R.I.P. Stan Lee

     Today we saw the day that we always knew would happen but never wanted to believe actually would.
Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95. He had lived a long, productive life for sure, and that's a great thing. But with his passing marks the end of an era.
     When I was a kid, I couldn't get out much. Asthma kept me housebound a lot. When I could get out, it was usually only to school. I got bullied there so there wasn't any reason I wanted to go out. One day, I came across some old comics on a shelf in the basement of a department store. They came three to a bag and they were all old comics. I begged my mom to buy them and as soon as we got home I tore open the bag to read my new treasures. One of the books was an old issue of Amazing Spider-Man written by Stan Lee. I was already familiar with him and Spidey, as I was a regular reader of the Spider-Man newspaper strip written by Lee.
     It seemed like this comic book was written for me! Here's this scrawny kid, bullied at school, feeling out of place in the world, then, through some freak science accident he can lift cars! He had normal problems and at the end of the day, still had to deal with these problems even after fighting some super-villain. I could relate to him (well, not the super-villain part) and his world seemed very realistic. I was hooked.
     From there it was an obsession. When school had been hard and the bullies had been bullying, I could always count on comics to ease my mind, I have Stan, along with Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, to thank for that. They built the world that I was allowed to visit from time to time and even though they're all gone now, that world lives on and that legacy is incredible, fantastic, amazing.
     Stan Lee, I learned a lot about life from your words and your characters and I'll be eternally grateful for what you've given the world, Thank you. Excelsior!