And the legend is gone...

[seawasp]

Stan "The Man" Lee is dead at 95.

If you'd asked me in the 1990s how influential Stan Lee was, I might have waffled. I mean, he was one of the creators and promoters of some of the greatest comic-book heroes, but comics were on the decline, and hey, movie attempts to do comic books had mostly fallen flat or worse than flat (1990 Captain America movie, dear god).

But today? Stan became the face of one of the most powerful media forces on the planet, and he and Marvel did something NEW -- create a full cinematic universe across multiple titles that were still interconnected. It had never been done, never been TRIED. And they succeeded, and their competition is still floundering, trying to figure out how to bottle the same lightning.

Stan and his Bullpen created some of the most iconic characters the world has yet seen, and some which directly spoke to me many times -- Thor, Spider-Man, and Captain America most often.

And he had a sense of timing and humor that showed through in the many cameos for the Marvel films -- themselves a fascinating and very amusing innovation in the film world. (not that cameos hadn't been done before, but the number of them across all those films, connecting them by that specific voice and face, that hadn't been; closest might have been Hitchcock's appearances in his own movies, but these weren't all Stan's movies; they were simply movies that had some of Stan in them.)

 

A salute and EXCELSIOR! to The Man.

Comments

[kjn]

A friend of mine met him once, helping him with coffee and getting to the right conference room—she described him as nice and friendly to everyone around him.

He seems to have been one of those rare people who were not only fundamentally nice, but inoculated against prejudice or being corrupted by fame.

[bunny_m]

An FB post from a friend of mine that is also a film reviewer:

RIP Stan Lee. We can all discuss his complex legacy of exploiting artists and personal myth building another time.

I left it without comment for a few days, but had to say something today, which I will also post here:

I'm finding myself increasingly uncomfortable with the unalloyed praise that has been deployed since his passing.

Yes, he was a giant of the industry, and he has left one hell of a legacy. The complete unwilllingness to even hint at his less than sterling actions/comments/attitudes is worrisome.

Maybe most people would rather build up the Myth of Great Ol' Stan the Untouchable Paragon, but I'd rather remember a more balanced view of him and his achievements. YMMV

[NOTE]: Not trying to start something or discount anyone's own thoughts and views, just sharing my own.

[seawasp]

No, I agree. Apparently he was quite the jerk to his artists and such when he was younger, and maybe older, I don't know. That's why I called him the "Face", and said "Stan and his Bullpen" and not "Stan" himself.

He was really good at the promotion bit, though, and became an icon on his own.