On Monday, November 12, 2018, the mountain of arts and entertainment lost one of its most iconic legends. I shudder to go as far as to say that he was an apostle of the arts and entertainment industry for fear that many might perceive it to be blasphemous. Nevertheless, Stanley Martin Lieber, who was known most commonly as Stan Lee, left this side of eternity and shocked the world for once outside of Marvel Entertainment. It would be easy to traipse down memory lane or comic and entertainment history to list all that he’s done in his nearly 80-year career in comics. However, it is important to note the impact that he has had on generations of people through the mountain of arts and entertainment.

Stan Lee was a pioneer in the industry at a time when comic books were just introducing characters like Batman, Green Arrow, The Human Torch, Archie and Submariner, just to name a few. Through the early years of his career, he was partnered up with the now late Jack “King” Kirby, who passed 24 years ago. Together, they imagined comic book characters that are among today’s hottest and most recognized in the world.

As a pioneer, Stan Lee imagined his creations as more than human. He imagined them as superhuman and dared to tell stories that people could relate to. When he created Spider-man, boys could relate to a young Peter Parker struggling to fit in at school, growing up with bullies, feeling weak, awkward and gangly. In creating the X-Men, you could relate to the struggles of the Civil Rights Era, when many were fighting against segregation. Many saw the conflict between Professor Xavier and Magneto in the same ideological differences between Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, who initially held opposing views on how they should protest for equality.

With great power comes great responsibility

Stan Lee discipled a generation to imagine a world of conflict that could be made greater by people who would and could be more than they are. In his creations, many of the characters wore masks, leotards and possess unimaginable powers. Yet, it was through the stories told in the pages of many of the comics he either created, co-created, or wrote, that you learned about the human condition and discovered your own greatness and potential. Everyone can point to Spider-man, whose greatest lesson was “With great power comes great responsibility.” With his mind and his pen, Stan Lee was the epitome of someone who understood that he had great power and a responsibility in how he used it.

As a writer, editor, and publisher, Stan has had his hands and feet fully immersed in the transformation of comics from what was once restricted to their two-dimensional paneled pages, to now digital and even three-dimensional, live-action featured films and television series. His commitment to pass on his wealth of knowledge and experience went beyond personal appearances at comic book conventions, writing biographies and other books about comics. Stan Lee was committed to education and literacy through his charity work through the Stan Lee Foundation.

In all that Stan Lee has done, it is evident that he has sought to bring light to the world by creating tolerance for everyone, acknowledge diversity, showing respect, and much more. Through his work, millions have seen themselves greater, imagined life better, dreamed big dreams and more. In some cases, he has provided hours of reading to young people like me who needed relief and an escape during days of great pain while enduring many chronic attacks and hospitalizations due to sickle cell crises and other complications.

While many can argue the morals of the changing world of comics in recent years, there can be no doubt that Stan Lee has made an overall indelible mark on culture for generations to come. He has inspired, not only people in the secular, he has inspired people in the sacred. It would be difficult to miss the fact that this Jewish man has woven much of his heritage into the pages of his art. It is through that lens that many people of faith are challenged to delve deeper into scripture to find correlation and a means to speak to a generation of millennials who are seeking evidence of the supernatural and their place in this life and a hope beyond it. Stan Lee’s legacy is one that is secured by those who will recall his great work and celebrate how it saw the best in people in the midst of life’s greatest challenges.

The views expressed are the opinion of the author, Brian Taylor and don’t necessarily represent GOD TV.