Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "stan-lee"

The Essential Avengers Vol. 1 by Stan Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Launched in September 1963, the Avengers were Marvel's answer to the Justice League. However, there were some marked differences from the Justice Leagues. For starters, neither of Marvel characters, Spider-man or the Fantastic Four found their way into the Avengers. Instead, the Avengers featured characters who didn't actually have their own comic book but shared their titles with other characters. The first line up included Iron Man from Tales of Suspense; Ant Man, the Wasp, and the Incredible Hulk from Tales to Astonish, and Thor from Journey Into Mystery.

The first line up comes out almost through serendipity as a result of the mechanizations of Thor's brother Loki to frame the Hulk. They decide to form a team, but quickly it becomes clear that the Avengers are no Super Friends. After the 2nd Issue, the Hulk leaves and by the third issue, the Hulk has joined with Namor to fight his former allies.

The Avengers are a team that struggles for cohesiveness with personality conflicts cropping up everywhere. Wasp even suggests that Thor get a crew cut!

However, in Issue 4, the Avemgers changes forever with the re-awakening of Captain America, who subsequently joins the team. The whole feel of the Avengers changes and the next thirteen issues are delightful as a truly great Avengers team goes to war on evil.

In Issue 17, after yet another battle with the Masters of Evil, Iron Man, Giant Man, and Wasp decidesto take leaves of absence while Thor flies off for "The battle of the Gods," and the remaining Avengers choose three new team members in former bad guys Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver with Captain America leading the team.

The last 7 issues leading up to Issue 24, feature an Avenger team where personality conflicts come fast and furious as Quicksilver and Hawkeye have an eye on replacing Cap, and the Avengers' reputation is put at risk thanks to the work of the Enchantress, and finally Cap quits in frustration but comes back when he realizes the Avengers need him.

There is much not to like about the book. Even at its height, the Avengers are not the nicest group in comics. When Ant Man summons the Avengers based on information received from the ants, he's laughed to scorn. When Iron Man misses a meeting of the Avengers, a board of inquiry is convened and he's given a one week suspension by Thor and Ant Man. And when you get into the last seven issues, I had moments where I wanted to smack Hawkeye swarmy arrogant face.

That said, there are two great reasons why this book earns five stars. A secondary reason is the villains. The Masters of Evil are a great team, as led by Baron Zemo, and the Enchantress does pretty well on her own with the aid of Powerman. In addition to that, a visit from the Mandarin and the Swordsman are highlights.

The second and overwhelming reason is Captain America. Captain America has no special powers or even a nifty bow and arrow, but he is the heart of the Avengers, and the true natural born leader. He gets testy at Hawkeye (who wouldn't?) and the contempt of the new male Avengers for him, but the fact is that he's the go-to guy, the role model. He has some moments of moodiness, but there's no one better to have by your side in battle. There's no one who's a better Inspirational leader than Captain America. And that's why the Avengers are able to continue to beat foes even after the massive power loss that Issue 17 represented.

Cap made the Avengers a great team when he joined in Issue 4, and he kept it a great team despite its comparative weakness after Issue 24. Add to that a good Commie-smashing issue and an issue where prayer was referenced repeatedly in a mainstream comic, and this book is a winner.



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Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe, Vol. 1 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In 2001-2002, DC Comics published a series of comics books imagining Stan Lee what the DC Universe would had been light had Stan Lee created it (or more aptly what it would have been like had Stan Lee created in the early 21st Century.)This collects the first four issues, imagining Stan Lee's version of Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Green Lantern.

The key to enjoying this book is to remember what it is and what it isn't. The book does not set out to offer new and improved versions of DC's heroes. As Lee said on the back, "Please don't think for one minute that this is an attempt to improve on any of the truly great characters that have become legendary throughout the world." Rather, Lee creates a Staniverse, characters with the same name but entirely different origins that should be judged on their own merit.

Stan Lee's Batman is a black ex-con and pro-wrestler who fights to avenge his wrongful imprisonment the death of his parents. His father died at the hands of a local crime lord. His mother died while he was in prison for a crime he didn't committed. Wonder Woman is from Peru and receives her powers through Incan rather than Greek mythology and seeks to stop a man who killed her father. Superman is an intergalactic policeman who has to be extra tough because he's the only member of the force not genetically altered. However, when he lands on Earth, he finds himself the most powerful man on the planet. He seeks to avenge his wife's death and get home. Finally, Green Lantern is an archaeologist who finds the tree of life.

The stories occasionally pepper in the names of traditional DC characters. Steve Trevor appears in the Wonder Woman story with Diana Prince in the back up feature. Superman does adopt the identity of Clark Kent based on reading a couple signs (although, he could have just as easily adopted the identity of Peter Parker) and hires an aggressive agent named Lois Lane. It's worth noting that far more characters in this story became heroes through deaths than in the traditional DC universe. Of the four, only Batman became a hero that way in mainstream, but in the Staniverse only Green Lantern didn't, and even he lost someone he'd been interested in, though in a pretty shallow way.

Personal pain and tragedy is more often a motivator for Lee-created superheroes than for DC's traditional stable. Other Lee touches are present as well. The Batman story is evocative in some ways of Spider-man with Batman's wrestling and the Green Lantern looks a lot like a glowing green Silver Surfer.

The villain is Reverend Dominic Darrk, a classic Dr. Doomlike villain preaching hate and evil in his crossless church.

Overall, while none of the characters are going to replace the mainstream DC continuity, for a thought experiment, the book is fun and well-put together. I'll look forward to future volumes and see how the plot lines all resolve themselves.



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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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Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe, Vol. 3 by Stan Lee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collections the final four Just Imagine Stan Lee stories in which Stan Lee reimagines DC comics characters.

This book features Aquaman, Catwoman, Sandman, and Stan Lee's Crisis:


Stan Lee's Aquaman is an obsessive but not militant environmentalist with a good looking shallow girlfriend, and a hero cop brother. The brother saves the story from oblivion, but still it's not all that great. Grade: C

Stan Lee's Catwoman is a model who gets catpowers in a freak accident. She decides become a bonifide crime fighters. There are shades of Spider-man in the story with perhaps a little Batgirl. Grade: A-

Stan Lee's Sandman is an astronaut who receives powers from a mythical slumberland. An okay, but not great story with a somewhat annoying character. Grade: B-

Stan Lee's Crisis was a bit of a mess as the revelation of Crisis was everything the entire series had been leading up to. I felt like we got too much or too little in the story and perhaps both. I think we got too much as there were sprawling story lines and revelations about characters we didn't even know or care about and just too many. If they needed to be in there, then the Crisis issue needed to be longer or needed to be in two parts. The resolution's way too easy and the most important issue: who in the JLA was a traitor was too obvious. Grade: C-

The book gets 3 stars for Stan Lee who showed he could develop some great characters with his very strong Catwoman story in this book as well as the Flash, Green Lantern, and Batman in others. The love between Lee and his cohorts makes this an okay book even though its the weakest in the series.



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Silver Surfer: Parable by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects two separate Silver Surfer stories that both have to be considered out of continuity. The first is "Parable" in which original Silver Surfer writer Stan Lee teams up with European comic legend Moebius who provides the art. Galactus has landed on Earth but after his promise not to destroy it. Instead, he sets himself up as God and proclaims a lifting all moral code and have yourself good time, putting the Earth in peril. It turns out his plans to feed his hunger is letting the Earth destroy itself.

The story intentionally plays into the typical Silver Surfer religious overtones with style and without apology. The Surfer as a sort of Christ trope has never been quite so obvious as in this story. The art is superb and very appealing and different style by Moebius.

There are some surface level points about what happens when you throw off all morality or moral control as well as people killing in the name of religion, but I have to say that this story is far shallower than it appears in terms of it's overall thrust. This is problematic because Parable is an often illogical story particularly it's central plot point. Galactus isn't going to sit around for years and wait for humanity to destroy itself because he'd starve. For us to ignore that problem, we need a very deep, very involved story. Far more involved than we actually get.

The second half of the book is the 1990 Graphic novel, the Enslavers where Stan Lee teams up with artist Keith Pollard. The story's art is decent. It's the early 1990s, but Pollard hasn't surrendered to the garishness which overtook that decade. Despite a few digressions, the Enslavers is a far more straightforward story than, "Parable." An intergalactic overlord comes to invade the Earth and subdues all of its heroes in short order and it's up to the Surfer to find out the truth, save the Earth, and save Shalal-Bal

It's pretty much a straightforward space adventure. Of course, there are logical problems. Mainly the creation of the villain Mrrungo-Mu who conquered galaxies and subdued all the Avengers and hasn't been heard from in 25 years. Of course, that might be believable with his ending, but still not given the track records of villains like Thanos in the Marvel Universe. Given what happened to these characters, particularly the Silver Surfer, it's fair to question whether any of these events are/were canonical.

However, that doesn't matter much. If you're a fan of the Silver Surfer, the Enslavers gives you a chance to see the Surfer fighting his demons and then opening up the full force of the Power Cosmic with perhaps, the most upbeat ending to a Silver Surfer story ever.

In some ways, it's an interesting contrast. You have two different Silver Surfer stories by the character's creator. There's the brooding homeless philosophical wanderer of "Parable" and the heroic Sentinel of the Skyways whose as large a legend as any pulp hero.

This is one case with two unrelated stories where the whole is greater than the sum of the two tales as the flaws of the two stories balance out to give us an interesting if somewhat unusual collection.



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Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor, Vol. 3 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Thor stories from Journey Into Mystery #111-#120 and Annual #1

The Thor stories begin by finishing a story involving Cobra and Mister Hyde from the previous book. Then in Issue #112 we learn of one of Thor's battles against the Hulk in an awkward way as he happens to be flying by and overhear a group of young people talking and explains a private (undocumented battle he had with the Hulk in Avengers #3. It's really cheesy. Issue 113 has him deciding to give up being Thor but then the return of the Grey Gargoyle changes his mind.

The book then enters a very long interconnected storyline running from Issues 114-120 involving he and Loki engaging in, "The Trial of the Gods" and it's aftermath. It really is a very intricate storyline that has one story running through it but a lot of twists and turns along the way including Loki forced to try and save Thor.

Clearly, Lee and Kirby were enjoying playing around with Norse mythology. This is true in the main Thor titles and also in the Tales of Asgard shorts which Marvelizes a lot of Asgardian legends, most of them center around younger versions of Thor and Loki, playing to the popularity of Loki as a villian (although there is one explaining the "true" version of Little Red Riding Hood.)

Journey Into Mystery Annual #1 features a battle between Thor and Hercules when Thor crosses into Olympus. The story is your standard, "two heroes stumble onto each other and fight story," but it helps that it's drawn by Jack Kirby who provides superb art on every page of the book. The Annual also features a map of Asgard with a map pointing to a shopping center. (Yea! Verily.)

My biggest complaint is that the book ends in awkward places with both the Thor stories and Tales of Asgard at a high tension "to be continued" place. But to be fair, it may have been hard to find a good stopping place on this one. As is, this is a very fun and creative book and I look forward to more.




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