Ossman Darwiche/ Staff Writer
On Nov. 12, the world lost both a hero and legend.
The amazing Stan Lee was the driving force behind the empire known to all as Marvel Comics. A fantastic array of characters we know and love today were made by “Stan the Man” himself and the late great co-author Jack Kirby. But fewer people know that Stan Lee was also a hero himself, having served in the United States Army Signal Corps at the height of World War II.
Stanley Martin Lieber was born on Dec. 28, 1922 in New York City to Jewish Romanian immigrants Jack and Celia Lieber. Lee himself was born during America’s “Roaring Twenties,” but he recounted how his earliest memory was growing up with his little brother Larry watching their parents struggle through the Great Depression. In 1939 he went to work for his uncle at Timely Comics, where he began his career as an assistant writer and animator, coming out with his first comic classic “Captain America” in 1941.
Then on that infamous day – Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Empire. America went to war, and Lee was compelled to volunteer, enlisting in the US Army in 1942. The Army quickly discovered Lee’s exceptional talent and placed him in the Army Signal Corps where he served until the end of the war in 1945. Lee was known to have derived much of his inspiration from his experiences during the war.
At the outset of the 1960s, Timely Comics became Marvel and sought the aid of Lee to compete with long time rival DC Comics. Together with Kirby, Lee created “The Fantastic Four” in 1961, “The Incredible Hulk,” “Thor” and “Spider-Man” in 1962, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, The X-Men and The Avengers in 1963. Marvel’s heroes were much more than incredible, they were teenagers with real-world stories young people could relate to – and thus an empire was born.
Marvel Comics eventually spread its wings throughout the comic-book industry, eventually even developing television shows and movies throughout the 70s and 80s. In the 1990s, millions of kids across America, including me, remember growing up watching Marvel cartoons classics. We sometimes heard Lee himself narrate his own works.
In the 80s and 90s he also produced a series of movies like “The Punisher” in 1989 and “Blade” in 1998. Though popular, they were not nearly as successful as Marvel’s movie campaign of the new millennium. In the year 2000 he partnered with 20th Century Fox to bring his most popular series, “X – Men” to the silver screen. That debut was followed by an arsenal of Marvel movies including the Avengers series we are still following today. Lee himself was famous for making hilarious cameos in most of his films.
The life and legacy which Lee leaves behind serves as an inspiration to all of us “mutants,” who dare to be different, to defy the ignorance of our generations and fight for the good of the world. The man accomplished so much during his lifetime, and still considered his honorary induction into the Army’s Signal Corps Regimental Association in 2017 one of his proudest moments. He was happily married to the love of his life Joan Clayton Lee for 70 years. He was one of the greatest from the greatest generation.
“Marvel has always been and always will be a reflection of the world right outside our window,” he said. “That world may change and evolve, but the one thing that will never change is the way we tell our stories of heroism. Those stories have room for everyone regardless of their race, gender, religion or color of their skin. The only things we don’t have room for are hatred, intolerance and bigotry. That man next to you, he’s your brother. That woman over there, she’s your sister, and that kid walking by… hey, who knows, he may have the proportionate strength of a spider. We’re all part of one big family, the human family and we all come together in the body of Marvel…Excelsior!”
A legend has fallen, LONG LIVE THE LEGEND!
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Photo by Elijah O’Donnell on Unsplash.
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