He started from the bottom as an assistant at Timely Comics (which later became Marvel Comics), but his talent shone through. Two years later, aged just 18, he was made interim editor-in-chief, and would hold the position down until he became a publisher 30 years later.
He continued this habit of breaking the mould when he was asked by then publisher Martin Goodman to come up with a new team of superheroes. Up to that point, heroes were written as perfect, idealistic characters. The ones created and co-created by Stan Lee were imperfect.
Stan Lee by Brian Elstak
The Fantastic Four, for example, argued amongst themselves and held grudges, and chose anonymity over fame. Stan Lee made superheroes sad and angry. He gave them a complicated past, and he gave them flaws. He brought them closer to humanity.
Jim Steranko, renowned comic book writer and artist, put Lee’s contribution to the industry into his own sincere words.
«Stan added a DYNAMIC THIRD DIMENSION to standard two-dimension characters—and blazed a precedent-smashing path into other mediums like no one had done before him.»
The number of cameo appearances he made in Marvel films underlines just how keen everyone was to have him involved in any way. It was always surreal to see him pop up as a postman, a security guard, a hapless civilian, as he was a man who was so far from the everyday himself. It’s not these bit-part roles that will keep his legacy alive though, but the complex and layered characters he created in the Marvel Universe.
Source of article: Wepresent