STAN LEE: 5 Lessons You Taught Me

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An Icon, a Living Legend has passed recently. This post is to honor & celebrate the wisdom he left behind for All of us to embrace. For some of us we were all introduced to Stan via his many, many cameo appearances throughout the Marvel cinematic movies released. It was this kind of creativity & his ability to have fun with his work that kept him in our hearts & minds. Think about it, how many icons & "talent behind the scenes" gets lost in the forefront of the world? So many could be responsible for some of the coolest things ever released & we've all but forgotten them. Stan Lee became a household name & expectance in of itself. I still distinctly remember his voice over on the first spiderman game on the Playstation on. How he would blurt out "Excelsior" or "Webslinger"

Here watch it:

Now I think back to it fondly about how much he influenced my geek life growing up. Even back then.

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, and publisher who was active from the 1940s to the 2010s. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business to become Marvel Comics' primary creative leader for two decades, leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics industry.


In collaboration with others at Marvel—particularly co-writer/artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko—he co-created numerous popular fictional characters, including superheroes Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Ant-Man. In doing so, he pioneered a more naturalistic approach to writing superhero comics in the 1960s. He frequently made cameo appearances in movies based on Marvel characters, on which he received an honorary "executive producer" credit. Lee was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the NEA's National Medal of Arts in 2008.

Stan Lee: 

5 Lessons You Taught Me

5. Excelsior!

"You know, my motto is 'Excelsior.' That's an old word that means 'upward and onward to greater glory.'

Every day, there’s a new development. … There’s no limit to the things that are happening. – Stan Lee

He's right the world is always changing, evolving. We should live in a constant state of mindful improvement. To keep moving forward, evolve, change & Level up. I mean this dude literally worked until the day he died! He was pursuing creative ventures well into his 90's. He was constantly creating, because it wasn't "work" to him. It was just pure passion, fun & joy.
Each one of us should create our own motto to live by. 

Mine is "Words are Immortal. "

What's yours?

4. Writers Life

The only advice anybody can give is, if you wanna be a writer, keep writing. And read all you can, read everything. – Stan Lee

I’m sort of a pressure writer. If somebody says, “Stan, write something,” and I have to have it by tomorrow morning, I’ll just sit down and I’ll write it. It always seems to come to me. But I’m better doing a rushed job because if it isn’t something that’s due quickly, I won’t work on it until it becomes almost an emergency and then I’ll do it. – Stan Lee

Virtually every kid is exposed to giants and ogres and talking wolves, and so forth. And magic. And I think you never outgrow your love for those imaginative, fanciful, farfetched, fantastic characters and situations. – Stan Lee

I relate so much to this dude wow. I'm a pressure writer too! Case & point this post lol. I wrote it literally at the last possible minute to the deadline I set for myself. *Facepalm. It might not be entirely healthy or productive & yes I do agree that certain things need to be planned but really & truly I have more fun writing something in the moment, than ahead of time. 

Reading is so important, you have no idea the effect it has on your writing until after you read +100 books. It's like your brain subconsciously does research on

How to write:

• When to add punctuation. 
• When to end a conversation. 
• How to start one. 

How to plot through a chapter

It also gives you ideas:

• Tropes of characters
• Plot twists
• Story concepts

The list of benefits goes on and on. Trust Stan the Man, Go & Read yourself up a storm.

3. Great Power = Great Responsibility

"With great power comes great responsibility." - Stan Lee

"[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.

Probably the Most famous quote of his. This one stands out on any list of Greatest quotes of all time. 

While you might think it only applies to the "powerful" I believe it applies to us all. That we all have power within ourselves. That is unique & entirely our own. It is our "responsibility" to nurture it, to cultivate it into something that governs change within our lives. Think about it, if you had power, how can you be responsible for it? In what ways? Now apply that going forward. 

2. Stay Humble. Stay Human.

These stories of people with unusual powers and unusual appearances, who do unusual things, people are always fascinated by them. – Stan Lee

Just because you have superpowers, that doesn’t mean your love life would be perfect. I don’t think superpowers automatically means there won’t be any personality problems, family problems or even money problems. I just tried to write characters who are human beings who also have superpowers. – Stan Lee

Here he's talking from experience. A great subject to be studied in Pop culture at university. Take heed to what he's staying, it might just give you the insight to your own story that it's been missing. 

I think this equates to many things. About the core perspective. It doesn't matter the "classification of people". Whether it be Black, or LGBT+ or Aliens or Immigrants or Mutants or Women or Jewish. All those people that have been classified as separate or discriminated against in any shape or form. What matters is that they of have a quality of some humanity in each of them. That they are ALL Equal. That WE are all Equal. They all have to the capacity to Love & to Hate. They each have their own personal problems, family problems or even money problems. So really instead of discriminating & judging each other, we should be relating more than anything to people. I believe that that's what this world of Social Media revolution has helped with. For us to see JUST how much the person you never thought you would relate to, actually relates more to you than anyone you've known all your life. THAT POWER can help change the world. 

1. Inspire. Create. Write.

I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing. – Stan Lee

I think because of many factors like family/societal expectancy, one's own expectancy, parental authority, monetary gain and so on that many of us in the "Creative" fields, find ourselves doubtful of our paths. Especially when we're exposed to all the news of doctors saving children down all over Africa or how the bridge being built by architects will cut traffic down by 50%. We're constantly exposed to all these stimuli of the amazing things people are accomplishing and you wonder how your artwork or piece of writing or the movie you're auditioning for or the song you're composing is going to make a dent in this ever-evolving world?? I mean how? Don't even get me started on when family member tells you about the accomplishments of cousin Tim & cousin Tina.... {eye roll} you can even see the glint in their eyes when they talking about it. You can't help but wish they would talk about you that way.

Well, Stan tells you. Look at the MASSIVE & UNDENIABLE effect his work has had on the world. Imagine how many of those doctors or lawyers that read comic books growing up. How many of them entertained to keep going in life. To live if even for that next issue that comes out the following week. Never doubt the power of entertainment.
I will forever believe that books are mankind's greatest invention of all time.

"Words are immortal."

Credit: Boss Logic

~vaya con Dios Stan Lee~

© Enricoh Alfonzo ~ Alfonzo Words

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~Be Kind to One Another~ Ellen Degeneres