When you look at the top selling silver age comics, it gives you an idea of the scope of what made Stan Lee the most famous name in all of comics, and he always knew how to keep his audience anxiously awaiting the next issue. 

Of the top-20 silver age comics for the past month, Stan Lee either wrote or co-wrote 18 of them. Fantastic Four #48, Iron Man #1, Fantastic Four #52, Amazing Spider-Man #50, Daredevil #1, Captain America #100 - and that is just a sampling of the key issues he penned. By no means am I downplaying the importance of the other early-Marvel contributors, but you can't discredit the sheer volume of the work he contributed to the industry.

Back in the 1960s, when Marvel Comics was just getting off the ground, Lee was part of a rather small staff, which is why he has so many writing credits. To put it bluntly, the man was a work horse. Of course, so were the other legendary members of the creative team, including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Joe Sinnott, and John Romita.

That being said, I'm not going to spend this article telling you how progressive his characters were and how they added a touch of humanity to the costumed superhero genre because, well, everyone else on social media has written that story. I'm not going to tell you about the number of A-list superheroes that he had a hand in creating, either. This is about Stan Lee, the greatest salesman in the history of comics, and I say that lovingly.

Strictly from a writer's perspective, Lee wasn't the greatest. His writing style was undeniably '60s, and his dialogue, which was clearly aimed at the teenage crowd, was sprinkled with the "hip" vernacular of the time. Not that modern comic writers don't still pander in the same way, but there's something about the old expressions from the early 1960s that has an extra layer of campiness sprinkled across the top. What he was a master of was selling a story to the audience. Phrases like, "In This Issue," and "(Fill in Superhero Name) Goes Wild!" plastered across the covers. For me, I can't help but hear Stan Lee's distinct voice reading those taglines whenever I see a silver age cover, and that's what made him great - his salesmanship.

It extended beyond just the corny catchphrases. He mastered the art of the cliffhanger. What comes to mind is "The Coming of Galactus." Each issue of the story arc ended with the heroes in peril. Actually, FF #48 ended with the entire Earth in peril, but that's beside the point.

If there is one comic that embodies everything that I love about Stan Lee and silver age Marvel comics, it's Fantastic Four #66 and Fantastic Four #67. From the Jack Kirby art (particularly FF #66 when Thing had the panicked expression of a man hitting a gas station bathroom after $1 taco night and finding the only stall locked) to those catchy phrases "The Mystery of the Year," "At last you will learn what lives within the cocoon," and "What lurks behind the beehive?" Even now, decades later, I can't help but get pulled into the story and pore over the pages. In the end, that's where his true genius shone brightest - he always knew how to keep the reader wanting more.

And here we are just days removed from his death, still wanting more.