On November 12th, Stan Lee passed away.
I’m not going to say I was shocked because a lot of us has seen Lee’s health declining over the years and in fact, for us who have covered the events, it was a priority of trying to get photos or interviews with Stan Lee if possible.
He was a regular fixture at conventions that our team would often take photos of Stan, often always on the move.
But Stan Lee to me was a man with a name who played a big part of my childhood and yes, even my adulthood.
When my father was in the service, my mother worked and I would be raised by my grandparents and my mother’s siblings and as studying was always a major driving point by my parents, at times my parents were strict that all I had were comics to read and enjoy.
I didn’t watch a whole lot of television growing up, nor were video games prevalent in the household. It was either playing outside with friends, playing toys at home but more than anything, it was reading comic books.
And it was the classics that I enjoyed reading. It was what I would check out from our school library and I would be captivated by it all. And those early classics were work by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and a few others.
Through comic books, you learned a lot. From heroism, leadership, friendship and also stories that touch on various emotions. It helped me get through difficult times in my young life. My parents worked hard, we didn’t have much money but yet they were able to afford to get me comics to help keep me busy whenever they were at work and I was at the home of my grandparents and relatives.
While I’m saddened by the passing of Stan Lee, more than anything, I hope his soul is reunited with his wife Joan. Those two were inseparable, very much in love and in my mind, I picture those two with smiles and happy to be reunited.
Many of us will miss Stan Lee but many of us can take solace in the fact that he left behind a treasure of work that will forever be appreciated for many generations to come.