The Four Color Media Monitor

The sad day has come when a legend is no longer with us. Stan Lee, most prominent developer of Marvel in his time, has passed away at 95 years old (Hat tip: Mashable):

Stan Lee, the legendary writer, editor and publisher of Marvel Comics whose fantabulous but flawed creations made him a real-life superhero to comic book lovers everywhere, has died. He was 95.

Lee, who began in the business in 1939 and created or co-created Black Panther, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Ant-Man, among countless other characters, died early Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a family representative told The Hollywood Reporter.

Kirk Schenck, an attorney for Lee's daughter, J.C. Lee, also confirmed his death to the Associated Press.

So now he's gone, and of course, it's very sad. There was a lot of good he did in times past as a Marvel writer, editor and publisher, and along with several other early contributors, turned Marvel into the powerhouse it once was. That's why, naturally, it's a terrible shame it all had to plummet once he'd retired his position in 1990, as successive editors and other overseers became less coherent, and then, tragically, Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas had to take over, and that's when everything really began its trip down the drain, after all the hard work Lee did to build it up.

As much as I admire Stan for his contributions to illustrated literary entertainment, it's regrettable he went by a belief from decades ago that you shouldn't speak poorly about the places you're working/worked for, because who knows? He might've been able to stop some of the damage inflicted by the ingrates on his fabulous creations.

One good thing, I suppose, is that he did live to see Mary Jane Watson reunited with Peter Parker, though that's still a pretty superficial stroke of luck, as that alone clearly isn't going to save Marvel, let alone Spider-Man, at this point.

So now, we're left with the question: what will become of Marvel, now that its prime guru of creations is gone? Chances are even more, I assume, that with Stan the Man no longer with us, Marvel may not last much longer either in its current form. It's terribly sad that such a once fine publisher of adventure tales had to be ruined by ingrates with no respect for all the hard work Lee, and those who took over practically made it impossible as things stand now to fix it.

Stan should be thanked for all the good he did for the world in his time. But honestly, I don't think those in charge of Marvel now are the ones to do it. Rather, it's the fans with an understanding of what made his creations work who're qualified to offer their gratitude, and that's one of the reasons why I've done my best to build up a big Spider-Man collection in some form or other over the years, along with my Avengers collection, which is also pretty big.

I'll be eternally grateful to Stan for all the great storytelling he shepherded as the head of Marvel. And that's why I'll call for Marvel to be sold to better ownerships who could have a good idea how to rectify a damaged situation into something better that he'd be proud of. Then, his legendary creations might one day have a better chance again.

Labels: Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, good writers, Hulk, Iron Man, marvel comics, Spider-Man, Thor, women of marvel, X-Men