You'da man

He was one of the greatest, and in the end he had power to go with his great responsibility, but it wasn't always so.

We mourn the passing of Stan Lee, He single-handedly turned the comic book industry from pulp fiction, to serious art. But it didn't happen overnight. He arrived on the scene at Marvel Comics before it was Marvel- before the blockbuster films, even before the 70s TV shows we loved. Stan worked at Timely (Marvel's predecessor) and was bored with the dreck he and the company were cranking out. He was ready to quit, when he wife told him, "if you are leaving anyway, why don't you do a comic book the way you would do it if it didn't matter? What have you to lose?"

That single challenge pushed Stan to create the Fantastic 4. Up to that time, heroes were cosmically powered (Superman, Green Lantern) or legendary (Wonder Woman, Shazam) and were above reproach. Stan wondered what it would be like to have super power, and still argue with a team mate. Or have body odor. Or be ugly. He gave us heroes with texture. Heroes that were us. The people loved the FF, and Stan continued with the Hulk, Spiderman, the X-men, Daredevil, Black Panther and dozens of other cutting edge characters (like Luke Cage, the first black hero to have his own comic).

Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko helped him bring many of these unusual characters to life: a man who faced the challenges of Dr Jekyll every time he became angry, a teenager with a sick aunt, a group of outcasts with powers they were born with, a blind man who wanted justice at any cost, an African king and warrior, and others.

We fell in love because these people were us. Stan always emphasized the humanity of Marvel characters. Sure the Hulk could bench press an aircraft carrier, but he was still, after all Bruce Banner, a man riddled with insecurity and doubt. It didn't matter to Bruce that he was that strong or invulnerable. Could he protect Betty Ross, and keep her General dad, Thunderbolt Ross, at bay? Those were the questions. And we ate it up. DC had Batman, a millionaire vigilante. We had Ironman- a millionaire inventor with a suit of armor, a heart condition and a severe drinking problem.

Humanity was king. And it touched millions- some when they didn't even realize it. My friend Pete explains (excerpted): When I was a little kid I was not a good reader. In fact I was in the slow group. I decided right then I was going to change that, and I did. I struggled through comic books reading every page rather than just reveling in the pictures. I found that many of the words were well above my reading level but, in some cases I was able to gain some understanding of the words by use of the context and the pictures which I loved. I think it was in (after we moved to) Alaska that I first read the name Stan Lee and began to take note of who was drawing and writing these comics that I was loving so much. As I grew older my love of comics remained and I still enjoy the various movies and shows that are based on comic book characters I grew up reading about. It is hard to know what might have happened if Stan had done something else with his life.

Stan did that for a lot of us. By contrast, I loved reading and was always tops in the class. But I lived with my own insecurities and family difficulties. Comics took me away to another place where people with problems faced the issues and fought. And won.

Marvel saw its share of difficulties in the 70s (TV shows, some good, some not), in the 80s (The Punisher, Captain America and Howard the Duck), the 90s (Roger Corman's Fantastic 4) and finally the 2000s and the advent of the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stan faced rough times including a near-bankruptcy for the company. But he always believed in his heroes, and just like in an epic multi-issue battle, they fought, they bled, but they prevailed.

The humanity of Stan Lee was reflected in his heroes and villains again and again. It's what we will always remember. We love you Stan.