Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the passing of the legend that was Stan Lee. At the time I wrote a blog post minutes after finding out the news. The blog post has been since lost on the Internet so here it is again… (thankfully I somehow thought to email myself a copy of the post).
It’s 18:55pm on November 12th 2018. I’m on a bus into the city centre where I will get another bus to eventually bring me home.
I’ve just opened my Facebook app and seen the breaking news headline shared by a fellow true-believer: Stan Lee Dead at 95.
My little fan boy heart has shattered into tiny little pieces knowing that the creator of some of my all time favourite fictional characters is no longer with us.
The reason I first picked up an X-Men comic book as a young child (on my first ever train journey, no less) and discovered whole worlds that would be a huge part of my life, is dead.
The reason I am the artist I am today because I spent endless hours drawing some if not all of the characters he created for endless hours.
The reason I would sneak comic books into school to read between classes.
The reason that my closest friends and I always make sure we attend the newest Marvel Studios blockbuster together (an unsaid and unwritten pact).
And the reason I can’t help but be reminiscent for the remainder of this journey, of the countless journeys that those characters, created by that man, helped me through. My entire childhood–no my entire life–was enveloped by these characters from the mugs I drink coffee out of down to the socks I wear on my feet.
I’m writing this piece on the above mentioned bus journeys, and can’t help but have a lump in my throat. I can’t help but feel slightly embarrassed as I shed a tear for a man I never even met, yet I feel like a close family member has died.
The man responsible for all the above has done all this to my small little 25 years of life on this planet, and now he is gone.
Stan Lee, you shall always hold a place in my heart just as you have and will in countless others. You are and were a Legend both alive and now dead, you are a true Marvel Legend.
To you I bid a final Excelsior as I prepare to disembark my final bus and make my way home, just as I hope you are finally at peace in your new home, reunited with your dearest Joan.
Make Mine Marvel.
Dean Kealy Design 
His passing came up on my facebook memories and I was struck by how it still feels so shocking. This is a beautiful tribute. Thank you for sharing it. ❤
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