Stan Lee was a seminal part of Miya Crummell's childhood. As a young, black girl and self-professed pop culture geek, she saw Lee was ahead of his time.

"At the time, he wrote 'Black Panther' when segregation was still heavy," said the 27-year-old New Yorker who credits Lee with influencing her to become a graphic designer and comic book artist. "It was kind of unheard of to have a black lead character, let alone a title character and not just a secondary sidekick kind of thing."

Lee, the master and creator behind Marvel's biggest superheroes, died at age 95 on Monday. As fans celebrate his co...