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It was not so long ago that I wrote
a blog about the
death of Harold Ramis… Good lord that was almost 5 years ago… Okay, it has
been a while since I last spoke on the topic of death especially as it relates
to famous individuals who have had a real impact on me creatively and helped to
shape who I am, even if they never met me.
This week Stan
Lee, co-creator of many of Marvel Comics’ greatest heroes, and perhaps one
of the greatest public icons for science fiction and fantasy ever, passed away. He remained a living mascot and spokesman for
the glory and wonder of imagination for decades. He was, by all accounts I could find, a good
person who legitimately hoped that he had made a difference in the lives of
people by telling his silly stories.
He lived to be 95 years old, a
revered almost canonized figure of secular values. “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”
is such an important lesson that I don’t even think the profundity of it completely
lands anymore.
I have been reading comics,
watching cartoons, and reading books about his creations long before they took
off and became the biggest entertainment business in the world. Stan’s creations, along with those of Jack
Kirby, Bill Finger, and the other legions of creators from that rare era where
creativity first started exploding in the way it did, into an age of larger
than life characters, those creations have impacted me greatly.
"I used to be embarrassed
because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges
or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is
one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go
off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing
a good thing." – Stan Lee, The Washington Post
I owe Lee a tremendous debt. I hope that I can be, directly or indirectly,
as much of an impact on someone else, as he had on me. There will never be another Stan Lee, the
world is just not set out that way anymore.
But maybe the one we were lucky enough to get was enough.
There are other celebrities that
have passed away that had an impact on me that I have not spoken on, and I don’t
always want to. That some creatives hit
me in a way that I process on my own because I don’t really know what to
say. But I think that Stan Lee has to be
one of the ones I comment on. It felt
okay to.
He lived a long life, and his
stories will live longer still. To quote
comic author Neil Gaiman, “Things need not have happened to be true. Tales
and adventures are the shadow truths that will endure when mere facts are dust
and ashes and forgotten.”
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