November 25, 2018
Stan Lee used to place his monthly \”Soapbox\” in the hinter advertising pages of the monthly Marvel editions. Stan would end each month\’s missive with the phrase: \’Nuff Said. (The monthly editions contained the same \”Soapbox\” [unique messages for each comic would have been a bit much — even for Stan Lee]).
Now, while I usually agree with Bill Maher on most of his viewpoints — suggesting Stan Lee and Marvel Comics had something to do with the dumbing down of America sees Bill crossing the proverbial Red Line! If Bill had limited himself to complaining about DC (or other non-Marvel proferrings) I would have agreed with him. But Bill obviously doesn\’t know Marvel! I\’m glad he has time off from his show to contemplate the error-of-his-ways.
Internationally recognized linguist, Dr. Stephen Krashen, and I connected through Spiderman circa 1985 (during the USC Writing Project). We shared stories of the reading successes we\’d experienced with students who were struggling non-Readers — and how a love of reading had been instilled into them with Marvel Comics.
As-a-matter-of-fact, Marvel Comics assisted greatly in the building of my own formidable vocabulary. The loquacious Beast caused me to look up every \”strange\” word that I read in the dictionary — instead of merely repeating it when the mood struck me: This after I called my Mother an imbecile and got swatted upside the head!
Years later I was additionally corrected — by then supervisor and mentor, Dr. Carlfred Broderick, who clarified my confusion with the phrases \”in light of\” and \”in lieu of\” — which could have jeopardized a professor\’s job application. If only The Beast had used these phrasings in an early editions of The X-Men — I\’m betting I would not have made this error (I didn\’t keep up with the X-Men very well after the introduction of Wolverine).
And now, this quasi-eulogy to Stan has a bit of a de ja vu aspect to it…as I could swear that I wrote about Stan not too long ago…perhaps last year in response to the passing of his wife (Joan) of 70 years?
Couples who have been married 30-years-or-more develop a sonar-like feedback system (much like dolphins and whales) where — when one sends out energy to the Other — the Other responds with a calibrated energy return. Similarly when one member of a long-standing dyad passes — the feedback loop is destroyed — and the energy output from the Surviving Other is not reciprocated…disappearing into a dark, black hole. In such long marriages — the surviving mate usually passes on within 18 months.
Joan passed a year before Stan. The parents of an old girlfriend (who had also been married for close to 70 years) just passed within one month of each other…
In an age when there are no more heroes to unite us (like a Captain America [or even Superman {an admitted illegal immigrant}]) — the empirical world gives us tainted figures: people who have been weakened by their foibles, follies and personal shortcomings (generally growing out of worship of the almighty dollar [or wild parties]). Such would-be heroes ask US to look askance at their shortcomings — while simultaneously asking US to put our faith and trust in them — a faith and trust that inevitably ends in disappointment — a disappointment that is hastily swept under some rug.
So we DO HAVE TO look to the fictional world to find heroes we can believe in, Bill! We NEED models, who despite their shortcomings, attempt to overcome their flaws for the greater good (instead of utilizing their stature to line their pockets).
Thank you Stan, for providing US such heroes, who informed US of how we might behave when times are murky and the swamp pulls US down.
Stan, You were a lighthouse for the disenfranchised!
\’Nuff Said