I have never met Stan Lee. I have never seen him at any conventions or any other personal apperances that he has made. But he is one of the people who opened the eyes to my imagination. His writing and editing of almost every Marvel comic book gave me hours of happiness and showed me as a young child how to read. At that time only a select few (comic book fans) knew who he was. So when I would tell people that Stan Lee was one of my favorite writers I was always asked Stanly who? Back in the 70's I was embarrassed to tell people that I read comic books. I was a teenager and comic books were seen as kiddie liturature. On rare occassions when I worked up the courage to tell someone that I would sometimes find that they still read comic books too. However, they would usually throw the books away once it was read. Not me. I cherished them and kept them in a box in my bedroom.
Now comic books are hot. Millions go see movies based on the comic books at local theaters. People who weren't comic book fans before are slowly becoming fans and more adults are either starting to read them or admiting with pride that they have read them all the time. All this has come about because of Stan Lee and his creative, inventative mind and his talent for promotion. He has even gotten a second career as an actor and MC out of it. Marvel movies almost always seem to have a cameo by Stan. He has sort of become the Hitchcock of the comic book movies. It is always fun looking for Stan in the movies. I nearly missed him in the first X-Men film. He even had speaking roles in Marllrats and Princess Diary 2. Now he has a hit cable reality show with Who Wants to be a Superhero? on the Sci-Fi channel. Now when I say Stan Lee is one of my favorite writers I am not asked Stanly who? Although with his acting career taking off I may one day hear "You mean he can write too!" Anyway, if you are reading this Stan, we may have never met but I wish you a happy birthday and I hope we have many more years of entertainment from you.
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