Remembering Stan Lee: One Fan’s Tribute

Flickr/ Gage Skidmore used under Creative Commons License

 

This week, the world lost Stan Lee. The man who gave us Spider-Man, The Uncanny X-men, The Fantastic 4, and the Marvel Universe is now in the cosmos. 

 

While many may look down at comic books as just for pre-pubescent teens, The characters in those stories inspired many of our hard rock and heavy metal icons. Gene Simmons lifted Spider-Man’s web-slinging pose throughout the 70s and was not ashamed to admit his love and admiration for Stan Lee. Glenn Danzig’s iconic demon skull logo originally appeared in the Marvel Comic book Crystar the Crystal Warrior, which he later appropriated as his own. 

 

Stan Lee made a multi-billion dollar empire, but still retained his inner child. The general public may know him best from his cameos in almost every live-action adaptation of a Marvel comic, but his influence can be seen much farther. His stories and characters spawned more than just generations of writers and illustrators.  He also inspired heavy metal songs and band mascots, such as Vic Rattlehead of Megadeth. According to Dave Mustaine, Vic was born out of Dave’s fascination with comic books. When he was a kid, he purchased bubble gum cards of superheroes. In his memoir, he reveals that when he opened up a pack and saw Iron Man and Captain America cards, he became a devoted comic book reader. Years later, he penned the songs “Killing is my Business and Business is Good” and “The Punishment Due“ about The Punisher. Punk pioneers The Ramones saved the best for last by having the song “Spider-Man” on their final album, Adios Amigos. They even went one step further as the band did a music video that resembles a take on the 1960’s cartoon with themselves drawn into the video along with our favorite web-slinger.  It was only a matter of time that the Marvel Universe films would incorporate music to help shape their promotions, bringing the story full circle. Black Sabbath’s song “Iron Man” was used heavily for the trailers of the Iron Man films. It’s hard rock edge reflected their hard partying, powerhouse character Tony Stark. Artists from Paul McCartney to Rob Zombie, to Monster Magnet have all lifted pieces of Stan Lee’s creation. The universe Stan Lee gave the world has taught us all lessons of humaneness and humility. You may be in the cosmos Mr. Lee but you will never be forgotten. Thank you for your contribution. 

 

Excelsior!