TMZ:

Stan Lee, the man who co-created Marvel Comics, has died ... Stan's daughter tells TMZ.

We’re told an ambulance rushed to Lee’s Hollywood Hills home early Monday morning and he was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. We’re told that’s where he died.

Sadly, much of the focus on Stan in recent years has been on the weirdness surrounding him, his family, and his estate.

But even with that, you can’t take away that his efforts - supported by countless incredible artists and creatives (even those who he didn’t necessarily give the proper credit to), were the foundation for what we know as modern comic storytelling.

A quick bit here, a personal Stan Lee story.

A few years back, we at Super Art Fight were guests at Awesome Con, a convention in Washington DC. In turn, we were staying at the same hotel as the other, more notable guests - including Stan Lee.

On the Saturday night, a group of us were gathering together in the lobby, going to head out for dinner. As we waited for the rest of our crew, Stan arrived at the hotel, along with his handlers.

It was in that moment that Stan Lee became real to me.

Stan Lee has, for his entire career, had an incredible image of that as a big comic book carnival huckster - always peppy, always exited, always with the right turn of phrase.

In this moment, he was an old man, getting help to his hotel room so that he could rest.

The iconography melted away. He was a real live human being.

We forget about that sometimes.

Stan - thank you for your efforts in creating the content of my childhood. But thank you also for that reminder that, at the end of the day, we’re all just human.

Hopefully you’ve reunited with your beloved Joanie. Excelsior.