10 People Who Changed The Comic Book Industry Forever

5. Stan Lee

Despite the guy's massive media profile, Stan Lee has always been one to cut a divisive figure in the industry. Instrumental in Marvel's breakout years in the sixties, the writer created and co-created dozens of iconic comic book characters, including Spider-Man (alongside Steve Ditko), the X-Men (alongside Jack Kirby) and the Fantastic Four (another Kirby collaboration).

Irrespective of the many behind-the-scenes dramas that bookended Marvel's beloved bullpen era, Lee has come to embody the company through and through, with the writer having pioneered the concept of superhero stories being less fantastical (though certainly amazing), and more human. Peter Parker wasn't a demigod from a far-flung planet, but a nerdy high-schooler caught up in the midst of an extraordinary event.

Marvel's heroes were meant to be considered as people first and foremost, and not just any people either - they were meant to be flawed. It was a process designed by committee, but Lee was the one to see it into action, further solidifying Marvel's place as the then leaders of the industry with a series of texts that refused to shirk contemporary politics; Iron Man and the X-Men - two of the most popular comics at the time - were conceived as a response to the Cold War and Civil Rights Movement respectively.

The 'Marvel Method', as it was then known, has dominated the House of Ideas ever since. Without Lee, it may not have come to be.