Stan Lee—the legendary writer, editor, and publisher of Marvel Comics whose creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere—died at the age of ninety five. Stan Lee died November 12, 2018,  at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.

It all started from the first character he created, the “Human Torch,” and close behind followed the success of the Fantastic Four. According to biography.com, a “slew of new characters soon sprung from Lee and his Marvel partners, including the Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Daredevil and the X-Men.” Through this, Marvel Comics became a highly popular franchise…and a global juggernaut.

The biography site goes on to show how the “Marvel mastermind” also officially has 32 cameos under his belt up through Avengers: Infinity War, essentially stealing the show in every Marvel adventure dating back to 1989’s TV movie The Trial of The Incredible Hulk.

Lee had reportedly filmed cameos for at least three more Marvel movies over the past year. So, fans will likely still be seeing him on the big screen for a while.

We have our very own big Stan Lee fan in the building: Mr. Zabell, BHS technology teacher. Mr. Zabell said, “After Stan Lee, comic books were just as good as literature, he learned his first multi-syllable word from Doctor Strange comics.”

Mr. Zabell went on to say, “The biggest battles superheroes involved overcoming basic human problems like anger (the Hulk), isolation (The Fantastic Four and X-Men), regret (Spider-Man), and so much more. If superheroes could have human flaws, couldn’t flawed humans then perform heroic acts?”

This reporter believes that this is why kids read comics and get inspired to be whatever they want to be. Like Mr. Zabell, the comics inspired him in middle school he wanted to write and draw comics books because of Stan Lee.

People around the world from big fan clubs and go to conventions like the big one in New York City and San Diego called “Comic Con’’ where comic book fans from all across the world gather. It focuses on comic books and comic book culture; fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. Fans also “cosplay,” or dress as their favorite comic book characters and get to meet people who like the same.

If Stan Lee didn’t have the inspiration to write comics, the world would be very different. According the the article at www.kansascity.com, Stan Lee said, “When I was young, I wanted to be Errol Flynn. He was my idol. You remember him? When I was 12 years old or maybe younger, I used to walk out of the theater with an imaginary sword at my side. I’d be looking for a little girl that some bully might be picking on so that I could save her.”

Goodbye to a true legend.