J-Speaks: The Passing of the Legendary Publisher of Marvel

He was the comic book genius that brought us some of the most legendary superheroes that would eventual make history on the silver screen as they did in the lives of children and children at heart on paper and the small screen. He not only created characters that saved the lives of the innocent from the forces of evil but characters that had real life flaws. Well at the start of this week, the Marvel nation and all the lives that this person touched mourned his passing. 

Stan Lee, a former resident of the Long Island part of New York passed away on Monday. The 96-year-old was declared dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA according to Kirk Schenck, the attorney for Lee’s daughter Joan Celia “J.C.” 

Mr. Lee’s wife of 69 years and the voice of some of his female characters in the former Joan Clayton Boocock, who he married back on Dec. 5, 1947 passed away on July 6, 2017 from complications of a stroke. She was 95 years old. Lee is survived by his daughter J.C., and his younger brother Larry Lieber, who also worked in comics.  

Mr. Lee was rushed to the hospital because of a medical emergency that arose early on Monday. Earlier this year, Lee publicly disclosed his battle with pneumonia and that in February was rushed to the hospital because his condition had gotten worse.

He was born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York, NY on Dec. 28, 1922. He grew up in Washington Heights and lived during his teen years at 1720 University Ave. in the Bronx, NY where he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. 

Mr. Lee along with a few other colleagues invented much of which is now called “The Marvel Universe,” where he signed his comics Stan Lee. 

“I didn’t want to be known by my regular name as a comic book writer because it was embarrassing,” Lee said once. 

Black Panther, who is portrayed by Chadwick Boseman in the movie installment was the first African American superhero in mainstream American comic books that was co-created by Lee in 1966. He, along with Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man was just some of the example of the genius and sensitivity of Mr. Lee that millions of fans responded to over and over again. 

“There will never be another Stan Lee,” Chris Evans, who played Captain America in the Marvel movies said on his Twitter page @Chris Evans. “For decades he provided both young and old with adventure, escape, comfort, confidence, inspiration, strength, friendship and joy. He exuded love and kindness and will leave an indelible mark on so, so, so many lives.” Evans ended the tweet with Mr. Lee’s famous catchphrase “Excelsior,” which is the description in the names of hotels, newspapers, and other products to indicate superior quality.”

Robert Downey, Jr. who played Tony Star, also Iron Man in the Marvel movies echoed similar thoughts by saying on his Instagram page robertdowneyjr with a picture of him and Lee together with a large heart, “I own it all to you,,, Rest in Peace Stan… #MCU #Excelsior #legend #rip #stanlee #TeamStark (@jimmy_rich).”

Actress Evangeline Lilly, who played Van Dyne in the latest Marvel movie, “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” which premiered earlier this year said on her Twitter page @EvangelineLilly, “Stan…more than a master of stories, you always seemed like a master of living. I will look to you for inspiration for the rest of my life. You live on. Xoxo Your wasp.”

Those characters would had not been possible though if not for the success of “The Fantastic Four,”

That first superhero unit began the tidal wave of greatness for Mr. Lee and Marvel. The group also became an important part of Mr. Lee’s legacy as he was able to create other iconic groups like “X-Men,” which was the first big-budget film based on Lee’s characters grossed over $130 million at movie theaters in the U.S. in 2000, while “Spider-Man” grossed over $400 million at the box office. 

Those movie franchises helped to usher in the movie empire that Marvel became, producing franchises like “The Avengers,” that went from the comics, to television in cartoons and now are thrilling audiences in movie theaters across the world for nearly two decades, becoming the most bankable mega-franchise in the history of cinema.

To put this into context, the most recent Marvel team-up movie “Avengers: Infinity War” grossed over $2 billion across the globe.

“I think everybody loves things that are bigger than life…I think of them as fairy tales for grown-ups,” Mr. Lee said to “The Associated Press” 12 years ago. “We all grew up with giants and ogres, and witches. Well, you get a little bit older and you’re too old to read fairy tales. But I don’t think you ever outgrow your love for those kinds of things, things that are bigger than life and magical, and very imaginative.”

Some recent projects that Lee help to make possible that have been seen on the silver screen include the previously mentioned “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” to television series like “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” and “Daredevil.”

While today we take being able to catch these mega blockbuster films for granted, there was a time seeing some of these heroes sharing the pages of comic books was a thrill. 

A thrill that was scripted by Lee himself during the 1960s, where he created The Avengers and X-Men. In 1972 as Marvel’s publisher and editorial director, and four years later created the character Spider-Man, which sold 72 million copies.  

The real innovation behind the real greatness of Lee’s characters was that he gave these superpowered characters real life flaws, whether they were physical at times, but just as important psychological issues. 

Mr. Lee tried to make Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and the rest of the “Marvel Universe” as he explained to a reporter once, “real flesh and blood characters with personality.” 

“The mere fact that he has superhuman power doesn’t mean that he may not have acne or he may not have trouble with his girlfriend or get a sinus attack in the middle of a fight” Lee added in another interview many years back. 

That personal charm and charisma that really made him a truly great salesman earned him a spot on the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011 and on July 18, 2017 joined some of the rest of Hollywood’s elite on July 18, 2017 as he imprinted his hands, feet, and signature in cement in front of LA’s TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. 

As much fun as that was for Mr. Lee, what he enjoyed more than anything was the cameos he made in each of the Marvel movies and TV projects, as we could see his gray hair and very slightly tinted specs. 

When asked by a reporter from WABC 7 “Eyewitness News” at New York’s Comic Con a couple of months back that could he had imagined that Marvel would reach this kind of popularity? 

“No, I never thought,” was his answer, adding with a smile “Years ago, I just hoped the books would sell so I could make enough money to pay the rent.”

All of this might not had happened though if the prior art director and editor had not quit. A 17-year-old Lee jumped that that opportunity of having creative control of Atlas Comics at that time, which eventually became Marvel. 

One year prior to achieving that moment, Lee took a job as an assistant at a comic publisher at the new “Timely Comics” division of comic-book publisher Martin Goodman. 

When he came home after a stint in the Armed service during World War II, where he wrote for training films, Mr. Lee went back to Marvel where he would begin what he felt at that time was a very boring run at assembling comic books. 

He told the Guardian back in 1979 he wanted to quit but his wife said to him that he should do the kinds of comics you would read. 

Mr. Lee went to work and created “The Fantastic Four” in 1960, creating the characters, plot line, and text, while famed Marvel artist Jack Kirby created the illustrations. 

That change in thinking, along with what came after that allowed Lee to not only have enough money to pay for a place to live in New York in 1949, he was able to buy a three-bedroom house on Broadway in Woodmere, NY on Long Island. 

Three years later, Mr. Lee, Joan, and their daughter J.C., who was a toddler then moved into a former caretaker’s cottage on Richards Lane in Hewlett Harbor, NY.  

Mr. Lee said to Newsday about living in that house in 2007, “…And we had our own little duck pond, and it was so nice and suburban, and kids used to come and feed the ducks, and it was lovely. We hated moving away.”

After the passing of his wife in 2017, Mr. Lee was left with a serious void that opened the gates for those that should have moved on years ago to sink their teeth into the fortunes of a person that was in serious mental and physical decline. 

That consisted of him being forced out of Marvel in 1998, which led to lawsuits, legal fights in the court room and an elder abuse investigation of who spoke for him that marred Mr. Lee’s final years of life as he tried to get a share of profits from some of the aforementioned movies and television shows based on his characters. 

He would eventually go on to start his own companies like in 2001 as Lee, Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman former POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment to develop film, television, and video games. Mr. Lee also joined forces with longtime rival of Marvel DC Comics, putting his own spin on their superheroes like Batman and Wonder Woman. 

One person who had a high level of respect for Mr. Lee and was there before his passing was his successor as the editor-in-chief at Marvel Roy Thomas, who paid him a visit 48 hours prior to his passing to discuss his upcoming book The Stan Lee Story. 

“I think he was ready to go. But he was still talking about doing more cameos,” Thomas had said. “As long as he had the energy for it and didn’t have to travel, Stan was always up to do some more cameos He got a kick out of those more than anything else.” 

On Monday the world said goodbye to an icon in Stan Lee, who brought to us comic book figures that were larger than life, who had a human side to them that we all could relate to. Those characters would go from appearing on comic pagers to the small screen in cartoons, to eventually the silver screen and back to the small screen that we watched in record numbers and became a major part of our lives. 

Stan Lee, born Stanley Martin Lieber made a connection with young people beginning in the 1960s at Marvel that has continued for nearly six decades and shows no signs of slowing down. 

As the Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company Robert A. Iger said in a statement, “Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created. A superhero in his own right. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart.” 

Information and quotations are courtesy of 11/12/18 5 p.m. edition of WABC 7 “Eyewitness News at 5,” with Diana Williams, Sade Baderinwa, and Lee Goldberg with weather, with report coming from entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon; 11/12/18 5 p.m. edition of WCBS “CBS 2 News at 5 PM” with Maurice DuBois, Kristine Johnson, and Lonnie Quinn with weather, report from 6 p.m. news anchor Dana Tyler; 11/13/18 Newsday article, “Stan Lee| 1922-2018 Marvel Comics Visionary,” by Frank Lovece and The Associated Press; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant-Man_and_the_Wasp; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Lee.