I’d get back after school, finish all my homework, do all my readings and wait to watch the animated X-Men on TV. The very classy Jean Grey, the serious looking but good natured Professor X, the charming Cyclopes and the sweet Kitty. If I could be a character, I’d be a mix of Kitty and Jean, I thought. I’d never miss a single episode. Seeing the X-Men save the day meant a lot. It meant good prevailed over evil.
I didn’t read the comics, but rather watched the TV shows based on the comics which was broadcasted by the local TV. I’d often wonder how it’d be if I could be a character among these characters, zooming in left and right, flying and saving the world. My childish brain would brew up its own story and I’d make myself a character among these and imagine saving the world. I’d bestow myself superpowers. How easy it was, perhaps it still is.
While I sure didn’t know who Stan Lee was back then, I grew up with his creations, with the X-Men, with Spiderman, with Fantastic Four. Someone created those characters. Someone envisioned them and didn’t let them die out on the desk.
I can only thank Lee for not locking Jean Grey on his drawer and not summoning her in reality.
“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
Perhaps it’s time, it’s always time to set the characters in the drawer free.
Let Lee’s life inspire us to create – something that we truly madly deeply love.
The Wordcastle 