American talk show host wrote an article to criticize Stan Lee's team and responded: You are disgusting

According to foreign media reports, Bill Maher, a well-known American talk show host, recently satirized the recently deceased Marvel co-founder Stan Lee on his blog, which caused great controversy. In the article, he said that Stan Lee "inspired millions of people to, well, watch movies."

He went on to blast comics, "I'm not saying I'm against comics. I read them from time to time when I was a kid, like The Hardy Boys. But the consensus back then, whether adults or children, was that comics were for children. When you grow up, you read adult books without pictures."

He went on to criticize adults for not giving up "kid stuff," saying they "pretend comic books are actually sophisticated works of literature," and added that with more than 4,500 colleges in the United States, "we need professors more than smart people, and now stupid people can be professors" because they also write about comics.

"Today, when adults are forced to do grown-up things, like buying car insurance, they call it 'growing up,' as if it's a struggle," he concluded. "The problem is that we use our intelligence on stupid things. It's not hard to infer that Donald Trump could only be elected president in a country where cartoons are important."

Stan Lee's team at POW! Entertainment wasn't going to let this go, and they posted an open letter to Maher on their website criticizing the comments. They said creators like Stan "make us feel, make us think, and teach us to be better people, one of the lessons is tolerance and respect, and we are grateful to say that you have the right to express your opinion, and you can think that comics are for children and are not complicated, and many people also said the same thing about Dickens, Steinbeck, Melville, and even Shakespeare."

POW! also said that Maher's ironic statement that Stan inspired people to "watch movies" was disgusting, "countless people can refute that it was Stan who inspired them to read, taught them that there are no absolutes in this world, heroes can have flaws, and villains also have humanity deep in their souls."

The full text of the open letter is as follows:

"Mr. Maher: Comics, like all literature, are storytelling tools. When great creators like Stan Lee create great works, they make us feel, make us think, and teach us to be better people. One lesson Stan taught many of us was tolerance and respect. We are grateful to say that you have the right to express your opinions. You can think that comics are for children and are not complicated. Many people also said this about Dickens, Steinbeck, Melville, and even Shakespeare.

But to say that Stan only inspired people to 'watch the movies' is, in our opinion, gross. Countless people could argue that it was Stan who inspired them to read, taught them that there are no absolutes in this world, that heroes can have flaws, and that villains have humanity deep down. He gave us the X-Men, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and many other heroes and stories, gave hope to those who felt out of place and bullied, and inspired countless people to be creative and keep dreaming of great things.

These are all "growing up" for us Stan Lee fans, there are many other examples, but life is full of struggles whether as a child or an adult. Stan is the creator of millions of happy childhoods and also makes adults live positively.

We are so shocked by your comments that we want to say, 'Enough, Bill,' but instead we rely on another lesson from Stan to remind you that you have a powerful platform, so remember: 'With great power comes great responsibility! '"

—Stan’s Team