George R.R. Martin bids farewell to Stan Lee in emotional tribute

Following the death of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee this past Monday, people from every corner of the entertainment industry have paid their respects, including Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin. With time to digest the news, Martin has written a more extensive tribute on his blog, simply titled “Farewell to a Marvel.”

Lee’s died at the age of 95. “A good age, that,” Martin writes. “Stan Lee lived a long life, and leaves a grand and glorious legacy behind him.   He has been part of my world for so long that it seems impossible that he is gone.”

"Not that I can claim to have been a friend.   I never had that honor.  Oh, yes, I met Stan a dozen times or so, at various San Diego Comic-Cons over the years.   Every time I did, it was like meeting him for the first time; he never remembered our previous meetings, and I don’t think he had any idea who I was.   It made no matter.   He was always genial and generous to me, as he was to all the fanboys who surrounded him at those cons.  And when I was in Stan’s presence, that’s just what I was: a fanboy, slightly tongue-tied and more than a little in awe."

If I ever met Stan Lee, I’m pretty sure I’d act the same way.

Martin praises Lee’s creation of characters with “[q]uirks, flaws, [and] tempers,” something fans of A Song of Ice and Fire know a little about. “The heroes were not all good, the villains were not all bad.  The stories had twists and turns, I could not tell where they were going.  Sometimes good guys fought other good guys.” Sound familiar? As Martin says, “I owe so much to Stan Lee.”

Martin went a little deeper into the well-known story about his first published work being a fan letter he wrote to Lee and Jack Kirby about their work on an issue of Fantastic Four:

"That letter in FF#20 was only the first of many I sent to Stan and Jack, and Stan and Steve, and Stan and… whoever the artist was on the book I was writing to.  A number were published, with my full address attached.   Other comics fans around the country saw the letters, and began sending me fanzines and letters of their own.  My friendship with Howard Waldrop began thanks to those letters… him in Texas, me in Jersey.   And after reading some of those early ditto’d fanzines, I began to write for them as well.  My first published stories."

So in a way, Martin’s fan letters led to his writing career. Perhaps that explains Martin’s continued desire to lift up other writers.

Martin’s praise didn’t stop there. “I did my best to write like Stan Lee,” he said. “Neil Gaiman, Len Wein, Alan Moore, and more and more and more…[I]f not for Stan Lee and the worlds and characters and style he created, their own careers and accomplishments would have been very different, if not impossible.”

“[T]he greatest influences are the earliest influences, I think, and at the beginning there was only Stan Lee.”

"Dear Stan,You did good work.   As long as people still read comic books and believe in heroes, your characters will be remembered.  Thanks so much.   Make Mine Marvel.George R. Martin35 East First StreetBayonne, New Jersey"

Excelsior, Mr. Lee. Excelsior.

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