Stan Lee: 1922-2018

This is another guest post from frequent commentator/reader Shipping Wars Are Stupid (hence the formatting) regarding the passing of Stan Lee. He did a much better job than I can (not to mention it lets me cover the topic while...umm...being lazy) so please enjoy his words. Thank you!

At the age of 95, Stan Lee took his final breath and left this world Monday. It has been a moment we knew was coming. It is going difficult to face. And in the coming days, weeks, and months, there will be many better tributes than mine. I cannot remember when I first learned of Lee or his work. It had to be in my early childhood...The first thing I remember? I remember being in the third grade and my friend bringing drawings of Spider-man fighting the Green Goblin to class because he was so excited for the new movie. This was in 2002. In 2004, I saw my first Marvel movie when I saw Spider-man 2. My parents took me and this was one of the final movies I saw before I moved to Maine. It absolutely blew my socks off. To this day, it remains one of my absolute favorites with its excellent writing, sympathetic villain and quality special effects for its time. When I entered high school, Iron Man came out in the spring and some of my classmates started whispering that there was an end credits scene. A scene that would start the largest and most ambitious project in cinema history. It led to the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has provided me with dozens of hours of entertainment over the following decade. We are talking thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in the economy that can be directly attributed to the imagination of a man from Manhattan. We know their names. Logan. Peter Parker. Bruce Banner. Tony Stark. Steve Rogers. We know them better as Wolverine, Spider-man, The Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. When we talk about Stan Lee, we are not talking about just some "celebrity." Lee was not a celebrity. He was not a hero or a legend. He was an icon. For myself and millions of others all over the world, he served as a source of humor, of inspiration and creativity. There was never anyone quite like him. There never will be again. With great power comes great responsibility. When I have children, it will be a responsibility of mine to share with them what Stan gave to us. The lessons and morals he shares. It's the least we can do for a man who gave us so much. One person really can make a difference. And, right now, that person is you, Stan. Thank you for everything.