‘He Made Us All Seekers’: Stan Lee Remembered on 99th Birth Anniversary

With the release of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and ahead of the launch of a new NFT Collection ‘Chakraverse’ – inspired by characters like Chakra the Invincible – Stan Lee is remembered on his 99th birthday.

The comic book legend – who passed away in 2018 – co-created and launched Chakra in 2013 with Indo-American Sharad Devarajan, the co-founder of entertainment company Graphic India. Now, ‘Chakraverse’ is created by NFT/blockchain studio Orange Comet and marketplace BeyondLife.club and its parent company GuardianLink.io, showcasing his superpowers. To mark the launch, Devarajan recounts his introduction to comic books, befriending and working with Stan Lee and more. Read below:

Stan Lee was a mentor, friend, inspiration and teacher… he was my guru.

As a young child, his work shaped my life and spoke to me in a way that no other author or creator ever has, and probably ever will.

December 28th is the anniversary of what would be his 99th Birthday and like millions (if not billions) of superhero fans in the world, I remember Stan “The Man” Lee and what his stories meant to all of us.

As a first generation Indian American growing up in the early Eighties in a town where we were the only Indian family, I felt a kinship with the characters Stan brought to life so vividly in his work. Often his heroes were the underdog, the outcast and the person who didn’t fit in – and yet, they were the ones that often helped make a difference. As I struggled with my dual identity, an Indian heritage that in my youth I tried to hide to just fit in, Stan’s heroes taught me the value in being different. Made me realize my uniqueness was the true source of my strength.

To have had the honor to get to know Stan as a friend for nearly two decades and eventually be able to work with him to create his first Indian superhero, was like being able to paint a picture with Picasso or write a poem with Shakespeare. It was quite simply one of the greatest joys of my life. 

One of my earliest memories as a child is reading the legendary 1978, Silver Surfer, graphic novel by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It was epic and I was hooked. Stan started the book with a quote from an ancient eastern poem, which set the tone that this book was going to be more than just a silver guy with a surfboard. As with so many of Stan’s great works of fiction, by launching a western cosmic superhero story with a passage from some esoteric ancient wisdom, Stan united the world through the power of story.

When I met Stan for the first time I asked him about it and he immediately recited the entire poem from memory. I’ll never forget the way he said it, as if he was sharing a secret wisdom of the universe with me. 

Stan made us all seekers. He told tales that challenged us to search for the big mysteries of life. Who are we? What is the purpose of our existence? What is the destiny of mankind and how does it end? Not the typical questions found in a comic book, at least not before Stan and his amazing partners redefined what the medium would become for generations thereafter. Thanks to them, great comics continue to be philosophical treatises on the state of life and the world, allegories to the societal and human questions that we struggle and strive with.

Stan’s characters are so much more than masks and tights – they are the modern mythologies of our time. I bet more people today will recognize the face of Spider-Man than even that of the Mona Lisa.

Our mission with Chakra The Invincible was to create an Indian character that would transcend countries and cultures, bringing together ideas from east and west by speaking in the primal language of human imagination.

When we worked on Chakra, Stan would always remind me to focus on the simple human story and that: the powers mean nothing, if you don’t care about the person.  Having a superpower didn’t mean the character was lucky at love or had money to pay the bills. Those human flaws grounded their superhuman abilities, or as Stan would say, ‘Achilles, without his heel, you wouldn’t even know his name today.’

I have so many wonderful memories with him that I will treasure. I remember how over ten years ago in 2008, I did a panel with Stan at a Comic Con.  Before the panel, thousands of fans lined up across the convention to see him, which of course was no big surprise, because he is such a legend. What did surprise me though was when Stan told me he was going to go out there and try and shake every one of their hands.

I walked with Stan as he went out there and traveled the entire convention shaking everyone’s hand that he could – hundreds, if not thousands of people! By the end of that walk I was exhausted, and I could only imagine how tiring it was for him at 85 years old at that time. We went to a back room and he just sat down, exhausted and I was worried about him. But Stan knew how important it was for his fans to know how much he cared for them.

Within two minutes, he gathered back his energy and we went on stage where he wowed and entertained the entire room. They never would have guessed how tired he really was.  That was the amazing thing about Stan, just like his characters, he never gave up, found the strength to do the impossible, and always would put others before himself. His optimism was his real superpower. Any time you met him, you always walked away feeling better about yourself and the world we were in.

For me, perhaps Stan’s greatest legacy, even beyond all of the unforgettable characters he created, is the lesson he gave us about how to live our lives. Work was never a job for him.  Being around him made anyone feel like a kid again. His genius as a storyteller was only surpassed by his kindness as a human being.

The character we created is something I hope will inspire millions in India and around the world the same way all of Stan’s heroes have done. I was fortunate to get the support of Orange Comet and Guardian Link to create and launch a new collection of digital art, called the “Chakraverse” so people will be able to see Chakra the Invincible reimagined in new animation and art that speaks to high quality Stan always strived for with his characters.

Stan was fascinated with the legends, stories, and fables of gods and heroes from around the world. He was particularly interested in Indian culture, which he found deeply philosophical and rich in tradition and morality. Stan mentioned once that he always found Brahma to be a personal favorite due to his role as the creator. A fitting inspiration for a man whose characters and stories have brought joy and hope to billions. I can’t think of any greater legacy to leave behind. 

Thank you Stan Lee for allowing us all to dream in the universes you created.