Fact: my dad has loved Stan Lee longer than he’s loved my mother. He learned to draw from Jack Kirby, and I learned to draw the same way he did – by taking tracing paper to our favorite comics, without encouragement, the sole comics lover in our young lives.

I drew these waiting in line to see The Man, had to recall the outfits by heart – Psylocke (Kwannon/Betsy Braddock), Archangel, Rogue, Gambit, Jean Grey, and Cyclops.

Here’s to the godfather of modern comics, the Marvel Universe, and to my dad, who was there long before I was.