‘His stories were suitable for all ages ... they created joy’
Alan Taylor (35), from north Belfast, owns comic book store Coffee and Heroes in Winetavern Street, Belfast, with his fiancee, Vicky (32)
For me, it began when I was a kid and watching Saturday morning cartoons. You had things like the X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons and there was a Batman animated series as well,” Alan (below right) says.
“Then I discovered an old store in Belfast called Talisman. We like to think in a strange sort of way we are a spiritual successor to it — we’re an independent store, run by fans, and we want to imbue it with a sense of community.
“We are a coffee shop as well as a comic store, and people come and hang out and talk about comics and the latest storylines. It’s a safe space where you can talk about it.”
As for his favourite Marvel character, “you can’t look past Spider-Man”, he says. “What’s great about Stan Lee is that in creating the X-Men, the Fantastic
Four and Spider-Man (below) they are characters set in the real world. The Fantastic Four are a family that fight, X-Men were the outsiders. Spider-Man is a 15-yearold who is still learning how to grow up and gets all this responsibility and is learning how to deal with it.
“It appeals to a sixyear-old just the same as a 30-year-old — it’s universal. They’re things that peo-
ple could get on board with — they’re real-world characters dealt with in a fantastical way.”
In a sense, Stan Lee will live for ever thanks to his vast legacy, dating back more than 60 years, Alan says.
“I saw this journalist cartoon of Stan Lee standing at the pearly gates and the voice of God saying ‘You’re not so bad at creating universes yourself’, and I thought that was perfect,” he adds.
“He’s known through his movies as well — he has done all the cameos and has filmed a couple in advance so there will be more.
“There are people discovering stories going right back to the Fifties and there’s still that same sense of joy and wonder. All of Stan Lee’s stories were suitable for all ages — the messages were universal and they create joy. The man was a consummate storyteller right to the end.”