While others — like Sal Buscema — have drawn Spider-Man, Stan Lee's nuanced character makes Peter Parker all Stan Lee. Credit: Sal Buscema; photo, Cathy Salustri

While others — like Sal Buscema — have drawn Spider-Man, Stan Lee’s nuanced character makes Peter Parker all Stan Lee. Credit: Sal Buscema; photo, Cathy Salustri

Just six weeks shy of his 96th birthday, Stan Lee has died.

Lee, known for… well, hell, pretty much everything Spider-Man and Marvel and amazing and perfect with comics… died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

When Lee began creating comics, he changed the game for character development, adding dimension and humanity to his superheroes, making them truly super. His nuanced characters and villains added dimension and tension to the Marvel Universe — and, by extension, the universe. 

Stan Lee last appeared in Tampa just over a year ago, at the September 2017 MegaCon.


This article appears in Nov 8-15, 2018.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...