Stan Lee, may you rest peacefully in Wakanda

In some ways, it can be an uncomfortable thing to acknowledge; the fact that Black Panther, one of the most widely successful black-themed movies of all time, perhaps the most unapologetically and culturally black movie of all time (without question this is so if you’re not including independent and/or smaller film releases not backed by major film studios and resources), one of the most successful Marvel movies ever, and what I read somewhere described as a cultural earthquake…

Was conceived of and created by a couple of white guys in the 1960s.

One of those white guys, the comic book artist Jack Kirby, died on Feb. 6, 1994. The other, a much more widely known and revered Stan Lee, died today at the age of 95. I’m not much of a comic book historian, but I do know there was somewhat of a rift that developed between Lee and Kirby, a lot of it over whether or not Kirby received sufficient credit for his contributions to the amazing creative collaboration between the two men. Certainly this wouldn’t be the first time such a rift ever happened between two former partners when one goes on to reap the fame while the other seems to fade away.

But that’s not what I really want to focus on, although I do believe it is important to acknowledge Kirby’s significant contributions. Because, like I said, I’m not a comic book…