[OWLS Blog Tour]: Thank You, Stan Lee

Hey Owlets! Welcome to Archi-Anime’s stop on this month’s tour.

I had something planned already for today; but I’ve decided to shelve that idea because of the news that broke earlier today: one of the most influential creators in the world, Stan Lee passed away today at the age of 95.

Our November theme this year is “Thankful”

Here at OWLS, we are pretty thankful that we are able to come together as a community and share a love and appreciation for anime and manga. This month we will be showcasing our appreciation by giving a shout out post to our favorite manga artists, creators, production companies, and writers who produced some of our favorite works. We will be discussing our favorite works by these creators and our reasons as to why we appreciate them.

My obsession with heroes surprisingly did not start with My Hero Academia. My exposure to the world of super powers/mutations and secret identities came at a much much earlier age. Not to mention, my Godfather was the biggest Marvel nerd growing up and has influenced that on me as well.

As a child that grew up in the 90’s my all time favorite cartoon growing up was: X-men. I tuned in every Saturday morning to catch this series. I LOVED Gambit (best boy) and I loved Storm. Looking back, I wonder if the appeal of storm was because she was a woman of color or simply because she was a bad ass. I loved Storm so much I used to go outside and pretend I was her controlling the weather and wind.

But I digress.

Stan Lee was a juggernaut in the entertainment industry. Having been the founder of the Marvel franchise, a comic book writer and editor, Stan Lee leaves behind quite a legacy. A lot of us saw him as the invincible superhero as time went on with each movie cameo he was in. The news shocked a lot of us today, his death hitting some of us harder than most.

I, for one, am saddened by the loss of such an amazing creator. He had a huge hand in the creation of so many of our beloved Marvel characters; co-creating Spider-Man and X-men, and also co-wrote Thor and Iron Man (my personal favorite) alongside his brother. Looking at his career; he was a major figurehead in so many aspects of the under the umbrella of comic books. He was also incredibly dedicated to this vision he had as he was an editor to majority of the comics during Marvel’s ‘revolution’ in which he had taken the superhero archetype and molded them into characters that were imperfect humans that were somehow relatable. He was always looking at new projects and new ways to contribute to the comic book world.

He’s even drabbled in the creation of manga; by collaborating with  Hiroyuki Takei, Viz Media and Shueisha on a project called: Karakuri Dôji Ultimo as well as a series that was serialized with Square Enix called Heroman.

His influence and accolades are incredibly vast and inspiring to say the least.  This trailblazer was a prime example of how cool a geek can be. And with that I leave you with this quote:

“[Being a ‘geek’] has become a badge of honor. It’s geeks who really make or break a TV show or movie or video game. They’re the ones who are passionate about these things and who collect [the paraphernalia] and talk about them. A geek is really somebody interested in communication and entertainment and [finding] the best way to avail himself or herself to it..” – Stan Lee, The Washington Post.

So fellow otaku’s and ani-bloggers and other content creators out there keep on pushing on and create the things you’re passionate about.

Thank you Stan Lee for giving us your vision of the world of superhero’s and the impact of entertainment. I hope the rest of the world strives to follow the path you have blazed.

Excelsior!

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(Header image taken from: esquire.com)

Thanks for stopping by Archi-Anime! This was a spur of the moment post, so I felt like I should have kept it short and sweet.

What are your favorite Stan Lee quotes? Favorite Marvel characters? How has he influenced you? Let me know in the comments below!

Be sure to check out Irina’s OWLS post from over the weekend and be on the look our for Z’s post up next on our blog tour here.

Also, if you haven’t don’t forget to follow us on facebook as well as our twitter @OWLSbloggers and our official blog as well as our YouTube channel! And if you’re interested in becoming an OWLS member, you can contact us here.