“With great power comes great responsibility.”
“Some people will say, 'Why read a comic book? It stifles the imagination. If you read a novel you imagine what people are like. If you read a comic, it's showing you.' The only answer I can give is: 'You can read a Shakespeare play, but does that mean you wouldn't want to see it on the stage?'”
"I'm very proud of being a hack. It's why I've lived as long as I have, I think."
"You know, my motto is 'Excelsior.' That's an old word that means 'upward and onward to greater glory.' Keep moving forward, and if it's time to go, it's time. Nothing lasts forever."
The man whose extensive and fertile imagination changed the way comics were perceived, and indeed made as huge a contribution to society's need for escapism and fantasy as many academically analysed novelists or playwrights, Stan Lee is dead.
Never mind the all-consuming "Marvel Cinema Universe" - impressive though its impact has been over the past few years on box-office sales, despite never being taken seriously by the likes of the Oscars - Mr Lee's creations have been household names for more than fifty years, and the often complicated situations and sometimes very human dilemmas in which they became involved have brightened the lives of generation after generation of children and budding adults (me included).
The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Thor, Wolverine, Vision, Nick Fury, Scarlet Witch, the Skrulls, Loki, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Black Panther, Thanos, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Ultron, Hydra, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Deadpool, Black Widow, Grandmaster, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, the Red Skull, Adam Warlock, Ghost Rider, Venom, Green Goblin, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Inhumans, the Avengers and the X-Men - he created them all...
“Nuff said!”
RIP, Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber, 28th December 1922 – 1`2th November 2018)
