Excelsior, Stan Lee!

There is no question that Stan Lee is one the most formidable figures in pop culture over the last fifty years. I can't think of anyone else, perhaps other than Walt Disney, who had more of an influence on children's entertainment, and the way Disney was also admired by adults (I know many men who have never gotten over their love of all things Disney), Lee is mourned by some overgrown kids.

Who created more recognizable characters? He took a job as a teenager at Timely Comics in 1939, and never left, as it became Marvel Comics. In the early '60s, in a reaction to the invincible heroes of DC (and their sometimes very silly storylines) Lee created comic book superheroes who had real-life problems. They were also metaphors for a culture in transition. His most enduring creation, Spider-Man, was a teenager who couldn't get a date, and his shooting sticky stuff out of himself surely represented the problems of puberty. In one episode, he seemed to have lost his powers, but it turned out he just had a cold.

The Hulk was a post-nuclear update on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Fantastic Four were a family given great powers, but also great distress. The X-Men have always seemed to me to be a metaphor for homosexuality, as "mutants," who have to hide in the shadows, lest they be tagged and monitored by sinister governments. And he co-created the first black superhero, Black Panther, whose name was appropriated by the militant organization.

Lee had his ups and downs in business. Marvel was on the brink of bankruptcy, as kids just weren't buying comics like they used to. But with Lee as the figurehead of the company, and the face of comic books in general, Marvel became a major player in the film business, changing it forever. Advances in special effects made all of the Marvel characters capable of being filmed, and starting with Iron Man, Lee's concept of a "Marvel Universe," where all the Marvel heroes and villains existed together, created a new genre of film, a new mythology for the 21st century.

I read Marvel Comics for many years, starting in the 70s and then off and on for about twenty years, until the collecting of comic books became an endurance test, as stories carried from one title to another, and different covers of the same book were just fleecing teens out of their money. The Marvel of the '70s was a simpler time, and I really enjoyed the letters page and "bullpen" page. In the latter, Stan used to comment on things beyond comics, such as how he hoped his books could comment on social issues, and where he brought back the archaic word "Excelsior!" He wrote to his fans as if we all knew him, like he was our comic-loving uncle.

Lee, whose real name was Stanley Lieber, was part of the Jewish diaspora creating magic for Americans. As with the Hollywood studio owners, most comic book creators were Jewish. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman. Bob Kane (nee Robert Kahn) and Milton "Bill" Finger created Batman. A lot has been written about how Jews invented Hollywood and the comic book superhero. Well, superheroes have always been outsiders, forced to hide their identities. It doesn't take a Ph.d. to figure it out.

Stan Lee will go down as changing the comic book industry to be more realistic and socially conscious, but even more than that, he has left a legacy of a universe of characters. What a fertile mind.

'Nuff said.