Angelo Chavez | On 10, Nov 2019

This upcoming Tuesday will mark the first year anniversary of the passing of comic book icon, Stan Lee, born Stanley Martin Lieber. He passed away on November 12, 2018.

He was born on December 28, 1922 in Manhattan, New York, NY. Growing up, he was influenced a lot by books and movies. He would especially enjoy movies with Errol Flynn playing a heroic role.

He had a lot of part time jobs as a teen, such as delivering sandwiches from Jack May Pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center, writing obituaries for a news service, and even press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he enjoyed writing and mentioned he would like to write a peace so good, it could be called a Great American Novel.

He entered a writing essay competition in high school that was sponsored by The New York Herald Tribune, called “The Biggest News of the Week Contest.” Lee had claimed to have won for three weeks in a row, and was told to let someone else win the competition. The paper suggested for him to write professionally and he said that suggestion “probably changed [his[ life.”

It was the late 1950s, and DC Comics was getting a lot of attention. Publisher Martin Goodman assigned Lee to create something that could rival DC Comics. This was actually around a time that Lee was considering quitting writing, but his wife pointed something out for him. If he was going to quit, his wife suggested to at least come up with something. She also mentioned that whatever he came up with, it would not really matter because he had nothing to lose. Ironically enough, he came up with Marvel Comics.

He stuck around for a while, and Lee soon realized that superheroes needed some more depth. Up to that point, they were depicted as perfect people without much complication. He wanted to add complex characters into his creations. He wanted to add problems like superheroes having to secretly face paying bills, going through sad times, and even having to deal with illness. The first superheroes that Lee had co-created with artist Jack Kirby were the Fantastic Four. The popularity of the Fantastic Four led Stan and Jack create more heroes. They created Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Marvel’s most successful character, the one and only web swinging kid from Queens, Spider-Man. 

Fast forward about fifty to sixty years, and multimillion dollar movies are being made about those characters that Lee helped to create. He even appeared in those movies in signature cameo roles, ones that fans soon came to anticipate and enjoy.

Sadly, his last ever cameo was in Avengers: Endgame. He may have passed, but his work still lives on, not just for entertainment purposes, but to give joy to those that are in dire need of it.