Todd McFarlane Remembers Stan Lee With Photo of His Last Appearance on Stage

Tuesday was a bittersweet occasion for Marvel fans, as it marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Stan Lee. Fans and creatives alike have been taking to social media to honor the icon, and to honor the massive impact he's had on the worlds of comics, film, and television. Among those is prolific comic creator Todd McFarlane, who took to Twitter to share a rather heart-wrenching photo of himself and Lee on stage at a convention. As McFarlane says in the caption, this ended up being the last time that Lee was ever on a stage, and that he misses the creator telling "his wonderful stories".

One year anniversary of Stan Lee's passing. This is the LAST TIME Stan ever stepped on a stage (neither of us knew it at the time). I always tried to take a selfie as we walked off stage. He never went on stage again to tell his wonderful stories. We all miss that.#stanlee pic.twitter.com/8zPRD7CZqH

— Todd McFarlane (@Todd_McFarlane) November 12, 2019

McFarlane has been candid about his and Lee's friendship over the years, and about the ways that the man inspired him in the world of comics.

"I've know and worked with Stan for a large portion of my life and I've been VERY grateful for that," McFarlane wrote on his Facebook in 2016. "I learned many lessons from him over the years, but one that still sticks with me from our first meeting was how he treated his fans! He made (and still does) EVERY ONE of his fans feel SPECIAL! He always has an encouraging word and such enthusiasm (even at 94 years old) which make him that much more AWESOME!!"

Prior to Lee's death, the pair had also discussed having Lee cameo in the upcoming Spawn reboot, which McFarlane is set to write and direct.

"I got a good buddy named Stan Lee, and he keeps going, "When are we going to shoot that cameo, Todd?" So hopefully, I'll get Stan to maybe come in there and do something," McFarlane told ComicBook.com in 2017. "Yeah. But I want to do a dark anti-cameo, unfriendly Stan Lee, and he's like, "Todd, I'm in!" I've explained what I want to do, and he's like, "Oh, cool. So, I'm not gonna be, like, the happy-go-lucky?" I go, "No, you're gonna be ugly. You're gonna be this Schlitz-drinking, wife beater, three-day-old shave, snarly dude," and he's like, "I love it!" So, we'll see if we can pull it off."

What do you think of Todd McFarlane's tribute to Stan Lee on the anniversary of his passing? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!