spotlight on what humanity—and heroism—is. That transcends death, and it’s one hell of a nifty super power.

Excelsior.

#2019 #2018 #comics #StanLee #RIP