Stan Lee, arguably the most famous American comic book creator, died at age 95 in 2018. Honoring his Jewish identity, many evoked the phrase “may his memory be a blessing” (coming from the Hebrew “zichrono livracha”) when reporting on his passing.
Just what this memory looks like, however, and what it should look like, is a topic that is increasingly up for debate.
To most people with a passing knowledge of comic books, Lee who may be best known to the general public for his 30-plus cameos in the many Marvel superhero movies is believed to be one of the most creative figures in American popular culture. He’s considered the Walt Disney of superheroes, so to speak. But for a small, increasingly vocal faction of comic book aficionados, many of them fans of the legendary Jewish illustrator Jack Kirby, he was an attention-hungry self-promoter, a super-villain who screwed over his creative collaborators.
Stan Lee’s legacy is complicated. This new book casts a shadow on it. Stan Lee poses in New York, June 15, 1978. (Santi Visalli/Getty Images)
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(JTA) Stan Lee, arguably the most famous American comic book creator, died at age 95 in 2018. Honoring his Jewish identity, many evoked the phrase “may his memory be a blessing” (coming from the Hebrew “zichrono l’bracha”) when reporting on his passing.
Just what this memory looks like, however, and what it should look like, is a topic that is increasingly up for debate.
To most people with a passing knowledge of comic books, Lee who may be best known to the general public for his 30-plus cameos in the many Marvel superhero movies is believed to be one of the most creative figures in American popular culture. He’s considered the Walt Disney of superheroes, so to speak. But for a small, increasingly vocal faction of comic book aficionados, many of them fans of the legendary Jewish illustr