Why Stan was our superhero
As movie fans mourn the passing of comic book legend Stan Lee, Linda Stewart talks to four NI people about the huge impact Marvel’s creations have had on their lives
Keith Millar (40) from Coleraine studied for a science PhD but is now the regional manager for Help Musicians, the UK’s largest independent musicians’ charity. He also joins Alan Taylor in the Coffee and Heroes podcast discussing new superhero movies
Idon’t remember ever not being a fan of comic books and superheroes. Spider-Man specifically has always been my favourite,” Keith says.
“I remember watching Spider-Man cartoons back in the early 1980s when I was three or four — Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends — and it was actually narrated by Stan Lee with his New York drawl.”
But it wasn’t easy getting hold of American comics in the 1980s in Northern Ireland and more often than not fans ended up with one single edition from a continuing story.
“They used to do British reprints of American comics and they reprinted a story called Secret Wars which was a massive Marvel crossover event with all
‘Fellow Marvel fans I’ve met in Belfast have become my tribe’
the heroes — the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man and so on together. This spurred my interest in comics,” he says.
When he was about 11, he discovered comic book shop Talisman in Belfast’s Winetavern Street.
“It was the first time I’d ever seen a shop that specially existed to sell comics — and you were able to get the whole story. From then on, I was getting my comic books from Talisman by post — and that was it for me. I’ve been a collector ever since,” he says.
“It’s funny, I guess the reason I got into science in the first place, maybe subconsciously, was because Peter Parker (Spider-Man) was a scientist.
“It’s funny how something you’re into impacts on your development, the way you spend your cash, the friends you make.
“There are things like Spider-Man’s motto ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ — and what that’s saying is if you have the power to do something you probably should do it.
“So if you have the power to protect people around you, whether physically or in a mental health crisis, you probably should be doing it.
“The X-Men motto is ‘Fighting for a world that hates and fears them’. So just because some people have different looks, different sexual preferences or are a different colour, it doesn’t mean they should be hated and feared.
“The Incredible Hulk is all about controlling anger and the effects of anger.”
Keith moved to Belfast two years ago and was in Smithfield Market when he spotted Coffee and Heroes, a coffee shop and comic book store located near where Talisman had been.
“I went in for a coffee and spoke to the guy behind the counter and we just realised that we got on really well and have the same attitudes to a lot of things,” he says.
Now he describes Alan Taylor and his fiancee Vicky as his ‘Belfast family’. “All the guys and girls who come into the shop — he’s building a community and a safe space for people. They’re the people I go for pints with, go to the cinema with, hang out together — they are my tribe now.”
Keith says he never got to meet Stan Lee.
“It’s amazing to think about the impact a man you’ve never met and doesn’t know you exist can have on your life and your development growing up, the friends you make and how you view the world. That guy for me is Stan Lee,” he says.
“I’ve always thought I would get a chance to meet him and say thanks, but now I’ll be reading the comics and learning the lessons.”