RIP Stan Lee, because of you I spent many hours devouring every Marvel comic I could get my hands on. I developed an obsession with X Men and X Force – where I fell in love with the love story of Rogue and Gambit, the strength of Domino and the insanity of Deadpool, long before they became movie icons.
One of my most cherished childhood memories is walking to my local comic store with my best friend as we argued who was better Marvel (me) or DC (her) in the comic verse. This was long before comics were mainstream and being a teenage girl who collected comics was definitely not cool.
You taught me it was acceptable to dream up fantastical but flawed characters, and that even villains no matter how dastardly could have a reason for what they did. That the good guys didn’t win all the time but they kept trying.
Thank you for teaching me to dream and inspiring me to write.
Tamara Nikolai 