Why was Stan Lee our superhero?

Since movie fans have regretted the passage of the legendary legend Stan Lee, Linda Stevart talks to four people of NO about the great influence of Marvel's creativity on their life

"It's an incredible legacy that Stan left behind him"

Niam Lennon, 25, from Bangor, works as a hotel operator. She studied special and visual effects at the University of Bolton

Niamh is a fan of fans of Marvel since childhood and is a regular cosmopolitan at Belfast sci-fi conventions, dressing as many comic books as possible.

"I would wear it every year – it's sometimes like anime or toy characters, and sometimes it's Marvel's character," she says. "You're walking around the city that runs into all types of people dressed like Captain America or Iron Man, and it's really fun."

A self-acknowledged member of the Harry Potter Generation, it was a quick jump in the Ks-Menu fandom with a school for young mutants.

"I watched them without age – then the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) films came out with Captain America, Thor and Iron Man," she explains.

Such was the love of fantasy and sci-fi, that Niam decided to study the special and visual effects at the University of Bolton.

"You could have chosen CGI, but I've gone through a series of physical effects such as sculpture, costume, and character design, because I wanted to continue and work in movies.

Marvel was a big part of it. One day it would be my dream job to work on Marvel's films, "she says.

However, when Niamh for the first time at the university, she found a special shortage of student societies – so she completed the founding of her own Geek Culture society.

"Our first event was crawling on the Marvel vs DC Comics bar, and it was so successful that society became the largest student society in the university – it's still, after years of graduation," she explains.

"I've always been attracted to Spider-Man, and my favorite character is Gwen Stacy. She was the first Spider-Man girl in a lot of comics – she's really intelligent and continues to become a scientist in a lot of comics, but she's accidentally killed.

"I also love X-men – I like the idea of ​​a mutant school and all children with superpowers who have to go to school and learn how to use them.

"Everyone has the character to which they are connected and feel inspired. This is something that many people need – they need someone to feel inspired.

"I can not believe it when I saw that Stan Lee had passed. He was 95 years old and had such a life.

"We will miss out on seeing his films in all the films. Marvel is the incredible heritage left behind."

"My fans of Marvel I met in Belfast became my tribe"

Keith Millar (40) from Coleraine studied for PhD, but is now the regional manager for helpers, the UK's largest independent musician. He also joins Alan Tailor on the podcast Coffee and Heroes, which talks about new superhero films.

I do not remember that I was never a fan of comics and superheroes. Spider-Man has always been my favorite, "says Keith.

"I remember watching cartoon spiders in the early 1980s, when I was three or four years old – Spider-Man and his incredible friends – and in fact Stan Lee said it with his harvest in New York."

But it was not easy to get American strips in the 1980s in Northern Ireland, and more often than not that fans ended up with a single edition from a continuous story.

"They used British reprisals of American comics and repeated a story called" Secret Wars, "which was a massive event of Marvel's crossover with all the heroes – Fantastic Four and Spiderman, and so on. That prompted me for comics," he says.

When he was about 11 years old, he discovered the comic magazine Talisman in Vinetavern Street in Belfast.

"It was the first time that I ever saw a shop that was specifically there to sell comics – and you managed to get the whole story. Since then, I've got my comics from Talisman in the mail – and that was for me since then I was a collector, he says.

"It's funny, I suppose the reason I entered the science, perhaps subconsciously, was because Peter Parker (Spider-Man) was a scientist.

"It's funny how something affects your development, the way you spend money, the friends you make.

"There are things like Spider-Man motto" Great Power Brings Big Responsibility "- and what it says if you have the power to do something you probably should do.

"So if you have the power to protect people around you, either physically or in a mental health crisis, you should probably do it.

"Ks-Men's motto is" Fighting for the world that hates and feels them. "So just because some people have a different look, different sexual preferences or are different colors does not mean they need to hate and fear.

"Incredible Hulk is all about controlling the anger and the effects of anger."

Keith moved to Belfast two years ago and was in the Smithfield Market when he noticed Coffee and Heroes, a cafe and a comic book store located near Talisman.

"I went to the coffee and talked with the one behind the counter and we just realized that we felt well and had the same views on a lot of things," he says.

Now describes Alan Tailor and his fiancé Vicki as his Belfast family. "All the guys and girls who come to the shop – build a community and a safe place for people. They are the people I go with, I go to the cinema, I hang out – they are my tribe now."

Keith says he never met Stan Lee.

"It's incredible to think about the influence of a man you've never met and you do not know that there can be in your life and your development grows, friends you make and how you look at the world. That guy is Stan Lee for me," he says.

"I always thought I would get an opportunity to meet and thank him, but now I will read comics and learn lessons."

"His stories were suitable for all ages … they created joy"

Alan Taylor, 35, from north Belfast, owns a coffee shop and cafe at Vinetavern, Belfast, with his fiancé, Vicki (32).

It started for me when I was a kid and I watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. You had things like the Ks-Men and Spider-Man cartoons, and there is also an animated Batman series, "says Alan (below the right).

"Then I discovered an old store in Belfast called Talisman. We want to think in a strange way that we are the spiritual heir of this – we are an independent store, run by fans, and we want to get to know it with the feeling of the community.

"We are a cafe, as well as comics, and people come and hang out and talk about comics and the latest stories, it's a safe place to talk about."

As for his favorite character Marvel, "you can not look at the past Spider-Man," he says. "What's great about Stan Lee is the creation of Ks-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man (below), they are characters in the real world. Fantastic Four are the family struggling, Ks Men were outsiders. -Man is a 15-year-old who still learns how to grow up and gets all this responsibility and learned how to deal with him.

"It's called six-year-olds just like thirty-year-olds – it's universal. It's the things people can get to know – they are the real world characters they are dealing with fantastically."

In a sense, Stan Lee will live forever, thanks to his huge heritage, which dates back to 60 years, says Alan.

"I saw a journalist drawing Lee Wall standing on the pearly door and God's voice saying," You're not so bad at creating the universe, "and I thought it was perfect," he adds.

"He is also known through his films – he made all the shows and recorded a couple in advance, so there will be more.

"There are people who discover stories that are coming back in the fifties and there is still the same feeling of joy and wonder. All of Stena Li's stories were suitable for all ages – the messages were universal and they created joy. The man was an experienced writer to the end. "

"Many of my childhood memories are watched by his cartoons"

Simon Bamford, 28, from Lisburn, is married to Jessica (29). His love for Marvel was a great influence when creating video games and he is now working on a concession at the Tesco store.

Simon says he first met Marvel for six or seven years, watching the cartoon Spider-Man with his brother every week.

"There was also a cartoon of Ks Men and Incredible Hulk, and some of my childish memories are also those shows and I really enjoy them," he says.

"At that time I liked to see characters who had special abilities – it was fun to see all the bright and colorful characters. At one point, Spider-Man had all the different superheroes in the show. I do not know what it was – I had to watch it every week. "

When the movies began to go out, Simon would have mentioned his family to go and see them in the cinema.

"Having the right people in those cartoons was something I had never experienced before and I had to see them," he says.

He was also a huge video game fan: "There were so many Spider-Man games that I had to get and when I was old, I decided it was the career I wanted to do." At Simon University, he met a couple of similar friends and founded his video game company Digipop Games – although it was difficult at the end to make money from making games. One of the games was a prototype superhero game.

"I was under the influence of Spider-Man, who is also Peter Parker, as well as a superhero character," he says.

Simon says that the first time he saw Stan Lee in one of his famous novels was in the novels of Kevin Smith in the nineties.

"Every time he appeared in one of the movies, you almost came to disappointment," he says.

"He created such a huge world of characters, relative characters that you could see. I think he was great in what he did, and the energy and passion he showed up to the end was brilliant, and his legacy is incredible."

Belfast Telegraph