The New York Times:
Stan Lee, one of the most influential writers and publishers in the comic book industry, sat down with The New York Times in 2015 to talk about his life and career.
He has passed but the things he helped create will outlast us all and give joy to millions for generations.
I started out reading DC Comics as a little kid because they had the costumed guys I’d seen on tv and they were lots more interesting than Archie or Richie Rich. It was years before I realized the value of what Stan had accomplished at the other house by breaking out of the stodgy old way of telling stories with super-characters. The difference felt almost like switching radio stations from Easy Listening to Rock.
On his blog, former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter often reminisced about conversations with Stan (who’d long since stepped back from day-to-day involvement with Marvel’s production), in which the latter was still hoping to create something that was more “serious” than comics, perhaps in the form of magazines aimed at older audiences.
That aspiration never quite worked out for Stan, but I imagine he well knew how beloved and effective his “non-serious” work was regarded.