With the death of Marvel Comics' Stan Lee on November 12 at the age of 95, fans remember the charismatic and legendary writer, editor, and publisher of Marvel, and have reminisced about the time that Marc Bolan of T-Rex once interviewed him back in 1975.
With Lee's inspiring creations of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, and so many others, Lee leaves his worlds of imagination still open for all today. And as Far Out Magazine report, having inspired so many people, it should come as no surprise that Stan Lee was also deeply revered by Marc Bolan himself.
The love that Marc Bolan felt for Stan Lee was discovered by Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys back in 1976, when Tennant was performing a two-year stint as the London editor for Marvel UK. His role was to make the words of Marvel Comics suitably British so that it would appeal to UK audiences, while also suggesting whether bawdy illustrations of women in the comics needed to be redrawn for British fans.
When Neil Tennant sat down and interviewed Marc Bolan, the T-Rex singer jumped at the chance to discuss Stan Lee and spoke with rapturous praise about the man who invented the Silver Surfer.
"I've been into Marvel since 1967. The Silver Surfer, in particular, was one I liked. Dr. Strange was another. At that time they were very weird compared to the other comics on the market, though they got more commercial since then and Stan Lee was a great writer."