Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "just-imagine"

Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe, Vol. 2 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Stan Lee's version of the DC universe continues to take shape in this book that collects the fifth-eighth stories in the "Just Imagine Stan Lee" story line as we imagine how Stan Lee would have created characters like the Flash, the JLA, Robin, and Shazam.

Thoughts:

The Flash-A teenage girl/comic book fan who gets her power from hummingbird DNA. I really liked this character, she was fun, good natured, and sweet, making her perhaps a less angsty version of Spider-man. Grade: A

The JLA-A boy named Adam Strange tries to rally Green Lantern to get together all the emerging new superheroes to take a group of Church of Empowerment killers the Doom Patrol. Actually a pretty decent plot, though the story takes a turn towards almost pure mysticism. In addition, the JLA now knows that Reverend Darrk is the bad guy. They know exactly where he is-inside his church in Los Angeles and they aren't getting him-why? The Secret origins that follows is a bit hoky to, so I'll give this. Grade: B+

Robin: Stan Lee's Robin was named Robin because the bird keeps showing in the same space as him (for whatever reason.) Anyway, Robin is first seen trying to kill Batman. He's an orphan and fallen under the influence of Reverend Darrk. Can Batman help in time. John Byrne does the art and I think cowrites, so the angst is definitely provided. Grade: B

Shazam: A government agent acquires the power of Shazam which has been passed down from magicians for centuries. And he takes on an evil white guy determined to destroy America by shrinking it. (No, I'm not making this up.) Lee channels some of his work from the Hulk and the result is okay with costumes skimpier than the average comic and that says something. Grade: C+

Overall, the book had not only a great Flash story and a good JLA story, but some nice testimonials from the artists about Stan Lee and I do find out how this turns out. So, thus the four-star rating and look forward to book 3.



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