Stan Lee… fuck. He was 95 but it’s still a bit of a gut punch. He’s one of those people I always thought of as immortal. And I guess in a way he is.
I was always a Marvel kid growing up. Yeah, I liked Batman and a few other DC characters but for me Marvel was where it was at. I think it was for the usual reasons. Where DC’s characters; Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman were distant and aloof, almost godlike (even the “human” Batman, with his billions of dollars and superhuman willpower.), Marvel’s characters were so much more accessible and relatable. In a word: human.
A poor, orphaned kid in Queens who was a bookworm and constantly bullied? My parents were still alive but I could certainly relate to being a bookworm and, as a kid who started wearing glasses when I was about nine, I could certainly relate to being, if not bullied, certainly teased.
As I entered my teenage years the X-Men became one of my favorites. Of course that was by design. The transformation mutants underwent as they hit adolescence was meant to mirror what I went through as I began that journey into manhood with those first awkward steps. Hell, as an adult I can still relate to them. I’ve gone from the Beast (Sprouting hair, as a teenager, in places where I didn’t expect it (I’m talking about my chest folks, don’t be perverts.), to Professor X (Though not nearly quite as bald.). I’d have preferred the super powers, but man, the changes in my hormones and appearance really resonated when I read the changes some of the X-Men went through as they arrived a Xavier’s School for Gifted Children.
What’s weird is that for a long time my favorite character as a kid, and later, as a teenager, was Hawkeye. That’s not the usual hero most people would pick when asked. It wasn’t until I was an adult when a friend of mine and I were talking about comics that I really figured out why. And it was this: Hawkeye was just a normal guy. He wasn’t rich, like Tony Stark (Yes, Tony is brilliant but it’s his money that allows him to be Iron Man.). He wasn’t super smart like Hank Pym. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider and he didn’t fly through cosmic rays and he wasn’t a literal god. He’s just a guy. A guy with a bow and arrows and who put in the time to train. And here he was punching above his weight duking it out alongside the god of thunder, Iron Man and the human Boy Scout, Captain America. At one point climbing to become the leader of the West Coast Avengers. Hawkeye’s story was a human one. He had his faults. He fell for a spy and briefly did the wrong thing as a result (That spy eventually became a hero herself. I’m looking at you Black Widow.). He bristled at figures of authority like Cap. He won, he lost, but he always picked himself back up. Yeah, I could relate to that. I, like all people, have my faults (though I’ve never fallen for a spy and become a criminal as a result!). But I definitely had issues with authority growing up and, even today, as I try new things and try and push my creative boundaries I often feel like I’m punching above my weight. But I try and try and I keep getting back up even as there are set backs and failures.
And it wasn’t just his characters and other creations that gave the world life lessons. If you took the time to read the letters section you’d find nuggets of Stan’s wisdom in his own words in Stan’s Soapbox. And he used that soapbox to unapologetically defend the moralizing that happened in the pages of Marvel comics. Calling out racism and anti-semitism and other types of bigotry and tackling topics like addiction, war, and poverty. Pax et Justitia, indeed.
So, Stan, as we say goodbye I also say to you, Excelsior! And thanks for the stories and the lessons. I’ll never forget them.