As I write this, in the shadow of the great avatar of the power cosmic, the Silver Surfer, I can't help but feel completely overwhelmed by nostalgia. A signed picture of the man, the myth, the legend himself, Stan Lee, smiles down at me, as if to say, "Nice work, true believer!"
I am sitting at the entrance of the New Dimension Comics store in the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, surrounded by comic books, high-flying hero cosplayers looking like they walked straight out of Hollywood's biggest movies, the aforementioned Silver Surfer theater statue, and a cardboard stand-up of a certain black-domed Sith Lord who's just about as chilling as the real deal.
Suffice it to say, I'm in good company.
Admittedly, my SuperVillainy High table looks right at home here, with my colorful comics mingling with the works of a hundred of the greatest storytellers of our generation.
I like this.
This feels right.
I could go for this again!
My surroundings change. Now I'm sitting in the all-too packed car of my fiancée's parents, carting over an oversized tent, a couple of folding lawn chairs, and the affectionately-named "book box" to an event in West Overton Village in the wee hours of the morning.
Just the night before, I was editing the first teaser trailer of sorts for my newest book, GORPH'S GALACTIC GETAWAY, all while still in the process of fixing my bone-headed blunder of editing my 8.5x5.5 book in an 8.5x11 Google Docs file. Ah, the life of a writer. Always twisting and turning. Never boring. Never ceasing.
Creativity is everywhere, and just like Elmer Fudd and that wascally wabbit, I have to catch it now before it eludes me.
I think a lot about Stan Lee in these moments. I wonder what he would say about my books. I've chalked him up in my imagination to be just about as powerful and majestic as the characters he created. Then, interestingly enough, I think about God. My creator. And, more important to me in this moment, *Stan Lee's* creator.
I may not be able to get a wink and a thumbs up from ol' Stan the Man, but the God who created the man who created Spider-Man says I'm His friend. He oversees my careful work as I type and retype thousands of words to find just the right ones. He molds me into His image just as I form my characters in mine. I often wonder if storytellers use their stories to entertain their god complexes. The ability to change any scenario, to backspace and start again when your words don't come out just right. The ability to change the weather with the tap of a keyboard.
There's a lot in this world that we can't control, so we make a new world. A world that might have none of the problems that pester us so much, or perhaps a world with all too many of our problems, but with larger-than-life heroes to help THWACK these problems into oblivion.
However, reality is all to real. And while there comes a time when every writer must put down their typewriter, and every loyal reader must put down their books, and face the daunting trials before them, they don't have to leave these worlds behind. Like a kid on a school bus imagining the animated antics of clambering characters scrambling after the bus, over mail boxes, bushes, and the occasional dog, we are meant to take these worlds with us wherever we go. Whether it's pinning up the artwork of a book that stirs our hearts, or playing the soundtrack of a favorite movie, or simply thinking, "What would this character do in this situation?", we never truly put that book down. These stories leave an imprint on our heart. Stan certainly left that imprint on mine. Thank you, Stan Lee. I do so hope to meet you one day, in that wondrous place where the Living Water flows.
Oh, and I suppose I should explain the title of this piece. "EXCELSIOR!" A word so impossibly uncommon yet so outstandingly brilliant. A nine-letter phrase, which also happened to be Stan's favorite catchphrase, loosely meaning, "onward and upward, to greater glory!"
And so, like the overstuffed car, I move onward. I don't know what this next event will bring; only that God the Father will keep me and my fiancée in His will. That, paired with the Spirit and the teachings of Jesus that are far more real than any comic book character, tells me that no matter the troubles, no matter the obstacles, everything is going to be just fine.
For you too.
Take His Word for it.
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