Comic signed by Stan Lee and farewell sketch serve as memorabilia for fans in Chennai

Right from the big bad villains to the way one sees and perceives superheroes arose from these comic books that Stan Lee created decades ago. Some of his ardent fans in the city, who are yet to come to terms with the fact that post-credit scenes of Marvel movies will never be the same after the nonagenarian’s demise, share how they bid him fond farewell.

If Lee were a superhero, he’d be Spider-Man because his humour is reflected in Peter Parker, feels Mykel Kumar, a tattoo artist who sketched a beautiful farewell picture for him. It was this quality combined with his looks and enthusiastic voice that makes him think Lee should have lived to be 100! “In fact, if there’s something I can incorporate of his character into my life it would be the power of imagination — that was his biggest superpower,” he says. Given that Spider-Man, Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man, Ant-Man and Fantastic Four characters were conceptualised 70-odd years ago, Lee’s creativity is truly inspiring.

Apart from his imagination, Mykel says a superpower he’d like to have is, “Visual muscle memory. For example, if I see someone do a backflip, I should be able to watch it a couple of times and be able to do it too!” he says. 

Another city-based fan is Rohit Panikker, a collector of comic books who thinks no one’s never too old to buy comic books and collectibles. He has a copy of a Wolverine comic autographed by the creator of Marvel himself. “As a collector, I’m glad I have at least one copy signed by him, I mean he actually touched it! It’s like a devotee relishing prasadham when he goes to a temple,” he grins.  “A lot of people including his family and friends tried profiting from him. So as a mark of respect, an international comic exchange group I’m part of has decided not to trade any books signed by him for four weeks,” he says.

There’s also the murky situation where everyone’s only commemorating Stan Lee but no one bothered when Steve Ditko, who was one of the co-creators of Spider-Man, Hulk and Doctor Strange, died earlier this year. Rohit shares, “Everyone thinks Stan Lee is the sole creator of the Marvel Universe, which is still loved worldwide today but Ditko died without much recognition. Similarly, Jack Kirby co-created Black Panther and a couple of other characters with Lee but I’m not sure how many know of this.”