Earlier this month, Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95. Lee was likely the most famous comic book creator in the history of the medium and he was the Editor-in-Chief for Marvel Comics for a remarkable three decades stint from the Golden Age through the launch of the Marvel Age of Comics. Working with iconic creators like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Joe Maneely, John Buscema, Don Heck, Wallace Wood, Dick Ayers, Gene Colan and many more, Lee either co-plotted and scripted or simply scripted some of the most famous stories in the history of comics. We asked you to vote for your picks for the top comic book stories that Lee either scripted or co-plotted and scripted. Here are the results!

60. "Where Walks the Juggernaut" X-Men #12-13 (1965)

X-Men #12 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Alex Toth, one of the few Marvel comic books that Alex Toth ever worked on) is master class on mixing exposition with tension, as the issue opens with Professor X getting his students together and warning them that they have to prepare the X-Mansion for all out war. This, naturally, freaks out the students when they learn that this is all to stop just a single guy!

So the X-Men bunker down with Professor X and wait, while they hear (and feel) the mansion being attacked by an outside force. Professor X then spends this time explaining to him both his own origin but also the origin of his step-brother, Cain Marko, and how they hate each other. This leads to the stunning introduction of the unstoppable Juggernaut at the end of the issue!

The final part of the story, naturally, shows how the X-Men could stop the unstoppable Juggernaut (it involves the help of the Human Torch).

59. "From the Ashes of Defeat" Avengers #23-24 (1965)

When the Avengers first tangled with Kang the Conqueror, they learned that he was a warrior from the future who had grown tired of just how effective he was at waging war in the future and so he decided to travel to the past to take on the legends of the past, such as the Avengers. Well, this two-parter by Stan Lee, Don Heck, John Romita and Dick Ayers turned that whole set-up on its ears. The Avengers are taken to the future, where they are seemingly dwarfed by the sheer power of the armies wielded by Kang in the future, but there is a twist. Kang has fallen in love with the princess of one of the lands where his army is about to conquer and now he has to turn against his own massive army to save his love and her people. The Avengers, naturally, are swayed by such an awesome story that they decide to lend their might to this great underdog in a massive invasion...

The way that you never know where a story will go and which way an adversary will end up turning always made for a thrilling Marvel comic book story.

58. "The Crime-Master Versus the Green Goblin" Amazing Spider-Man #26-27 (1965)

This Stan Lee/Steve Ditko tale was a fascinating two-parter where Spider-Man finds himself in the middle of a war between the mysterious Crime-Master and the Green Goblin. The Crime-Master and the Green Goblin know each other's secret identity, so they are sort of stuck together. However, the Crime-Master turns on the Green Goblin and tries to take control of the New York mob all by himself.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is sure that Frederick Foswell (the seemingly reformed Daily Bugle reporter who secretly led a double life as a criminal mastermind known as the Big Man) is the Crime-Master, so the whole story is this fascinating game of cat and mouse between the Crime-Master and the Green Goblin and Spider-Man and the Crime-Master and Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and Spider-Man and Foswell (as he tries to no avail to follow Foswell and prove him a crook).

On top of all of that, Spider-Man lost his costume so he has to use a store bought version instead!

This is a thrilling tale by Ditko and Lee with great artwork by Ditko. The highlight of the story is when Ditko and Lee bring the mundane aspects of life right into the middle of a major action sequence, as Spider-Man's storebought costume begins to become an obstacle for the hero at the worst possible moment, after Spider-Man amazingly first fights an entire gang of criminals while literally chained up...

An artistic tour de force by Ditko!

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57. "The Coming of...the Wonder Man!" Avengers #9 (1964)

As noted earlier, one of the key aspects of early Marvel Comics is how the villains weren't always, well, villains. A common theme is the humanity of ALL characters in the series, even the ostensible villains and in this story, Stan Lee, Don Heck and Dick Ayers takes a character that could have easily been a cardboard cutout of a typical villainous mole and made him extremely redeemable. Simon Williams was a disgraced businessman who was given a chance at a new lease on life by the Masters of Evil by gaining superpowers and infiltrating the membership of the Avengers. When he realizes how mistaken he has been, he is shocked to learn that the treatment that gives him his powers can also kill him if he ever turns on the Masters of Evil.

Tragically, though, Wonder Man can't go through with the plan in the end and he decides to choose an honorable death over a dishonorable life...

The impact of this story was felt for years when Wonder Man was later used as the brain pattern for the synthezoid known as the Vision. Years later, Wonder Man turned out to not be dead after all and returned to the Avengers (since he had now proven that he was a hero).

56. "The Gladiator, the Girl and the Glory" Tales of Suspense #75-76 (1966)

In this high-paced two-parter, we meet both Sharon Carter and Batroc for the first time, as the latter is trying to get his hands on a top secret device that the former is tasked with escorting. Captain America gets involved and it is awesome...

The fascinating thing about this story arc is how well Sharon Carter develops in just these two issues. When she is introduced, she seems like a typical damsel in distress, but by the end of the two-parter, we can see that she is a formidable ally willing to risk it all, even though she doesn't realize how much she has put herself at risk, which leads to Captain America and Batroc temporarily putting aside their differences to track her down to get the cylinder she is transporting for SHIELD before it kills her.

There are so many other twists and turns within the narrative of just these two issues, as we also get to see the other side of Batroc. The villain is a clear villain, of course, but he has always had that interesting twist where he is also a human being at the end of the day and that he is willing to look beyond just his own greed when it suits him, which leads to the villain actually being willing to team up with Captain America to stop the bigger bad guys from destroying New York City! Shockingly, though, Captain America turns down his offer (there is a good reason, of course, as Captain America knows the truth about the cylinder that Batroc missed out on).

55. "The Enslavers" Silver Surfer: The Enslavers (1990)

By the end of the 1980s, Stan Lee had finally given up the reins of Silver Surfer to Steve Englehart, with Englehart launching the first Silver Surfer ongoing series ever that did not have Lee directly involved in the project. However, even while Stan Lee was no longer the only writer to be handling the solo adventures of the Silver Surfer, he did continue to work on the hero that he had become most associated with since the late 1960s, with a new graphic novel with artist Keith Pollard. The concept was that a powerful alien race goes around enslaving planets, and they have already captured Zenn-La and have just now conquered the Earth, as well. The only being standing in the way of this alien race conquering the universe is, of course, the Silver Surfer...

This was some of the best work of Pollard's career, as it seems like he was really hyped to work with a legend like Stan Lee.

54. "The Sleeper Shall Awake!" Tales of Suspense #72-74 (1965)

It's kind of funny how this story sort of came about because fans were complaining about the then-current state of Cap's feature in Tales of Suspense, which was set during World War II. Fans wanted modern tales, so Jack Kirby and Stan Lee answered the call with this excellent three-part story (with George Tuska penciling and inking the story over Kirby layouts) where Captain America realizes that it has been twenty years since he last defeated the Red Skull, and at the time, the Skull mentioned something about sleepers that would go off in twenty years time. Eventually a series of three sleeper robots are introduced, until the come together in the final installment - to destroy the world!

The highlight of this arc, of course, was the sight of Captain America, "just one man," launching himself at this destructive robot, mankind's last hope, seemingly a puny David against a mighty Goliath, but all Captain America really does is know how to win no matter the odds...

What inspiring action-packed comic book adventures these were.

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53. "The End of Spider-Man!" Amazing Spider-Man #18-19 (1964)

One of the things that Stan Lee clearly always loved a lot about Spider-Man is the "everyman" nature of the character. This was perhaps never shown greater during the original Lee/Ditko run than the classic Amazing Spider-Man #18, where Spider-Man finally decides that he has had enough and decides to no longer be a superhero. This was the first time that Spider-Man quit since the launch of his series and it would be the blueprint for all other future versions of this theme (although one ended up being even more famous than this one). However, at the end of the day, Spidey's sense of responsibility is more powerful than anything else and he, of course, goes back to being Spider-Man just pages after giving it up "forever." This issue was famous, though, for how it was an entire issue that did not have Spider-Man face a single villain!

The next issue, though, Spider-Man makes up for the lost time from the previous issue by taking down the Sandman, who he just ran away from in the previous issue (thus making a lot of his fans turn on him, with only Flash Thompson and the Human Torch remaining believers in Spider-Man's honor).

52. "If This Be...MODOK!" Tales of Suspense #92-94 (1967)

This excellent action-packed adventure by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott pit Captain America and Sharon Carter against Advanced Ideas Mechanics (AIM), who are introducing their new leader, MODOK, one of the most Kirby-esque creations of all-time!

While the introduction of MODOK is clearly the highlight of the arc, historically, the highlight of the arc when you are actually reading the comic is clearly the way that Sharon Carter is handled. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee definitely had an affinity for the scrappy young SHIELD agent, and they use her beautifully as Captain America's partner in crime on these action-driven SHIELD missions that Cap would go on as the driving narrative force of the late era of Cap's Tales of Suspense run going into the series being re-titled Captain America (it is still amazing how well the book evolved from having its story-length double when the book when from a split book to a fully Captain America series).

51. "Whom the Gods Would Destroy!" Journey Into Mystery #124-125, Thor #126-130 (1965-66)

After introducing Hercules with a brawl in the past, Kirby and Lee (and Colletta) then brought Hercules to the present for a rematch (although one that the two heroes don't realize is a rematch, since their memories were wiped of their original encounter), with the new fight now being set in modern times, with all of the stunning set pieces that you would expect from a battle through New York City...

While Thor/Hercules brawls are awesome, they eventually make up and become good buddies. This, then, leads to a story involving the villainous Pluto where Hercules and Thor must team up to take him down.