Legendary comic book creator, writer, editor and the man behind many of Marvel Comics' staples, Stan Lee, has passed away at the age of 95.
A titan in the field of comics, Lee made his name in the early days of Marvel, co-creating characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk and more.
While Lee did work on his own, it was through his work with frequent collaborators like Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and others that he was able to transform Marvel Comics from a small business, to one of the top two comic-books publishers in the world. and then later into a multimedia franchise.
Lee had a unique way of getting things done at Marvel: he would brainstorm a story with an artist, then write a synopsis. Once the artist drew the story panels, Lee would fill up the captions and word balloons and the process came to be known as the “The Marvel Method.”
Lee's fame and influence as the face and figurehead of Marvel, even in his 90's, remained considerable.
In recent years, he became this omnipresent pop culture icon, a smirking, charming, devil-may-care rogue, with a quip for every occasion and appearing in Marvel movies cameos, shown avoiding falling concrete, watering his lawn, delivering the mail, crashing a wedding, playing a security guard, etc.
It's hard to imagine Marvel without Stan Lee…but he will remain in our hearts, forever.
In fond remembrance…
Excelsior!
