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| Photo: John Salangsang/Rex/Stutterstock |
Stan Lee, a towering figure in the world of comic books, has died at the age of 95.
Lee got his start in the business at 1939, and founded Marvel Comics with Jack Kirby in 1961 with the Fantastic Four, building the small company into an international success.
The last few years of Lee's life were rocky, with lawsuits against executives at his company POW! Entertainment and his former business manager and the death of Joan, his wife of 69 years, among the lowlights. The Los Angeles Police Department was also investigating allegations of elder abuse against him in the months leading up to his death.
Those personal and legal struggles aside, to say Stan Lee has an affect on pop culture is an understatement. Even if you don't read comics, me, you, your mama and your cousin too all know the characters. The X-Men, Black Panther, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman...I mean, I could go on, but we'll be here for a good minute. While superheroes and fantasy seem and can be frivolous entertainment, they can also be so much more. Escaping into these worlds has the ability to inspire, to give us the space to dream a bigger, better, more courageous version of ourselves, one that can rise above our current circumstances, whatever they may be.
"I used to think what I did was not very important," Lee told the Chicago Tribune in April 2014. "People are building bridges and engaging in medical research, and here I was doing stories about fictional people who do extraordinary, crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed."
Hear hear.
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